When will Leicester (LE3) be upgraded from Analogue to Digital TV?

[bugheadcjd]

Does anybody know when NTL plan to upgrade Leicester (LE3) from Analogue to Digital tv?

Thanks.

[Chrysalis]

Good luck in getting an answer, from what I heard ntl just are not interested in doing it, they see it as not financially viable.

If anyone knows otherwise would be nice to know

No doubt you might be asking because we have a £6 rise in june to look forward to on our bills.

[bugheadcjd]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

Good luck in getting an answer, from what I heard ntl just are not interested in doing it, they see it as not financially viable.

If anyone knows otherwise would be nice to know

No doubt you might be asking because we have a £6 rise in june to look forward to on our bills.

Yep!

[a good help]

they are looking into it, but wont be for atleast 12-24months. but it should happen and thats what i heard from a very reliable source..

[Chrysalis]

that sounds like they are doing it at the latest possible moment then since 2-3 years would be when analogue is switched off.

Why wait until then and not do it now tho, the longer they are running their services like this the more customers they lose, because their analogue is far from competitive.

[bugheadcjd]

Contacted NTL again today. They said I still cannot get Digital because Leicester City Council won't let them dig up some of the pavements to lay new cable.

[AV8TOR]

Would anybody care to advise those of us in LE3 are the various freeview options better value ?

The service / channel selection I get for my ever increasing subscription compared with what I would get for the same price on a digital package is getting very annoying & i'm not sure it is worth 1 - 2 years more wait for them to get their act together...........WHY should they need to dig anything up, in most cases the trunking is already in place, is it not a case of simply pulling new cables & upgrading the street end cabinets were needed ?

[Shaun]

Sky is your answer I'm afraid. The council have no say over who can and can't dig the roads up, they only need tell it's going to happen so Ntl are lying to you.

[Chrysalis]

Leics is a terrible area for communication.

Freeview - its bang on the edge of 2 different digital transmittors so not full channel line up available at least without boosters. Analogue transmittor in leics but no use for freeview.

NTL - Some areas are digital mostly outer city ones and outside of LE3, a big portion of inner Leics is analogue only and only some of it is broadband capable.

BT - East/South/North Leics all fairly good coverage and should get reasonable attenuation, West Leics is poor only has 2 exchanges covering 15km area, unlucky for the people in this area its same part of NTL that is analogue only in this area. Probably one of the most highly populated broadband blackspots in the country. At least sky tv makes a killing in west Leics

---------- Post added at 19:32 ---------- Previous post was at 19:29 ----------

Originally Posted by Shaun

Sky is your answer I'm afraid. The council have no say over who can and can't dig the roads up, they only need tell it's going to happen so Ntl are lying to you.

Wow ntl not even been honest and coming out with lies if thats true. I heard about the council giving BT concessions for digging up roads so are you sure permission isnt needed?

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

At least sky tv makes a killing in west Leics

I live by the LRI and we have digital Ntl on our development but I'd not use it for any of the three services. SKy, BT and Sky again for BB. Even where it is digital in Leicester it's still crap with dropped connections and poorly working TV.

Wow ntl not even been honest and coming out with lies if thats true. I heard about the council giving BT concessions for digging up roads so are you sure permission isnt needed?

99%. They just have to tell the council but permission isn't needed. So the BBC documentary I saw the other week said.

[Derek]

Originally Posted by Shaun

99%. They just have to tell the council but permission isn't needed. So the BBC documentary I saw the other week said.

I'm sure the council can block plans if they think it will cause too much disruption. There are big chunks of Glasgow where no cable was laid due to the council blocking the work.

That said it is Ntl so I'd probably go with the "Lets use the council as an excuse" theory rather than them actually having the work blocked.

[Shaun]

Coupled with this, utilities historically don't have to apply to town halls for the right to start digging. They simply give notice.

Initially, there was much forward planning, as the telecoms firms embarked on big jobs such as laying trunk lines.

"Today it's more bitty: the 'as and when' individual connections leading off from the trunk line," says Bob Coe, of the Central London Partnership, which promotes the capital. Frequently, road works spring up with hardly any notice or thought for how they will affect the public.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3235862.stm

Ntl are talking out their ass again.

[Nedkelly]

There shoundnt have to do much digging as they have to renew the cables and amps in the cabs for some areas to have digital and the duct work is already in

[Chrysalis]

So much for branson willing to improve ntl eh.

[sollp]

Whether it be the council that will not allow any more digging or NTL that won't spend the money, asking a customer service rep or asking someone you know within the company, these people will not know the answer only the people very high up within NTL will know the answer.

So it's not a case of NTL lying it's more like the customer service rep being a customer service rep talking about something they know nothing about and basically should answer the question with, "We haven't been informed of any solution to this issue" or words to that affect, basically they don't know.

It's going to cost money, money that will not be diverted to these problems at the present time, simple.