[Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds Late Summer 2004

Originally Posted by arcamalpha2004

Free upgrade?

Come on, who are they kidding?
A bit like going to mcdonalds and asking for a big mac, and the assistant asks you for £1 more than you paid last time you bought one, and when you question the increase they reply " Oh well, we're giving you a quarter of burger free ".
If NTL want to show they are serious, let them get shut of the 1gb limit.
As somebody said, you will just reach the limit quicker.

They are not kidding anyone - as I'm sure you know, it's free for the two lower speed services (which is 95% of ntl customers).

[DrAwesome]

Originally Posted by Nikko

I am on a 1MB connection. It is £3 a month more from 01/06/04. It remains to be seen if the projected newsgroups/email improvements occur by then - and how long we have to wait for the free speed increase.

I will be keeping an eye on it - but I am happy to sit back and give them the benefit of the doubt on this occasion.

Coming Soon - just maybe it is.

Dontcha pay your NTL subscription 1 month in advance (someone who works for NTL nodoubt will correct me if i'm wrong) therefore NTL customers will be paying the price increase in May on whatever date their billing period is.

[ian@huth]

Originally Posted by DrAwesome

Dontcha pay your NTL subscription 1 month in advance (someone who works for NTL nodoubt will correct me if i'm wrong) therefore NTL customers will be paying the price increase in May on whatever date their billing period is.

Not all NTL BB customers pay in advance, some, including me, pay in arrears.

[DeadKenny]

Originally Posted by Nikko

OK - so some 260+ contributions into the thread, with some diverse conjecture, speculation and numerous responses thereto, it remains that ntl are giving a free speed increase across the 3 BB platforms.[/b]

That's the issue though. It's not free on all 3. It's free for 150kbps and 600kbps, but it's £3 more for 1Mbps.

Okay, I know they're making the price rise before the "upgrade" so they can get round that little legal point, but we all know really that the plain fact is...

to get 1.5Mbps it will cost £3 more than it does currently for 1Mbps

There's no way they'd be able to justify the price increase if it was just left at 1Mbps, so the price increase and speed increase are definitely linked.

Therefore, not free

Small though it may seem, it's still £3 I'd rather not be paying, especially as I don't need the extra 500kbps. Thus I'll downgrade.

I would like NTL to clear up their claims though by being accurate about the percentage increases for each tier and amending the "free" claim.

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by DeadKenny

That's the issue though. It's not free on all 3. It's free for 150kbps and 600kbps, but it's £3 more for 1Mbps.

Okay, I know they're making the price rise before the "upgrade" so they can get round that little legal point, but we all know really that the plain fact is...

to get 1.5Mbps it will cost £3 more than it does currently for 1Mbps

Therefore, not free

Small though it may seem, it's still £3 I'd rather not be paying, especially as I don't need the extra 500kbps. Thus I'll downgrade.

I would like NTL to clear up their claims though by being accurate about the percentage increases for each tier and amending the "free" claim.

They are being accurate. The price rise was announced over two weeks ago. The FREE upgrade was announced two days ago and is just that, FREE.

Originally Posted by orangebird

They are being accurate. The price rise was announced over two weeks ago. The FREE upgrade was announced two days ago and is just that, FREE.

Come now, I know you're not blinded by spin

Ntl are legally correct in calling the upgrade 'free'. 1mb costs £3 extra as of your next bill, whereas the speed increases will not kick in until later in the summer (whatever that means - sounds like 'coming soon' to me ).

However I cannot believe anyone would doubt that the price increase in the 1mb service is a competely bizarre business decision on ntl's part, unless it is understood as pre-empting the speed increase. If you compare 600k at £24.99 and 1mb at £37.99, then the 1mb service is poorer value for money than the lesser service. This goes against all the received wisdom of selling more by charging less, and encouraging people to upgrade.

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by towny

Come now, I know you're not blinded by spin

Ntl are legally correct in calling the upgrade 'free'. 1mb costs £3 extra as of your next bill, whereas the speed increases will not kick in until later in the summer (whatever that means - sounds like 'coming soon' to me ).

However I cannot believe anyone would doubt that the price increase in the 1mb service is a competely bizarre business decision on ntl's part, unless it is understood as pre-empting the speed increase. If you compare 600k at £24.99 and 1mb at £37.99, then the 1mb service is poorer value for money than the lesser service. This goes against all the received wisdom of selling more by charging less, and encouraging people to upgrade.

