Ntl Cutting Off High Usage Users

xbox360dublin

Hey

Got a letter yesterday from NTL called "disconnection notice".

Basically it says that they are disconnecting me from my broadband within 10 days due to over usage of my download limit, it says i downloaded 85gbs in august (which is a lot, i didnt even know i downloaded that much.) ive been downloaded tons of demos through xbox live for the xbox360.
plus i do download tv shows also. I cant really complain if i have used that much, but its just a word of warning. I spoke to NTL and they are checking it
out. No one in NTL knows which department sent the letter, even though its sign by a guy called niall, the head of customer relations. A girl called Michelle told
me that 170 letters were sent to clients telling them of this and more will be sent soon. but she is getting it checked out, to see if i can stay connected as long
as i dont go over.

I honestly didnt think i went over by that much, though i downloaded around 50gbs but there is no way of checking with NTL

Again, this is just a word of warning to everyone. If you have been abusing your download limit, your gonna be disconnected shortly!

Drapper

xbox360dublin wrote:

Hey

Got a letter yesterday from NTL called "disconnection notice".

Basically it says that they are disconnecting me from my broadband within 10 days due to over usage of my download limit, it says i downloaded 85gbs in august (which is a lot, i didnt even know i downloaded that much.) ive been downloaded tons of demos through xbox live for the xbox360.
plus i do download tv shows also. I cant really complain if i have used that much, but its just a word of warning. I spoke to NTL and they are checking it
out. No one in NTL knows which department sent the letter, even though its sign by a guy called niall, the head of customer relations. A girl called Michelle told
me that 170 letters were sent to clients telling them of this and more will be sent soon. but she is getting it checked out, to see if i can stay connected as long
as i dont go over.

I honestly didnt think i went over by that much, though i downloaded around 50gbs but there is no way of checking with NTL

Again, this is just a word of warning to everyone. If you have been abusing your download limit, your gonna be disconnected shortly!

read the terms and conditions! I believe high usage users effect everyone elses BB experisnce and should be dealt with, I've no sympathy for you !

The limit is 40gb and your well over by 20%! but I think your 50gb is not a true, I've been told by a contact in NTL they only go for HIGH users 150gb with more than 2 months excessive use!!

dave101

if you were uploading that amount would they be as stern?
is this for piracy reasons?

xbox360dublin

no no, as i said, i cant complain, my own fault, but your contact is wrong, the letter that was sent to me clearly states i downloaded 85GBs in august, in even in BOLD writing under the first paragraph.

paulm17781

I'm suffering from over use at the moment and they told me letters are being sent out.

I do think 40GB is a bit low though, seeing as that is what it was when it was a 3Mb connection. Up the caps and put in more backhaul would be optimal.

However as someone who's connection is suffering from over use in my area, I have no sympathy either.

fishfoodie

Isnt it reasonable to ask that NTL provide a tool to allow its customers to see what their usage is, before they start cutting people off ?

So far I havent heard of NTL actually providing a Web page where you can actually monitor your usage !

xbox360dublin

i assume the upload is taken into account when calculating the usage, its not for privacy reasons, it apparently effects other users. I find it odd though, my broadband was off for most of august, it went down almost everyday for a few hours!

carrotcake

just as well i started using a download monitor!

if they're cutting people off for high usage then they should have a system in place for a user to check their downloads, like eircom do

xbox360dublin

hey guys, not looking for sympathy here, to be honest, i thought the whole
effecting other users was just a line to stop you over using , i didnt think it actually did, but i was wrong on that. as ive said, this is ALL MY OWN FAULT, just posted here to warn people to ease up on their downloading now as NTL are disconnecting people!

Drapper

xbox360dublin wrote:

but your contact is wrong,

new management! they may have changed thier stance, the Chello boys are more "cost" conciuos........ check out Chello NL and BE penalties are like other BB providers.....

xbox360dublin

well once NTL get back to me to say whether or not i get another chance i will let yous know, so other people who got the letter can ring too, but if i get another chance i wont be going over my limit, i actually honestly didnt think i was effecting other people, dont wanna continue doing that either

Sponge Bob

xbox360dublin wrote:

170 letters were sent to clients telling them of this and more will be sent soon. but she is getting it checked out, to see if i can stay connected as long as i dont go over.

Normally if you ring them (grovel a tad) and promise to behave (and actually behave) they can be persuaded not to cut you off. If you DO NOT ring them you WILL be cut off.

