PDA

View Full Version : About to switch to 10Mb ntl from BT!


pooper
21-10-2006, 13:58
Hey everyone, first post here :P

After several years of sub-standard service from BT, i've decided to totally ditch them, and switch over to 10Mb ntl.

I understand that ADSL is heavily affected by the quality of the line and the distance from the exchange (something which i know only too well!). But is line contention the only 'big' factor to affect the line speeds of cable?

What i'm asking is, with cable, is it more common to reach advertised speeds (or close to them)? I was with 'up to 8mb' BTYahoo! and i NEVER got anything over 2Mb!

Also, many moons ago, i used to have Cable & Wireless TV and dial-up, and i'm pretty sure the old coax connections are downstairs, will they be the ones that ntl use?

Ohh and one last thing, are there any kind of line tests that the ntl engineers perform? or is it simply a case of..... install...... then you either HAVE a connection..... or not!?

Ohh and one FINAL thing.... what is the standard cable modem that ntl supply? I can't seem to find any information on this anywhere (except that the model is 250!)

Can't wait to switch over!

Thanks :D

Sherlock614
21-10-2006, 15:14
Congrats on the switchover :)

It is something i did years ago and something i still do not regret.

NTL wipes the floor with BT.

The day i got rid of all things BT was a celebration :D

Welcome to the forum by the way :tu:

MovedGoalPosts
21-10-2006, 15:21
:welcome: to Cable Forum :tu:

If you do already have some old cable coaxial entering the property, yes those might be suitable, but the engineers should check the signal strengths having reconnected them at the street cabinet. Of course if those cables aren't entering the house in the right place for where you need the modem, get them to relocate.

As for speeds, it is still "up to 10Meg", but typically cable customers aren't affected by the distance from exchange in the way that ADLS is, so it can be a lot more reliable, provided the cable signal levels are in tolerance. That's cable's biggest area of faults. The other reasons you can see poorer performance is contention with other heavy users in your area, and the latest innovation, traffic shaping, which primarily applies to the heavy downloaders.

pooper
21-10-2006, 16:16
:welcome: to Cable Forum :tu:

If you do already have some old cable coaxial entering the property, yes those might be suitable, but the engineers should check the signal strengths having reconnected them at the street cabinet. Of course if those cables aren't entering the house in the right place for where you need the modem, get them to relocate.

As for speeds, it is still "up to 10Meg", but typically cable customers aren't affected by the distance from exchange in the way that ADLS is, so it can be a lot more reliable, provided the cable signal levels are in tolerance. That's cable's biggest area of faults. The other reasons you can see poorer performance is contention with other heavy users in your area, and the latest innovation, traffic shaping, which primarily applies to the heavy downloaders.

Im pretty sure that the BT line outside my premesis is DIRE, but obviously BT refuse to accept that, and trying to get an engineer to test that, is virtually impossible (hense: ive given up trying!). Im hoping the quality of the coax cable isnt as equally poo! :erm:

As for the wiring in my house, i dont think i want to go through the hassle of having the house re-wired, besides im going to be using a wireless router, so i think ill just keep it downstairs..... keep it simple :D

Be great if i also ended up being put straight onto 20mb :D

Cant wait! :D

Ohh, and whats the standard upload for 10mb? is it 512k? (its 786kbps for the 20mb trialists isnt it?)

AntiSilence
21-10-2006, 16:27
I've been with ntl since 1999 and have had very few problems. My internet connection is nearly always close to full speed, and I have it shared between two PC's.

There has been the occasional techincal problem, but they've always been sorted pretty quick.

I think the upload speed for 10Mb is around the 400Kbps mark. It is on the 4Mb that I'm on.

Zee
21-10-2006, 16:31
Before switching over to ntl i'd check with people you know in the area who have ntl Broadband how good the service is because in some areas (Like mine for 4 months until recently) was aweful.

The upload speed for the 10Mbps service is 512K & 786K for the 20Mbps trial service

pooper
21-10-2006, 16:42
Before switching over to ntl i'd check with people you know in the area who have ntl Broadband how good the service is because in some areas (Like mine for 4 months until recently) was aweful.

