*ALL* ntl 10Mb Discussion (Part 3)

I seem to remember a while back just before the 3mb was introduced that ntl wanted to charge its customers a one-off fee of £25 for the upgrade, but they realised very quickly that the customers were having none of it! Like I said a few posts ago, phone retentions.

[pixiebot]

I've just got the letter too. Sales told me it was free.

SACM is being installed on Tuesday, so all I can do is wait till then.

Why provide us with STB's that aren't capable of running at NTL's full speed service? The speed increases must have been planned way before the Samsung boxes started getting installed.

I agree that NTL must recoup some costs giving out 100's/1000's of SACM's where a STB was adequate before must be hugely expensive - but being told different stories by different depts or sometimes the same depts is amateurish to say the least.

[remstrus]

Hi All

I got the 10MB upgrade the other day and using IE downloading from the net runs at a nice 600-900k but as soon as I try conntecting to any news server (premium) my d/l goes right down to 250k.

Does anyone know if NTL has capped Usenet speeds?

[Hans Gruber]

So is BB+ totally free to all 2mb and 10 mb customers now? http://www.ntlworld.com/toolsservices/tiermigration/ seems to suggest it is, but I was just on the phone to NTL downgrading back to 2mbit and was told it was only free for the first month. So which is it, totally free, or just a free trial?

[Dobbo]

i was just on the phone to cs about upgrading my ambit 100 modem they said goto
http://www.ntlworld.com/toolsservices/tiermigration/
and fill out the hardware upgrade request form at the bottom of the screen =/

[JonR]

I've just received the £50 letter myself. I think it's daft that they recently changed the box so it could handle 3Mb but are now saying that they need to change it again so it can handle 10Mb. After the idiot who changed the box last time didn't do it right and we had several days of no connection and a runaround with NTL's customer service, no one's going to change my box again - especially if I have to pay for the priviledge.

What's doubly-silly is that they're saying that the price will come down from £37.99 to £34.99. Why? That £3 per month difference works out to £36 per year. Why not leave the price at £37.99 for a year and upgrade all boxes for "free"? They'll still get their pound of flesh.

It's almost feels like a con. They wave around this £50 upgrade fee, hoping it'll discourage enough customers so that they'll be limited to 5Mb - but they'll be able to say it's the customer's "choice" and happily go on to advertise their 10Mb service all over the place. A pointer to this is that their webpage actually says "In general we would not recommend an upgrade...".

It reminds me of when the purportedly "free" upgrade to 3Mb came along. It was £34.99 per month but they upped the price to £37.99 two months before upgrading to 3Mb. That way they could happily say that the upgrade was "for free" when, of course, we were actually paying more.

[Tobiasboon]

Hey all,

I'm currently subscribed to the 3Mb/sec NTL broadband package and was looking forward to the "free upgrade" to 10Mb/sec. My modem is the NTL Home 120 (Ambit is it?) and I have been told that this modem should be able to download at 10Mb/sec with a firmware upgrade.

After noticing a slight speed increase I checked the speed at various different broadband speed test sites and was getting the full 512Kb/sec upload (roughly) but only just over 4Mb/sec download. So I checked the modem using the 192.168.100.1 address and in the Operation Configuration section I have the following listed:

Network Access: Enabled
Maximum Downstream Data Rate: 10240000 bps (seems right)
Maximum Upstream Data Rate: 512000 bps (seems right)
Maximum Number of CPEs: 1
Software Upgrade File Name: ntlhm120_ntl0002.cpr (this is the firmware upgrade I assume?)
Software Upgrade AdminStatus: ignoreProvisoningUpgrade (im not sure on this at all)
Software Upgrade OperStatus: completeFromMgt

After reading through this thread I noticed one partcular user with the NTL Home 100 modem had posted their Operation Configuration details and it was very similar bar the .cpr file name (ntlhm100 instead of ntlhm120), but also the Upgrade AdimStatus which wasnt on ignore but allow and the Upgrade OperStatus was listed as completeFromProvisioning. This person was getting the full 10Mb/sec service.

I obviously rang NTL tech support and they gave me the stock "its only a trial" and "its advertised as *upto* 10Mb/sec so you will not always get that speed". To me that sounded like a fob off. I assume my modem has been updated and I have tried various resets of my modem and router with no joy so far. What needs to be done and are the differences on my Operation Configuration screen the cause of the problem?

Any help would be much appreciated, thank you.

