*ALL* ntl Cap Discussion Here Please.

[HD462]

Originally Posted by daz300

any one know how to find out if you will hit the caps ???

Yeah download TrafficStatistic. I've been using it the last 20days to see how much I used in a month (1.3gb) up to now.

[rmg]

Originally Posted by Paul M

Employees ?

I am not, and never have been, employed by ntl.

Sorry. brain malfunction, please excuse.

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rmg.

[Ignition]

Caps are as in presentation as far as I know.

5GB / 1Mbit (300k upgraded)
30GB / 2Mbit (750k)
40GB / 3Mbit (1536k)

EDIT: Why are we discussing if they are hard caps or not?

I see no mention of guidelines, suggested limits, I see usage allowance think that's fairly clear that at some point these caps are going to be stringently applied no?

That's not based on any exceptional knowledge, I'm not involved in this project.

Originally Posted by rmg

Bah, I should have asked for the 'blessed' not to vote

I take it certain employees get certain privileges?

Fair play to you!

--
rmg.

And i can tell you i get no privileges. I check my usage with prtg and have found i average about 35 gig per month. I have 1.5meg so i will go to 3 meg. So i should have about 5 gig to spare if the amounts in the investors brief are correct

[Neil]

Originally Posted by rmg

Hi, I know there is a single thread for cap talk but I wanted to do a poll.

I will probably leave ntl for ADSL if they implement a hard cap.

I want an uncapped service. I could stay on the 750 speed uncapped but the deals on uncapped adsl are much sweeter.

Will you leave if they implement a hard cap?

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rmg.

The thread you are referring to is entitled

*ALL* ntl Cap Discussion In Here Please.

for a reason.

[rmg]

Originally Posted by Neil

The thread you are referring to is entitled for a reason.

Sorry Neil, I was unsure if you could reply to an existing thread and create a poll.

Thanks for tidying it up.

Interesting results so far.

I have been thinking about what I said about leaving, and I probably could manage with a hard cap if they upped the uploads.

If the choice comes down to:

ntl 1.5mb down 128k up 30gig cap - £25
VS
ADSL 2mb down 256k up no cap - £30

Im off!

--
rmg.

[Stuart]

I voted maybe, mainly because I don't believe the caps will be a problem for me. If they become a problem, and ADSL becomes competitive in my area*, I may well leave.


* Although I live only around 100 meters from the exchange (maybe slightly more, but certainly less than half a mile), my local exchange has yet to be unbundled, so I am currently stuck at whatever speeds BT can offer (2 Meg). Seeing as my NTL connection should soon be changing to 3 meg, I'll stay for a while.

[etccarmageddon]

Originally Posted by rmg

ntl 1.5mb down 128k up 30gig cap - £25
VS
ADSL 2mb down 256k up no cap - £30

Im off!

I thought the NTL £25 product was planned to be 2mb down (definite) and 200k upload (possible)?

[rmg]

Originally Posted by etccarmageddon

I thought the NTL £25 product was planned to be 2mb down (definite) and 200k upload (possible)?

You are right, my bad. The question becomes is £5 for an uncapped service and better upload worth it?

[jtwn]

Ok i'll ask again here.

There was something in that presentation called metered bb.

What is it?

Enforced caps?
That 'turbo' stuff that was being mentioned a while back?

It wasn't at the same time as the bb upgrades...so its something else?

[PC_Arcade]

Given the fact that I will leave as soon as possible after NTL enforce their "caps", I will ditch TV, Phone and BB.

What is the easiest, cheapest and quickest way to switch to UKonline or Bulldog? I assume you have to have BT install a phone line first, is that correct?

Sorry for what might seem like a stupid question, I've NEVER had a BT line, only ever been with NTL.
Not bothered about TV, just Phone and BB

[Chris W]

Originally Posted by PC_Arcade

Given the fact that I will leave as soon as possible after NTL enforce their "caps", I will ditch TV, Phone and BB.

What is the easiest, cheapest and quickest way to switch to UKonline or Bulldog? I assume you have to have BT install a phone line first, is that correct?

Sorry for what might seem like a stupid question, I've NEVER had a BT line, only ever been with NTL.
Not bothered about TV, just Phone and BB

yep you will need the bt line first, then it will be checked to see if you can receive adsl, and if so what is the maximum speed that you can have.

Normally, it takes 24 hours after the line has been installed for BT's database to update, then you can place the ADSL order with the company of your choice. Activation then takes between 3 and 14 days depending on the provider.

[PC_Arcade]

Thanks, It's quite an expense moving from NTL (something I'm sure they rely on), BT being the main cost (even though I won't be using their service). Having had the BT line fitted, can you immediately change phone providers?

[rmg]

You need to give ntl a months notice in writing. You can have your BT line installed pretty quickly. Do you have a BT box in your house? It may cost you if you dont.

The excellent http://www.samknows.com will tell you what you can get based on your postcode alone. (Availability checker and then click on ADSL to see max speed)

--
rmg.

[ian@huth]

Originally Posted by rmg

Bah, I should have asked for the 'blessed' not to vote

I take it certain employees get certain privileges?

Fair play to you!

--
rmg.

Some people think that anybody agreeing with what NTL do is a NTL employee. I am not employed by NTL and never have been.

I have though been using computers since before most members were born and connecting to other remote computers long before what you know as the internet evolved. I am a realist and have researched the subject. I know that what some people are asking for is not economically viable in the long term at the prices they are willing to pay.

Broadband in the UK is relatively young and ISPs are fighting for market share. They have to use infrastructure that was never intended for the puposes that we now use it for. Broadband users today have largely grown up with services that didn't need usage restrictions because there were not that many people using them and there was capacity to spare. There are a number of people that have very high usage patterns, much of which is illegal and in contravention of their ISPs terms and conditions, but these have largely been tolerated in order to build up market share and to not give out any suggestion that competitors are offering a less restricted service than they are. There possibly are some customers with very high usage patterns that do nothing illegal and do not contravene any of their ISPs T&Cs but those I would say are very rare. If all broadband customers were to have similar high usage levels then every ISP would have severe service problems and could not continue to operate at present day prices.

Some ISPs have introduced capping as a measure to enable them to continue to offer products at a price that customers are happy with. Others are restricting high usage customers by moving them all onto the same section of their infrastructure which means that they only interfere with one another and do not adversely affect the majority of normal users. The people that say they will move to other ISPs if their service is restricted will be able to do so for a while but common sense dictates that this action will only result in the number of unrestricted ISPs becoming less and less as the very high usage customers are concentrated onto fewer ISPs. There will come a point in the not too distant future when there will be no unrestricted ISPs left and those who want a very high usage level will have to pay the price for it.

Advances in technology and improvements to the infrastructure will result in higher speeds being available and caps moving higher but at the same time new uses for your broadband connection will require more bandwidth than today.

Whilst broadband is marketed as an always on 24/7 service with the capability of moving a certain amount of data per hour it was never intended to be used to its maximum 24/7 at the prices it is marketed at. The price that broadband is today is only possible because of contention. Contention means that the user is sharing a proportion of the infrastructure with others and if they all try to use it to the full at the same time they will only get a small proportion of the advertised maximum speed that they subscribe to. When you look at problems that users post about, poor pings, lagging, slow downloads, slow uploads, etc, those problems are mainly only the result of contention taking affect and will become more commonplace if ISPs don't have prices that enable them to invest in more infrastructure or if they restrict the usage of customers.