If you are an ntl broadband customer, read this.

nedski

This is not so much of a money saving tip as getting more for your money.

As of 8/3/2005, ntl upgraded the connection speeds for each of it's broadband price tiers. ntl has said that they will be contacting existing customers and informing them of these upgrades, and that the majority of 750K and 1.5MB customers will be upgraded over the coming weeks. 300K customers will not be upgraded automatically.

The upgrades and prices and usage allowances of these new speeds:-

* was 300K - now 1MB Price: £17.99 Usage allowance: 3GB Monthly
* was 750K - now 2MB Price: £24.99 Usage allowance: 1GB Daily
* was 1.5MB - now 3MB Price: £37.99 Usage allowance: 1GB Daily

While some customers cannot yet move up to these speeds due to network updates required, many can and have done already - you're paying for the new improved service, it's available now, so why wait for ntl to offer it to you? And if you are a 300K customer, you're not going to get any improvements automatically.

To read the full information about the speed upgrades, and info about special cases (BB via Pace SetTopBox) go to this page at cableforum.co.uk.

To read the full information about getting your speed upgrade NOW rather than later, you can peruse the thread on the cableforum.co.uk forums but be warned, it is incredibly long - 73 pages at the last count - mostly filled with happy bunnies surfing the net much faster.

If you haven't got time to trawl thru it all, here's a summary :-
Head to this page on ntlworld.com. Follow the instructions (ignore the section below the modem & set top box pictures that says £3.99 per month - that is Broadband Plus, nothing to do with upgrades) and select the new speed according to your old speed in the list at the top of this post. You'll be asked to log in to your account so you'll need your ntl username and password.

If everything goes smoothly your cable modem should reboot itself and you'll then be on your higher speed! You can check it's worked by doing a connection speed test somewhere.

If you get any problems during the process, try rebooting your cable modem by unplugging it's power for 30 seconds, then plugging it back in. Customer Services can also help you, although some operators know about it/will do it for you and some won't, so if you don't have luck the first time, try again.

I guess I should say here that you try all this at your own risk, and if something goes wrong I won't be held liable - usual disclaimers apply! - but it's all done via the official ntlworld site, lots of people including myself have upgraded successfully, so you don't really have much to lose. If in doubt, read through the forum thread above and then decide.

Happy Downloading!
N.



Official Insert by Andrea: We've asked NTL for clarification and it gave us the following info:

The speed upgrades will be gradually phased in to existing customers at no extra cost.

Existing 1.5Mb customers:

We´re in the process of automatically upgrading the service to 3Mb. This upgrade is absolutely free, the monthly price of the service stays the same and customers don´t have to do anything to receive it - we will be writing to customers in due course.

Existing 750K customers

We´re in the process of automatically upgrading the service to 2Mb. This upgrade is absolutely free, the monthly price of the service stays the same and customers don´t have to do anything to receive it. Some customers receive their broadband via a set-top box and not all of these boxes are capable of receiving speeds higher than 1Mb. To get the full 2Mb speed they may need a new set-top box but customers will receive a letter in due course explaining the situation.

Existing 300K customers

The new 1Mb service is available at the same price as the 300K service. Existing customers with 300k who wish to take advantage of the upgrade to 1Mb at no extra cost, should register on line by going to www.home.ntl.com/icat/broadband, click on the "already an existing NTL customer" link on the right-hand side of the screen and click on the modem picture. Currently 300k customers have a usage allowance of 1Gb per day while the 1Mb service has a usage allowance of 3Gb per month - which is more than enough for the majority of customers as it still allows for approximately 12 hours of Internet surfing per day.

Anon

Thank you for this - I knew it was due from cableforum but have been offline for a few days. If you have broadband through a set-top box you have to call them on 08000522000.

In our local shopping centre at the weekend the NTL team were offering 750k for 12 months at only £19.99 - may be worth trying for this from retentions before upgrading (higher x10 gb bandwidth per month) ...? I have to be careful as they are already letting me have Family pack for £10 per month (+phone). Have phone line/bb 300k/television family pack for £34 - has anyone managed to get them lower (or better bb) for that price?

Many thanks

Anon

nedski

Users currently at 300K should consider this:
"300K customers ... can upgrade to 1MB if they accept a 3GB monthly usage allowance."

If you are a 300K customer you currently have an acceptable use of 1GB per day... upgrading will accept the new terms and cut this by 90%

As a guide, 1 gigabyte downstream of data transfer equates to approximately 200 music tracks, 650 short videos, 10,000 pictures or around 100 large software programmes.

So if you intend to stay on this price band you need to consider this when thinking about upgrading - do you need a faster connection, but use it less, or would you be better with a slower one, but use it more?

ntl will be monitoring and will identify those who exceed their usage allowance very often, however they will not be enforcing this allowance until later this year. So if you're still not sure, one option is to upgrade and see how your usage gets on, and if you find you're using too much, you can upgrade to a higher tier as and when ntl start enforcing. Of course that is assuming things haven't changed again by then - the broadband market is very competitive at the moment and it wouldn't be surprising if there was another round of changes in 6 months or so.

N.

divadee

I am confused now.

so are ntl upgrading all customers over time onto this new service.

i am currently on the broadband 750k not to bothered about faster speed but i do NOT want a usage limit as other half does a hell of a lot of downloading (legal).

SO are they gonna change us all over to this usage limit rather than it being unlimited like it is now.

nedski

They will change you over in time, but no guarantees when. And considering they have a lot of customers, you could be waiting a while.

As you are on 750Kb currently, your speed will go up to 2Mb, and your cap will be 1GB daily, which if you check your acceptable usage policy, is no different to how it is currently.

It is only 300Kb customers whose cap will change.

N.

sunflower_2

EXCELLENT !!!

am all speedy now... whoossshhh

like turbo turtle

thank u so so so so much nedski

:beer:

nedski

sunflower wrote:

EXCELLENT !!!

am all speedy now... whoossshhh

like turbo turtle

thank u so so so so much nedski

Hey no worries sunflower, glad I helped!

N.

salli9

Can anyone tell me how I can check if I've been upgraded?

nedski

salli9 wrote:

Can anyone tell me how I can check if I've been upgraded?

Try a Connection Speed Tester somewhere - here's an example.

N.

kev801

Thanks for the info now at 2meg, don’t need that fast but hey is quick.

sunflower_2

actually it must hav all been in my mind - just tested am still just under 700

when go to upgrade it says am already 2meg

the ntl website states they will automatically upgrade 700+ customers and to keep checking for updates

does anyone know when this will happen?

am not unhappy with my current speed but obv if am entitled to be faster i want it