*ALL* Speed Upgrade Discussion In Here Please

[ian@huth]

Originally Posted by LostintheNW

Just wondering why have NTL decided to put the 2 and 3mb on the same cap level? Doesn't seem to make much sense seeing as the 3mb customers are paying a lot more than someone on 2mb, NTL I think are going to see a lot of people downgrading to the lower speeds - but then again when has good commercial business sense ever been part of NTL's vocab?

The cap levels quoted are just a reiteration of the present soft cap which will continue as a soft cap for a while after the speed upgrades have been implemented. Hard caps will follow not too long afterwards which will be different but we will have to wait and see what those hard caps will be and what happens when you reach them. Some 3Mb to be customers will drop to 2Mb to save money but the really heavy downloaders will probably stick with the 3Mb in an effort to download even more of the internet. My own feeling is that after the speed increases and whilst the caps are still soft NTL may start sending out letters to the very heavy users who have not moderated their activities.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by ianathuth

The cap levels quoted are just a reiteration of the present soft cap which will continue as a soft cap for a while after the speed upgrades have been implemented. Hard caps will follow not too long afterwards which will be different but we will have to wait and see what those hard caps will be and what happens when you reach them. Some 3Mb to be customers will drop to 2Mb to save money but the really heavy downloaders will probably stick with the 3Mb in an effort to download even more of the internet. My own feeling is that after the speed increases and whilst the caps are still soft NTL may start sending out letters to the very heavy users who have not moderated their activities.

What would NTL consider heavy use before the letters and the caps come in? I must say that as it is at the moment i have never received anything from NTL no matter what i downloaded.

[ian@huth]

Originally Posted by Horace

.
I have no children here to control, but I do know families where the parents work and can't sit over their children 24/7 to watch how much they download, even if they knew how to monitor their usage.
When using a PC it's not particularly obvious that someone is downloading gigs worth of movies in the background when they're playing a game or whatever, remember, we live in a society where the youngest members of a family are often far more tech savvy than their bill paying parents. Do a survey of NTL customers and find out how many know what task manager is or how many megabytes are in a gigabyte.
I guess NTL want superfit parents running back and forward checking on their childrens usage by using bandwidth monitoring software with the parents pointing out what they can and can't download, calculator in hand. You really don't have a clue and need to move into the real world.

It is a parents duty to educate their children and teach them what is right and what is wrong. If you have never had children you are not speaking from experience. I have had children and do know what I am talking about. It is possible for children to misuse the telephone and run up bills which can be astronomical at the side of what a broadband bill is. The thing there is that you won't know about the massive bill until it pops through your letterbox. It is easier to monitor broadband usage than it is telephone usage. If the kids use up your broadband allowance then you may have the inconvenience of having a lower speed for a few days or could be weeks but that is livable with unlike a telephone bill which has to be paid. I do live in the real world and have more of a clue than you seem to have.

Originally Posted by Horace

Because NTL amongst other companies grew big and fat from people using their internet in an unrestricted environment.First the carrot, now the stick. For the most part you don't find people watching the clock when using the net, we grew out of that when broadband became an affordable possiblilty and left 56k behind, now NTL want the stopwatch to start ticking again. Maybe CUT should restart their campaigning.

I think that statement illustrates just who has a clue and who hasn't. NTL has not grown big and fat, quite the opposite, it is riddled with debt. You have to realise that customers have to pay the cost of the service that they are using and a little bit more to provide an income to the people who have invested in the company. Unfortunately some users regard an unlimited service as a licence to use as much of it as they can and refuse to voluntarily moderate their usage to the usage pattern that the price is modelled on so that the service can continue to operate at the cheap price that it is.

Originally Posted by Horace

I don't want an unlimited service, but I do want NTL to survive as a company. If it's making money now with all those nasty leeching pirates selling DVD's and XBox games why change things, hell scrap the speed upgrades and leave the soft caps as they are.Then put the monitoring in place and boot the 200gig per month downloaders. Problem is, NTL want headline grabbing speeds to attract people to cable away from DSL(remember to read the small print guys!) but don't want to finance the necessary network upgrades.

Is NTL making money now and if it is, is it making enough to finance network upgrades and maintenance? Whether it is or not, NTL is still spending money upgrading the network. Most NTL customers have a usage pattern that is within the level of the caps and will welcome the upgrade in speeds. Faster speeds don't mean that you have to download more.
__________________

Originally Posted by Doofy

What would NTL consider heavy use before the letters and the caps come in? I must say that as it is at the moment i have never received anything from NTL no matter what i downloaded.

I would say anything that is in excess of their present soft caps is considered heavy use. Letters may not have been sent out in the past but I think they may be in the future. A lot may depend on how customers usage alters with the new speeds. NTL may have plans to cater for the heavier user, watch these forums as any details will probably be seen on here first.

[Doofy]

A new price plan for heavier users seems like a good idea to me i wouldnt object to paying a higher price for higher usage, this would be one way i would be able to stay with NTL for my ISP.

