Ntl Bad Service Southampton

prvjoker · 15-01-2005, 20:52

Let me first say that at first ntl provided a top notch service. BUT after 6 months or so the problembs started,and got worse by the month.

In SO16. Southampton We have had a degraded service for over a year.
loss of service is an every day thing with ntl-soto'n. "Intermittent" is not the right word. Im sorry to say

Week days/Night your lucky to stay active for more than a few hours at a time.
Though every now and then you may have no connection problembs for a few days but never for to long! Weekends are a "NIGHTMARE" 50% of the time you wont get back online till late sunday night. "Though the last two weekends have been better than normal"

I have myself worked for many cable firms including NTL.
And the state of most of Southamptons System/network from the time the bandwidth hits the coax/catv the problems start. 90% of all level 3 level 4 cabs/muxes/customer outlets are over worked, with 2 way spliters hanging from most terminatins on single nodes.

And if any ntl members of this site think that what im saying is untrue, Please come see for your self. when the cab doors are opend the contence jumps out at you ! but still thay keep forcing more in,,spliters on spliters,its just as hard to close them. and digi hi-low reading are so poor in some cases you know that the customers will have problems,,,but still the installs go on.

At this poin in time i still have a ntl cable modem and had the 1-15 mb service though not active at the moment,"As i have for the time being refused to bring my account up to date" I only took this line of action affter contless phone calls and emails to ntl, being told that the problem is ongoing and that thay had no clue as to when it would be sorted out,

Please I Mean No Reflection on ntl's worker/staff,I know that thay do there best.and its no easy sorting out customers woes.

BUT MY POINT IS,,,That the bandwidth is already being over sold and is not help't the already degraded parts of ntl's network.

AND STILL Thay sell to unaware new customers in SO16,, just one of the locations affected.

Knowing full well that thay have major,,,,fults i.e
degraded/Intermittent/loss of service, And that new/old customers alike will have the same constent BAD service.

Why Are ntl doing this ?

I still live in hope that some day NTL will provide once again the top notch broadband service that it started with in Southampton,when it was runing as it should it was spot on,, "I now have a BT Yahoo 1 mb ADSL Connection".
" YUCK " but when i boot up im alwys online,,,THOUGH when ntl get it right ill be back in a flash.

Is this sort of thing going on with ntl/telWest in any other parts of uk ?
Let me know

Tristan · 15-01-2005, 21:09

It's true that the Southampton network is probably the worst in the UK outside London. Both were originally constructed by Videotron, who did the job as cheaply as possible.

I used to live in SO16 myself (Burgess Road, right next to McDonalds!). We had analogue TV from NTL, and they kept promising that digital was "coming soon". Never happened...

prvjoker · 16-01-2005, 19:13

Yes i worked for Videotron,infact the first cable firm i ever worked for
and even then some parts of there new network were over sold to the point that it was impossible to pull another cable the the tracks,Sadley a lot of the same over crowded muxes/cabs have never been upgraded,and the ones that were are not realy able to cope with the demands of cable/tv/telco/b,band customers,but the real point is "WHY" are NTL Knowingly still selling to customers in PO's that have degraded services, IS THIS NOT CHEATING, "Would you buy goods from a shop if thay were falty?" No.So Why are thay allowed to do it ?

thanks for taking the time to reply ,all input helps

hairy_mick · 16-01-2005, 20:12

The reason they keep pilling in customers is money and numbers to keep the banks happy does not matter what sort of service the customer gets it has got worse over the last few months were i live never used to be like that.

Semi On · 26-01-2005, 19:00

I don't want to be a party pooper (or curse myself) but I live in SO16 and my service has been nigh-on faultless for 2 years, though I'm only online at weekends and evenings so I can't speak for problems during the daytime.

Nuttah · 26-01-2005, 20:47

I used to have a nigh on faultless service from ntl for over two years. Then, ever since roughly September last year (about the same time the service was upgraded to 750k as it happens) it has lowered to what is becoming an un-acceptable level.

Since then, gererally for about a week or more each month I get a service which is intermittent to say the least - no connections at peak times, degraded service if it does connect, random drops....And then, since end of December (we're talking a month now which I find unacceptable!) there has been an entry on the service status page regarding a known problem in my area. A problem which seems to mean I only get about 15-30 minutes of working online time before the connection slows to a speed which is totally un-useable - a modem re-boot sorts this, abliet only for another 15 minutes... Calls to NTL merely result in a 'There is a known problem in your area'...Low SNR last time I phoned....

Now, I don't know if this is anyway related to the cause of the problems in your area, but I am becoming slightly miffed at the level of service all the same.

/rant over

Horace · 27-01-2005, 15:45

Does the situation mentioned above affect Winchester also? I just recommended some friends to join NTL and was wondering if they're likely to have the same problems. If so I'll point them to ADSL instead.

M. Brown · 28-01-2005, 00:13

Horace: In answer to your query - Yes it does affect Winchester. This week has been particularly bad again. I have lost all faith in NTL ever providing a decent service.

Last year was the pits. The service was so bad I managed to obtain on three occasions, a month's credit for loss of service. I think the "powers that be" need to be concerned about the customers they already have. They need to remember that bad news travels faster than good.

prvjoker · 28-01-2005, 11:17

I have now washed my hands of NTL there total s--t and geting worse by the week.If i were you i'd get shot of them,I now have a BT 1m service and i have changed a few setings with the Telnet util' and its GREAT now, my d/load speeds are better online games run much better "AND" I can always get a connection. trust me ,,,get a real isp,,,thanks for post c-ya!

maxtoralias · 28-01-2005, 20:42

I am a newbie to NTL in the Southampton area (SO52) and have thus far had no real problems with the service, joining on the 3 for ÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£30 deal. Having migrated from a wholly reliable ADSL service and having read some horror stories on NTL service, I decided to take the plunge. I have had a reasonable amount of contact with CS in a short period and have found them to be helpful and courteous.I did opt to avoid the STB modem and NTL installed a SACM without a fuss and thus far the connection has been reliable (no outage despite 3 full days always on). The only real issue has been the e-mail server which did not want to accept outgoing e mail. Keeping fingers crossed for continued good service.

M. Brown · 29-01-2005, 12:49

Sorry to be a thicko here, but can someone tell me what SACM stands for? I assume that CM means cable modem, but what is SA?

**Paul** · 29-01-2005, 12:52

Stand Alone

Nemesis · 29-01-2005, 12:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by M. Brown

Sorry to be a thicko here, but can someone tell me what SACM stands for? I assume that CM means cable modem, but what is SA?

SACM = Stand Alone Cable Modem

as opposed to STB

STB = Set Top Box

This might prove useful.

M. Brown · 29-01-2005, 12:55

Thanks Paul and Nemesis - should have thought of that myself, but brain not in gear today!

prvjoker · 31-01-2005, 13:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Semi On

I don't want to be a party pooper (or curse myself) but I live in SO16 and my service has been nigh-on faultless for 2 years, though I'm only online at weekends and evenings so I can't speak for problems during the daytime.

you are very lucky,, what connection speed do you have?

I live lower brownhill, What about you?