[Merged] BB Speed Upgrades

[scrotnig]

Originally Posted by LostintheNW

At the end of the day I don't know why they cannot say when in October, I have been told numerous times it will be the 1st only to find out on here that will not be happening. They managed to do that with the SACM using the postcode checker as it stated my area was done in August.

Even so the price went up to £37.99 they also announed the speed was going up and that for £37.99 you get 1.5mb. I don't have a 1.5mb service as of yet so therefore should not be paying that amount as you can no longer subscribe to a BB speed of 1mb. NTL are quick to shove up prices on the tv packages and make sure you end up paying that as soon as possible, yet they are not quick in giving out the refunds.

Look at it from my point of view - no SACM constantly told can't have one, if I do have one (if they ever say I can, as different people tell me different things and I dont really want one!) all the direct debits have to be changed which is a ball ache to be honest - paying £37.99 like other people on the top tier of BB speed from NTL yet the majority are actually getting a faster service.

At the end of the day regardless of the size of the network, Telewest did a wonderful job, and as usual NTL do the pants job. At this moment in time I believe the £150 plus a month that is currently paid to NTL can be given to some other nice companies who actually attempt to deliver a service aimed at the consumer

And not arguing but I never did actually sign anything for BB, when it became available in the Manchester area I called up, it was added to the box I provisined the box, no terms or conditions were displayed and voila BB was mine. The only thing that was said to me on the phone was that it was a 12 month contract (which I am way way way past now) and I couldn't cancel without paying the extra months in that time.

They won't give a definite date because this sort of thing is unpredictable and if the date gets missed they get pilloried....as OB says, 'Damned if they do, damned if they don't'.

If you want a SACM, you can have one. It isn't a problem. There is no messing with DD dates, it just involves having your broadband on a separate bill and a separate DD. If the creation of your new account is timed to coincide with your existing billing date, then the two DD's will come out roughly at the same time.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Mark B

If you want a SACM, you can have one. It isn't a problem. There is no messing with DD dates, it just involves having your broadband on a separate bill and a separate DD. If the creation of your new account is timed to coincide with your existing billing date, then the two DD's will come out roughly at the same time.

Fair enough...

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by LostintheNW

<snip>
Even so the price went up to £37.99 they also announed the speed was going up and that for £37.99 you get 1.5mb. I don't have a 1.5mb service as of yet so therefore should not be paying that amount as you can no longer subscribe to a BB speed of 1mb. NTL are quick to shove up prices on the tv packages and make sure you end up paying that as soon as possible, yet they are not quick in giving out the refunds.

You can try and pick holes, but you can't change facts. ntl charged £37.99 for 1meg from the beginning of June, and all customers had the option of absorbing that increase or terminating their contracts. The price increse happened BEFORE the service was increased to 1.5meg.

Look at it from my point of view - no SACM constantly told can't have one, if I do have one (if they ever say I can, as different people tell me different things and I dont really want one!) all the direct debits have to be changed which is a ball ache to be honest - paying £37.99 like other people on the top tier of BB speed from NTL yet the majority are actually getting a faster service.

So, you can't have a sacm, neither do you want one, but you still find cause to bellyache about the one off admin changes to having one... You'll get your speed upgrade in October. Whether you like it or not, that's how it is (for you and MANY OTHER stb bb'ers.)

At the end of the day regardless of the size of the network, Telewest did a wonderful job, and as usual NTL do the pants job. At this moment in time I believe the £150 plus a month that is currently paid to NTL can be given to some other nice companies who actually attempt to deliver a service aimed at the consumer

Good for them. I personally heard nothing good or bad about their upgrade myself. But as I said, until you can fairly compare Telewest to ntl on a network/customer basis, your comparisons aren't valid.

And not arguing but I never did actually sign anything for BB, when it became available in the Manchester area I called up, it was added to the box I provisined the box, no terms or conditions were displayed and voila BB was mine. The only thing that was said to me on the phone was that it was a 12 month contract (which I am way way way past now) and I couldn't cancel without paying the extra months in that time.

Regardless of whether you signed anything or not, paying for and using the service binds you to the t&c's.

You can either put up with it, and wait for October stb upgrades to come round, or if you really think that's unacceptable, you can cancel your contract and go elsewhere.

