ntl Broadband Development Team

ntl_cable_modem

Dear All,

Thank you all for expressing such interest in broadband offerings from ntl.

The purpose of this post is to advise you of the current position with ntl.

The original post in relation to areas on our 2 way network is partially correct - we currently cover parts of Dublin 6, 6w, 16, 20 and 24 - however, these areas are not completely covered. The products we offer in these areas are Always-On 128 and Always-On 512, (€ 25 and € 35 flat rate respectively) . The uptake in these areas has exceeded our expectations and proves that there is a demand for high-speed access at the right price.

Our customers are telling us that they want high-speed access at an affordable price and we are listening. The FACTS are we are in active discussions with vendors and contractors for expanding this service and naturally timescales will not be available until discussions have been completed , which is expected to be later in the year.

Please bear with us, we will provide more information as it becomes available to us.

Thank you for bringing to our attention the fact the some of our staff had inaccurate information with regards the Cable Modem offering, we have now informed all staff of the correct position.

Sincerely,

Matthew Kemp
Product Manager
ntl

DonegalMan

WOW!!!

Boards really has become the forum for ISP's and Telco's to communicate with their customer base.

On past performance, we'll probably see Eircom joining in in about 3 years time

Seriously, welcome 'aboard' guys.

Martin Harran

Dustaz

As far as i was aware (and after repeated phone calls to ntl confirmed) no parts of dublin 6 are upgraded?

What parts would these be?

spongebob

One thing though.

I can never be really horrible to someone who identifies themselves so I hope I never see someone from Chorus in here!

......naahhhhhhhh theres all those towns in the wesht they lied about.........its personal.

M

ntl_cable_modem

Hi Dustaz,

The number of homes capable of receiving the service in this area is quite small so your question is fair.

Dublin 6 would include Cypress Downs and Grove, Osprey Lawn, Orwell Park - amongst others in and around the same area.

BR

Matthew

spongebob

Tell Me About Galway

Thanks.

LoBo

Hope you DO extend it. Fantastic offer compared to what the 'competition' has to offer with I-Stream.

If that was available countrywide right now, I wonder how many would sign up for it in the next two months... I'd guess 50000+

Kix

Matthew,

It's good to see you on here. Any company which shows it's not afraid to engage with the consumer certainly earns a lot of respect from people here.

I know it hasn't been easy for NTL to find the money to develop the cable modem service but I hope that you'll continue to be able to expand.

I'm in Galway and it's a service I'd dearly love to be able to obtain. I have Digital and the RJ45 port on the digibox causes my heart to flutter everytime I look at it.

With it's large number of people working in IT and the large number of students here I'm imagine Galway city would be a relatively fertile market for broadband.

Is there anything you can tell us?

Regards,

Kieran

Lucutus

Hi Matthew,

Interesting post, and product offerings. Is there any sort of rollout plan you would have for the rest of the city, specifically the D6 area, you mention housing 'estates' which are capable of getting these products, rather than the entire area, if one was living in Rathgar, for instance, what would the chances of thier area bring capable of receiving these products?

Many users will understand you are in discussion with vendors and contractors, however, many others will see you providing these services only to very small pockets of homes and dismiss your service as an option. 'Please bear with us' is nice and all, but with this post you aren't really offering anything to even a fraction of the users of these boards.

Lucutus

Lemming

Ok, first of all - Hello Matthew, and welcome to the boards.

I would like to expand on what Dustaz mentioned about D6, but in relation to D.16. From what I've been able to dig out of various ntl staff, there's very little of the area on two-way cable.

Could you possibly say which parts of D.16 have been upgraded?

MDR

*is wondering if it would help if he ran around his area changing all the 5s to 6s* ... Justice for North Dublin, we the internet too

kamobe

Thanks for the info Mat. Nice to see huge multi-nationals (or what's left of them ) keeping us up to date. I'm sure you noticed to massive interest in UTV's off-peak "flat-rate" service. For nearly the same price, you guys offer complete flat-rate, and broadband. As with LoBo, I'd imagine a huge take-up country wide, should the product actually become available!

Michael Collins

Can you tell me what parts of Dublin 16 are covered?

Thanks...

ando

Originally posted by MDR
*is wondering if it would help if he ran around his area changing all the 5s to 6s* ... Justice for North Dublin

I'll go around with ya ..... We'd be better off doing it before sunrise

spongebob

I suggested to Scott (and I am sure others did) in a private message that some banner space would be a good way to reach his target demographic and was delighted to hear that he offered to buy some banner space and to assist with hosting....for boards.ie shortly afterwards. Well done Scott (and the other UTV guys) for the way they got into the overall spirit of the Boards straigh away.

That will never be forgotten by any regular here.

Boards.ie support IoffL but not in a monetary or contractual sense

The warning about 'pimping' was co-incidentally posted in here when NTL showed up.

Hard information from attributable sources is always most welcome and where better to post facts rather than recycled marketing and PR Bunny guff than in here.

M

Jorinn

Originally posted by ntl_cable_modem
Hi Dustaz,

The number of homes capable of receiving the service in this area is quite small so your question is fair.

Dublin 6 would include Cypress Downs and Grove, Osprey Lawn, Orwell Park - amongst others in and around the same area.

BR

Matthew

Hmm, d6 eh? Strange,I was toldI couldn't even get digital never mind a cable modem in D6,eventhough ntl dug up an avenue 20 feet from my house about 8 months ago. Anyway, if you offer cable modems around Ranelagh feel free to pm me.

