Is an upgrade likely to improve reliability ?

[Alan Ryan]

For the last 12 months I've been using the 150K connection - which I know is NOT really Broadband. The "service" recently has got even worse than normal.
If I upgraded to the 600K option, is it likely that general reliability will improve ? I'm not absolutely driven by the speed factor - which is why I've stuck with 150K - but I do want to get online and send/receive e-mails with a minumum of fuss, hesitation, etc.

[seaneeboy]

Give it a couple of days and you'll be on 300k for no extra cost.

If you're having connection troubles it'd be worth calling up CS and asking if there's any problems in your area...

[Alan Ryan]

Thanks Sean: This free 300K "upgrade" is news to me. I never bother contacting CS - a waste of time and money. It's quicker and less hassle to set fire to a fiver.

[seaneeboy]

Hey Alan,

Have a look at:
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/article/74/ntl-broadband-speed-upgrades-begin

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/article/36/ntl-copies-telewest-in-broadband-speed-increases

I can understand cynicism about the CS people - but they can be worth a go sometimes - it's got to make more sense than just forking out extra money every month in the hope that that will fix it :)

[Alan Ryan]

Thanks again Sean: Just had a look at the link you gave - so I'll get a half speed broadband connection in a few days time if Lincolnshire isn't forgotten about. I haven't been to this forum for months, so I'm out of the loop as far as the latest ntl outrages are concerned. I'm still toying with the idea of moving up to the 600K (soon 750) "service".

[Neil]

Thanks again Sean: Just had a look at the link you gave - so I'll get a half speed broadband connection in a few days time if Lincolnshire isn't forgotten about. I haven't been to this forum for months, so I'm out of the loop as far as the latest ntl outrages are concerned. I'm still toying with the idea of moving up to the 600K (soon 750) "service".

You shouldn't have to 'upgrade' just to get a decent working service.

If you are having problems, ring ntl Tech Support & ask them to sort it at no cost to you. :)

[Alan Ryan]

Neil - There's always a "cost" when contacting ntl Support - even if it only amounts to wear and tear on your nerves as you hang on the phone for ages and wonder how much the call is costing.

[paulyoung666]

i think neil meant at no cost to you regarding upgrading your speed ;) , mind you there are some knowledgeable ntl peeps on here who maybe able to help you :)

[Alan Ryan]

OK Paul: I suppose common sense tells me that "reliability" has little to do with the speed of broadband connection: ntl can be unreliable at any speed. But I've sometimes wondered whether subscribers to the cheapest tariff get a more unreliable service than average.

[BBKing]

In all respects other than two lines in a config file the service is the same for all tiers of service. If you're having problems tell us otherwise there's not a lot we can do *

* Yet. We're working on it.

[scrotnig]

OK Paul: I suppose common sense tells me that "reliability" has little to do with the speed of broadband connection: ntl can be unreliable at any speed. But I've sometimes wondered whether subscribers to the cheapest tariff get a more unreliable service than average.
No. Not true

*Cheesey phrase alert*
All customers are of equal value to the company. If your service is not very good, Neil's suggestion is spot on. Get the company to look at it, they won't object, in fact they'll be grateful because in theory you might alert them to a problem they did not know about.

If you don't want to pay for the call, call customer services for free and they will transfer you.

Also it's always worth asking if you can get a deal to upgrade to 600kk/750k, if you're considering doing that anyway. If you don't ask, you don't get, the worst they can do is say no!

[Alan Ryan]

Thanks Mark: Re your suggestion on an upgrade deal, I'll get on the case tomorrow. Not sure what your "cheesy phrase alert" means ?

[poolking]

Thanks Mark: Re your suggestion on an upgrade deal, I'll get on the case tomorrow. Not sure what your "cheesy phrase alert" means ?
I think what he means is ntl values all its customers even though it may not appear so when you ring CS. :)

[Jon M]

Is an upgrade likely to improve reliability ?
No. It's like adding extra lanes to a motorway and driving the same old knackered cars down it. The cars are still knackered, but you can get more of them on there at the same time.

[nate]

Alan,

What reliability problems are you having exactly?

[seaneeboy]

Alan, if you're connecting through a USB port, usually switching to Ethernet will increase reliability loads.

If you're already on an ethernet card, it'll take a bit more thinking!!

[Alan Ryan]

Nate: My main grouse is the time it takes to authenticate e-mails. I seldom find that I can open Outlook Express and get reliable access to any e-mails I might have. Time outs are very frequent and even when I succeed with one e-mail account, the other nearly always hesitates for ages or times out.
I notice on this forum - which I haven't visited for months - that a lot of other people are grumbling about the same problem.

[Alan Ryan]

Alan, if you're connecting through a USB port, usually switching to Ethernet will increase reliability loads.

If you're already on an ethernet card, it'll take a bit more thinking!!

