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

ntl_cable_modem

Unfortunately, due to the way in which the network is construted it is not possible to provide an accurate map (simply because half of a street could be capable of receiving the service, while the other half may not).

Can I ask that you call the designated cable modem number 1800 923005?

The original post was to put a stop to any false rumours and to provide an honest account of what we are doing and was not to gain any favourable coverage.

As I mentioned earlier, when I have some real news for you I will come back and give you ALL of the details.

Until then, let me once again thank you for you invaluable feedback.

Best Regards

Matthew

Dangger

Thank you Matthew.

IrelandOffline are meeting with NTL on the 24th of September at 10am.

David Long

IrelandOffline

kamobe

Read a few angry posts there above in the thread. NTL, or any company, posting here is a GOOD THING! Shouldn't be discouraged

PiE

I agree Kamobe, I'm delighted that the upper echelons of the ISP's are here aswell but you have to wonder would NTL have started this thread had it not been for UTV doing it first?

NTL haven't done a lot for us internet users since it came here and I understand that theres been financial difficulties and all that but we've been told many a time that they're "releasing cable broadband" only to find out they were just re-releasing it in the same areas before. Bleh.

And Thank You Mathew for addressing me personally, but I'm sure you'll find many people feel the same way as I do.

DEmeant0r

Hi ntl_cable_modem:

Could you give me some info on your service in the Galway region?

Thanks.

XbLaDe

Hi matthew,

As ntl is also based in Waterford, does the company have any plans to roll out the cable modem service here in the near future ?

regards,

zynaps

NTL....guy, how about updating ntl's site to reflect the actual situation or at least keep a brief note on it of what's going on, rather than just ze usual blurb about how great cable internet is and that it's only currently available in "selected" areas of West Dublin?

Details, man, details!

...

(mod edit)
Problems with other user's posts (especially if they turn into sagas) are a little more suited to PMs. There's a thread on spelling over in Personal Issues that may be of interest. Thread cleaned (and part-sent to Recycle Bin) accordingly
(/mod edit)

jiffy

I have to agree ! The customer service from NTL is the worst I've ever known. I frequently have to wait 45 minutes to talk to someone to complain about the service. It's not just the Customer service that stinks either, my TV is always on the blink ! I hope that the cable modems work better..

spongebob

snippet

new broadband punters can sign up and get free installation until the end of December

and here is the snag , sorry, T&C's , we'll have that ....we will we will.

Piliger

Originally posted by jiffy
I have to agree ! The customer service from NTL is the worst I've ever known. I frequently have to wait 45 minutes to talk to someone to complain about the service. It's not just the Customer service that stinks either, my TV is always on the blink ! I hope that the cable modems work better..

I rang to complain about television signals being interrupted for several hours for two days running and the girl contradicted her own pre-recorded statement played before she picked up and said no I 'did not have an interuption' !

And then she proceeded to tell me that if I wanted to make any future enquiry or report an outage of service I would have to pick a password and have it ready when I ring !

I told her to put it where the sun don't shine !

These people's customer service section needs a new manager and a complete retraining NOW.

Neil_Sedaka

Dear Sir / Madam,

Since subscribing to your Go Digital pack in February I have been experiencing severe disruption to the service, several of the channels disappear for hours at a time and others have a staggered and jumpy look to them.

On Thursday September 12th. I waited on hold for 22 minutes to your customer service department and was eventually told that a technician would arrive on Tuesday September 17th. between 9:00am and 1:00 pm.
I took the morning off work and waited for the technician, who never arrived.
At 2:00pm I left for work only to arrive home that evening to find the technician had arrived at 2:15pm and could not gain access to my home (naturally)

The only reason I subscribed to the Go Digital package is because one of your sales staff ensured me I could have a deal on it together with your cable modem service, which I was informed would take about 3 weeks to set up, note this was in February and still no sign of the cable internet service.

I have mailed you before and waited several weeks for a reply, which when received was a standard mail-out and answered none of my questions.

Please explain this to me as I have lost all confidence in your company and will not be renewing my contract unless I receive a satisfactory response anon.

Yours,

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

jiffy

Dear Customer Service,

My wife reported bouth our Digital and Analogue TV as not working on the 5th of September. The service had been off since the previous afternoon but as there are often outages that last for an hour or two we were not surprised until it was still off the following morning (5th). As I said, my wife then reported the fault after being made to wait in a telephone queue for almost an hour. She was firstly quizzed on whether or not our neighbours TV was working and then told that it would be 48 hours before an engineer would be able to correct it. We were going away on holiday on the 6th for ten days and my wife told the representative who said that it didn't matter as the problem was external to our house.