The upload speed for the 10Mbps service is 512K & 786K for the 20Mbps trial service

Good idea :) My next door neighbour has got NTL, but he's a bit of a moody git... but yeah i should really find out what kinda service he gets :D

BTW, what's the standard modem that ntl supply right now? Is it a motorola Surfboard?!

AntiSilence
21-10-2006, 16:44
Nope, it's one of these:

"ntl:250 The ntl:250 is again supplied to ntl:’s specification by Ambit, and is both Ethernet and USB, and “Dual Mode”. It is smaller than the predecessors and also has a stand for vertical mounting, plus lower power consumption."

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/article/141/ntl-release-new-broadband-modem

pooper
21-10-2006, 16:52
Nope, it's one of these:

"ntl:250 The ntl:250 is again supplied to ntl:’s specification by Ambit, and is both Ethernet and USB, and “Dual Mode”. It is smaller than the predecessors and also has a stand for vertical mounting, plus lower power consumption."

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/article/141/ntl-release-new-broadband-modem

Ohhh very nice ;) Thanks for the link.

Hope i don't run into any issues using it with my wireless kit (Netgear WPNT834 Rangemax) :tu:

AntiSilence
21-10-2006, 17:06
Ohhh very nice ;) Thanks for the link.

Hope i don't run into any issues using it with my wireless kit (Netgear WPNT834 Rangemax) :tu:

You shouldn't have any issues. Mine is working fine with my wired Linksys router, and my last ntl modem (a silver 100/150) worked ok with my old wireless network a while ago.

pooper
21-10-2006, 17:11
Yeah, i don't realistically expect any major issues, but after being with BT for so long, i've been programmed to expect the worse now lol :D

Will be s0o0o0o0o0o refreshing to have a consistant, stable BB connection!

Zee
21-10-2006, 17:17
I do admit, the only complete loss of service in the last 5 years of ntl has been 3 days.

2 of those days was about 3 days ago when i had lost broadband totally, so it is stable, but the speeds were aweful, but all is working good now and getting full 9.5Mbps speeds! BIG UP TO NTL

pooper
21-10-2006, 17:31
Heh sounds good...... certainly a hell of a lot better than what i've been getting with BT!

I just hope and prey that i don't get a useless engineer who installs it!

EVERY BT engineer that ever visited my house, ALWAYS started off by scratching their head and saying something along the lines of 'ohhh i dunno what the last engineer did..... but this is a right mess' ! USELESS! lol

But yeah, as soon as i get confirmation that my BTyahoo! is being terminated, i'm giving ntl a call :D

AntiSilence
21-10-2006, 17:35
When we moved house in April, I had the installation time for the afternoon. At about 10.30am the ntl engineer phoned me and said that they were running EARLY so could they come and install it now! I'd got the afternoon booked off work for the installation, but by the time I got home, they'd been and installed it all ready, which was nice.

pooper
21-10-2006, 17:46
Sweet, well let's hope that i get a similar service ;)

I'm just hoping that my line isnt going to be crappy quality :/

I know that it'll be a totally seperate physical line to the BT line, but do you think that there could be factors that might be causing 'any' line into my house to be crap? Like.. i dunno.... the junction box at the end of the street.. or something?

FCC
21-10-2006, 17:50
Sweet, well let's hope that i get a similar service ;)

I'm just hoping that my line isnt going to be crappy quality :/

I know that it'll be a totally seperate physical line to the BT line, but do you think that there could be factors that might be causing 'any' line into my house to be crap? Like.. i dunno.... the junction box at the end of the street.. or something?


Your UBR (that's the router that serves your area) could be oversubscribed and/or unbalanced. There might be noise with your line. In rare occasions, they might change the cable from you house to the green box.

pooper
21-10-2006, 17:55
Hmmm well i mean, if it's something NTL were willing to admit, then i dont have a problem, and if they COULD do something to rectify it... replace a cable or something, then great!

With BT, they refused to accept that the problem was anything BUT my computer/router... which really annoyed me..... and obviously BT would never dig up the street to fix a knackered line, just for a mere customer like me heh

I'm assuming the ntl line will go via the same 'BT' box down the end of my street?