I honestly didnt think i went over by that much, though i downloaded around 50gbs but there is no way of checking with NTL!

Frankly then I would get on to Comreg and get them to clarify this lack of a facility to check . info@comreg.ie

You did think you had gone over though, albeit by 35Gb less

dave101

whatout the privacy rights from them knowing what your doing exactly online ? iit seems a little bit grey area to me?
if you were downloading from say torrent sites etc?

xbox360dublin

well i dont know if they monitor what your downloading just the amount (usage) and so on. i dont think that would be allowed although if your downloading illegal stuff then you run the risk of being caught.

i was thinking of going to magnet since they have a huge download cap but we will see what NTL come back and say

Drapper

xbox360dublin wrote:

well i dont know if they monitor what your downloading just the amount (usage) and so on. i dont think that would be allowed although if your downloading illegal stuff then you run the risk of being caught.

i was thinking of going to magnet since they have a huge download cap but we will see what NTL come back and say

yes magnet are a great alternative, but they don't warn they just issue an invoice for going over the limit! @.50c per GB (based on your levels of 85gb you'd be paying about €22.50 extra on your bill) and it actually works out more expensive than NTL when you take line rentla into consideration

xbox360dublin

magnet have a 150gb download allowance a month and you can
carry forward what you dont use to the next month, i seriously dont
ever see myself going over 150gbs, my pc hard drive is only 200 gbs

paulm17781

The lack of a tool is an issue. I would doubt I ever go over 10GB, though my xBox 360 may change this. I would like to be able to have a good idea of what I do download though. I also don't think I should be expected to have a seperate utility for this.

Drapper

I agree they need a tool.. and thisn should be in place ASAP!!!

which package has 150gb allowance? and cost? is it on a par?

Mojito

Drapper wrote:

yes magnet are a great alternative, but they don't warn they just issue an invoice for going over the limit! @.50c per GB (based on your levels of 85gb you'd be paying about €22.50 extra on your bill) and it actually works out more expensive than NTL when you take line rentla into consideration

Thats a better options than just cutting you off as NTL don't offer you a tool to check out how much you have downloaded.

Or why not just throttle your connection to dial up speed so you can still at least access your emails.

Or offer you a number to call (free phone) to check how much you have downloaded so far this month.

Or should we just ring CS and ask them to tell us how much we've download as we don't want to run the risk of getting cut off and waste there time?

paulm17781

xbox360dublin wrote:

i seriously dont
ever see myself going over 150gbs, my pc hard drive is only 200 gbs

Then how do you go over 40!

Drapper

Mojito wrote:

Thats a better options than just cutting you off as NTL don't offer you a tool to check out how much you have downloaded.

Or why not just throttle your connection to dial up speed so you can still at least access your emails.

Or offer you a number to call (free phone) to check how much you have downloaded so far this month.

Or should we just ring CS and ask them to tell us how much we've download as we don't want to run the risk of getting cut off and waste there time?

They don't cut off people if a case is put to them, but as I've said and others have posted here before, cut offs don't happen because of one months excessive downloading! they monitor........ and its thier policy.

xbox360dublin

the majorty of my downloads last month and in july would have been the xbox360. demos can come in at a GB each, plus high def game trailers are huge and so on.

Magnet offer a TV.phone and broadband package. Its a 8gb download line and 512k up. You get free calls for life to any irish number including northern ireland. Mobiles arent included though. Plus 60 digital channels. I pay NTL 120 every 2 months for my TV and Broadband and another 100 every 2 months to eircom for my phoneline.

Magnet charge 83 euro a month for all of this so 166 every 2 months. it works out 60 euro cheaper with them. the 83 euro is including line rental and vat. Plus you have the 150 gb download allowance a month

http://www.magnet.ie/packages/entertainment.shtml

Drapper

xbox360dublin wrote:

the majorty of my downloads last month and in july would have been the xbox360. demos can come in at a GB each, plus high def game trailers are huge and so on.

Magnet offer a TV.phone and broadband package. Its a 8gb download line and 512k up. You get free calls for life to any irish number including northern ireland. Mobiles arent included though. Plus 60 digital channels. I pay NTL 120 every 2 months for my TV and Broadband and another 100 every 2 months to eircom for my phoneline.

