Dump TV & Keep Broadband?

[ian@huth]

Originally Posted by themelon

An ntl package works out cheaper than having a Sky and BT Line which would cost now £50.50 the comparative ntl package now is £49.50 I believe. Sky Worl has more channles....mostly shopping, and garbage that the wide majority of people never watch, all the most watched channels are available on ntls packages.

Be fair, The Sky / BT price of £50.50 is the new price that BT is introducing giving customers who take it the BT Together Option 1 service which is 5.5p for calls of up to one hour evenings and weekends. The nearest NTL alternative to this is their 6p plan which costs £2 extra making the NTL example £51.50 (£1 dearer) with all calls being dearer with NTL.

Originally Posted by themelon

The Phone IS NOT Free it is a budled package of which the user has not option to cancel the phone (unless its unavialble). In my opinion this is a major disdvantage to NTL Cable TV market potential, as many people wont want to switch phone numbers or providers and dont want the hassle of changing providers. People will want Digital TV these people will always choose Sky over ntl....and there is a lot of these people around!

I agree that NTL should not force DTV customers to take the telephone line and should simply offer a range of TV packages that are £9.50 less than at present with the customer having the option to have a NTL telephone line if they want it. The question is though, would NTL gain or lose customers if they did unbundle thepackages.

[ignite]

Gary, you seem unable to grasp the concept that in the eyes of most of the public and also for that matter the users here, that we could not care about things like transmission methods and the like. What we see is the fact that on NTL and Sky, you receive a range of TV channels. All of the channels on NTL are on Sky (with a few minor issues over sub regions on ITV and BBC 1). If I pay my £19.50 to Sky (as I do), I get all of the channels I have on the NTL £29 (I think it is now this price) plus a whole lot more. I'm not bothered if the TV comes from a dish on the wall, or a cable underground. At the end of the day, a cable comes into my lounge and is connected to a box. This lets me select the channel I want to watch.

As far as the phone service goes, I have a phone that when I dial a number, connects me to the person I have called, and when that person calls me, I hear my phone ringing and answer it. Now here is the difference. With BT, I have an informed choice to answer the call or not, as I have caller ID. With NTL this is not possible. In fact NTL charge me money for the added services BT gives away for free (1571 voicemail and fully itemised phone bill).

Now if you look at the NTL pricing sales pages here http://www.ntlhome.co.uk/ntl_telephone/freeRange.html you will see that the phone line rental is £9.50 for basic service and £11.50 for the equivalent of BT Together. Now looking here http://www.ntlhome.co.uk/ntl_tv/inde...com_tvtextlink it states that the cost of the TV service is "including your line rental" Taking that £9.50 from the £28 listed, soon to become £29 for the Family Pack, you end up with £18.50 or £19.50 which is the cost of the Family Pack from Sky before and after their price rise.

While I'm sharing links, take a look at this list http://www.ntlhome.co.uk/ntl_tv/family_listing.html and compare it to this list http://www.sky.com/skycom/packages/c.../0,,16,00.html you will find that all of the channels listed on NTL are there on Sky except for the Channel NTL which Sky have an equivalent for.

Ok, looking at the above channel comparisons, I feel I do owe you an apology. They are not equivalent. NTL has far less channels than Sky, so you are not comparing like for like. Sorry Gary.

Well, that's all I have to say for now, except, can you use other call packages on NTL lines like Talk Talk and have the same choice of call provider as you can on BT?

[Neil]

Originally Posted by ianathuth

The question is though, would NTL gain or lose customers if they did unbundle thepackages.

Their fear is that while customers have an ntl phone line, they will be reluctant to move to ADSL (which they could obviously do really easily if they didn't take an ntl phone line with their DTV, instead just kept their BT line)

[ignite]

BTW, just for the record, I had the full NTL service for over 18 months (Phone, TV and BB), and now have BT + TalkTalk, Sky and a SACM from NTL for BB. I'm therefore in a position to be able to compare the two services.

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by Nemesis

Either that or you're paying for a phone line you're not using

Thats the case - I have a phone socket on the wall with an ntl logo on it - I could plug a phone in at any time and use it, but i'm still using my BT line. NTL don't offer ISDN and I upgraded prior to BB being availible.

[ian@huth]

Originally Posted by Neil

Their fear is that while customers have an ntl phone line, they will be reluctant to move to ADSL (which they could obviously do really easily if they didn't take an ntl phone line with their DTV, instead just kept their BT line)

Exactly!

