Waiting for cable upgrade in London SW18

[brianlb]

Here in Wandsworth, SW London, most of us can get very good (but not interactive) digital TV and a reliable dial-up internet connection from NTL, as well as telephone lines, but still not cable broadband, pending an upgrade of the old Videotron (later Cable & Wireless) cabling. Until last month (September 2004) many of us in this central London area couldn't get broadband from BT either, because of the length of our local loops connecting us to our BT exchange. Earlier this year I ran a small private campaign via my MP, the responsible DTI minister, the e-envoy, Ofcom, BT and NTL to draw attention to this absurd and little-publicised anomaly whereby thousands of Londoners were deprived of broadband access and couldn't get any indication from either BT or NTL of when this was going to be put right. Finally, after exchanges of emails with the Chairmen and Chief Executives and the heads of the broadband departments of both companies, who had presumably been spurred into communicating with me by the spate of letters they were getting from my MP and the minister, I was told that from 6 September BT would be providing broadband to customers previously barred by the local loop length issue; and rather later, I heard from a senior executive at NTL that my area was scheduled for a cable upgrade to broadband standard by around the middle of or late 2005, subject to nothing cropping up in the meantime to delay it. In reluctantly disclosing this information to me, both companies apologised for the lack of publicly available information about their plans (e.g. on their websites or from their respective Customer Service departments) and promised to do better on the information front in future.

I now have a very good 512 kbs broadband service from Zen on a BT line and I'm keeping my NTL dialup account alive (even though it is virtually drowned in the incessant flood of spam -- between 200 and 300 a day!) in the hope that I'll be able to go over to cable broadband by around this time next year, if all goes well. (And, BTW, the NTL man also said that NTL was hoping to follow just about every ISP on the planet in introducing a spam filter in the not too distant future -- although there's no sign of it so far.)

Just thought other broadband-starved Londoners would like to know. I'd be surprised if you could find anyone in NTL Customer Services who would give you this information, or even be able to find it out for themselves!

Cheers
Brian
29 Oct 04
http://www.barder.com/brian/

[BBKing]

It's not totally unknown, but we've had enough false dawns and broken promises that it's probably wisest to keep things under wraps until we have a definite service to launch. It's definitely happening though, new UBRs and lots of attention being paid to cable quality.

Fundamentally, if we don't announce it, it will be a bit of a waste of money, so I suspect we'll do some kind of marketing push when we're confident we won't be receiving more oeuf sur le visage.

[brianlb]

Thanks. I'm sure you're right to be sceptical. I'm certainly not holding my breath. And in the meantime, thanks to Zen and BT, I do at least have broadband -- and so far it's been working fine, after initial teething problems.
Brian

[gallego1]

Originally Posted by BBKing

It's not totally unknown, but we've had enough false dawns and broken promises that it's probably wisest to keep things under wraps until we have a definite service to launch. It's definitely happening though, new UBRs and lots of attention being paid to cable quality.

Fundamentally, if we don't announce it, it will be a bit of a waste of money, so I suspect we'll do some kind of marketing push when we're confident we won't be receiving more oeuf sur le visage.

It this is true REMEMBER NOV 2000 and a recent letter to say thay C.S. is and will be further improved during 2005. SO WHY do I still get invites to join the broadband clan, when I know from experience that it will be never. Therefore increasing costs by advertising with false promises.

Would I have a case under the trades descriptions act. Oh No the advert says in bb enabled streets only Does the mailing team know which streets are enabled??????

BTW the latest update from C.S. this week is August 2005 for good old LAMBETH

[bigitup_j]

Well, by 2006 ntl should be upgraded London. So you only have to wait until August 2005...

[brianlb]

Originally Posted by bigitup_j

Well, by 2006 ntl should be upgraded London. So you only have to wait until August 2005...

Sorry, I don't quite follow that. What is the significance of August, exactly?

Brian
http://www.barder.com/brian/

[bigitup_j]

Originally Posted by brianlb

Sorry, I don't quite follow that. What is the significance of August, exactly?

i was replying to the comment below.

Originally Posted by gallego1

BTW the latest update from C.S. this week is August 2005 for good old LAMBETH

areas in north london have already had broadband rolled out, within the last 1-2 months. more areas soon, i guess

[brianlb]

Thanks. I missed that about Lambeth. Better move to Brixton, I suppose! What about poor old Wandsworth????


Brian