Magnet charge 83 euro a month for all of this so 166 every 2 months. it works out 60 euro cheaper with them. the 83 euro is including line rental and vat. Plus you have the 150 gb download allowance a month

http://www.magnet.ie/packages/entertainment.shtml

well many here have no alternative but NTL or IBB (Irish sh1teband) so your lucky, its a free market so if you can get a better deal "move on" ;):D:D I'd persoinnaly prefare Sky for my digital and VOIP for my phone.

Seems to make financial sence for you

xbox360dublin

yeah sky digital in all fairness is the best of the lot, i hate NTLS, my digibox is broken, lags all the time, have to press the keys on both the box and remote around 10 times before the channel changes, its annoying, and ive rang them but been ignored.

i dont wanna move at all, too much hassle but i may not have a choice.

Drapper

well lets start a thread on how much the NTL cap should be ? or you might add a poll to this thread......... I think the 40gb is outdated for a 6mb prduct and your right patches / mods and shareware etc are getting larger and more complex ! a fair allowance would be 80 - 100 gb.

BTW NTL do read Boards.ie (isn't that right Liam?)

xbox360dublin

have no idea how to start a poll

Drapper

If a mod is reading you might add a poll please.

Qustion:-

What is an acceptable cap for the NTL 6mb product.

1. 60 gb
2. 80 gb
3. 100 gb
4. 120 gb
5. Other

Uncapped is not an NTL policy so keep it real.

xbox360dublin

i just got a call from a girl in NTL customer services, she says that the managers of the department are now dealing with the letters that were sent out and her manager will be calling me today to discuss the letter. That doesnt sound good.

Moriarty

No real point adding a poll imo.

Foxwood

Drapper wrote:

If a mod is reading you might add a poll please.

Qustion:-

What is an acceptable cap for the NTL 6mb product.

1. 60 gb
2. 80 gb
3. 100 gb
4. 120 gb
5. Other

Uncapped is not an NTL policy so keep it real.

How abaout a poll for how much NTL should put the price up for everyone to support a larger cap for the minority who want it?

bk

As I suspected a few months ago, since NTL merged with Chorus, NTL is starting to slip from one of the best ISP's to one of the worst.

First of all we have all the problems with them routing all traffic through Amsterdam and now this.

Ironically if they bothered to peer in INEX, they mightn't need to do this. For instance Microsoft is peered in the INEX, so all of your xbox360 downloads would be very cheap to do if they bothered to just peer with MS in the INEX. But because they are routing through Amsterdam, of course it is going to be very expensive and cause a bottleneck.

If UPC continues this way they are going to be losing lots of their customers to Smart and Magnet and lose any positive good will that they had built up.

Just FYI, NTL UK (no longer related to NTL Ireland) use to have a 75GB cap, but now has no cap and is unlimited.

CiaranC

Strange, i did a lot of transfer last month and heard nothing.

NTL are gradually lowering their standards to match the rest of the Irish BB market.

Jail8ird

I found a very helpful article on ISPs advertising
'free' broadband on The Register site:

http://tinyurl.com/hfepj

It made me aware of the small print you never
usually read.

Also search for 'broadband limit' for other interesting
articles.

J8

Drapper

Moriarty wrote:

No real point adding a poll imo.

no bother.

Mojito

bk wrote:

As I suspected a few months ago, since NTL merged with Chorus, NTL is starting to slip from one of the best ISP's to one of the worst.

First of all we have all the problems with them routing all traffic through Amsterdam and now this.

Ironically if they bothered to peer in INEX, they mightn't need to do this. For instance Microsoft is peered in the INEX, so all of your xbox360 downloads would be very cheap to do if they bothered to just peer with MS in the INEX. But because they are routing through Amsterdam, of course it is going to be very expensive and cause a bottleneck.

If UPC continues this way they are going to be losing lots of their customers to Smart and Magnet and lose any positive good will that they had built up.

Just FYI, NTL UK (no longer related to NTL Ireland) use to have a 75GB cap, but now has no cap and is unlimited.

