Cable Companies

Tellox

Im currently on NTL-World 1-way network..

€15 a month, and you get 48hours at the weekend flat-rate, and all yer NTL channels.. speeds are good, usually about 5kps.. I can recall getting 11kps once, and it remained at that for about 1hr 30mins.

all other internet calls are €0.99/hour off-peak after that... I think..
If this is in your reach,I think you would avail from it..

BArra

the only problem with that is NTL arent in cork.
so its not much use to ppl outside of dublin,waterford <-- and 1 other county isnt it ?

well i know for sure u cant get NTL in the cork area

Tellox

laois I think is the other place..
sorry,I thought cork was included

aidan_dunne

Originally posted by Tizlox
laois I think is the other place..

Yep, you're right, NTL don't operate in Laois. Chorus are the cable operators in this county. Apparently only one cable operator is allowed to operate in a given area so we're stuck with the $hittiest one of all. I'm on Chorus and the channels do be gone more often than we have them. It seems all it takes is for someone to sneeze around here and the channels go on the blink! lol

Just out of curiosity, is NTL any better or do NTL customers suffer from similar problems?

Tellox

well I use the sky digital dish meself, so Im rarely watching NTL's channels, just comes as a bonus really, but whenever Im watching it in a mates house, it seems grand

NTL's internet seems to be on the blink today though, Im being connected at 36000bps - 42333bps all day.. and d/cing me every 8mins or so..

bah, and to think im living 35miles away from dungarven! arrrg...

Dr.Seagull

Originally posted by aidan_dunne


Apparently only one cable operator is allowed to operate in a given area

why do they do this surely this is creating monopolies why would they want to do that?

aidan_dunne

I agree Dr. Seagull, but those are the conditions the ODTR put on the cable operators. They can only work within their own "jurisdictions." Sounds silly to me, too, but those are the rules.

dahamsta

Apparently only one cable operator is allowed to operate in a given area so we're stuck with the $hittiest one of all.

Haven't the franchises expired by now aidan? Remember that shortening of the franchise periods was a condition of price rises?

adam

aidan_dunne

Originally posted by dahamsta
Haven't the franchises expired by now aidan? Remember that shortening of the franchise periods was a condition of price rises?

adam

I'm not too sure about that, adam, but it seems that the status quo is still being maintained. I did see something in a newspaper (can't remember which one, though!) about all of this a couple of weeks ago and it said that the cable operators are still only allowed operate in their given areas. Now whether this newspaper article was inaccurate or the author didn't know about any change in the rules, I don't know, but that's what it said.

Also, I seem to recall reading something about Chorus trying to set up in an NTL area (I think it might have been Waterford) and being stopped from doing so.

Either way, from the looks of things it seems that NTL don't have the money to expand to other areas even if they were allowed to. That means that the rest of us will still have to put up with Chorus' totally crappy service and won't get a chance to use NTL's free weekend cable internet service. Oh well......

dahamsta

Unless something has changed in the interim, "in-platform exclusivity" - which I believe is the term that refers to local cable franchise monopolies - ended on March 1, a change from the original date of March 1, 2004; and was brought about by the price rise applications from NTL and Chorus.

http://www.odtr.ie/docs/odtr0184.doc

The cynical might note that NTL and Chorus applying for price rises at almost exactly the same time would hint towards a cartel in the cable marketplace. S/he would also probably point out that it was far too little, far too late; and a rather grasping effort to address an error of judgement that was either grossly naive or politically questionable.

But of course I couldn't possibly make those suggestions. That would be beneath me.

adam

skrobe

hate to tell ya but ntl,and ireland, have one less choice for the internet . ntl NO LONGER provide 'flatrate' service during the weekend. cause: guess who :mad:

aidan_dunne

Originally posted by skrobe
hate to tell ya but ntl,and ireland, have one less choice for the internet . ntl NO LONGER provide 'flatrate' service during the weekend. cause: guess who :mad:

When did they stop the weekend flat-rate service? I didn't hear anything about that. Have you got any more info on that, skrobe, or a website detailing it? And when you say "cause: guess who?", do you mean Eircom? How did they do that then?

Tellox

wtf
if we dont have a flat-rate weekend any more, Im moving to a country that knows what the internet is.

exiztone2k

your ****ing ****ting me here right?
I was about to sign up for that package to ****ing milk the internet on the weekend, you gotta be lying man.. please tell me it's a joke =****(((((

skrobe

sorry guys must of been a bad dream,but im sure i saw it somewhere . tried search all over for it . sorry once again for the hospital and travel bills encurred

j

Tellox

jesus,you scared me there man!

Mossy Monk

Originally posted by Tizlox
and to think im living 35miles away from dungarven! arrrg...

i'm only a little over 100 meters or so away from having that cable. triple arrrg...

fisty

MON
OP
OL
Y
.


im so tired of this country.

TitanFire

How come there aren't more companies like the one in Waterford, CableSurf I think, around the country? Is there some concensus against small businesses expandind locally? Out of interest, how and when did that company set up?

Moriarty

Its very hard to start up a cable operator from scratch. The infrastructure costs are massive (imagine the cost of running cable to every house in limerick/cork/galway for example, then establising the backbone cabling, etc etc..), investors are staying well away from telecoms in general at the moment so it would be nigh-on-impossible for a new outfit to get venture capital to fund startup, and the regulatory environment in ireland certainly doesnt incourage competition as well as it should.

timod

meanwhile

NTL earnings in Ireland triple in Q1

The Irish operations of the NTL cable company have returned a sharp rise in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the quarter ended March 2002. On that basis its earnings here were E4.6m, up from E1.5m for the same period last year. Revenues for the quarter were E21.7m, up from E15.5m. The company says it had 371,500 customers here at the end of March, of whom 15,700 are digital tv subscribers. It also has 4,600 telephone subscribers here and 1,900 high speed internet customers. Its debt laden parent company, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US, yesterday reported more than doubled EBITDA earnings and a 12pc increase in revenues overall. However, it conceded that growth for the rest of the year would be hit by funding constraints.

From: http://new.businessandfinance.ie/sectors.htm?a=463802