ntl Business Broadband

[atq]

Hi,

I am looking at ntl's business broadband and see they do single and multiple user packages. Whats the difference (technically) and is there anything stopping me from just putting a router on the single user option and making it multiple? Has anyone tried it?

Thanks

Andrew

[Racingdick]

[paulyoung666]

i will do the then , not sure if there was any need for the post above tbh , i cant help you in your problem though , sorry

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by Racingdick

considering you don't even get what a 12 month contract means from your own employer, I think the icon is a little rich.....

[Jules]

Welcome to the forum I am sure some one can answer your question


Racingdick play nice! lol

Originally Posted by atq

Hi,

I am looking at ntl's business broadband and see they do single and multiple user packages. Whats the difference (technically) and is there anything stopping me from just putting a router on the single user option and making it multiple? Has anyone tried it?

Thanks

Andrew

as a complete guess I would imagine 'multiple' users would entail being provided with more than one IP - at a cost, wheras with a router you will only present one IP on the WAN side.

[Paul K]

The sharing of one connection isn't unheard of but does anyone know what the wording of the business contract is? I know the residential contract allows for multiple pc's sharing a connection but is it stated in the business contract wether you can or not?
It would be difficult for NTL to prove wether there is more than one PC behind a router on a residential service (and if you don't need to have more than one public IP address visible it wouldn't be difficult to do) but you would need to be aware of any small print in the contract that may cause you a problem should you go down that route.

[Racingdick]

i had to edit my post from what i originally wrote, sorry if offence was taken not meant..

[SMHarman]

I had this explained to me earlier in the week by a very helpful woman on the business sales team.

If you buy a single user, you get a SACM and plug it into your PC. The 24/7 support will support this a PC plugged into the SACM. You can of course go and add a router and build a network, but if there is a problem NTL will expect you to plug the router into a stand alone PC and if that can surf the net their support is done.

If you subscribe to a multi user they provide a router and will provide support to the network. You pay more as they provide more kit and provide more complex support.

Oh, you can get a 12 month contract on Business, you just need to pay the full £200 odd install fee

and, the wording on the business web site is poor, installation is not currently free, but effectivly discounted by £130 so costs about £70 at the moment.

and, there is a 25 day lead time in my area.

So I called BT, and put a PSTN line onto my phone line order. THey are fitting them all on Tuesday and Demon expect to have DSL on it by the end of the week! 25 days my @rse.

G

[atq]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies, SMHarman, you told me just what I wanted to hear. As I wouldn't trust them to support anything a big saving can be made!!!!


Thanks again

Andrew

[slimshady]

AFAIK - and I used to work in ntl business - but it was a while ago.

Single User is one Public IP Address
Multiple User is several IP addresses (5 leases on the cable modem, a /29 IP subnet with the adsl). They weren't too static either on ADSL if you regraded you lost the IP's and on the cable modem if they resegmented the UBR (moved everyone around so there were less people on each port) then you would also loose them. On the Cable Modem they weren't consecutive either :'( - Just a couple of random leases which you could make (semi as per above) static if you wanted.

I think you could have NAT turned on with the Single user option!

They are probably not going to give a monkeys if you stick your own NAT Router/Firewall behind their Cable Modem on a Single User account.

HTH

[APS]

We have the multi-user option and were never offered a router on a cable based broadband option. This could have changed, but is not mentioned here:

http://business.ntl.com/internet_pro...d_packages.php

The main difference I think is the amount of support you will get on the multiuser option, plus you may get more "fixed" IPs if you ask.

You will see from the above link that they are still trying to offer 750k/1.5 MBit options at prices that look less than competitive even compared to BT's business offerings.

They were rumoured to upgrade business users to the new domestic speeds, but nobody will confirm if and when this will happen. If it doesn't happen soon I can see we may be swapping to ADSL here.

APS

[slimshady]

Originally Posted by APS

We have the multi-user option and were never offered a router on a cable based broadband option. This could have changed, but is not mentioned here:

http://business.ntl.com/internet_pro...d_packages.php

The main difference I think is the amount of support you will get on the multiuser option, plus you may get more "fixed" IPs if you ask.

You will see from the above link that they are still trying to offer 750k/1.5 MBit options at prices that look less than competitive even compared to BT's business offerings.

They were rumoured to upgrade business users to the new domestic speeds, but nobody will confirm if and when this will happen. If it doesn't happen soon I can see we may be swapping to ADSL here.

APS

Well the Samsung CM's, and the ADSL Modem's that are supplied via BT. All had an option to turn on NAT. Not sure whether the very old Cisco CM's had this function.

Support hmm I don't remember it being any different for either single or multiple users.

I'd use that term "fixed" very lightly!!!

[APS]

Originally Posted by slimshady

Well the Samsung CM's, and the ADSL Modem's that are supplied via BT. All had an option to turn on NAT. Not sure whether the very old Cisco CM's had this function.

Support hmm I don't remember it being any different for either single or multiple users.

I'd use that term "fixed" very lightly!!!

The Samsung modem we got had no instructions from NTL or Samsung on how to configure it, e.g. via a web interface to turn on/off NAT. I read on the Web that it may have those features but could never find out how to get to them so we are using our own internal router/firewall. I am able to find out the Samsung modem status using the DOCDIS stuff publish by Robin Walker, but only by following his instructions - nothing from NTL.

As to the "fixed" IP, I deliberately put that in quotes as we too have suffered from a resegmentation change with no prior warning. I also have experience with Demon and Zen ADSL and would say their fixed IPs are pretty fixed so far - how fixed they can make them on ADSL may depend on which flavour of ADSL they are running.

APS

[slimshady]

Originally Posted by APS

The Samsung modem we got had no instructions from NTL or Samsung on how to configure it, e.g. via a web interface to turn on/off NAT. I read on the Web that it may have those features but could never find out how to get to them so we are using our own internal router/firewall. I am able to find out the Samsung modem status using the DOCDIS stuff publish by Robin Walker, but only by following his instructions - nothing from NTL.

Sounds about right - didn't say I knew how to turn the option, even when I was in Business Tech Support, No one seemed to know how to turn that option on and off. I think we eventually came to the conclusion that;

Multi User 1 IP - NAT
Single user 1 IP - No NAT
Multi User - Multi IP - No NAT


The BT ADSL Routers/Modems could have NAT switched on and off by us ringing BT and asking for it.