ntl Confirms 10Mb Broadband Speed Increase

[Gareth]

Originally Posted by etccarmageddon

no-one's beat anyone yet have they? unless you can tell me of any NTL or Telewest customers who have had their speeds upgraded to 10mb? perhaps when you can give me a Telewest customer on 10mb that's when NTL are beaten. It looks to me like TW quickly copied NTLs idea.

I'd disagree that it's TW who 'copied' NTL's idea... although this purely my opinion as I don't have any insider information nor do I work for either company. Looking at TW's announcement, there is far more detail to their offering - concrete details that couldn't have been calculated within the time that NTL made their announcement and TW's press release. Also, TW will be rolling-out their implementation by the end of next month... if they were 'copying' NTL, I'd expect to see them have this ready sometime in 2007 and not September 2005 (remember that NTL have only committed themselves to having this ready nationally for all customers by December 2006). Too much detail from TW to suggest they've cobbled together something in a couple of days after being taken by surprise by NT:'s announcement. If anything, I'd say NTL had their hand forced by TW's announcement being made today, and therefore NTL had to go public when they did, despite not having sufficient details about timescales, pricing, upload speeds, caps, etc... - all things that TW have categorically answered today in their press release.

Just my interpretation of the events as I see them. I'm not privy to specific information, unlike certain people here that claim to be. Feel free to ignore it if you want.

[bilal]

Bill C you are so right. Whats the point in complaining when none of you can get telewest.
Also ntl are giving 10mbit for everyone one of there products whereas telewest are only giving 10mbit to the top tier. So overall the £17.99 users and £24.99 users for ntl are getting a better deal. Most people would like a fast internet for them to use when they need it even if they dont use it much so the lower tiers are perfect for them. Uncapped 10mbit would be good but as you cant get it stop complaining

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Robc66

i think so too....considering telewest are bringing it out so fast compaired to ntl.

As has been mentioned elsewhere on this forum, The Telewest network is a fraction of the size of NTL's network. This means NTL need to do more planning and testing. There is also the possibility they will have far more hardware to upgrade. That's without having to get hold of all the STBs and CMs needed to replace those that fail while being upgraded, as NTL will need more of those than Telewest, and the suppliers only have a finite production capacity.

Not having a go, just asking that people think before saying NTL is slower than the competition.

[Robc66]

Well if ntl cant keep up with other companies then i will move to another. I will be able to get adsl 2+ soon which i will get 24mbit out of. I will just move to a company that offers that.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Robc66

Well if ntl cant keep up with other companies then i will move to another. I will be able to get adsl 2+ soon which i will get 24mbit out of. I will just move to a company that offers that.

And you know a company will be offering that at your local exchange soon?

[Robc66]

Originally Posted by Stuart C

As has been mentioned elsewhere on this forum, The Telewest network is a fraction of the size of NTL's network. This means NTL need to do more planning and testing. There is also the possibility they will have far more hardware to upgrade. That's without having to get hold of all the STBs and CMs needed to replace those that fail while being upgraded, as NTL will need more of those than Telewest, and the suppliers only have a finite production capacity.

Not having a go, just asking that people think before saying NTL is slower than the competition.

Well....NTL get alot more money and therefore should be able to cope with this. You cannot blame it on their "larger network" because every customer has to pay for it so they should be able to do it with all the extra money that they get.
__________________

Originally Posted by Stuart C

And you know a company will be offering that at your local exchange soon?

Yep i live in central manchester. I could go on 8mb now but i have been with ntl for 6 - 7 years and decided to stick with them.

[ian@huth]

Originally Posted by Gareth

I'd disagree that it's TW who 'copied' NTL's idea... although this purely my opinion as I don't have any insider information nor do I work for either company. Looking at TW's announcement, there is far more detail to their offering - concrete details that couldn't have been calculated within the time that NTL made their announcement and TW's press release. Also, TW will be rolling-out their implementation by the end of next month... if they were 'copying' NTL, I'd expect to see them have this ready sometime in 2007 and not September 2005 (remember that NTL have only committed themselves to having this ready nationally for all customers by December 2006). Too much detail from TW to suggest they've cobbled together something in a couple of days after being taken by surprise by NT:'s announcement. If anything, I'd say NTL had their hand forced by TW's announcement being made today, and therefore NTL had to go public when they did, despite not having sufficient details about timescales, pricing, upload speeds, caps, etc... - all things that TW have categorically answered today in their press release.

Just my interpretation of the events as I see them. I'm not privy to specific information, unlike certain people here that claim to be. Feel free to ignore it if you want.