[Stop It]

Originally Posted by LostIntheNW

At the end of the day regardless of the size of the network, Telewest did a wonderful job, and as usual NTL do the pants job. At this moment in time I believe the £150 plus a month that is currently paid to NTL can be given to some other nice companies who actually attempt to deliver a service aimed at the consumer

Telewest did a wonderful job? If you were a STB 1meg you WOULDNT get an upgrade, full stop, be thankful that NTL have made the effort to replace thousands of STB's, just to get their entire network upgraded.

I'm no fan of NTL, but I give credit when its due, theyve done a damn good job in difficult circumstances (Yes there are people still waiting to be upgraded, but its not like NTL are the only cable co to commit to a staggered rollout , Wanadoo in holland are in the process of upgrading their 2Mb customers to 3Meg, and are staggering it.)

Just remember, If ntl were to turn everyones upgrade on at the same time, we would ALL be waiting, now thats hardly fair either, yes theres people who will get it later, but it will come, NTL didnt have to do this (we are all contracted at original speeds remember), So be thankful that they are

[-Zigo-]

to LostIntheNW:

I've only read some of this thread (the last 3 pages) but I feel I ought to reply to you. You're complaining that you're paying £37.99 for a 1Mb line when you think you should be on a 1.5Mb line. And because you've not got the 1.5Mb speed yet you think you should pay less. Right?

There's 2 separate issues here:
1. The price for 1Mb line went up 2?3? months ago
2. ntl are upping the 1Mb line to 1.5Mb FOR FREE

Look at it this way - if ntl never gave the speed upgrade, then all you'd be complaining about is the increase in price. Fair enough you wouldn't be happy but prices go up on pretty much everything all the time. Inflation and all that. So imagine a new customer comes along - it costs them £37.99 for a 1Mb line.

Now ntl are upping 1Mb to 1.5Mb as a separate issue. As you know, if you sign up now there's no such thing as a 1Mb option, it's 1.5Mb instead - it's just that the 1.5Mb service isn't currently available, but they couldn't call it a 1Mb service could they if it's being phased out? But it's not gonna stay like that forever. Regardless of whether you're an existing customer or a new customer, the speed is upgraded FOR FREE, ie. you still pay £37.99

It's really not that difficult and although I've probably not explained it very well, I really don't understand why you're being so awkward about it (eg. suggesting the upgrade should be from 1.5 -> 2Mb (huh?); suggesting that you are only getting 512k (is that your actual connection speed then?))

[LostintheNW]

Actually I wasnt complaining about the price just the fact I am paying more for a lower speed.

And as it stands as of one month from today there will be no NTL services in my house, I am off to Sky and ADSL - oh and a big thank you to NTL for supplying me with a crap STB that freezes, skips, sound clipping etc just what I Like paying a fortune for

Adios NTL its been ****!

[-Zigo-]

Originally Posted by LostintheNW

Actually I wasnt complaining about the price just the fact I am paying more for a lower speed.

How do you figure that? You're not paying a higher price AND getting a lower speed at the same time. You pay a higher price, then you get a faster speed. Simple

Anyway, maybe it's a good thing you deferring to Sky et al - if you spend as much time complaining to ntl on the phone as you have on here then no wonder the phone lines are always busy...

[LostintheNW]

Zigo where do you get off with your comments? I have been a cable customer for 10 years, and the only time I ever had problems was with NTL!

May I suggest you take your comments and kindly shove them where the sun does not shine. I do not complain on the phone to NTL, gave up talking to CS a long time ago as they are mostly rude and useless on the phone.

Oh your comments about the price in your latest post make no sense.. I am on the 1mb service and as it stands I am paying the same as someone on the 1.5mb service but not getting that speed.

[scrotnig]

Originally Posted by LostintheNW

Zigo where do you get off with your comments? I have been a cable customer for 10 years, and the only time I ever had problems was with NTL!

May I suggest you take your comments and kindly shove them where the sun does not shine. I do not complain on the phone to NTL, gave up talking to CS a long time ago as they are mostly rude and useless on the phone.

Oh your comments about the price in your latest post make no sense.. I am on the 1mb service and as it stands I am paying the same as someone on the 1.5mb service but not getting that speed.

Your comments make no sense, it sounds to me like you'd have been happier if nobody got a speed increase ever, rather than some getting them earlier than others.

Any company of ntl's size is going to pgrade things in a staggered way, it's the only way to do it.

