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Thinking of canceling Sky and moving to NTL Digital

  • 20-04-2006 4:31pm
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,231 ✭✭✭✭


    Recently in our house we were thinking of scraping the sky+ sub and multiroom sub in favour of Ntl digital with 3 extra points.

    Currently I have the sky+ and the parents have the multiroom sub in their bedroom.

    Price wise I pay a full Sky sub (Sky World) and €15 on top for the multiroom, but it only covers two rooms.

    So my only question is, is it a good move to go all the way to NTL and get all rooms made digital.
    I have never used NTL so im not sure of the channel choice, Is there many channels on sky that are not on NTL, (except the sh1te ones like avago etc).

    I do plan on getting SKY HD only for the movies but I may wait another few months, maybe till the end of the year.


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,559 ✭✭✭The tax man


    NTL digital Lineup


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 23,279 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    NTL Digital is very good and better value for money in a multiroom setup IMO.

    The Picture and Sound quality of Sky is slightly better then NTL, but not massively so and not really noticeable on a 32" CRT.

    The Sky EPG is better with a week long EPG versus just 2 days on NTL.

    As for channels, NTL has about120 versus over 200 for Sky, however you should note that the extra channels on Sky are crappy shopping and religious type channels, no lose. NTL's line-up is very good, with most of the best channels on Sky. The only channels of note missing are:

    1) ITV 1,2,3,4 (NTL does have UTV), however it is important to note that these channels aren't actually on Sky either, but they can be received FTA through extra channels on the Sky box (so no EPG for them on Sky).

    2) A couple of the less popular UKTV channels.

    3) Eurosport

    On the other hand NTL does have Channel 6, the new Irish channel that isn't on Sky and is actually ok.

    BTW when you cancel the Sky sub, you can keep the two Sky boxes and you will still be able to watch many of the FTA channels including: ITV 1,2,3,4, UTV, Men and Motors, BBC 1,2,3,4, News and kids channels and many of the crappy shopping and religious channels not on Sky (lucky you!).

    One thing to note, Sky HD Movies isn't available through NTL at the moment and I don't think you can get it on Sky without first subscribing to their basic packages first.

    Here is how much NTL will cost:
    - Analogue: €20
    - Digital (first point): €10
    - Extra Digital point: €5 each

    So the cost for 3 digital points will be €40, however since you will be a new customer, I think NTL offer the analogue part free for the first 12 months, so it will only cost €20 pm for the first 12 months.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,863 ✭✭✭✭crosstownk


    I used Sky for 4 years and everything was perfect - not one fault. I moved house 7 months ago and got NTL. I hated NTL - the crappy remote, bad TV guide (harder to navigate than Sky). And then the service used to drop out regularly. The sound used to go out of sync with the picture. When I turned on the digibox I had to wait 20 mins for it to respond to the remote. I had technicians replace the box on several occasions.

    Eventually, as I was also having severe problems with the NTL broadband service, I simply got rid of NTL and got Sky back. Happy ever since :-)

    That's my experience with both providers - I hope it helps you..........


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,231 ✭✭✭✭Sparky


    Well, tbh its more for the multiroom end of things.
    I will have sky HD, but I will only be subscribing to 2mixs and movies.
    I know about once the sky sub is canceled it basically becomes a fta box with sky3 so the digiboxes will be left as they are.
    Its only that Sky+ on skyworld plus a mutiroom box is €79.50 per month, whereas NTL have told me I can have digital and 3 multiroom locations for €64

    They are sending out details, so Id expect them next week. But I didnt know that NTL only do 2 days EPG, jesus thats crap.


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 23,279 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    Sparky-s wrote:
    Its only that Sky+ on skyworld plus a mutiroom box is €79.50 per month, whereas NTL have told me I can have digital and 3 multiroom locations for €64

    They are sending out details, so Id expect them next week. But I didnt know that NTL only do 2 days EPG, jesus thats crap.

    You most be getting sports/movies for that price as it is cheaper.

    Yes the 2 day EPG is crap, I suppose I don't notice it as I use my TiVo's 14 day EPG, much nicer. Hopefuly UPC will sort this, there is no technical reason why it is only 2 days. I wouldn't be surprised if UPC are developing a whole new EPG for both NTL and Chorus, fingers crossed.

    I don't think that crosstownk's problems are normal, he must have had a very bad signal, the only problems I've had was with the box freezing from time to time, but it stopped happening about 6 months ago and hasn't happened since, so they do seem to be improving the firmware.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,863 ✭✭✭✭crosstownk


    bk wrote:

    I don't think that crosstownk's problems are normal, he must have had a very bad signal, the only problems I've had was with the box freezing from time to time, but it stopped happening about 6 months ago and hasn't happened since, so they do seem to be improving the firmware.
    I agree - my problems were not 'normal'. However, the lack of customer care toward my problem was unbelievable. IMO NTL has very poor customer service so, basically, if your signal is good then your ok but if you've got a problem they aren't going to go all out to help solve it. It's another reason I ditched NTL.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,231 ✭✭✭✭Sparky


    Well I know that about 3 yrs ago NTL ran new cables along the houses all the way from their exchange (i assume), its that building beside 'The World' newsagents and behind the BOI.

    So hopefully that will mean the service should be ok.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,138 ✭✭✭snaps


    i have ntl digital for my sports lineup and subscription and kept my old sky box for the FTV (Have a uk card). seem to have plenty of channel choice.


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 23,279 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    crosstownk wrote:
    I agree - my problems were not 'normal'. However, the lack of customer care toward my problem was unbelievable. IMO NTL has very poor customer service so, basically, if your signal is good then your ok but if you've got a problem they aren't going to go all out to help solve it. It's another reason I ditched NTL.

    I find NTL CS to be some of the best around, however there was little they could do to fix your problem.

    You see, it sounds like the cable in your area was of bad quality. The only way to fix this is to repace the cable running to the local node. This work is expensive and difficult to do and at the very least would take 6 months, as they would need to apply for road opening licenses from the City Council.

    So this isn't something that CS or an engineer can fix. I asume if they get enough complaints about the cable quality in an area, a request to replace the cable is probably sent to their works department and is added to the queue with all the other jobs.

    I know that doesn't really help you, but at least you can understand the difficulties faced. Eircom has the excat same problems with shoddy lines, pair gains, etc. and they just ignore the problem and tell you, that you can't get BB.


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