Did you think the speed increase was a reaction to Telewests announcement?

Originally Posted by orangebird

Did you think the speed increase was a reaction to Telewests announcement?

I'm seeing double ... which thread would you prefer me to answer that in?

OK this one, seeing as I've started

All I've said about Telewest on this subject is earlier in this thread: http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...ad.php?t=11564

If ntl is interested in ensuring a merger with Telewest is smoother, then that would be a good reason to change the speed of services on offer. But accepting that as an explanation for the speed increase does not preclude the possibility (downright certainty IMO) that the price increase in the 1mb service has been made in preparation for the speed increase.

[DeadKenny]

Originally Posted by orangebird

Did you think the speed increase was a reaction to Telewests announcement?

I got the impression that NTL knew in advance (probably about the time the price rise was announced).

P.S. Where is my letter telling me about the price rise? As far as I'm concerned, if they charge me more on the next bill, that's illegal

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by DeadKenny

I got the impression that NTL knew in advance (probably about the time the price rise was announced).

P.S. Where is my letter telling me about the price rise? As far as I'm concerned, if they charge me more on the next bill, that's illegal

When did you receive your last bill?

[Nemesis]

From what I have heard, the speed increase was not a reaction to TW, but had been planned for a while.

This being the case it begs the question(s).

1. Does this show a "close working relationship" between TW and NTL ?
2. Whether (1) is true or not, was the announcement of the changes a reaction to the TW announcement ?

NTL's PR machine must be kicking themselves (again) as the way in which it has been handled will do nothing to convince the customer base.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by DeadKenny

I got the impression that NTL knew in advance (probably about the time the price rise was announced).

P.S. Where is my letter telling me about the price rise? As far as I'm concerned, if they charge me more on the next bill, that's illegal

They are sending out the June Price changes info with your current/next bill. I got mine last week.

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by Nemesis

From what I have heard, the speed increase was not a reaction to TW, but had been planned for a while.

This being the case it begs the question(s).

1. Does this show a "close working relationship" between TW and NTL ?

1. There has been a close relationship for the past couple of years... nothing new there - especially when both companies are owned by the same consort...
   

   Whether (1) is true or not, was the announcement of the changes a reaction to the TW announcement ?

   If it was a reaction, then the theory of ntl only increasing to speed to justify the price increase is a load of cr4p.
   

NTL's PR machine must be kicking themselves (again) as the way in which it has been handled will do nothing to convince the customer base.

Why should they???? One measly price increase (and yes, I do beleive it's measly - do you have to question whether or not you can really afford another £3 a month for a luxury service?...) and higher speeds on BB services. What, pray tell is wrong with any of that?

[andygrif]

Well if the two worked together on the move, which seems sensible, it would look very odd to make a join announcement. Both announcements were made pretty close together, which I would guess is a close as two separate companies could get it.

As for whether it is free or not: Well it would make sense as to why they have introduced the additional cost, as I am sure that it will cost slightly more to provide (what is in effect) an additional 1/2mb of bandwidth, which would explain why the move was taken.

It would be highly irregular to say that the 1mb service no longer exists, but you can move go to 1.5mb for another £3.

It would also explain why 600k customers are only being taken to 750k, as any closer to 1mb would be likely to drive many current 1mb users DOWN to the lower tariff.

[Nemesis]

Originally Posted by orangebird

There has been a close relationship for the past couple of years... nothing new there - especially when both companies are owned by the same consort...

Ok, understood, but ...

Originally Posted by orangebird

If it was a reaction, then the theory of ntl only increasing to speed to justify the price increase is a load of cr4p.

Agreed

Originally Posted by orangebird

Why should they???? One measly price increase (and yes, I do beleive it's measly - do you have to question whether or not you can really afford another £3 a month for a luxury service?...) and higher speeds on BB services. What, pray tell is wrong with any of that?

I'm not arguing about the price increase ... just the timing of everything.

It hasn't been very well planned, what with the price increase ... which will always be argued about, followed by TW speed increase ... which makes NTL users start thinking, followed by what appears to be an NTL reactive announcement about speed increases.

It would have made more sense (especially as both companies are owned by the same consort) to have made a joint announcement about the speed increases, even if it was spearately, but at the same time

It also beggars belief that they announce the speed increases not long after the price increases ... sometimes timing of this type of announcement is key to customer appreciation and retention, I just feel that they have handled the PR of the last two weeks extremely badly.