[Now Official] More ntl speed changes

[Alien]

I think the new speeds are good news. Obviously I'd prefer the speed increase to be free, but £25 is acceptable as a 1-off charge.

There are a couple of things I would like to mention though, incase Simon Duffy's reading this or someone's passing ideas on to him:

1. There is some contention about the £25 charge & the possibility of new users getting free installation, whilst long term users are paying the £25. Why would NTL give freebies/discounts to new users? as an incentive to sign up. However, this creates bad will with long term users who will have payed the £25 charge. I suggest a compromise - £25 for existing users, free installation for new users opting for bottom tier, an installation/setup fee for those new users wanting middle or top tier BB, & the upgrade charge for those new users who join at bottom tier, but later decide to move up to middle or top tier.

2. When monitoring/governing the cap, please use real GB, not marketing GB. A gigabyte is 1,024MB, or 1,073,741,824 bytes - a marketing gigabyte [invented by hard drive manufacturers to exagerate the size of their drives] is 1000MB.

<edit>
I forgot to add - my reason for my 2nd suggestion is that bandwidth monitoring software uses real GB not marketing GB.
</edit>

[Ignition]

Originally Posted by Alien

I think the new speeds are good news. Obviously I'd prefer the speed increase to be free, but £25 is acceptable as a 1-off charge.

There are a couple of things I would like to mention though, incase Simon Duffy's reading this or someone's passing ideas on to him:

1. There is some contention about the £25 charge & the possibility of new users getting free installation, whilst long term users are paying the £25. Why would NTL give freebies/discounts to new users? as an incentive to sign up. However, this creates bad will with long term users who will have payed the £25 charge. I suggest a compromise - £25 for existing users, free installation for new users opting for bottom tier, an installation/setup fee for those new users wanting middle or top tier BB, & the upgrade charge for those new users who join at bottom tier, but later decide to move up to middle or top tier.

2. When monitoring/governing the cap, please use real GB, not marketing GB. A gigabyte is 1,024MB, or 1,073,741,824 bytes - a marketing gigabyte [invented by hard drive manufacturers to exagerate the size of their drives] is 1000MB.

<edit>
I forgot to add - my reason for my 2nd suggestion is that bandwidth monitoring software uses real GB not marketing GB.
</edit>

A Gigabyte is 1000MB, you are thinking of a Gibibyte (binary notation). The officially ratified quantity of a Gigabyte is 1000MB.

If the capping were to be enforced robustly ntl would supply a means of watching how much has been downloaded. To do otherwise would be unfair.

[IanGuy]

I would be happy to pay the £25 admin fee for 300k - 1mb, but 5gb simply isn't enough for my needs.

I would probably require a 10gb a month cap.

[JediMaster]

Lets sort this all out for Members !

1) 5GB a month is aimed at people like my Sister. Now on 300kb (was on Dial Up). It gives you the SPEED to Shop online & get your photo's & emails faster. 5GB is a LOT to the NORMAL School Kid or 9-5 worker.

5GB a Month = 166MB {5,000MB % 30) (it's not exactle that but close enough [unless your really ANAL] )

So lets say 130MB even, that is a LOT of emails, shopping online & stuff. Each MP3 is around 3-6MB. Even getting a TV series like Joey off Torrent (1 a week at 175MB) there is NO way that a NORMA user will clock up 5GB+ (unless He/She is on the 1MB now & wants to dwngrade to £17.99)

2) The 2MB line is Great NEWS. 30GB a month (1GB a day) is what we have NOW. Ok so we get FASTER speeds, but a NORMAL user would not hit 30GB every month...

I use my 750kb for a LOT of Vids (Dix-X & others) from Paying Forums. I run a few sites & do a lot of work. I get the Joey series & other 100MB+ Vids (Pop Songs off News Groups & Sites). I get Software like the NASA crap that was posted here (200MB) & Video editing software. :o My DU-Meter shows that in the last 1YR I have downloaded: Between 2.6GB a month (I was on 150kb) to 9GB a month. I think that even I would NOT hit the 30GB limit. & I use my Flashget a LOT. But over the month it works out less than 30GB. Some days I get 1.4GB & others 400mb

End of the RANT

[bigitup_j]

Originally Posted by IanGuy

I would be happy to pay the £25 admin fee for 300k - 1mb, but 5gb simply isn't enough for my needs.

I would probably require a 10gb a month cap.

same here.
i'm pretty sure i download more that 5gb per month on my 300k.
it doesn't seem fair that existing, loyal 300k customers will be given a 5gb per month cap, when it was 30gb.

an extra 2 or 3 gb would be good, 10gb per month would be better of course!... HINT HINT ntl!

but 1mb sounds very nice....

