NTL broadband

event

a friend is getting this and ill have to set it up

can people tell me a few things:

Does it come with a router or cable modem? if its a modem, can i get an ethernet wireless router, set it to DHCP and connect it up? is it that easy?

On the traffic allowance, do they monitor it? If you go over, do they charge or restrict speed? Is it a rolling 30 days or a flat month per month period?

anything else i should know?

Oat23

They send out a guy to do everything. Why have you got to do it?

FibbersON

I got a free wireless off them by going for the 20mb for a few months then downgrading, NTL is sweet. I have 2 lads in early 20s using it along wth myself and we've never had any hassle. Had it for 4 months now, couldn't recommend it higher, although I haven't had to call tech support.

Ph3n0m

event wrote: »

a friend is getting this and ill have to set it up

can people tell me a few things:

Does it come with a router or cable modem? if its a modem, can i get an ethernet wireless router, set it to DHCP and connect it up? is it that easy?

They can provide one for you, or you can choose just to get the broadband in and sort out the wireless router yourself

event wrote: »

On the traffic allowance, do they monitor it? If you go over, do they charge or restrict speed? Is it a rolling 30 days or a flat month per month period?

I have gone over the limit before and all I got was a letter telling me that I was over the limit - they never said by how much, or when I rang, where they able to tell me any more information. Apparantly their monitoring service is limited to just automatically informing their accounts dept to send out a letter to people who exceed the limit. I have not been charged for excessive usage - but then again I did notably reduce my downloads, etc when I recieved the letter.

vibe666

event wrote: »

Does it come with a router or cable modem? if its a modem, can i get an ethernet wireless router, set it to DHCP and connect it up? is it that easy?

the 20mbps package comes with a free wireless router (a netgear wireless cable router of some sort afaik), but i've heard it's crap and I have my own routers at home that I'm more than happy with so I just kept mine and the netgear is still shrink wrapped in it's box somewhere at home.

my main router is a linksys wrt54gs 'broadband' router which i was using to authenticate my BT DSL (with a bridged DSL modem) so when I got NTL in I just changed the router from PPPoE to DHCP and plugged the ethernet WAN port into the NTL modem and that was it, all working fine.

event wrote: »

On the traffic allowance, do they monitor it? If you go over, do they charge or restrict speed? Is it a rolling 30 days or a flat month per month period?

not sure about the lower packages, but on the 20mbps package rumour has it that ntl won't bat an eyelid till you pass the 600gb per month mark and I can vouch for that up to about 150gb in a month so far, but I'm having trouble pushing it further than that and I'm running out of HDD space very quickly and haven't had a chance to order a decent NAS yet so I'm not going to go too overboard. needless to say they're pretty liberal, at least on the top end package.

event wrote: »

anything else i should know?

customer service is still pretty poor, but they are getting better. there's also a rumour that upc are planning on upgrading all their territories up to 100mbps by the end of 2009 ad whilst i won't be holding my breath, the recent 20mbps upgrades are a good step in the right direction. here's hoping for a merry xmas by the end of the year.

event

ah thats grand

i dont think they are getting the router, so ill get one and set it up, just wondering what type to get

cheers for all the help lads

vibe666

it depends very much on how much use it'll get.

most will do fine for the usual browsing email, gaming lark, but heavy torrenting and other p2p apps will bring a lot of routers to their knees.

prechaun

I had Eircom BB and am switching to the 10meg NTL which doesn't come with a wireless router. I believe you can pay €50 extra for the NTL wireless router, but I hear that it's pretty rubbish.

Can I connect my existing eircom router (I think it's netgear) to my NTL cable modem to get wireless? Thanks.

nava

It will also depend on the enginier, best is not to have the PC in the same room the UPC/NTL box is, as they don't want to waste time drilling walls to pass cable to other rooms they do prefer to give a wireless router.
That was the case a few months back.

If you are going to get a Router make sure is a cable router (not DSL)

Paul Tergat

Just want to tag on a quick question to this

Im getting the 20mb NTL wireless BB. I only have one laptop in the house and no desktop - am i right in thinking that i can just leave the wireless router/modem downstairs (once its been setup and installed) and not have to have a computer/laptop constantly plugged into the modem?

seems like a silly question looking back on it but just want to make sure.

nava

p_larkin99 wrote: »

Just want to tag on a quick question to this

Im getting the 20mb NTL wireless BB. I only have one laptop in the house and no desktop - am i right in thinking that i can just leave the wireless router/modem downstairs (once its been setup and installed) and not have to have a computer/laptop constantly plugged into the modem?

seems like a silly question looking back on it but just want to make sure.

Yes u are correct.

If u are getting a wireless router from NTL/UPC make sure is setup correctly and security enable, not sure now but in the past they configure them OPEN so anyone nearby could access the internet.

Once u get let us know and we can let u know how to check if it;s secure or not.

Paul Tergat

nava wrote: »

Yes u are correct.

If u are getting a wireless router from NTL/UPC make sure is setup correctly and security enable, not sure now but in the past they configure them OPEN so anyone nearby could access the internet.

Once u get let us know and we can let u know how to check if it;s secure or not.

nice one cheers for that

can i not just throw a password onto it to stop it being 'open' or have i misinterpreted what you meant by being open?

nava

p_larkin99 wrote: »

nice one cheers for that

can i not just throw a password onto it to stop it being 'open' or have i misinterpreted what you meant by being open?

yes correct, there's 2 types of encryption WEP and WPA, if your laptop wireless adapter supports WPA (most do) u could use that as it will be more secure. WEP they say is easy to crack. Also most router have other security features like MAC addresses blocking so only the addresses you list can access the internet.

I also recommend you change the SSID (name broadcast by the router) from the default because if you have another router with same name it could cause problems (did to me for a while and took me ages to discover what the reason was).

In case you don't know each network adapter have a unique number (probably you will see sticker in your laptop with that number) so you can restrict your router to only accept connection from the specified MAC addresses.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

neacy69

event wrote: »

ah thats grand

i dont think they are getting the router, so ill get one and set it up, just wondering what type to get

cheers for all the help lads

got mine last week

gave the installation chap €50 for one of his Netgear wifi routers.
he set up everything for me!

Paul Tergat

do ya reckon theres a decent chance they may come earlier than the date i specified when ordering online? the first available one was next friday and id prefer just to get it in before then

sweetie

will they provide the broadband to non tv subscribers?
If so how much extra is the phone with the bb ultra package?
doesn't seem to have a price for it.

vibe666

you can take any single service from them or a combination of whatever you want to.

20mbps broadband is 46€ on it's own AFAIK (it's only 40€ as part of a bundle), but if you want a phone line too it's an extra 10€ for line rental BUT, the broadband and phone together then qualifies as a bundle so the broadband comes down to 40€ making it 50€ in total which is pretty good.

incidentally, someone at work told me today that they're adding a new sexual position into the Karma Sutra called the 'NTL position' where you stay in all day and nobody comes.

probably an old one robbed from builders or plumbers or something but it gave me a giggle.