NTL vs Others

freddylocks

Hi Everyone

Here is a question I have.

At present we have a NTL package, it incorporates phone line, tv and broadband. £32.99 per month. We have been considering changing to a different supplier for phone due to the service issues we have already faced (In particular with the Set Top Box).

We are moving house and NTL is still available.
We now have issues with NTL, they have switched the phone line off early and have stated that they are unable to reactivate it, not good with the amount of calls to the solicitor etc. They have also advised us that they are not able to activate the new house, until at least the 16th November.

Does anyone have any recommendations on packages to go for other than NTL?

My initial thoughts are:
Sky TV Base package - £15 pm
BT Phone Option 1 - £10.50 pm (Tele2 for calls) (BT Charge £75 installation!)

Broadband i have posted in the internet forum.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?
Either way it is looking like it is going to be more expensive.

Regards
Freddy

Heinz

TV is a matter of personal preference but the £15/month subscription will enable you to get brand new equipment supplied and installed for nothing. The equipment becomes your property immediately so you would have the option to cease the subscription after a year (during which time the digibox has to remain connected to a working telephone line) and still have the free channels.

With regard to telephony, the BT landline (pay by DD to get the monthly charge reduced to the minimum £10.50) is probably the way to go because only BT are required to allow customers to use any other providers for calls. Others (e.g. the Post Ofice) now re-sell BT landline rental for a small saving but the general consensus at the moment is that the small saving is not worth the (potential) hassle involved (delay in fault repair being the one issue normally mentioned). I assume the property has never had a BT landline connection before and so you'll be the one to pay the 'first time' connection charge of £75 (no way round it I'm afraid).

Most people have taken advantage of BT's latest 'freebie' - Caller Display for no monthly fee. Re-sellers charge £1.50/month or more for that.

I'm not sure why you specify Tele2 for your calls. At the moment, free evening and weekend calls to any UK 01/02 number is the baseline to look for. Most MSE-ers use 1899 or 18866 to reduce the cost of calls to UK 01/02 numbers at other times (i.e. weekday, daytime) to 3p connection and 0p/minute and 18185 to reduce the cost of calls to UK mobiles to 5p/minute during the week and 2p/minute at weekends.

I'd suggest you have a read of Martin's latest home phones recommendations before doing anything.

dc

An alternative will cost more, Kick !!!!!! and see what discount you can get for the inconvenience. You could get rid of the TV and get a Freeview box instead.