[Ignition]

Originally Posted by JediMaster

5GB a Month = 166MB {5,000MB % 30) (it's not exactle that but close enough [unless your really ANAL] )

Mmmmmmm anal. (not receiving btw)

*ahem*

[cookie_365]

I dunno, if NTL announced that they were upgrading the speeds for nothing this forum'd be packed full of whingers complaining about how unfair it all was.

Oh, hang on, they did exactly that a couple of months ago didn't they. And if memory serves the forum was packed full of whingers complaining about how unfair it all was ......

Some people will never be happy - I think they expect ntl to pay them for use of the internet.

[Nor]

Always makes me laugh when people complain about people complaining.

[cookie_365]

Originally Posted by Nor

Always makes me laugh when people complain about people complaining.

I'd like to complain about people complaining about me complaining about people complaining !

Originally Posted by Paul M

Some people will never be happy - I think they expect ntl to pay them for use of the internet.

**********STOP THE PRESS**********


NTL customers want blood from a stone and want NTL to pay for it.

[Nor]

Originally Posted by cookie_365

I'd like to complain about people complaining about me complaining about people complaining !

Aha yes, but I wasn't complaining about you complaining about others complaining. I was merely commenting on the comedy of complaining about complaining

[DieDieMyDarling]

We really shouldn't complain, it's a good deal to pay 25 quid for the privilege to go from an uncapped service to a service that we can only use for 58 mins per day at full swing at 3mb(69mins for 2mb, 23mins for 1mb).

In my opinion the 1mb and 2mb services are fine. Both aimed at people who aren't heavy users. Fine for browsing, emailing, online gaming, and the odd game demo download etc. But when it comes to the 3mb service, which is clearly aimed at heavy users and to only offer them an extra 33% on the cap is just stupid. If Ntl want to lead the market and be what they make out they are, then they really should add a little more common sense. For a 3mb service to really work the cap has to at least be 60gb a month. Otherwise it's just a joke.

They are expecting a HEAVY internet user to subscribe to a service that only allows them 58 mins of full use per day. LESS than the time allowed for a 2mb customer, who is supposed to use the service less!

3mb: 40GB a month = 1.3GB a day. 1.3GB a day / 370k per sec = 3513 seconds use = 58 mins full use per day.
2mb: 30GB a month = 1GB per day. 1gb a day / 240k per sec = 4166 seconds = 69.4 mins full use per day.
1mb: 5GB a month = 166mb per day. 166mb a day / 120k per sec = 1388 seconds = 23 mins full use per day.

I plan to downgrade to the 2mb service, and as soon as i can get 1mb ASDL in my area i'm going to AOL.

Just a question: By paying the 25 pound admin cost, are we signing a new 12 month contract? And thus accepting the new terms and conditions (ie. the caps)? If we choose not to upgrade/downgrade do the caps still apply? And can they enforce them as easily?

Sounds to me like Ntl have actually been very clever for once, offering faster speeds that most people won't utilize (750k users upgrading to 2mb which is of no use to them, just for the higher cap), and at the same time adding a proper cap, giving with one hand, taking away with the other... a bit like the price rise of 1mb, then upgrading to 1.5mb. :-D

The 2mb service is definately good value, and is even competitive. The 3mb service is a joke.

[ian@huth]

Originally Posted by DieDieMyDarling

We really shouldn't complain, it's a good deal to pay 25 quid for the privilege to go from an uncapped service to a service that we can only use for 58 mins per day at full swing at 3mb(69mins for 2mb, 23mins for 1mb).

>snip

You can use the connection for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

What would you do with your connection that would use the full 3Mb continuously?

What will you be able to do with the 1Mb ADSL connection that you are hoping for that you can't do with the 3Mb NTL one?

Get real, it's a fantastic deal that NTL are giving us.

Originally Posted by DieDieMyDarling

For a 3mb service to really work the cap has to at least be 60gb a month. Otherwise it's just a joke.

Yeah, it's a real joke having such a fast service for a one off £25 payment - I for one will certainly be laughing (at all the slow ADSL ers )

Originally Posted by DieDieMyDarling

They are expecting a HEAVY internet user to subscribe to a service that only allows them 58 mins of full use per day.

Funny, I'm sure the service will be 24 x 7, just like my 1.5mbps is.

You seem to be under the delusion that eveyone who wants the 3mbps service just wants to max their connection out downloading half the internet. Well guess what, that's not true, and it seems to me that these caps are there to prevent exactly that - which as far as I'm concerned is brilliant - I hope all the moaning bandwidth hoggers go elsewhere, and leave the rest of us to our nice fast service.