NTL have a problem in that their broadband products are becoming less competitive. To move to ADSL means the NTL customer has to get a BT line so they don't need the NTL line especially as BT are offering cheaper call packages than NTL and other suppliers through a BT line can be even cheaper. That only leaves the TV package which is £9.50 dearer with NTL than with Sky if you use the BT line for calls rather than the NTL line.

[NitroNutter]

Originally Posted by Pem

Sadly I cannot disagree with most of what you say. I personally have never had problems with NTL, maybe because Diamond Cable (who were our local company before NTL took them over) were always very good [at least to me they were].

It is obvious from my time on this forum that our area is the exception rather than the rule and that they fail spectacularly in many areas, and more importantly, do not seem to be trying to improve much.

Your time may well come then, My old cable company was fine, NTL were fine, then they started restricting a service and I think from that point its just been downhill. Now were looking at price hikes, but no improvements, except to the top directors wallets, and a very arrogant, complacent attitude to many customers from many staff. It was at the point of the restriction that I started looking @ alternatives, and now the camels back is broken.
Rising prices and dropping services and the cap'n is holding the gun.

[NitroNutter]

Originally Posted by Neil

Their fear is that while customers have an ntl phone line, they will be reluctant to move to ADSL (which they could obviously do really easily if they didn't take an ntl phone line with their DTV, instead just kept their BT line)

This should not be a fear, most houses have BT line anyway, its simple to reacitivate it no cost, your only tied for 3 months they will take over your old NTL phone number no cost, and notify NTL for you giving them 7 days notice.

[ian@huth]

Originally Posted by NitroNutter

This should not be a fear, most houses have BT line anyway, its simple to reacitivate it no cost, your only tied for 3 months they will take over your old NTL phone number no cost, and notify NTL for you giving them 7 days notice.

How does moving back to BT and retaining your NTL number (which originally was a BT number)from NTL work? You have to give 30 days notice to NTL of cancellation of their service. Anyone been through the process.

I have recently emailed NTL regarding telephone and broadband services and just received a reply stating that you cannot cancel any service via email as it would be a breach of the DPA. Any comments on this?

[Neil]

Originally Posted by ianathuth

How does moving back to BT and retaining your NTL number (which originally was a BT number)from NTL work? You have to give 30 days notice to NTL of cancellation of their service. Anyone been through the process.

*Puts hand up*

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...78&postcount=1

[ian@huth]

Originally Posted by Neil

*Puts hand up*

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...78&postcount=1

Thanks for that Neil. I presume that NTL will continue to charge the line rental for 30 days from when BT contact them about the switch.

In light of what NTL told me about not being able to cancel a service via email because of the DPA how is it that you can cancel a service in the way you illustrate without even contacting NTL?

[Neil]

Originally Posted by ianathuth

Thanks for that Neil. I presume that NTL will continue to charge the line rental for 30 days from when BT contact them about the switch.

In light of what NTL told me about not being able to cancel a service via email because of the DPA how is it that you can cancel a service in the way you illustrate without even contacting NTL?

Sounds like typical ntl BS to me m8.

I didn't speak to ntl about going to BT, nor has anyone I know that has switched from ntl to BT.

BT do the whole thing, just ring them with your account details etc, & they will do the rest in such a professional manner that will make realise just how lame ntl really are.

[NitroNutter]

It was so simple, all I did was Inquire with BT about getting my line re enabled as I wasnt happy with my current provider, I made enquiries to the billing methods etc to ensure I wasnt jumping into the fire from the frying pan and was happy with the end result. I asked about 30 days when he said we can switch you in 7 and he said we can do it in 7. As the BT coinversation was a voice contract over the phone for 3 months id guess it was recorded and Id take a guess that BT wasnt BS me, as if they were it would have been recorded.
As for if your still in an ntl contract, Im sure with price hikes and other changes NTL seem to be making to the detriment of a customer you would as a contracted user be able to legally close the contract prematurley. You best check that with a proffessional first tho, ie ofcom, trading standards etc

and as far as I know my old cable # wasnt a BT number, cable couldnt carry my number over from BT when I changed some 8 years ago

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by NitroNutter

and as far as I know my old cable # wasnt a BT number, cable couldnt carry my number over from BT when I changed some 8 years ago

But you can take it from ntl to BT now if you want.

Originally Posted by ianathuth

How does moving back to BT and retaining your NTL number (which originally was a BT number)from NTL work? You have to give 30 days notice to NTL of cancellation of their service. Anyone been through the process.

I have recently emailed NTL regarding telephone and broadband services and just received a reply stating that you cannot cancel any service via email as it would be a breach of the DPA. Any comments on this?

yes it would be a breach of DPA as its not possible to validate the person sending the email is the correct person.