ntl Base and Family Packs

[Neil]

Originally Posted by orangebird

Well blame Sky for that.

How can you blame Sky for the way ntl sell/price their products?

ntl's price for the Family Pack on their website ( http://www.home.ntl.com/icat/television ) clearly says from £10.00 per month.

Please tell me how someone can get that package for that price (they can't)

When you then scroll down it says...

Originally Posted by ntl

Price excludes Telephone line rental which must be purchased with your TV package.

So if you wanted a reasonably price (£10.00 ) Base Pack of channels, & your budget is £10.00 ish, you have to almost double your budget to get that package from ntl.

Still can't see how that's Sky's fault tho....

[orangebird]

ntl always used to advertise their packs for the full price including the phone line. Sky then see fit to state that their packs are '£x amount, look how much cheaper than ntl we are (but we don't mention that that cost actually includes phone line rental too)........', then stick in little letters at the bottom of their t&c's about the fact you have to have a BT phone line for the first year to receive the service (at least - you have to have a phone line all the time if you want to receive all the interactive they offer), which effectively makes both deals the same price.

But, because of Skys underhand advertising, ntl are more are less now FORCED to advertise the costs for the services seperately (even though the DTV and phone are bundled), just so consumers can see the real picture. What's good for the goose...

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by Neil

How can you blame Sky for the way ntl sell/price their products?

ntl's price for the Family Pack on their website ( http://www.home.ntl.com/icat/television ) clearly says from £10.00 per month.

Please tell me how someone can get that package for that price (they can't)

When you then scroll down it says...



So if you wanted a reasonably price (£10.00 ) Base Pack of channels, & your budget is £10.00 ish, you have to almost double your budget to get that package from ntl.

Still can't see how that's Sky's fault tho....

Your as bad as Defiant Neil - yes, you ahve to double your budget, but you also get a phone line. Which you also have to have (via BT etc) when you first sign up with Sky. Why do you have to omit things that count? Al it does it crap all over your argument.

[scrotnig]

Originally Posted by Neil

How can you blame Sky for the way ntl sell/price their products?

ntl's price for the Family Pack on their website ( http://www.home.ntl.com/icat/television ) clearly says from £10.00 per month.

Please tell me how someone can get that package for that price (they can't)

When you then scroll down it says...



So if you wanted a reasonably price (£10.00 ) Base Pack of channels, & your budget is £10.00 ish, you have to almost double your budget to get that package from ntl.

Still can't see how that's Sky's fault tho....

Sorry Neil but on this one you are wrong.

Ring Sky and say you want their family pack for £19.50 but you do NOT have a landline and are NOT prepared to have one. They will not be able to sell you the package because it is a contractual obligation to have your Sky box plugged into a landline for the first 12 months.

Therefore, Sky £19.50 for the package, plus BT phone line £10.50 = £30 which is £1 dearer than the equivalent ntl tv and phone bundle.

[themelon]

Originally Posted by Mark B

Sorry Neil but on this one you are wrong.

Ring Sky and say you want their family pack for £19.50 but you do NOT have a landline and are NOT prepared to have one. They will not be able to sell you the package because it is a contractual obligation to have your Sky box plugged into a landline for the first 12 months.

Therefore, Sky £19.50 for the package, plus BT phone line £10.50 = £30 which is £1 dearer than the equivalent ntl/Sky bundle.

It is true. You do need a phoneline to recieve Sky Subsidised offers, although I believe it can now be an ntl one.

I believe if you pay £150+ or something crazy Sky will Install without the need for the phoneline, but if you gonna spend £150 on that privilage you might as well have the phoneline and not use it.

To me the £13.50 Pack doesnt come close to the £19.50 ntl pack whichever way you look at it........it has no E4, no Freeview Channels like ITV2, UK History, TMF, Hits, Bright Ideas, ABC1 etc.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by orangebird

Your as bad as Defiant Neil

Thanks for that-I find getting personal always help a discussion.

Originally Posted by orangebird

yes, you ahve to double your budget, but you also get a phone line. Which you also have to have (via BT etc) when you first sign up with Sky. Why do you have to omit things that count? Al it does it crap all over your argument.