I totally aggree with you on this Bk. I actually signed up here when NTL had a no cap policy but in the last few years Smart and Magnet have both become available in my area and they are starting to look like a better/cheaper option than NTL now.

carrotcake

bk wrote:

Ironically if they bothered to peer in INEX, they mightn't need to do this. For instance Microsoft is peered in the INEX, so all of your xbox360 downloads would be very cheap to do if they bothered to just peer with MS in the INEX. But because they are routing through Amsterdam, of course it is going to be very expensive and cause a bottleneck.

exactly. instead of fixing their own shortcomings they're putting the blame on customers

xbox360dublin

Just got another call from NTL, (its unusual, i never get a call back from them, and i get 2 today, they must be taking this seriously)

Apparently everyone will be called in the next 24 hours by the broadband management team in relation to the letter that was sent to them. The girl said that she did not know whether they are just ringing to say we are definately being cut off or to be told youve one last chance , just have to wait for them to call!

i will let you know how this pans out

dathiultaigh

bk wrote:

As I suspected a few months ago, since NTL merged with Chorus, NTL is starting to slip from one of the best ISP's to one of the worst.

First of all we have all the problems with them routing all traffic through Amsterdam and now this.

Definatly have to agree with BK on this. Previous to a few months back I never had to call their tech line. When I did call to highlite routing issues as i was seeing latency with their network the tech agent hadn't a clue what I was on about but to be fair he did call me back later stating the issue was fixed ... unfortunatly that was about a month back and I have definatly not noticed an improvement.

Also I do DL using torrent clients and in no way am i excessive in the amount of data I DL but I have noticed sometimes my client just will not connect with anything. I know how to configure my NW and bittorrent client, I know this is not an issue on my end, and this has all changed in the last month. WTF IS NTL DOING?

I will definatly move onto another ISP if this does not change.

xbox360dublin

All the disconnections are going ahead. so 80 customers are loosing their broadband connections next week, and then more each month!

paulm17781

Did they say about a method for monitoring usage?

If you got 4 letters then fair enough. However as you said you got none of them it is really bad form. Smart may find a lot of new business coming soon....

xbox360dublin

yeah i know, didnt get one of them, and he couldnt find them on the system either, more bad admin on NTLs part.

They didnt mention what method they were using either!

He said he will definately get the broadband support to call me to discuss this. although i dont know if arguing the case will do any good., might just cancel ntl digital too and go to magnet

Cabaal

Not seen any "caution" letters or any final letters myself, although I'm averaging just under 1GB a day so with luck I'll be ok

Drapper

4 warning is more than enough in my opinion! as I've said in my second post its not like any utility provider to give one warning and cut someone off!

they do seem like they are clamping dow, howver ceck the T&C's of your contract to see if you can challenge them on what is happening!

Solicitors letter?? Demand proof of the over the top usage, and ask how are you to monitor if they don't provide adequate bandwidth monitring tools!

xbox360dublin

yeah 4 letters is definately enough, god one letter would have been enough, but i didnt get any. just a letter to say im being disconnected. and the fact that the manager of the department couldnt see when these supposed letter were actually sent to me either doesnt help.

Drapper

xbox360dublin wrote:

yeah 4 letters is definately enough, god one letter would have been enough, but i didnt get any. just a letter to say im being disconnected. and the fact that the manager of the department couldnt see when these supposed letter were actually sent to me either doesnt help.

get scanned copies of the other three! do they exist?? (you need to strenghten your case)

xbox360dublin

i asked john makey the manager for copies of the letters that were
sent to me and he said he would look into it, but theres no stopping NTL just typing up letters and putting specific dates on them. well i think anyway.

Drapper

xbox360dublin wrote:

i asked john makey the manager for copies of the letters that were
sent to me and he said he would look into it, but theres no stopping NTL just typing up letters and putting specific dates on them. well i think anyway.

to be honest that would not be in thier ineterst! they would be slatted in court over this, you have to give them some sort of credit! it has been mentioned in the past, people get letters! however it is in your case , the letters! and dates! so you can stop them cutting you off

Sponge Bob

They never sent these warnings out. They may have been told to send them out and never did and are in cover up mode

How did these hogs (say 300 hogs nationwide ) allegedly get 4 warnings each (1200 letters) and nobody heard a damn thing until the final disconnect letters were sent out

Drapper

is there others here who got them ? or any previuos letter? it is very seriuos for a corporation to make false allegations about "correpondance" that actually never went out! very serious! this could back fire very easily.

spongebob I think he said there was 80 people. 300 is a bit high... but your right there should be someone who can post up a letter ??

xbox360dublin

i have actually heard of people on boards getting this letter, its come up once or twice before, but it was never scanned up so i dont know what it looks like. to be honest, NTL are terrible with correspondence though, id say lots of letters were meant to be sent to people but their staff just arent the best

carrotcake

this is the old letter they were sending out...

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/3461/letterxl3.gif