NTR broadband in Belfast

Civilian_Target

Looking to get broadband in an new house in Belfast. NTL aren't going to be in our area until the end of the year (but when they do it'll be 10 meg ), and because our line is split, the fastest BT-based broadband we can get is 1M/256k, not a lot of good since it's going to be shared amongst 3 heavy users.

We were thinking of going with NTR broadband's 1M breeze package - and I was wondering if any of you had any experience of NTR's service in South-West Belfast (just by Adelade train station)? I was with IBB in Blanchardstown when I was living there and found them to be excellent, despite all the horror stories on this board, so it'd be nice to get some local feedback from anyone with these guys in Belfast on NTR, or suggestions on any other options that might be available.

Civilian_Target

<gentle bump>

Anyone?

bk

Sorry I don't think there is much experience of BB in the North here on boards, I think most are in the South.

You would probably be better off getting BT for a couple of months until NTL rollout in your area.

1m/256k between three users wouldn't be so bad, I use to have 512k/128k between three CS students :eek:

BlueShaun

NTLs will be 2mbit afik, the upgrades announced with much fanfare are not till next year. Stayed with a mate in belfast on tuesday and he was 2mbit despite calling them regularly to beg for the upgrade.

if the NTR solution is based on the same as we have here...just do a search for all the threads, i`d avoid like the plague.

To the best of my knowledge, u can pay bt to remove the split and get a decent line anyhow....post how u get on, as i`ve applied for a job and may be going back there.

Civilian_Target

bk wrote:

You would probably be better off getting BT for a couple of months until NTL rollout in your area.

1m/256k between three users wouldn't be so bad, I use to have 512k/128k between three CS students :eek:

Problem with getting BT is that the minimum contract for the line is 1 year at €15 a month, so even if we only stay BT until the end of the year, we still have to pay a futher €135 for a phoneline we don't want, plus NTL. Also, any BT-based 1 meg package seems to come with a harshly-enforced less-than 10GB cap, which is just not going to happen, since we're dealing with 2 CS students and a WoW addict

NTLs will be 2mbit afik, the upgrades announced with much fanfare are not till next year.

Thats what I mean when I say "NTL won't be in our area until the end of the year" - when then roll out that upgrade, they'll connect us, so it will be 10 meg when they arrive. That said, their announcement was a retort to Telewests 10M announcement, and the Telewest package is 10M down, 384k up, which is ****e TBH.

bk

Civilian_Target wrote:

Also, any BT-based 1 meg package seems to come with a harshly-enforced less-than 10GB cap, which is just not going to happen, since we're dealing with 2 CS students and a WoW addict

BT is uping it's caps to 20GB and now they won't charge you for going over the cap anymore, if you go over the cap consistently they will only ask you to upgrade to a different product. It seems caps are dead in the UK:

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/newsarchive.asp?item=2382

Also I'm sure there are many other companies seeling BB over BT's lines using the BT equivalent of Bitstream. Like UTV, there are more listed here:

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/isps/summarylist.asp

Civilian_Target wrote:

Thats what I mean when I say "NTL won't be in our area until the end of the year" - when then roll out that upgrade, they'll connect us, so it will be 10 meg when they arrive. That said, their announcement was a retort to Telewests 10M announcement, and the Telewest package is 10M down, 384k up, which is ****e TBH.

If NTL is available in your area at 1/2/3m (same as here in South) at the moment, then you should go with them and upgrade to 10m when available.

BTW NTL and Telewest are currently preparing to merge.

Civilian_Target

bk wrote:

If NTL is available in your area at 1/2/3m (same as here in South) at the moment, then you should go with them and upgrade to 10m when available.

BTW NTL and Telewest are currently preparing to merge.

NTL aren't in our area - or I would have already signed with them....

It sounds very much as if people are discouraging the use of NTR though - is anyone here actually using them in Belfast? While I've heard the IBB horror stories - I've been with them myself, no problems, and anyone I know in RL with them has never had any problems either...

Mr_Man

Can't talk about their Belfast service but the brother is using them from the TV Mast in Strabane, and while they are a little expensive he has had no problems with the service in terms of stability or pings. You might also want to check with Donegal Man as he is using the same service.

HTH

M.

Civilian_Target

Ordered NTR today - they said they'd be out this day next week.

bk

Civilian_Target wrote:

Ordered NTR today - they said they'd be out this day next week.

Let us know how it works out.

Civilian_Target

Well - NTR were around this morning and installed. We have line-of-sight to the mast, so that was good news, install was clean, friendly installation guy even offered to patch it into a wall panel for us and gave us a few good tips on where to pick up networking gear in Belfast.

So far so good on the connection - the internal house network hasn't been setup yet, so there's only one computer on the connection but it seems good. I'll let you's know how it copes under the weight of all of us...

Civilian_Target

Hah - spoke too soon! Started raining and winding last night. Pings soared to 600+, packet loss and crappy speeds too.

Tried to phone NTR this morning but atfter 25 mins on hold I ran out of patience.
Now I see what all the complaining's about....

BlueShaun

NTL in belfast operate a 1gb/day cap. Its enforced lightly, ie if u take a lot of files from 1 location, that place gets blocked for a day or 2....this obviously doesnt work for p2p, and regular browsing is unaffected.

All in all, a very good service though!

Civilian_Target

NTL used to have a cap - but they didn't operate it. Don't think they have a cap now.

NTR has been really really shocking dodgy since the day we got it. Seems very weather dependant - and loses a lot of packets sometimes. Ping almost always exceeds 600. Going to get rid of it if they don't fix it damn quickly!

Civilian_Target

Well - phoned up NTR sales line on Monday to disconnect within the cooling off period - because it was really really crap. They said they'd send us a technician the next day - because there was something wrong with our equipment. Technician came out yesterday afternoon as promised, and they decided that they needed to change our mast. They replaced the mesh aerial with a small white box on the side of our house and ever since the line's been good - nice low ping