It only takes a few minutes to knock up a press statement containing the "facts" that the TW statement has. It doesn't take that long to write a config file for the new speeds. Whether they can deliver an acceptable level of service in the time frame they have stated is another matter. Probably for most TW customers the increased speeds available will not put too much pressure on their network. They will occupy a much greater portion of the pipe they are on but it will be for a much shorter time freeing up the space for someone else. The connection caners will be the problem and a lot depends on the distribution of those within the network. They may experience problems which other users don't.

[MovedGoalPosts]

ntl may have a larger network infrastructure than Telewest. Yes they are not in competition with TW (but they are with the BT based network suppliers). If it is going to take untill well into next year before the programme is complete there must be a real risk to ntl that they will find themselves playing catch up with rival networks who could have already surpassed this. Indeed it's an interesting game between cable and ADSL over BT type lines as to who can actually implement the faster services first.

Having a larger network though should ntl be an excuse as to why everything takes a lot longer. If you have a large network you should have proportionately larger resources to support the capacity and implement those changes.

ntl announced their intention to upgrade. That no doubt has been based on an assesment that it can be done. It is reasonable that an overnight roll out cannot be expected, and indeed we are used to a phased rollout over the network of these types of upgrade. If ntl have adequate resources they should be able to match a rollout pace of similar groups?

However it is perhaps noting the recent upgrades to the 1, 2 or 3mb tiers now available. If memory serves a long phased rollout programme was forecast, yet in fact many customers were able to get the upgrade within a fortnight of each other, if they could get through to CS who were a little overwhelmed with demand.

Originally Posted by Tuftus

Yes it will.

Im sure I read somewhere our silver modems only went upto 8meg.

ah well... 34meg sounds good to me.

[Gareth]

Originally Posted by ian@huth

It only takes a few minutes to knock up a press statement containing the "facts" that the TW statement has. It doesn't take that long to write a config file for the new speeds.

I bet they took a bit longer han a few minutes to get all the bean counters to decide on a price to market this at

Originally Posted by ian@huth

Whether they can deliver an acceptable level of service in the time frame they have stated is another matter. Probably for most TW customers the increased speeds available will not put too much pressure on their network. They will occupy a much greater portion of the pipe they are on but it will be for a much shorter time freeing up the space for someone else. The connection caners will be the problem and a lot depends on the distribution of those within the network. They may experience problems which other users don't.

True, and in a way, it's good for me (and other NTL users) that TW are piloting this, as it should mean that NTL can learn from TW's mistakes, and that us NTL users benefit from any problems they may or may not encounter.

As for the connection caners, I hope that none of my neighbours fall into this category, or else I'll be paying them a visit

[Hans Gruber]

Originally Posted by Gareth

As for the connection caners, I hope that none of my neighbours fall into this category, or else I'll be paying them a visit

Every time we get a speed upgrade scaremongerers go on about how the network will collapse with all the leechers downloading, and guess what? It never happens.

[etccarmageddon]

if ntl are larger than TW then they will have a proportionally larger work force and resources.

you could argue that TW are a smaller company and therefore have less rescources!

[Myron]

Originally Posted by luv-snail

My Terayon modem only has a 10Base-T (half duplex) network connection, so would I be correct in assuming that 10Mbps is a little out of the modem's league?

You're right in the fact that you won't get downstream at 10Mbits flat out. This is because the modem can only send or receive, but not both at the same time.

The silver Ambit (NTL branded) modems have a auto-sensing full-duplex capable port that can operate at 100Mbps. In my case the WAN port of my router is only 10Base-T (half duplex) so for me I will have to change my router so the WAN port is capable of ayt least full duplex operation. I could further future-proof the router upgrade by making sure the WAN port is also 100Mbps capable.
__________________

Originally Posted by Slyder

Im sure I read somewhere our silver modems only went upto 8meg. ah well... 34meg sounds good to me.

I'm sure I've seen `34Mbps` on some data sheet. Ambit has since removed the information for the modem from their support site in favour of the blue modem that NTL are now using. (NTL 250). I'm trying to find this information again. This number of 34Mbps appears to have clearly stuck in my mind.

[slowcoach]

Don't forget, there were a lot of complaints after the last TW speed increase from customers who could only get half the advertised speed, or less.
ntl did a brilliant job last time, I get 3Mbs at all times, what's the betting that ntl will have done a more thorough (expensive) update this time as well.

Just checked my el cheapo ORIGO router, 10/100 Mbs yippee, all systems in place and ready for switch on.

[cookie_365]

I couldn't give a monkeys who thought of it first. TW don't have cable on my street; NTL do.

I'll compare & contrast the deals I can actually get.

At the moment, just as its been for the last year and a half, the best deal on offer for my needs is from NTL. And it looks like that'll continue.