I remember BT gradually upgrading exchanges to be caller-display enabled, more recently they are upgrading them to ADSL standard, yet nobody seems to be shouting about how this makes BT a crap company....

If you're genuinely not happy with getting a free speed upgrade in October, then given that you've rejected all responses in this thread, your best bet is to cancel with ntl and take out ADSL as the ntl service is clearly not to your liking.

Just remember to ask them for your free speed increase!

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Mark B

I remember BT gradually upgrading exchanges to be caller-display enabled, more recently they are upgrading them to ADSL standard, yet nobody seems to be shouting about how this makes BT a crap company....

Actually you missed one (IMO) quite important point. Last time I checked,Caller ID was not free, and neither is ADSL. Those people that didn't get Caller ID were not charged for it. The same with ADSL. So, a person that doesn't have access to those services pays less than a person who does. BT can be a very crap company,but not for that reason.

[scrotnig]

Originally Posted by scastle

Actually you missed one (IMO) quite important point. Last time I checked,Caller ID was not free, and neither is ADSL. Those people that didn't get Caller ID were not charged for it. The same with ADSL. So, a person that doesn't have access to those services pays less than a person who does. BT can be a very crap company,but not for that reason.

Actually, if I'm honest (and I have both an ntl AND a BT phone line, for perfectly valid reasons), I generally find BT these days to be pretty efficient. Their level of service has improved dramatically in recent years and, like ntl, they've never let me down.

I'm also with Orange and they've been largely faultless too. I seem to have a general good experience in the Telecoms industry, perhaps I'm lucky.

Don't get me started on energy suppliers though...sheesh.....

[Stop It]

Originally Posted by LostintheNW

Actually I wasnt complaining about the price just the fact I am paying more for a lower speed.

And as it stands as of one month from today there will be no NTL services in my house, I am off to Sky and ADSL - oh and a big thank you to NTL for supplying me with a crap STB that freezes, skips, sound clipping etc just what I Like paying a fortune for

Adios NTL its been ****!

Ah yes, say hello to yet another PACE box on sky then (its their standard), Cue freezes, blocky screens, random interactive locks (Usually when entering crucial data :/) I am a sky sufferer, and sometimes wished I wasnt.

Oh, you are complaining that there isnt a magic button to upgrade the speed, so my earliar point stands, you want EVERYONE to suffer a lower speed because they cant get YOU done yet? clever, you manage a 1million user network and try to co-ordinate a mass speed change requiring thousands of new STB's millions of pounds worth of new eqt, and god knows what else.

I sincerely hope your ADSL is pants, just to show that the grass isnt always greener, (and remember to ask for 50% extra speed along the way, maybe even through your sky STB, hoho)

[scrotnig]

I think we should keep in context that Sky and BT *do* provide a pretty good level of service overall.

In the same way that SOME customers have problems with ntl, SOME customers have problems with Sky and BT, but as with ntl it is only a small minority.

Most Sky users, most BT users, most ntl users, are actually very happy with their chosen product(s), and the presence of this REAL competition in the market keeps the whole scene reasonably healthy...although I do feel strongly that digital TV on both platforms is now overpriced.

[Nikko]

Originally Posted by LostintheNW

Actually I wasnt complaining about the price just the fact I am paying more for a lower speed.

And as it stands as of one month from today there will be no NTL services in my house, I am off to Sky and ADSL - oh and a big thank you to NTL for supplying me with a crap STB that freezes, skips, sound clipping etc just what I Like paying a fortune for

Adios NTL its been ****!

Ah! so the day has not been completely wasted then. Goodbye.

Oh and since you will have no need of any Cable discussions, I look forward to news of your demise from this forum.

I am not allowed to make personal digs on here, so this is aimed at any/all whining boring trolling annoying gits that pass through.

[The_real_dj]

Originally Posted by Stop It

Ah yes, say hello to yet another PACE box on sky then (its their standard), Cue freezes, blocky screens, random interactive locks (Usually when entering crucial data :/) I am a sky sufferer, and sometimes wished I wasnt.

Got to disagree with that one, i had NTL TV for months and had nothing but problems with it, had sky+ for the last 2 years and never had a single problem!!

As for NTL internet ive got to say its very good! Rerely any problems and damm quick too!!.

Just had a new samsung box put in, so im all ready for my 1.5meg when they flip the switch
NTL TV NTL BB