[Ravenalba]

Hi all
having major problems with NTL in that trying to upgrade from 300k to 750 they tell me they cant find my sabs account without the account they cant upgrade my speed. They sent me 2 new install disks with new pin numbers but it wont let me generate an account as it says the mac address on the modem is already registered

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by Ravenalba

Hi all
having major problems with NTL in that trying to upgrade from 300k to 750 they tell me they cant find my sabs account without the account they cant upgrade my speed. They sent me 2 new install disks with new pin numbers but it wont let me generate an account as it says the mac address on the modem is already registered

I would start a new thread on this problem if I were you, it is a specific problem and will get lost in the noise of this thread, someone like Debsy will probably sort this out in a heartbeat.

[Chrysalis]

2 things.

1 - Wannaddoo see a massive consumer burst after upgradng speeds with caps, has anyone seen the tv advert? There is no mention of a cap and if there is its in small print and I didne see it probably along with millions of others. It is the same old story it is assumed if the customer doesnt know about it then they agree with it this is simply not true. It is one of those things that work well at first then when people start seeing the downfalls then the consequences will happen.

2 - If the same group of people own both ntl and telewest how can ntl use the excuse ntl is been run like this because the owners demand it, wouldnt telewest be run the same way if that was the case? or have they simply demanded telewest is run for benefit of consumers and ntl is run for benefit of profits.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

2 - If the same group of people own both ntl and telewest how can ntl use the excuse ntl is been run like this because the owners demand it, wouldnt telewest be run the same way if that was the case? or have they simply demanded telewest is run for benefit of consumers and ntl is run for benefit of profits.

If Ignition is to be believed, Telewest are currently reaping the benefits of a huge upgrading program they carried out before they nearly went bust. At some point, they won't have the ability to upgrade speeds any further, so will be in a similar position to NTL.

So, yes, I do think that although Telewest customers appear to have a better deal at the moment, that will stop.
__________________

Originally Posted by Horace

.
I have no children here to control, but I do know families where the parents work and can't sit over their children 24/7 to watch how much they download, even if they knew how to monitor their usage.
When using a PC it's not particularly obvious that someone is downloading gigs worth of movies in the background when they're playing a game or whatever, remember, we live in a society where the youngest members of a family are often far more tech savvy than their bill paying parents. Do a survey of NTL customers and find out how many know what task manager is or how many megabytes are in a gigabyte.
I guess NTL want superfit parents running back and forward checking on their childrens usage by using bandwidth monitoring software with the parents pointing out what they can and can't download, calculator in hand. You really don't have a clue and need to move into the real world.

This is offtopic, but bearing in mind the content of some Internet sites, I would hope that parents DO monitor how much (and what) their kids are downloading.

[bywater]

I am quiet happy with the 30gig a month download limit but only if this is 30gig a month and not done on a gig a day basis. If my connection drops to 57k on any one day I think I'll be off. Will NTL be offering any tools to monitor ones own usesage ? I am not very happy about the news of the drop to 57k if this is true. I think the best solution all round would have been to charge a small amount for any usesage over your allowance.

[daveeb]

I'm currently on the 750k silver package. when the speeds change will i be able to "downgrade" to the bronze package then go up to 1 meg on that package ??

[Ignition]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

2 things.

1 - Wannaddoo see a massive consumer burst after upgradng speeds with caps, has anyone seen the tv advert? There is no mention of a cap and if there is its in small print and I didne see it probably along with millions of others. It is the same old story it is assumed if the customer doesnt know about it then they agree with it this is simply not true. It is one of those things that work well at first then when people start seeing the downfalls then the consequences will happen.

2 - If the same group of people own both ntl and telewest how can ntl use the excuse ntl is been run like this because the owners demand it, wouldnt telewest be run the same way if that was the case? or have they simply demanded telewest is run for benefit of consumers and ntl is run for benefit of profits.

1 - Is made very clear by Wanadoo here in their signup pages: http://wanadoo.co.uk/time/broadbanda...nternet_access

If it weren't present and duly noted on the advertisements the ASA would have received complaints, ISPs love biatching at it each other over their ads and report one another at the drop of a hat.

2 - Telewest had (notice use of had) spare capacity, which was how they could implement their speed increases so quickly. Most of this is now gone so they have to spend serious money as ntl have had to to finance any more speed increases rather than getting them free or at very little cost.
__________________

Originally Posted by daveeb

I'm currently on the 750k silver package. when the speeds change will i be able to "downgrade" to the bronze package then go up to 1 meg on that package ??

Yup, with a lower usage allowance, but if that usage allowance suits you go for it. Weird seeing someone complain about the idea of saving money.

[BBB]

Regarding needing a replacement modem in order to get the Upgrade (2MB). I have a standard NTL 200 Cable Modem, is this ok or will I need an upgrade?

[quadplay]

All Stand Alone Cable Modems (SACMs) on the ntl network will be able to handle the current round of upgrades without an upgrade. This includes the ntl 200.

[Ignition]

Originally Posted by BBB

Regarding needing a replacement modem in order to get the Upgrade (2MB). I have a standard NTL 200 Cable Modem, is this ok or will I need an upgrade?

Answered lots already - no you are fine

Moderator types, any chance this thread could be closed and another opened due to the insane length of this thread now?

[BBB]

Thanks, Im new so wasn't sure!