Lucifer

Originally posted by ntl_cable_modem
Hi Dustaz,

The number of homes capable of receiving the service in this area is quite small so your question is fair.

Dublin 6 would include Cypress Downs and Grove, Osprey Lawn, Orwell Park - amongst others in and around the same area.

BR

Matthew

i live in the above area, and its dublin 6w, not 6, and in the 6w area, its Cypress Downs (the Grove is in the Downs), all of osprey, orwell park and orwell park view, all of kennington, rushbrook, wilderwood. not sure if there is more, thats just in the imediate area

NeRb666

ntl would be ok if their customers could actually contact them. I've been trying to contact them for the last 2 weeks, they don't take calls from mobiles, I get put on hold for 20 minutes then give up, and they don't respond to emails.

Falkorre

I *too* have spent 45mins + on hold to NTL many many times, (ie-this was NOT a once off)....... it makes me glad i know enuf to sort out most probs myself an not need their tech help unless the probs on their end.

Before they rollout *anything* might i respectfully suggest they increase their telephone assistance staff greatly, or at least teach them to take a call off hold once in a while an say sorry in person, i mean 45mins is just beyond the pale.

Bazzie

JTMan

Matthew, a few questions...

1. Have you found a way to upgrade these area's without digging up all the roads? Will it be done through a different method than the one currently employed?

2. If the negotiations are successful would you envisage a roll-out to all area's of the ntl franchise in a short period?

3. What happened to your VOIP over 1 way network trial? I heard that it has gone from the lab stage to a trial. Was the trial successful?

4. What is you current strategy with upgraded area's. My understanding is that you are only targeting it at a small number of people inside the upgraded area's. Why not everyone in these upgraded area's?

5. Will you change your 550K package to 600K like ntl recently did in the UK?

6. Will you launch a low-cost 1 MB product like you did in the UK?

7. What are you plans for your dial up unmetered products. Are reports true that you have discontinued sign up's to your weekend package? Will we see any new unmetered packages from you in the light of UTV and Esat BT offer's?

ChessHacker

Hello ntl.

Good to see you here.

I'm in Clonskeagh (really old cable apparently). There are lots of people that use the internet near me, but this area is constantly neglected.

I'd really like cable access

Neil_Sedaka

Originally posted by NeRb666
ntl would be ok if their customers could actually contact them. I've been trying to contact them for the last 2 weeks, they don't take calls from mobiles, I get put on hold for 20 minutes then give up, and they don't respond to emails.

Thats just not true, I sent NTL an e-mail of complaint and got a standard reply 7 weeks later!

OHP

Anyone notice a HUGE! difference here? Like Lack Of Responce? as compaired to UTVip?. I think ntl should just jump off the band wagon right now. All they are doing is showing themselves up for their lack of responce and proving themselves to be more like Eircon than they wanted to.



OHP

KdjaCL

Anyone notice a HUGE! difference here? Like Lack Of Responce?

This just a guess but the 1st post was Friday at 3pm ish
Now as this is now Monday morning im guessing maybe he doesnt work weekends???

Just a guess tho


Hopefully a rollout in D22 proper is next


Kdja

koneko

I've lost all confidence in NTL over the last few months.

I have no hopes for cable internet from them when they won't even provide me with a basic TV package (I'm not even talking digital here).

ntl_cable_modem

Thank you for your comments.

ntl will not be changing the 512k service to 600k this year, neither is it envisaged that we will launch the 1Mb service this year.

As I am sure you will understand, ntl will not provide details of its plans at this time. However, details of any services offered will be shared with this forum well in advance (there was a question over whether ntl should place a banner ad as a result of the posting. When an announcement is made we will certainly try to honour that request).

I have also raised your support issues to the relevant people at ntl.

BR

Matthew

PiE

Pah.

Stop trying to get the good PR vibe that UTV got, come back when you have something worthwhile to tell us.

spongebob

Rather than show up saying HI and leg it again, could you clarify where NTL has the service and will have by the end of the year 2002

There is a quite a lot of speculation and gnashing of teeth about that.

Another way to do it, of course, is to shade in a map, post it on your website and post the link in here.

Most of the growling about NTL Internet is NOT about the service per se but about the various incorrect assertations made by your PR bunnies and staff as to its (un)availability

Setting the record straight until the year end would be a good start. Telling us what the new solvent NTL will do can wait if necessary.


M

ntl_cable_modem

Dear Pie,

Firstly I have to say that we fully appreciate your frustration at this time.

We want to deliver the best possible solution to the market but this will very much be driven by vendor products and naturally costs.

Broadband is a key component of our service delivery for early/mid next year and indeed our future, but at this stage to give exact details would be both unfair on you because it may give false expectations (which we do not want to do) and to the market in general because we want to deliver on our commitments.

We will discuss the product in more detail with many of the lobby groups and interested parites once we know exacltly what the product definition will be.

At this stage we are not ruling out ANYTHING and all options (such as VOIP as mentioned above) are still under serious consideration.

Matthew

ando

ah to be fair pie, he has said that they are in 'active discussions with vendors and contractors for expanding this service', although i still am very, very sceptical as I've heard this before many, many times .... not just from Ntl, but its nice to see someone high up in the company saying these things, putting himself in the spotlight is I hope a good omen

spongebob

Hi

I also assumed that any areas that will be covered by the end of 2002 have already gone beyond the 'active discussion' stage Matthew referred to.

Time to tell us in here and in the ICDG groups for once and for all...or post a link to that map.

Matthew can then go away quietly till he has more good news.

M