[Barewolf]

Rang Up last week about the upgrade to the 10mb service and was told it wasnt available in my area yet. and that my broadband monthly charge would be halved untill i got the upgrade
today i recived a letter that the upgrade was now possible but that i could only recieve the 5mb upgrade on the set top box and that tech support would do this for me.
After speaking with tech support they said they couldnt do it and that the 5mb speed couldnt be reached through the set top box and if it can then costomer services have to upgrade me to the 10mb service but i shouldnt have to pay the £50 charge. I dont see why i should have to pay the £50 charge anyway as i was told my broadband payments would be halved for the next 2 months untill i could get the 10mb service. which works out at £50 anyway.
rang back sales and spoke to another person who i explained it all to, he said he would upgrade my service to 5mb while i was on the phone, i then checked to see if it was at 5mb but it wasnt, he then just put me through to a tech advisor again who told me the same thing as the first tech advisor, he then ran through my broadband and messing about with internet sites and speed tests only to tell me i was on the 3mb service which i already knew, i was on the phone to the 2nd technition for 50 minutes fiddling with my connection to get no where only to be told i had to speak to costomer services again. so i played hell.
What gets me is i told the technition that i had been on the phone for 50 minutes and he just said you havent.
Now I was told my bill for broadband would be halved for the next 2 months, which works out at about £50 which is what they want for the upgrade anyway. the tech guy stayed on the line while i talked to the sales woman and butted in a few times in my defence, it was funny at one point because she said i will upgrade you to the 10mb service now and the pakistani technition said "Thats it you do it, stupid" I had to laugh in my sleeve.
Anyway she said she would credit me back the 2 months i was promised which was 50 quid and that i could get the upgrade but i had to go through the online page. So now i wait until 15th December apparently.

What a nightmare......

[lima]

On 3Mb here Samsung STB.

Got the letter this morning too. Nice timing, asking me for £50 the same day they make an £817million bid for Virgin Mobile.....lol.....who does their PR

Anyway, going to sit this one out I think - go up to 5Mb at some point, though not clear exactly how or when - it just says "December" in the letter. Get the £3 a month price reduction - wow thanks.. and see if NTL are forced to move to a "free" upgrade of "their" equipment as from what I can see, the competitors are upping to 8Mb and reducing to the £20 level.

I take it anyone paying the £50 still won't own the boxes? £50 for engineer swopout time? Where did the £50 come from?

Happy days....

Lima

[hongman]

Can someone do a quick round up of what is the deal with this £50 thing / 5Meg thing? I havent followed for a week or 2 and havent got the time to read thru all these pages....would be much appreciated.

[lima]

Hongman read here: http://www.ntlworld.com/stb

I just called CS to see if they could upgrade me from 3Mb to the 10(5)Mb service on my Samsung. They tried to send the upgrade signal but no dice - not accepting in my area.

Official line seems to be that its still in "pilot" mode for stb users and all existing 3Mb users will be auto upgraded by end of December. They said SACM users were more likely to be able to get upgraded over the phone as the technology is different.

C'est la vie.....


Lima

I personally would not pay £50 for another modem, I think that's a total rip-off! and most people on here know that. What happens when they upgrade the 10mb to whatever it will be next? another £50 fee because the new ntl:250's wont hack it?

Phone retentions through customer services and tell them calmly (hard I know!) that you are off to greener pastures if this situation can not be sorted out in some way or another. Then leave it to the nice people there to offer you a deal. I almost guarentee that you'll walk away from the phone better off. All the people I know, including me! Who have done this are happy as a pig in pig pooh! Because we are now on a much better deal.

I dont know what's wrong with us British folk? We just seem to lie down and take it up the you know what. It's not fair is it? Then take control of the situation/your life, and call retentions! At the end of the day, retentions are there to retain as many "I'm off to greener pasture" customers as possible.

Now for the small print in layman's terms... Don't blame me for anything negetive that might accure through you being hyped-up by this post. you alone are responsible for your actions!

[Pdman]

This link http://www.ntlworld.com/toolsservices/forms/cm/ suggests that it is only 3COM and Surfboard modems that need to be replaced.
Does this mean that all Ambit modems work at 10Mb?

[lakeybloke]

Got this response from CS when I asked how they could justify charging SOME people for Modems, and not others:

Thank you for your recent e-mail as far as we are aware as a new contract is made when changing to a Cable Modem an installation charge is made however Sales may offer discounted installation. Please contact our sales team on 0800 183 1234.

Think I will stick to my 2meg now anyway, as the whole thing is such a farce.

[jake0]

why on earth do STB users have to pay £50 in order for us to use 10mb to its proper potential? we didnt ask for our internet to be placed on a STB in the first place, so why on earth do we as the customer have to pay to be placed on a SACM in order for us to be able to use 10mb like everyone else who has a SACM in the first place.

bang out of order :/