Swap to NTL??

David_Mee

Got a friend who's using BT Together option 2 for "free" evenings and weekends, Orchid box and 1899/18185 for rest of calls (yes BT2 was cheaper option!! 4 kids!!)

They have 0845 dialup for internet access

Terrestrial TV

They want to swap to Broadband, get Discovery Channel and get cheapest phone calls - the £33 deal from NTL seems good but thought I would double check here for other options....

So over to you guys and gals...

mobilegossip

Its surprising to see someone wanting to move to NTL lots of people are trying to leave them.

Stuart_W

The cheapest non-NTL route for your requirements would possibly be BT Line Rental (£11/month), free off peak via Primus2 CPS (£0.00pcm) and TopUpTV (£7.99/month) and see the broadband board for monthly broadband beginning at £10/month with a handful of companies - but take note about various reliability comments. That's potentially £29 per month with more flexibility on phone call/broadband options in the future should you wish to change for a better deal.

Quote these figures at NTL and you maybe offered a "deal".

Undisputedtruth

David_Mee wrote:

They want to swap to Broadband, get Discovery Channel and get cheapest phone calls - the £33 deal from NTL seems good but thought I would double check here for other options....

So over to you guys and gals...

NTL doesn't offer fully itemised billing so you need to add a £1 to the package as I understand there could be major billing problems. The cheap calls is misleading as ntl have one of the highest mobile call rates on fixed lines. The call connection charges of 6p do mount up to a considerable sum. For example 100 calls = £6 worth of connection charges. ntl have so many stealth charges it might be a good idea to ask ntl to clarify their deal and list of charges in writing.

I agree with Stuart_W about using the non-ntl route. Especially when there are a number of freeview pvrs on the market to enhance your viewing experience and lifestyle.

Undisputedtruth

Undisputedtruth

exel1966

David_Mee wrote:

the £33 deal from NTL seems good but thought I would double check here for other options....

So over to you guys and gals...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO D'ont do it !!!!

NT HELL as they are better known are world (ok UK) renowned for their abyssmal customer service record and failure to deliver what they say.

Take a look :- http://forums.ntlhell.co.uk/ or http://www.nthellworld.co.uk/home

rtipple

Now I'm not PRO NTL or anything, but I've had it for 3.5 years and have never had any issues with either their phone or internet.
I've got the £24.99 a month 2 MB package and to be honest, it's great.

The thing to remember about connection is what you want to use it for.
In some instances broadband might cost less and be quicker at 8 MB, but usage is usually capped. As in, you're only allowed to download so much data across the connection. Web pages are data which need to be transferred to you PC, but they don't use up much.

So, you're in two camps really ...

1) You just surf the web and don't download much (like mp3's, etc.). You're best option is to go for broadband as it's super quick and even though there are limit's, you probably won't hit them

OR//

2) You use the internet to download mp3's, etc. (all from legitimate sources like iTunes of course). This is where you'll end up downloading lots of data (a typical mp3 can be anything from 3 to 11 MB each). Here you don't want a capped usage as you'll quickly hit your limit. So getting the file is quick with broadband, but you'll have used your monthly quota in the first week. Cable / NTL won't have a limit so you can download as much as you like. It won't be as quick, but it's still quick enough.

So apologies for going a little off topic, but when thinking about what package, you need to look at what you want and any limits on each package. You can get unlimited downloads on broadband, but you'll pay for it.

Hope this helps. I'm not too up to date on current offers though so maybe there are some nice cheap unlimited broadband offers out there. I don't know.


:beer:

Undisputedtruth

According to an article in Which magazine it strongly advised everyone to stand clear of ntl broadband as it was poorly rated by its readers. For the price of ntl 2meg, £24.99, I'll be getting 8 meg next week from Zen adsl.

Undisputedtruth

David_Mee

Hmmmm - there was me thinking NTL was "easy" option - am I right in thinking that NTL is only a pain when you decide to leave??

They only want Broadband for mimimal use - few emails and kids homework - won't show kids how to do MP3 downloads so should be safe

Undisputed - the 6p connection charges you mention - is that via NTL? Didin't realise they did connection charge and call charge! Do you have a web reference that points out charges?? She uses 18185 at minute for mobiles - is this what you're meaning??

I have looked at TopUp TV but seems a lot for only a few channels (and no Sky1) which was another reason for suggesting NTL - decisions, decisions!! What about NTL for telly & broadband and leave calls with BT??

David_Mee

Forget that - just checked - phone is "Free" addon so still £32.99 without phone

Heinz

David_Mee wrote:

Undisputed - the 6p connection charges you mention - is that via NTL? Didin't realise they did connection charge and call charge! Do you have a web reference that points out charges?? She uses 18185 at minute for mobiles - is this what you're meaning??

http://www.ntl.com/home/telephone/pdf/TelcoTariff.pdf

You will have to use 18185's cable users' (0808 1 703 703) access number if you switch to NTL - and pay double for those calls to UK mobiles (4p connection and 10p/minute during the week).

David_Mee

Heinz wrote:

You will have to use 18185's cable users' (0808 1 703 703) access number if you switch to NTL - and pay double for those calls to UK mobiles (4p connection and 10p/minute during the week).

But 18185 site says

Are there any other charges to pay?

There are no monthly subscription, registration or administration charges. The advertised tariff for each destination is all-inclusive, it even includes VAT. Calls are subject to a connection fee of only 4p.

BT will not charge you for dialling the 18185 code, therefore the 18185 code will not appear on your BT bill and any calls made using the 18185 code will only be invoiced by Call18185.

If you are a non-BT landline customer using 0808 1 703 703 the call to the 0808 number should be free of charge and any calls made using the 0808 freephone number will only be invoiced by Call18185.

If you are a mobile customer using the 020 7001 97 25 number you may also be charged for the 020 call by your mobile provider. 020 calls may come out your inclusive free minutes or your mobile operator may charge separately for calls to 020 numbers depending on your operator and tariff plan; please check with your mobile operator for correct rates.

Which seems to suggest no increase in price on NTL??