1) What if you simply don't want a phone line from ntl?

2) What if you have just signed with BT & entered into a contract (3 months is minimum I think) & are happy with the service BT provide?

3) What if you choose to route your calls elsewhere via CPS through someone like Talk Talk for example, & are happy with the service they provide too?

4) What if you just don't want to switch telco providers just to get DTV?

5) What about if you want CLI & ntl don't offer it in your area?

6) What about if you have ADSL on your existing BT line & don't want to cancel it just for the sake of getting DTV from ntl?

It all comes down to choice, & that is something that ntl do not offer in this situation, so that pretty much craps over your argument.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Mark B

Sorry Neil but on this one you are wrong.

I'm never wrong!

Originally Posted by Mark B

Ring Sky and say you want their family pack for £19.50 but you do NOT have a landline and are NOT prepared to have one. They will not be able to sell you the package because it is a contractual obligation to have your Sky box plugged into a landline for the first 12 months.

Ok-so I have to have a landline-big deal, who desn't have one?
The difference is Sky are not forcing their own landline on me just to get BT.

Originally Posted by Mark B

Therefore, Sky £19.50 for the package, plus BT phone line £10.50 = £30 which is £1 dearer than the equivalent ntl/Sky bundle.

But it's still all about choice for the consumer Mark. Sky don't care whose landline the STB is connected to-BT/ntl/Telewest, & that is the big difference.

PS-I'm still not wrong!

[bigitup_j]

ntl bundle tv and telephone together to make a profit!
if ntl offered tv as a stand-alone pack, it would take 40+ months for ntl to break even (it costs around £250 to connect a dtv customer).
but with a telephone line included, it takes only 11-12 months for ntl to break even.

i don't understand why ntl don't offer tv and broadband as a bundle, seeing as landline telephony is becoming less popular

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by Neil

Thanks for that-I find getting personal always help a discussion.

I wasn't getting personal, just making an observation

1) What if you simply don't want a phone line from ntl?

Then go to sky, and get a phone line from BT that Sky force you to take

2) What if you have just signed with BT & entered into a contract (3 months is minimum I think) & are happy with the service BT provide?

Then go to Sky or FreeView

3) What if you choose to route your calls elsewhere via CPS through someone like Talk Talk for example, & are happy with the service they provide too?

Then you'll have to go to Sky or FreeView

4) What if you just don't want to switch telco providers just to get DTV?

Then you'll have to go to Sky or Freeview

5) What about if you want CLI & ntl don't offer it in your area?

Then stay with BT and get Sky or Freeview

6) What about if you have ADSL on your existing BT line & don't want to cancel it just for the sake of getting DTV from ntl?

Then get Sky or Freeview

It all comes down to choice,

Good one, I noticed that too - you have a choice to get ntl dtv, but you must have the ntl phone line, or go to sky dtv, but you must have A N OTHER phone line - not much difference in choice to me?
Or you can go to FreeView.

& that is something that ntl do not offer in this situation, so that pretty much craps over your argument.

Not really Neil, as

1) You still haven't addressed the fact (despite THREE members pointing out to you) that you can't get Sky without paying for a telehone line (regardless of supplier).

2) this thread has bugger all to do with what you're arguing about.

3) You omitted FACTS about what else you need to purchase in order to receive Skys DTV, and therefore did not do a fair comparison

4) I don't know what. I'm frankly bored of the same lame arguments. I have stated nothing but FACT and left nothing out at all, you have been very economic with the truth to suit yourself (ie to make ntl look bad).

[Neil]

Originally Posted by orangebird

Then go to Sky or FreeView

Ah the old "If you don't like it-go elsewhere" chestnut...

[QUOTE=orangebird]Good one, I noticed that too - you have a choice to get ntl dtv, but you must have the ntl phone line, or go to sky dtv, but you must have A N OTHER phone line - not much difference in choice to me?
Still a choice though-get all the feature that a BT line can offer, or an ntl phone line that pales in comparison-some choice that is!

Originally Posted by orangebird

Or you can go to FreeView.

You'd only have to do that because there is no choice from ntl.

