10MB upgrade running at super fast 1.5MB

[5quirrel]

First post so please be gentle!

Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢ve just upgraded my 3MB STB (Samsung) connection to 10MB but I am having issues that I thought someone could shed some light on?

First a brief history:
My house is apparently a fair distance from the cab and as such an original request for an RG11 cable pull was put in by an engineer because the signal levels were too low (an RG6 cable was installed and then replaced a week later by the requested RG11 because the TV picture kept freezing). Apparently RG11 cables are no longer installed so I guess Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m lucky here.

STB Broadband has worked and been upgraded over 4+ years with few problems but with 10MB I clearly needed a cable modem. An engineer arrived last Friday and decided to put a splitter on my existing cable and bung an NTL250 on one side and my STB on the other.

Now my TV picture randomly freezes for a second and my 10MB broadband happily runs at 1.5MB. To be honest the speed jumps up to 7+ MB after midnight and before 9am so Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m concerned that this is a contention ratio problem?

What I am interested in is †œIs it possible to have a second cable pulled specifically for the cable modem?ââ‚Ã⠀šÃ‚¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ÂÂ� and if so would this alleviate both TV and Broadband problems. If the Broadband issues are contention ratio linked then should I go down to 2MB and save some cash?

Any info would be appreciated as NTL are not really helping at all, worst case scenario what are the cool off period details in having just upgraded to 10MB so I can ditch it?

Many thanks in advance...

[Chrysalis]

if you check couple of other threads there is some theories their is shaping going on or it could just be contention causing the speeds, I agree that 1.5meg peak time speed on a 10meg product is poor and needs attention.

[Rone]

I'm getting 50 kbps, tech support said there is a problem, someone was going to ring me back today, when i rang at 8pm, a nice lady told me there was nothing she could do about getting anyone to ring me back. [at least she did'nt say someone else would]
I have to ring up tommorow to give 30 days notice, i've stuck with NTL for as long as i can, but as you say, 1.5 meg at those times is not really acceptable. It shouldnt really sink any lower than 3meg, which is what a lot were on before this "upto" 10 meg fiasco.
After the pathetic speeds around Christmas, and having a new modem which did nothing [except match the carpet] whatsoever i have finally given up.
I hope you have better luck.

[mob227]

I upgraded to 10mb the other day i have a 250 modem connected via ethernet cable the speed as always max i have no problems with it

[5quirrel]

Thanks guys, I've got an engineer due in the morning so I can corner him if you think there is anything he can do? Can they boost signals or is that not the problem? I was hoping someone had an answer but from what Rone says it looks like this is normal and therefore unacceptable It doesn't even sound like a second cable pull would resolve the issue

Should of stuck with the 3MB STB option by the sound of it. Thanks anyway and I'll just have to start the research for a decent ADSL provider.

Squirrel

---------- Post added at 23:05 ---------- Previous post was at 23:03 ----------

Originally Posted by mob227

I upgraded to 10mb the other day i have a 250 modem connected via ethernet cable the speed as always max i have no problems with it

Mob227 - Where geographically are you and what NTL services do you have (TV/Phone/BB)? Have you speedtest between 6pm and 9pm and still maxing?

Squirrel

[looselipsuk]

Long time back when I switched over to broadband I also had picture freezing and lots of other problems. My broadband connection was picked up off the outside box on the wall.
After a lot of phone calls an engineer eventually came round and found that they had not sdjusted the signal levels when I had got broadband added.
Tweaked the signal strength at the green box and it sorted out the problem.

[Rone]

Well i'm not sure its dead typical, but as soon as you say yours is bad, everyone immediately tells you how fast theirs is. That doesnt help a lot.
Whats bewildering is the lack of follow up, last time there was a problem, it seemed to be widespread, and things got better, this seems to be affecting me, and maybe others who have'nt noticed or are not really bothered, or maybe its just my connection.
Its bad enough having to retire from online gaming [thanks ntl] but to pay £35 for a glorified dial-up-service doesnt make me happy.
But to ring and be told "i cant help in any way" is not what you want to hear from customer service, especially as the call centre guy spent about 2hrs trying everything including having me disable my av\ firewall, my router, heck i even tried my other pc for him, finally he agreed there is a problem, then nothing happens.

[etccarmageddon]

soon it will cost you £12 for those 2 hour calls to tech support.

see discussion re the costs involved:-
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...d.php?p=703792

[Rone]

Eeek, thats going to be expensive for everyone then.
Well as i am typing here, i am on the phone having NTL cut off. This is the second time in 3 months that dial-up speeds are just not worth £35pm.
By the way i mentioned to the guy on the phone that these calls might cost money in the future, he said he had not heard of that.
So i have 30 days to change my mind, but i'm looking elsewhere if the truth be told.

[5quirrel]

The engineer official line from this morning is "**** Happens" cheers, thanks a bunch. I had an NTL party this morning with four (count them 1,2,3,4) NTL engineers. They looked at the faults with the TV,Telephone and BB and after 90 mins they managed to fix the phone.

BB is still 1.5MB during the evening and TV still glitches - they could of saved lots of time messing about with cables, checking signals, etc, etc if they'd of just admitted in the beginning that NTL are crap and theres no point in complaining or asking for anyone to come out and and try and fix it.

Ah well - HUGE SIGH and sign off! Thanks for the replies and information given.

Squirrel

[Hom3r]

I still cannont get above 5.5Mb, While in a town centre I spoke to two guys who where selling NTL packages. the sign on there display and they said it was a 10Mb service and NOT upto 10Mb.

They also suggest that I try TS to get my line checked.

Also they said that NTL where trialing 24Mb.

[5quirrel]

Originally Posted by david.ewles

I still cannont get above 5.5Mb, While in a town centre I spoke to two guys who where selling NTL packages. the sign on there display and they said it was a 10Mb service and NOT upto 10Mb.

They also suggest that I try TS to get my line checked.

Also they said that NTL where trialing 24Mb.

ALL there BB is 'up to' http://www.home.ntl.com/icat/broadband

They can trial whatever they want - they just cannot provide it!

Annoyed Squirrel

[Martyn]

i was told STB can only go to 5mb...?? o.0