ntl budget cutbacks

[Andrex]

Originally Posted by zoombini

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?

A vast majority of NTL cabs don't even have battery backup - NTL abandoned the roll out of UPS-style systems years ago for cost reasons. If there's a power failure, it will almost certainly just go off.

[Ignition]

BT have a different system to ntl, ntl have local multiplexers and their telephony system is fibre to the node. BT's cabinets are all line powered so no need for battery backup apart from a UPS at the exchange.

[etccarmageddon]

still no answer to the question re speed upgrades... ie. will these cut backs put back the upgrade to 100mb?

it's a friday afternoon so it's the usual time NTL slips out some bad news.

[bob_builder]

Originally Posted by zoombini

What do BT cabs do about this?

BT do not have cabs in the same sense. You have a copper wire link all the way to your exchange, which is were they have very large batteries powering everybody's lines.

[Andrex]

Originally Posted by etccarmageddon

still no answer to the question re speed upgrades... ie. will these cut backs put back the upgrade to 100mb?

it's a friday afternoon so it's the usual time NTL slips out some bad news.

The "100mb" thing has not been announced by NTL as a service. There is no press release. The news article stating about this launch was a misquote from a government session with NTL involvement.

[injuneer]

Originally Posted by Kevin.Beaumont

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.

BT would not use Ntl or Telewest for a BT to BT call. The BT network is far larger, more diverse and more resilient than Ntl's or TW's, the only time they would need to use ntl/TW network would be to deliver a call to either an ntl or tw phone number. Traffic flows from NTL/TW to BT are far greater.
Ntl have about 100 local voice switches nationally, BT probably have that many in London alone!
Ntl does carry traffic for Orange & Vodafone and ironically will also soon be routing some o2 traffic too. (seeing that o2 was once Cellnet and owned by BT! I know whose network I would trust more, oh well I expect they'll learn the hard way like the rest of us!).
It's true that 999 calls etc are still outsourced to C&W in the old CWC areas but in "old" Ntl areas it's done by BT.

[Ignition]

ntl's core SDH network which Orange and Vodafone would be travelling along is superb.
Shame the same TLC, manpower and funding isn't given to the local HFC networks.

[Florence]

Originally Posted by Ignition

ntl's core SDH network which Orange and Vodafone would be travelling along is superb.
Shame the same TLC, manpower and funding isn't given to the local HFC networks.

Shame the managment feel they can neglect the local HFC networks. I am sure that if customers was allowed to reduce the cost for every time the network was lost for over 2 hours they would soon rethink their crackpot idea.

[Juan]

Originally Posted by bob_builder

BT do not have cabs in the same sense. You have a copper wire link all the way to your exchange, which is were they have very large batteries powering everybody's lines.

Every BT exchange also has a diesel engine/s which can run for at least a week or two without refuelling.

[Richardr]

Originally Posted by nidave

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

ntl (in the UK) won't go belly up.

Their gross profit is in the region of 60% to 70% of revenue.

Their problem is the amount of debt this profit has to service.

The debt arose partly in building the network, but mainly in taking over over companies.

Last time they went bankrupt the debt was reduced, but it is still very substantial for the company.

However, whilst their gross margins are so high, the business will continue.
__________________

Originally Posted by Russ D

I've been passed this from an annonymous source....

If what you say is true, two things come to mind:

Firstly, if it is a short term accounting issue, then presumably it will be reversed in the next accounting period; but

secondly, as it appears that COBI is being run at arms length from ntlhome, should there not be a minimum service level agreement in place? If COBI can decide exactly what level of service they provide, then why do they provide any service at all?

It seems to me that there is more to this than the explanation provided.

[Chrysalis]

I was thinking the same thing how can COBI suddenly pull out of work that they are contracted to do, seems a bit absurb.

Alas if their profit margin is 50% then that is some profit, but not surprising considering the measures NTL take to reach this profit level, but any company that is struggling to run on a 50% profit margin needs a shake up at the top.

[injuneer]

Originally Posted by Juan

Every BT exchange also has a diesel engine/s which can run for at least a week or two without refuelling.

