NTL Broadband Bargain

slipperysam_2

I'm with NERRAD on this one, been with NTL for many years and never had a problem, maybe we're just lucky.

Sam.

mateus

Quidco makes even cheaper at around 6.67! Are Quidco reputable? Anyone got any cashback out of them?

exotic_2

All I can say is, if you have to call any Customer Services center, and feel you are not getting a reasonable standard of service from the agent or, especially, accurate advice, then calmly make your excuses (ie. someone at the door, have to drop the kids off etc) politely end the call, then call straight back. Repeat until you are satisfied with an agent's level of customer care.

There are no good or bad call centers, just good and bad individuals.

Roger_Rampant

It's not as simple as that. When I deal with Dell (for example) I know that if one of their Irish people rings me, we will usually understand each other. If one of their colleagues from India rings me, they will not generally be speaking their first language, and they are often from a completely different culture. Communicating effectively under those circumstances is much harder

GlasWolf

I've been with NTL for 3 years, and never had a problem (and therefore reason to call them). For broadband, I think a lot of it might be to do with where in the country you are. If you're in one of the areas of the network that they've inherited, it can be pretty dodgy. Luckily I'm in a new build area and I can count the number of broadband outages I've had on, well, maybe two hands. The majority of those have been for no more than a couple of hours and in the middle of the night.

pricefighter

Have a look at the NTL Service Status site.
http://www.ntl-isp.ntl.com/servicestatus/

m4x_2

I been with NTL Broadband for nearly 4 years now.
No probs at all.

But what I can advise is my friend has called them only yday for TECH Support and noticed that the Support Team have moved to INDIA.

SO....Good luck if you need Support :eek:

Phonix

Those of you who also have a BT line, it may be worth looking into the possibility of using your NTL line to make calls.

For example https://www.voipbuster.com offer free calls to lots of worldwide destinations including the UK, whilst https://www.sipgate.co.uk offer a free UK geographical number for you to be reached on.

While there are implications for emergency services lines and bandwidth ratio problems there are large savings to be had once you get rid of the burdonsome BT line rental charge.

Check the comments on this thread http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=665744#post665744

If you're serious about it, it may be worth investing in a Sipura adapter.

I've had my Sipura SPA-3000 working via NTL 1MB service for a few weeks now, posting summary in case it helps anyone. Using sipgate.co.uk who seem to be mostly alright, £5.90 for 1000 minutes of landline calls is OK with me. Only got through 663 minutes this month and they don't roll over but don't mind too much about that it's still good value.

Got my free number from sipgate, you can actually get more than one and point at same destination and I'm thinking of doing this so kids can have their own numbers and we can use SPA's "distinctive ring" capabilities. Also got a (Seattle) US number from ipkall.com, not sure what I'm gunna use it for but free and I thought it was cool. Still got original NTL landline and all these numbers ring on same DECT phone. Rest of family have not complained about phone working much differently after I switched it to VOIP.

Call quality is alright, mostly, but you do need QoS/bandwidth management (don't want call to go funny when kids start up some game or big download.) My NTL connection is supposed to have 1Mbs down 200Kbs up, however in reality it is more like 110kbs up. These are the values I configured into my router for QoS after doing a bit of speed testing. Does not cause a problem with calls so have not complained about lack of expected 200 upload speed.

Anyone interested in bandwidth here are figures, this represents busy family use of phone over time period stated.

Wait for it,

The upshot of this is that you would effectively be getting a phoneline + decent broadband for £6.67/month. Now that is a real bargain considering the BT line rental is £10.50 a month and with the above solution it's likely you'll get free calls too.

This makes the sipura adapter very affordable.

All we need now is for NTL to up their bandwidth quota.

Lastly one of the cool things about sipgate is that you can get local numbers no matter where you live.feels like I'm living at home again, and I can't wait to see the look on my sisters face when she rings the number.

wazza

Had NTL for 4 years and no problems. Am now going onto Broadband. Apart from the delay in replying i found the customer service ok. Dont know if that is due to one of their main office is located here in Nottingham.

However a couple of months ago my sister enrolled for broadband. The installer left untidy cable routing. When registering BB on the PC she noticed she wasnt provided with a pin number. She rang the BB helpline and noticed an Indian guy speaking. thanks to him the PC is unusable after being asked to delete some files. Not suprising she cancelled the contract. She is based in yorkshire.

wazza

Had my installation booked for sat afternoon 12-6pm. Around 12-30 NTL guy turned up. After seeing where i want the BB point installed which is the back bedroom he got his stuff and installed the cable. Must say he has done a good job. Gave me clear instructions on how to install the software. Once installed i was up and away.

Good job NTL. Hope i will have troublefree service as i had with the dial-up service from NTL.

Only concern is how to check how much i am downloading each month. Any free software available?