NTL Freedom

Russ66

Hi,
My mother and my brother both use NTL Freedom as they live outside of a cabled area and have been very happy with it.
Basically they pay BT for the line rental, and they pay NTL £15.00 a month for unlimited dial-up but the first £15.00 of phone calls (routed through NTL) are free.
However, lately NTL have been pushing their broadband through mailshots and telesales calls and the dial-up has gone rubbish, it is very slow and 9 times out of 10 won't even connect. . . . . . Coincidence ????

I phoned their tech support line (25p / min) and was told that they are experiencing ongoing difficulties with the dial-up that may not be solved in the forseeable future, and had I thought of signing up for broadband!!
They both only use their pc's for e-mail so dial-up is more than sufficient.

Do any of you MSE'rs have any suggestions, or does anyone else have similar problems.

Cheers.

researcher

I was using NTL freedom for 3+ years until I upgraded to broadband in July - NOT WITH NTL.

I experienced exactly the same problems with dial-up and it became an absolute joke for the last 6 months. Do they have their 'gear box' installed? - if not do, it definately helps as it gives a second number with which to access the service with. Do contact NTL billing dept, speak to them nicely and they will refund your calls to tech support - as your issues were 'unresolved'. Make sure you call from the NTL registered phone.

Sadly, I'm sure the situation won't improve as they do not want Freedom customers anymore - so the best option is to look elswhere.

To be honest I'd get rid of them - I've installed 'plus' broadband for £14.99 per month (unlimited) and use 18866/18185 for my calls - and it's costing me very little more than before - yet my internet access just zips along, and I'm able to do things on the computer I would never do with dial-up. I am genuinely very happy to have DUMPED NTL.

Do complain to NTL (nicely - tell the person you speak to you know it's not their fault personally, but..........) if you speak to the staff who do cancellations they know how bad the situation is and are quite sympathetic -they credited me with 2 months fee's, £30!

black-saturn

Somehow the words NTL and Freedom dont go together for me.

bjenkins

BE WARNED - BE VERY CAREFUL when cancelling with NTL. I had Freedom for £15 per month with the phone calls up to that value free. When I decided to change my internet provider to AOL I advised NTL by Email to cancel my subscription and followed it with a letter. No longer using NTL - or so I thought - I deleted them from my computer and installed AOL.

Guess what - they do not allow cancellation by Email and they never received my letter. THIS WAS OVER 6 MONTHS AGO THAT I CANCELLED AND THEY HAVE ONLY JUST WRITTEN TO ME TO SAY THAT I OWE THEM OVER £150.[/B] When queried they said that they Emailed me to advise that I could not cancel by Email but since I did not have access to these how was I suppose to know. Only after 6 months have they suddenly brought this to light because the Direct Debit had been stopped at the bank. After their polite reminder bill they obviously then undertook thier debt collecting proceedures which I suddenly received WITHIN DAYS. Still in dispute and further letters of demand received and Final Notice.
No one at NTL is interested and impossible to speak to anyone in authority. No reply to my letter of complaint.

ALSO BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR PHONE LINE AS IT MAY STILL BE PREFIXED WITH THEIR 1263 NUMBER WITH BT. IF THIS IS NOT OVERWRITTEN OR REMOVED YOU COULD STILL BE PAYING THEM FOR PHONE CALLS WITHOUT REALISING IT.

I ALWAYS PAY MY BILLS BUT FEEL TOTALLY AGREEVED WITH THIS ATTITUDE OF THEIRS. SPOKE TO AN INDEPENDANT LEGAL ADVISER AND WAS TOLD THAT I 'DID NOT HAVE A LEG TO STAND ON' AS I COULD NOT PROVE I SENT THE LETTER.

THE ONLY ANSWER -

SEND CANCELLATION BY RECORDED DELIVERY LETTER AND ENSURE BT DELETE THE PREFIX.

Russ66

Thanks Guys.