Sean: Yes I'm on a USB connection: I could switch to Ethernet and
get an improved service possibly. I'll think about it before making a move
though. Thanks.
Alan.

[Neil]

Nate: My main grouse is the time it takes to authenticate e-mails. I seldom find that I can open Outlook Express and get reliable access to any e-mails I might have. Time outs are very frequent and even when I succeed with one e-mail account, the other nearly always hesitates for ages or times out.
I notice on this forum - which I haven't visited for months - that a lot of other people are grumbling about the same problem.

Alan-ntl's email 'service' is laughable at best, & one of the most unreliable around today-we have untold people posting here about it I'm afraid, so don't go thinking that it's just you.

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/forumdisplay.php?f=31

You are not alone I'm afraid....:td:

It's also a regular on the ntl Server Status Page: http://www.ntl-isp.ntl.com/ServiceStatus/

[poolking]

Upping your speed won't make a difference to NTL's email service.

[seaneeboy]

Sean: Yes I'm on a USB connection: I could switch to Ethernet and
get an improved service possibly. I'll think about it before making a move
though. Thanks.
Alan.

No worries, happy to help. If you want an easy guide to doing it, have a wee look here:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/cmtips/usb.html

[nate]

The best way I've found of sorting the email problem is to get a new email address (Hotmail, or a free ISP, ie. Freeserve, Virgin etc.) and have all your ntl email forwarded to that address.

Even when the servers are down for POP'ing into, the mail usually still gets delivered.

I have all mine forwarded to my gmail account and it works a treat.

addition:
I would recommend Virgin or Hotmail too as they both have spam filters :tu:

[ppolo99]

Nate how u do the mail forwarding plz?

[Alan Ryan]

The best way I've found of sorting the email problem is to get a new email address (Hotmail, or a free ISP, ie. Freeserve, Virgin etc.) and have all your ntl email forwarded to that address.

Even when the servers are down for POP'ing into, the mail usually still gets delivered.

I have all mine forwarded to my gmail account and it works a treat.

addition:
I would recommend Virgin or Hotmail too as they both have spam filters :tu:
Nate: I'd be interested to learn how you've arranged for your ntl mail to be forwarded to an e-mail address at Hotmail or wherever. On these alternative
accounts, aren't you pestered by adverts ?

[Alan Ryan]

No worries, happy to help. If you want an easy guide to doing it, have a wee look here:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/cmtips/usb.html

Sean - you're a very helpful guy; thanks again. I'm just off to the link you've provided.
Alan.

[Neil]

Nate: I'd be interested to learn how you've arranged for your ntl mail to be forwarded to an e-mail address at Hotmail or wherever. On these alternative
accounts, aren't you pestered by adverts ?

You can configure all your email options here: http://www.ntlworld.com/help/customerServices/emailOptions.html

HTH.

[nate]

Nate: I'd be interested to learn how you've arranged for your ntl mail to be forwarded to an e-mail address at Hotmail or wherever. On these alternative
accounts, aren't you pestered by adverts ?

My mail is structured very oddly, I have to admit.
If you go to http://selfcare.ntlworld.com and login, you can setup mailforwarding and forward it to any mail address you want.

My ntl mail is forwarding to my Virgin.net account, stripped of as much spam and as many viruses as it can pickup, then forwarded automatically from there to my domain email which has SpamAssasin setup, which strips the remaining viruses and spam from it (I forward it to Virgin first to lower the load on my server as I do get a lot of spam on my ntl address and I don't particularly want all my bandwith, which I pay for, to be used up by spam), it is then forwarded from my domain email address to my gmail account, where the last of Spam and Viruses are stripped and put into the Spam folder. Hence, I never get any spam or virii :p

So it goes..

NTL > Virgin > Domain > Gmail

(if you're interested, my domain mail goes differently..
Domain > Virgin > GMAIL)

I don't have to put up with advertisements as I don't forward it to Hotmail, that was just a suggestion to you as its easily accessible.

As I said previously, normally even when you cannot log into the ntl mail server because it is down, or timing out or whatever, the mail will still automatically forward, esentially taking the ntl servers and their current status out of the equation, which is great. Should't have to do it, as we pay for this service, but until Mx6 is deployed (the server upgrades) does the job :tu:

[Alan Ryan]

You can configure all your email options here: http://www.ntlworld.com/help/customerServices/emailOptions.html

HTH.
Thanks Neil: I'll have a look directly

[Alan Ryan]

Nate: A very comprehensive reply: I shall see which of your suggestions suits me best. Thanks.

[Chrysalis]

thanks I setup auto forwarding wonder if it will be faster now

[Alan Ryan]

When I started this thread, I expected hardly any feedback. I'm amazed at how helpful this forum has been over the last couple of days.
Thanks a lot.
Alan Ryan.