AntiSilence
21-10-2006, 17:59
Well, it will go to the green ntl box at the end of your street lol. At my last house, the streets green box was in front of my garden fence :)

pooper
21-10-2006, 18:05
oh ok lol. It's just that i remember one of the BT engineers vaguely mentioning that 'something' (maybe a junction box) was flooded....... lol so. yeah i really don't have much confidence right now, but i'll hold fire on my judgement until i get it all installed :D

PCNutter
21-10-2006, 23:50
Pooper, you will be pooping when you get cable:D

It :2up: all over adsl.

I am of course only speaking from my experience between the two.

---------- Post added at 22:50 ---------- Previous post was at 22:38 ----------

And also a little tip, don't take notice of the download test's, I have tried these and for some reason most of them pretty much say my connection sucks:Yikes:

Do a real world test i.e. torrents news groups etc ;) and a different story is told.

Have fun mate when its all up and running.

BT, ADSL & LLU will be a far and distant memory :woot:

pooper
21-10-2006, 23:53
Hehe thanks :D I damn well hope it DOES make me forget about the past few years of sub-standard ADSL :D

I'm going to try to stay pessimistic until i've actually got it installed though.... i don't wanna get over-excited ;)

PCNutter
22-10-2006, 00:03
And just one other thing, I was on 4mb BB till a couple of days ago, starting reading a post in these very forums about people trilling 20 megs, thought I wouldn't mind a bit of that so I upgraded on line to 10mb.

And low and behold I was put straight on to 20mb.......fantatic

Rang up today and said I have noticed that you have a deal on at the moment for 10mb i.e. sign up now and get 10mb for 1/2 price for 3 months, they put me on that deal straight away..

So not only am I on 20mb at the moment but I'm getting it for £17.50, now what other company does that for you :tu:

pooper
22-10-2006, 00:16
And just one other thing, I was on 4mb BB till a couple of days ago, starting reading a post in these very forums about people trilling 20 megs, thought I wouldn't mind a bit of that so I upgraded on line to 10mb.

And low and behold I was put straight on to 20mb.......fantatic

Rang up today and said I have noticed that you have a deal on at the moment for 10mb i.e. sign up now and get 10mb for 1/2 price for 3 months, they put me on that deal straight away..

So not only am I on 20mb at the moment but I'm getting it for £17.50, now what other company does that for you :tu:

Yah i'm kinda hoping that i'll go straight onto 20mb.. but like i said, im trying hard not to get over excited heh :D

I'm so used to having a crappy, unreliable, unstable, slow connection, i dunno how i'd react if i went from getting around 10k/sec, to getting 2.5Mb/sec ;) lol

RS100
22-10-2006, 01:04
Go for it i just did

see my posts below i wish i never left ntl in the first place

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=52964

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=33602297

pooper
22-10-2006, 01:12
Go for it i just did

see my posts below i wish i never left ntl in the first place

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=52964

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=33602297

Glad that worked out for you :D

I don't think i'd make the mistake of going back to BT.... once bitten... twice shy.... as they say :Yikes:

RS100
22-10-2006, 01:16
I had the full bt total broadband package with the home hub and home hub phone i always had low speeds as im on the end of the exchange, waste of time it was



Glad that worked out for you :D

I don't think i'd make the mistake of going back to BT.... once bitten... twice shy.... as they say :Yikes:

---------- Post added at 00:16 ---------- Previous post was at 00:14 ----------

Also have you got a install date yet, Just one thing DO NOT order ntl via there website as they might mess your order up like they did with me, Give them a call to be on the safe side

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=33601562

pooper
22-10-2006, 01:34
Oh right, i was going to use the website actually, but yeah, i need to get some bits sorted before i take the plunge..... first on my list, is get a confirmation email from the spanner monkeys at BT, telling me that my termination request has gone through! (Amazing how things get done when you e-mail the CEO directly!) :D

Chrysalis
22-10-2006, 02:53
Even in a poor area I would expect more then 2mbit speeds on cable and it should be way more stable. In 3 years on ntl I cant remember my modem ever losing connection.

pooper
22-10-2006, 12:33
Currently synced at 928/448 with an SNR of 1dB!!

(and that's higher than it's been for quite awhile).

Roll on ntl! :D

pooper
23-10-2006, 13:23
Well, BT have agreed to disconnect us and refund us for the pasr few months of sh***y service (yay!).

Just signed up to 10Mb via the website, install date is Halloween! (Tuesday 31st) :D

Fingers crossed:tu: :D