View Full Version : How tidy are the NTL installers?
StephenB
22-01-2006, 21:06
I'm getting NTL broadband installed on Wednesday. I live in a property development about 2 years old and apparently the street is cabled up.
What can I expect on install day? Is there much digging of the garden/street/pavement involved? I presume they will need to drill into an outside wall to get the cables in. How much of a mess do they make?
Thanks
:welcome: to CF Stephen.
Should depend on the setup already outside your house if as you have stated that cable is available in your area, the engineer should only need to put a cable feed through your wall from the pavement so there will be a bit of drilling. Hope all goes well on the day. :)
I had to hoover up after them if that helps...
Every installer is different, but generally...
If they dig up your garden (its for your benefit really, so you don't cut the cable by accident when mowing the lawn), they'll normally settle the mud back roughly. Might need a bit of tidying up.
Inside, the don't hover up after drilling, and they don't normally move furniture back.
Also, I find the more generous you are with the tea, the more work they do :)
If you have a garden with grass they will cut a small route to lay the green plastic cable. Its not deep and it doesnt make much of a mess. I could hardly see it when they did mine as it was just a small passage.
Then, you will need a little brown box attached to your house. If you ask nicely they may install this out of sight in your garage or somewhere hidden away.
Then wires will go from that box into your house and obviosuly they have to drill a few holes here and there to put a point for your phoneline, Tv, broadband, or whatever services you are getting.
As has been said, make them a drink, and if they are on an early shift, why not cook them breakfast lol.
As long as you tell them how you want it to be done, it should go OK for you.
Oh and if you have slabs in your garden, they will just lift them up and put them down again. So no real harm done.
ian@huth
26-01-2006, 23:47
The main thing is to decide where you want the cables routing from the small plastic cover in the pavement to your house, on the house walls, through the house wall, etc before the installer arrives. Have a word with the installer before he starts work and tell him/her where you want everything. If the installer says it cannot be done your way ask him why and what he proposes. If you are unhappy with what he says then telephone NTL before allowing him to start work and get the issue resolved. I have seen some very badly routed black NTL wiring on houses down my street which have a pale coloured rendering. When my daughter had her NTL service installed the guy wanted to do the same with her installation. A quick call to NTL and they had a word with him. You cannot tell that she has cable installed by looking at her house as there is virtually no trace of the wiring unless you get up close and know where to look.
I had to hoover up after them if that helps...
I never make the type of mess that requires hoovering!:D :D :D :D :D :D
(and i take my shoes off).
I never make the type of mess that requires hoovering!:D :D :D :D :D :D
(and i take my shoes off).
I guess that you were not my installer then...
;)
Our installer started digging a trench horrizontally across our lawn (trench was about 1 foot wide by 1 foot deep) until we caught him. His boss was not impressed and gave him a rollocking before showing him how to push the spade into the ground, move the soil to one side and lay the cable in, remove spade and press ground flat. Result, one lawn which needed re-seeding in a small area, rest of lawn fine and one chastised installer ;)
Other than that it was fine, bit of hoovering and it was sorted, mind you, it was a STB installation and I did all the cabling etc as it was in the days when you could order the cable etc from them and install yourself. (Shows age here ;) )
Chimaera
29-01-2006, 11:06
Lucky you! When they did mine the inside bit was ok - but when I went ourside I found they had left the wire laying across my front garden, 'hidden' in a bright green plastic sleeve! It's still there 4+ years later - luckily it's just laid on shingle, hopefully in a while I might get the front paved over so it will be concealed.
My installer was very good as he saw the house rendering was white and asked if I wanted white cable instead of black.
I would suggest that you try and get more cable in the house than you need, this will allow you to, if you do so in the future, move the kit about when you change the layout.
Ntl installers?
I would call more like cowboys. I live in a grade two listed house and was supprised that they just tie wrapped the cable to an existing cable that went right across the front of the building, they then left it hanging loose over several metres to an entry point into the house. once they were in the house they did move things but didnt put them back. They also left me to install the supplied ntl cable modem, and also contact ntl for the activation codes, all in all, I would say very poor workmanship and very lazy.
huggs KAt
:Yikes:
Installers.......yes,
cowboys........also some yes,
Property surveyors....NO,NO,NO Did you actually tell them it was a listed building?
