ntl budget cutbacks - Page 6

Richard M · 03-02-2005, 22:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by ntl customer

So who does carry traffic for critical national infrastructure?

BT.

slowcoach · 03-02-2005, 22:40

God help us...

TheInsider · 03-02-2005, 23:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil

I'm sorry to sound harsh here, but that's the price that is paid when a bunch of monkeys run a company the way ntl has been run for the last 'I don't know how many' years.

What goes round comes around, & all those idiots at the top must be feeling really proud of themselves now....

And you can bet they will get a nice fat bonus and a pat on the back for what they have done to NTL.

Neil you do not sound harsh at all, The realty of it all is starting to sink in even with the employees that have defended NTL before now. This can be seen by how much of the bad news leaks out,This in the hope that something can be done to halt the tide of destruction being heaped on the company by managers that could not sort out a ****up in a brewery.

I for one have had enough.

ian@huth · 03-02-2005, 23:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by ntl customer

So who does carry traffic for critical national infrastructure?

That all depends on what you mean by "critical national infrastructure". The answer for some traffic is covered by the OSA.

Andrex · 03-02-2005, 23:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by ianathuth

That all depends on what you mean by "critical national infrastructure". The answer for some traffic is covered by the OSA.

Indeed. Both NTL and Telewest actually carry a significant amount of PSTN traffic (eg phone calls). If you ring one BT line from another BT line, your call may go through NTL/TW's equipment if BT's Exchanges are busy.

A lot of the truely 'critical' stuff, however, goes nowhere near NTL or TW. They wouldn't be touched with a barge poll (and rightly so).

Even 999 calls and management for NTL and TW is outsourced via Cable and Wireless.

Gareth · 04-02-2005, 00:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by SLM

A couple of words to sum up ntl,

Its a technical company run by sales people.

Hope that makes sense.

Sadly, many places are like this.... including where I work (nothing to do with ntl

). Recently, my employer held an Achievers' Trip - a free vacation in the Caribbean to reward its top sales people! Of course, they all forget that the sales people wouldn't be anywhere without support from my team, nor marketing people to advertise our products, nor HR to ensure they get their big pay cheque, nor the cleaners to clean-up after them, etc... etc... etc...

Sadly, every place I've worked at so far has had the same sales-oriented culture.

seaneeboy · 04-02-2005, 10:21

If NTL went completely bellyup, and was banned from trading, it's assets would be sold off - and that inclused the significant infrastructre that currently exists.

Another company would come in and there would be a cable service again - however it would be a whole new set of people... which might at first seem a good idea, but there would be no experience so we'd pretty much be back at square one.

I would also note the timing of this - it's february, there's only a couple of months till the new financial year - chances are they're just cutting back expenditure for the rest of the financial year, so they can go into new budgets in april...

bob_builder · 04-02-2005, 12:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by goblin

Is this a *real* possibility that calls to 999 could end up not routed to the emmergency services if the batteries fail?

Yes, if the battery ran out you would have no dial tone and so not be able to call anybody!
__________________

Quote:

Originally Posted by nidave

Just as a mental exercise - If ntl went belly up what do you think would happen?

I doubt the government would let NTL close down the cable networks due to the lack of competition and they would try to ensure some other company took over. As a final straw, I suspect they would take over themselves with a view to reprivatising in a few years (a bit like they did with Railtrack).

ian@huth · 04-02-2005, 12:40

I would imagine that NTL have contingency plans to cover the potential loss of telephony services whilst the situation is sorted out.

Andrex · 04-02-2005, 12:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by ianathuth

I would imagine that NTL have contingency plans to cover the potential loss of telephony services whilst the situation is sorted out.

Yep, like when they had to withdraw from Ireland last year. They just cut everybody off, and sent the customers letters days later telling them to find another phone company.

ian@huth · 04-02-2005, 13:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin.Beaumont

Yep, like when they had to withdraw from Ireland last year. They just cut everybody off, and sent the customers letters days later telling them to find another phone company.

You're talking about two very different scenarios there with very different potential affects on the company.

Andrex · 04-02-2005, 13:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by ianathuth

You're talking about two very different scenarios there with very different potential affects on the company.

Teehee, well, yeah.

Let's not forget, though: NTL's aim, make money. Planning for shutdown? Not so much.

I worked in Telewest provisioning for 18 months, and I can state for certain they had 0 plans in case of company closure (for telephony customers, PSTN network etc).

ian@huth · 04-02-2005, 14:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin.Beaumont

Teehee, well, yeah.

Let's not forget, though: NTL's aim, make money. Planning for shutdown? Not so much.

I worked in Telewest provisioning for 18 months, and I can state for certain they had 0 plans in case of company closure (for telephony customers, PSTN network etc).

Now how do you know that for certain?

I worked in the news industry for many years and took part in many contingency planning meetings at the time of Eddie Shah coming on the scene and News International moving to Wapping. These meetings were highly secret and the plans only known to senior management. Many companies have contingency plans that are known to only a few because of the sensitive nature of them, particularly if unions are a factor.

Andrex · 04-02-2005, 14:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by ianathuth

Now how do you know that for certain?

I worked in the news industry for many years and took part in many contingency planning meetings at the time of Eddie Shah coming on the scene and News International moving to Wapping. These meetings were highly secret and the plans only known to senior management. Many companies have contingency plans that are known to only a few because of the sensitive nature of them, particularly if unions are a factor.

Yeah, but in terms of, for example, planning for unrouting PSTN Exchanges etc - I'd need to of known. The department I worked in was a complete and utter mess (and really, I mean that) - we couldn't even manage day to day issues, let alone anything else. Some areas of Telewest are a farce, and telephony is one of them.

Of course, higher up the tree there probably was thought put into it years ago. Could they actually action anything nowdays? Erm.

zoombini · 04-02-2005, 16:08

I take it that the batteries in the cabs are constantly charged & should be replaced at regular intervals?

So it won't take long, given that there will be no more maintenence before they go belly up & don't get replaced.
And then there will be no emergency services in a power cut etc.

What do BT cabs do about this?