We returned from our holiday on the 16th to find that the TV was still not working. On the 17th my wife called to report it again and asked if there was any record that she had rung previously. The representative told her that there was and that an engineer had called to the house to fix it but found no one in. She was then informed that the engineer would be out to us within 48 hours. At this point my wife protested at being told she had to wait in for 48 hours and was then told that an engineer would come before lunch either that day or the next. At lunch time on the same day she went out and when she returned a note had been put through the door to say "TV OK now" and that the TV was indeed fixed.

My address is XX Ellensbourough, Dublin 24.

I have several questions:

- Why is your service so dreadful that your customer service lines are permanently queued for the best part of an hour ? I have also complained by email in the past and not received a reply for three weeks !

- If the engineer could fix the fault on the second visit without anyone there why couldn't he on the first visit ? I assume that the engineer found no one in and was too lazy to investigate and saw it as an excuse to go home early !

- Why was no reason or apology given for our outage, just a scribbled note ?

- I assume that we will be receiving a refund for the two weeks that we were without your service, please could you let me know how much that is and when I can expect to see it on my account ?

We are both extremely displeased with the quality of both the service and customer care that we recieve from NTL. There are frequent outages that last from a few seconds to a few hours, the picture regularly breaks up, freezes and pixelates and when one of us tries to report it I give up after thrity minutes in a queue. To make things worse, we are paying for the priveledge !

I expect a reply to my questions sometime in the next three weeks !

Regards,

Another Satisfied customer :-p

MDR

You should complain to the ODTR and the ODCA too ...

Pepe LeFrits

What parts of D16 ?

Neil_Sedaka

I feel your pain jiffy, I do!

kamobe

I don't like the negative posts bout NTL on this thread. Sure, they can be clowns sometimes, and their TV service isn’t up to scratch. I even have a snappy mail I sent em here....
but nothing will come of slamming them on this thread. As i said earlier, NTL posting is a good thing, and after the rush of negative posting, I wouldn't be surprised if they judge it as a mistake, and never do it again.

I'm not saying that they're a great company, or even that their terrible customer service should be forgiven. Only that to complain in this thread, where they have (bravely) come forward, mightn’t be a good idea. Would\will also serve to discourage other potential users (Esat etc) from following in UTVs footsteps.

jiffy

Originally posted by kamobe
I don't like the negative posts bout NTL on this thread

Neither do I, I'd love to be posting messages about how wonderful they are and what great service they offer but the fact reamins that they are sh*te !

After registering my interest for a cable modem 6 months ago and engineer finally called me to tell me that my area had been upgraded and they wanted to offer me a months free trial. You can imagine how I nearly took his had off accepting ! He was half way through filling in the form when he said, "I just have to check something and I'll call you back". That was three weeks ago. I rang them a few days later to see what was going on only to be told that my area wasn't upgraded and guess what "We don't know when it will be".

I have to disagree that no good will come of slamming NTL ! If anyone of an authority sees this thread, maybe something will be done.

Originally posted by kamobe I'm not saying that they're a great company, or even that their terrible customer service should be forgiven. Only that to complain in this thread, where they have (bravely) come forward

I agree that they are brave to come onto a forum like this and say

Originally posted by ntl_cable_modem 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.

Which means nothing at all and is the standard reply that I've been getting from them for over a year !

Maybe we should start a separate NTL Slamming thread ?

Sorry to rant but they really do wind me up and make me mad whenever I have to deal with them !

spongebob

YES it was brave to come in here.

YES it was a good idea

NO , it is not wrong to give them some stick now.

I asked early on in this thread for 2 simple answers.

1. Is there any hope for Galway (the answer is negative but I would like to see it from the horses mouth)

2. Can NTL say with certitude where the service will be available by end 2002. Next years menu can wait. They said they were negotiating on expansion ...thats fine... but I assumed that they would have settled where the work WILL be done this year and thought that many regulars in here would hold off for NTL at least until the end of the year.

I got no answer to either question.

Nature abhorrs a vacumn

M

MDR

I got no answer to either question.

I wouldn't be suprised if they stopped reading the thread after the reception they got ...

spongebob

...because people honestly thought that were were gonna get hard information from NTL.....and then the nature-vacumn problem started.

It is still possible to retrieve it with a nice new thread called

NTL plans 2002

maybe including what will definitely NOT happen in 2003.

People can plan where to lock themseleves in for a year on that basis.

Note that not one single poster complained about the service itself but about the lack of clarity in NTL's utterances as to where it is actually available.

Of course the fact that the user NTL_Cable_Modem refuses to accept email or PM's does not really bode well for the future.

M