Cos i for one wouldnt of carried out the installation in that manor had you told me it was a listed building !
(actually i probably would of been VA VA VOOM back in the van and down the road).:p:
One other thing,you say they moved things but didnt put them back.dont you think it would of been in everyones best interest if youd moved them YOURSELF??(we are nt removal men either)
The installing of the software is the customers job and the provision of the pin number is the job of who ever posts the rest of the documentation to you(neither of these are the job of the installers).
Dont let the sales people tell you any different and that its the job of the engineer to provide the pin.
You wouldnt order a new bank card and expect the pin number to turn up in the same envolope would you?
SmileyMan
05-02-2006, 18:42
The main thing is to decide where you want the cables routing from the small plastic cover in the pavement to your house, on the house walls, through the house wall, etc before the installer arrives. Have a word with the installer before he starts work and tell him/her where you want everything. If the installer says it cannot be done your way ask him why and what he proposes. If you are unhappy with what he says then telephone NTL before allowing him to start work and get the issue resolved. I have seen some very badly routed black NTL wiring on houses down my street which have a pale coloured rendering. When my daughter had her NTL service installed the guy wanted to do the same with her installation. A quick call to NTL and they had a word with him. You cannot tell that she has cable installed by looking at her house as there is virtually no trace of the wiring unless you get up close and know where to look.
Very good advice this :D
---------- Post added at 18:34 ---------- Previous post was at 18:33 ----------
My installer was very good as he saw the house rendering was white and asked if I wanted white cable instead of black.
The white cable has no UV protection and is internal only, The cable will go brittle from the sun in time
Just warning you
---------- Post added at 18:42 ---------- Previous post was at 18:34 ----------
Ntl installers?
I would call more like cowboys. I live in a grade two listed house and was supprised that they just tie wrapped the cable to an existing cable that went right across the front of the building, they then left it hanging loose over several metres to an entry point into the house. once they were in the house they did move things but didnt put them back. They also left me to install the supplied ntl cable modem, and also contact ntl for the activation codes, all in all, I would say very poor workmanship and very lazy.
huggs KAt
:Yikes:
Thats called stereotyping yes there are cowboys but there are in all trades (Though will admit NTL Contractor Installers have too many)
PS1 right about modem though the installers job on SACM is hardware only they do not touch your PC or supply the PIN
Contact NTL regarding install so that they can arrange to have it rectified
IMO - Installers at NTL should be the dogs, as it is the first human being from the company you see. Unless you had a knock on the door from a direct sales chappie.
A poor install experience does not give you much hope for the future.
Come on NTL - lets sort out the first point of call for ALL your new customers, and the rest should be easy.
Dream On :td:
SmileyMan
06-02-2006, 07:39
IMO - Installers at NTL should be the dogs, as it is the first human being from the company you see. Unless you had a knock on the door from a direct sales chappie.
A poor install experience does not give you much hope for the future.
Come on NTL - lets sort out the first point of call for ALL your new customers, and the rest should be easy.
Dream On :td:
Just completed my initial training for BT, First day in field today, At the training two things where drumed into us
1. Safety
2. Customer experience
Just as a example on the customer wiring assesment you lost a mark from the 106 posible if a horizontal run dropped 1mm
Have to admit this been a eye opener for me over how I was trained for NTL
So I agree with you 100%
NTL stop saving that last £1 and get well trained, motivated, paid people doing the installs, You will make more money in the long run
handyman
06-02-2006, 09:43
The guys that came to do my 1st install (CATV) where spot on outside just a bit of disruption to the garden. Inside they took their shoes off and asked for the hoover to clean up the tiny bit of plaster that came off.
2nd Install was when I was working at ntl so I had everything prepared for them and the house was pre-wire for ntl already. It was just a case of asking for x meters of cable terminated and power checked and I did the rest.
3rd Install was a nightmare as it was installed in the wrong room (had to be). I then had to route the cable to where we wanted it.
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