The absolutely amazingly fantasticly fast Cable TV service (sarcasm alert!)

[Simcut]

Hi guys,

anyone else have awful problems with the Cable TV service? I press the guide button and it takes at least 2/3 minutes for the channel listings to line up, and most of the time if I press the left and right buttons to scroll through the bar at the bottom to see whats on, all of it doesnt show what the latest program is, why are NTL tryin to copy Sky Digital's layout anyway?

I cant wait until I move in 10 days, no more NTL TV, but man, what a disgrace they are.

Not only do I have the ****test TV service in the world but the ****test broadband service in the world, speed problems for 5 and a 1/2 months now without it being fixed and no letter of apology.

Originally Posted by Simcut

anyone else have awful problems with the Cable TV service?

Nope. All my channels are fine. I don't use their tv guide (see sig).

Originally Posted by Simcut

I cant wait until I move in 10 days, no more NTL TV, but man, what a disgrace they are.

Good luck with what I assume will be BT/Sky. - FYI: There is nothing disgraceful about the ntl service around here, but like most large companies - some people do have bad experiences.

Some people seem to make the mistake of assuming that everyone suffers the same. I assure you that they don't.

[poolking]

I don't think NTL are trying to copy Sky's layout, I think that would be the software that NTL uses.

Also you are only giving your side of the story. What is NTL's response to this?

[jtwn]

On the contarary, i actually have noticed since the first month or so of cr3 that when i go on to the guide, ill get about 3 or 4 pages of listings, usually with their information aswell before i have to wait for it appear, i dont know what happened, but it sure was a change for the better

My STB is generally a little slower since CR3, but not nearly slow enough to be a problem. On the other hand, the TV guide is more reliable - it is a lot less likely to hang waiting for information to display, or for the mini-guide to refuse to show anything more than now and next, something that happened to me on a weekly basis previously.

[Lew]

Our STBs (a 4001 and a 4010) start off nice and fast just after a reboot but gradually get more and more sluggish as time goes by (even more so if we use the Guide or BBCi), eventually resulting in a "BAUKM" error (somtimes the "Fix" button works but most times it doesn't even highlight so can't be selected). As a result we have to reboot the boxes every few days. I wonder if that's the "exciting" part of the new TV service that the leaflets referred toâ₠¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¦

[SMHarman]

Mine is slow enough to be annoying, but I don't want to get tied into another 12 month contract with anyone.

I notice it most when dialing up a channel number the response between pressing a number and seeing it appear on the cable box is slow, if you dial too quickly the box misses a number so 147 shows up as 17, then you need to press a number again and start again.

When the guide and other visual aspects appear on screen you can almost see the box drawing the graphics, line by line, like those spectrum loading screens you used to get.

CR3 performance sucks.

Originally Posted by SMHarman

Mine is slow enough to be annoying, but I don't want to get tied into another 12 month contract with anyone.

I notice it most when dialing up a channel number the response between pressing a number and seeing it appear on the cable box is slow, if you dial too quickly the box misses a number so 147 shows up as 17, then you need to press a number again and start again.

When the guide and other visual aspects appear on screen you can almost see the box drawing the graphics, line by line, like those spectrum loading screens you used to get.

CR3 performance sucks.

I absolutely agree, these are the reasons that I ended up binning the digi tv service. I was getting a severe anger problem waiting 2 - 3 minutes just waiting for the digi stb to change channels. So I lowered my blood pressure by saying bye-bye to digi.

[poolking]

I do find it slow at times, but then again, I only watch a couple of channels now.

I know we are all paying for a service and at times it is inadequate, but really is there any need to get stressed over it? It isn't the end of the world.

[SMHarman]

Is there a need to get stressed over it - No.

Is the new software / interface slow to the point of useless / yes.

I used to be able to browse through the now and next on the 6 or so channels I watch and set reminders for my evenings viewing in about 5 minutes. If I'm lucky I might have managed one channel in that time now, so it's a pointless excercise trying to do it when I could have watched one of the programs in the time it takes.

e-tv, well it's nice to have, I watched the England highlights on it. I've voted for BB on it (though could not this Friday, the app was overloaded - there's a loss of revenue to BB and NTL).

But fast channel switching, a responsive input to commands (try typing on a computer keyboard, when the letters don't appear on screen for another second or so). They are a given. NTL does not achieve that though.

That and this 4:3 in 16:9 bug where everything gets stuck in 4:3 grrr.

[Simcut]

mate, I have every reason to get stressed over it, considering the terribly poor service I get from them for the internet, I get it for TV too :| wonderful!

Originally Posted by Simcut

mate, I have every reason to get stressed over it, considering the terribly poor service I get from them for the internet, I get it for TV too :| wonderful!

You don't need to get stressed - you're moving arn't you ?

[poolking]

Simcut,

You maybe getting stressed, but we are only hearing one side of the story and as Pem said, why are you stressing when you are moving, I just don't get it?

[Simcut]

because I've had to live with it for 5 months without NTL caring at all, customer service at its greatest, I am outraged at them, completely and utterly

I might be moving but thats no excuse.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Simcut

mate, I have every reason to get stressed over it, considering the terribly poor service I get from them for the internet, I get it for TV too :| wonderful!

I realise this may seem a stupid question, but have you reported your problems to NTL? That question is not as stupid as it seems. as I have read complaints of bad service a few times on this forum, and when I (or someone else) has asked "Have you reported it to NTL?", the complainer has answered "No".