Ntl switch sites & hub sites have diesel engines but there have been instances where they didn't start on mains fail. (usually due to lack of regular routine maintenance, the power staff are stretched to the limit). BT have also had engines that don't start/catch fire for the same reasons I expect!
If power fails to an ntl cabinet they usually bring in a petrol genny which keeps the neighbours awake all night, until someone decides to pinch it. The batteries wouldn't last more than a couple of hours assuming they were in good nick anyway.
Maintenance & engineers are dirty words to corporate bean counters. We don't install or sell anything so are viewed as non-productive. Happens in most companies unfortunately. Nothing lasts forever but doesn't last at all without maintenance.

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by injuneer

Ntl switch sites & hub sites have diesel engines but there have been instances where they didn't start on mains fail. (usually due to lack of regular routine maintenance, the power staff are stretched to the limit). BT have also had engines that don't start/catch fire for the same reasons I expect!
If power fails to an ntl cabinet they usually bring in a petrol genny which keeps the neighbours awake all night, until someone decides to pinch it. The batteries wouldn't last more than a couple of hours assuming they were in good nick anyway.
Maintenance & engineers are dirty words to corporate bean counters. We don't install or sell anything so are viewed as non-productive. Happens in most companies unfortunately. Nothing lasts forever but doesn't last at all without maintenance.

I can agree with injuneer here, the condition of the batteries at cabints these days are an unknown quantity. ntl employed small teams of technicains to carry out preventative maintenace at cabinets after it was noted that these cabinets were not being looked after and batteries were failing. These guys were checking battery capacity, locks, hinges and generally sort out any maintenance issues, these positions were made redundant a few years ago as another cost saving exersize.

The ups/battery back up for nodal cabinets was also shelved about 4 years ago, before the project got off the ground, but not before they had an agreement with suppliers to supply x amount a month.

The standby generator maintenance in my old region was taken over by the broadcast guys, generators had failed to start due to lack of maintenance. Many of ntl's switch sites were built with battery back-up an ups to cope with the equipment put in the sites early on, as they have added extra equipment for new services and customers the ups/batteries and indeed air conditioning have not been upgraded in the cost saving excersizes.

Many of the later built hubsites do not have standby generators, so if a complete hubsite loses power the batteries will only last an hour os so at most. In this situation it could mean tens of thousands of customers lose broadband and TV service all for the sake of some cost saving 4-5 years ago.

Money was tight long before chapter 11 for things like generators, air conditioning and battery back-up, out of 10 hubsites fed off the Cardiff Headend, three of them have no standby generators!
The air conditioning situation means that some large site could lose one air conditioning unit and the entire site cooks, there was wiring and floor allocation from day one for additional units as equipment racks were increased, but they saved cost by not upgrading, one unit failing now can be the straw that breaks the camels back.

Every new piece of equipment that they put in a hubsite or headend, such as all this lovely new VOD equipment is adding to the potential problem.

[injuneer]

I know some of the power guys that were transferred to Broadcast recently. They cover a vast geographical area now and all management do is question the amount of overtime they book, most of which is for emergency call out. Do they think engineers actually enjoy being called out in the middle of the night to some god forsaken place for christ's sake? They do it because they want to maintain a good service for customers, nobody I know is on the "fiddle", they only book the actual time they are out. I've heard that the new owners of broadcast (Mcquarie) are a better employer so hopefully they will be treated with more respect than they are now.

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by injuneer

I know some of the power guys that were transferred to Broadcast recently. They cover a vast geographical area now and all management do is question the amount of overtime they book, most of which is for emergency call out. Do they think engineers actually enjoy being called out in the middle of the night to some god forsaken place for christ's sake? They do it because they want to maintain a good service for customers, nobody I know is on the "fiddle", they only book the actual time they are out. I've heard that the new owners of broadcast (Mcquarie) are a better employer so hopefully they will be treated with more respect than they are now.

I guess they are probably offloading people onto broadcast to save on redundancies, just like cable and wireless did when they sold part off to ntl. I heard managers they didn't want were being transferred before that sale.

I guess the broadcast guys could be the lucky ones, many I met were not happy when CableTel bought ntl. They were fortunate to be of large enough size and have a union to stop CableTel/ntl walking all over them.

I guess ntl home/networks will have to employ people to look after the generators and power, or possibly contract it out. then again they may just take a chance as they have done in the past.

They took a chance with some of the network management servers by saving money and not bothering with a maintenance contract, they found out the hard way when they started to fail and it took almost a week each time to get someone from sun out to look at them!