Originally Posted by orangebird

Not really Neil, as

1) You still haven't addressed the fact (despite THREE members pointing out to you) that you can't get Sky without paying for a telehone line (regardless of supplier)

Yes I have! I have scknowledge that already, but as I said-Sky give you the choice of which Telco your DTV service plugs into & ntl don't.

Originally Posted by orangebird

2) this thread has bugger all to do with what you're arguing about.

I thought we were discusisng choice (or lack of it)

Originally Posted by orangebird

3) You omitted FACTS about what else you need to purchase in order to receive Skys DTV, and therefore did not do a fair comparison

No I didn't-read my post again-I have fully acknowledged that you need a phone line for Sky, & made a point that Sky don't force you to have a Sky phone line (therefore giving you choice)

Originally Posted by orangebird

4) I don't know what. I'm frankly bored of the same lame arguments. I have stated nothing but FACT and left nothing out at all, you have been very economic with the truth to suit yourself (ie to make ntl look bad).

What about the simple fact that ntl don't give you a choice of telco providers when you take their DTV product?

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by Neil

Ah the old "If you don't like it-go elsewhere" chestnut...

Not at all, and I don't believe I said that either ( ) but if you don't like the service being offered from ntl, it would make sense to look elsewhere, wouldn't it?

You'd only have to do that because there is no choice from ntl.

No there isn't, but that's not what started this rather heated discussion.

Yes I have! I have scknowledge that already, but as I said-Sky give you the choice of which Telco your DTV service plugs into & ntl don't.

After severe promting...

I thought we were discusisng choice (or lack of it)

No - what sprited me to reply to your post was the fact that you said that you could get DTV from Sky for a tenner, but you'd have to double that budget to get it from ntl. If you'd carried onto say that you get the phoneline included in the ntl price, or that you would need to spend another £10 on line rental from A N Other phone company for Sky to service you With DTV, I wouldn't said anything.... well, not much anyway.

No I didn't-read my post again-I have fully acknowledged that you need a phone line for Sky, & made a point that Sky don't force you to have a Sky phone line (therefore giving you choice)

Yes, refer to my reply above. You may have acknowledged it yourself, but did not on your posts until prompted to.

What about the simple fact that ntl don't give you a choice of telco providers when you take their DTV product?

That's up to ntl. With the cost of installing a customer, it's not economically viable for ntl to offer one service without the other. Customers have a choice - use ntl for DTV and phone, or use Sky and BT etc.

[Neil]

Ok-that's settled than.....

I just like choice as a consumer, & don't like products forced on me.

I don't think it's fair or right in this day & age, that's all.

[bob_builder]

Originally Posted by jambolino

We are paying £19.50 for telephone and Digital Base Pack and another £9.50 for the Family pack.

Could anyone here tell me what exactly the base pack and family packs include.
We asked NTL this one and they said that the base pack was included in the family pack, if this is so, this is something we should not be paying for, so do we really need both?

I'm totally confused, please help

jambolino,

I appologise for the ranting going on in this thread but you appear to have touched a raw nerve in many of us.

To answer your question, this is waht is included in the Base Pack:
http://www.home.ntl.com/icat/basepack

All the Base Pack channels are also included in the Family Pack, but you pay £9.50 for these extra channels:
http://www.home.ntl.com/icat/familypack

The problem with the ranting is that the line rental is also £9.50 (and so the Base Pack TV is essentially £10) and I think people have got confused.

[themelon]

Originally Posted by Neil

Ok-that's settled than.....

I just like choice as a consumer, & don't like products forced on me.

I don't think it's fair or right in this day & age, that's all.

All Products force something on you though.

You dont have to have an ntl phone line actually.........you just have to pay for it.

Much the same as you dont have to have a phoneline with Sky........but you have to pay a premium.

Great Choice in this country we have.......a vast choice of Satellite providers who arent at all monopolistic, the same with Telecoms and Broadband Speeds the third world wouldnt be proud of.

Britain what a wonderful palce

[altis]

This is the price list that was issued in June. I think it is still current.

http://www.ntl.com/customerupdate/pdf/price_list.pdf