NTL's Poxy Proxies

Lord Nikon · 22-12-2003, 23:46

With regards NTL's P(r)oxy Servers, and the forced transparent proxy we are supposed to use etc There is a new petition here to let us be able to choose our own.

Nikko · 22-12-2003, 23:51

Why is this petition sponsored by someone in a country unable to get ntl services?

It may be construed as a worthwhile cause by some, but its not a bandwagon I wish to subscribe to.

erol · 22-12-2003, 23:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nikko

It may be construed as a worthwhile cause by some, but its not a bandwagon I wish to subscribe to.

You do not think NTL customers should have a choice as to if they use the NTL web proxies or not?

**Paul M** · 22-12-2003, 23:59

TBH I'm not really bothered who started it - the poxy servers are the single biggest cause of browsing problems IMO and should be optional.

Nikko · 22-12-2003, 23:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by erol

You do not think NTL customers should have a choice as to if they use the NTL web proxies or not?

No - as I understand it, thats the way the network is configured.

**Paul M** · 23-12-2003, 00:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nikko

No - as I understand it, thats the way the network is configured.

Yes - that is the way it is configured atm - but it's only a simple change to stop the automatic routing of port 80 to the caches - thus allowing you the choice of manually specifying a proxy server of not.

Nikko · 23-12-2003, 00:06

Surely the choice, then, already exists?

Stuart W · 23-12-2003, 00:07

I am truly amazed at the lengths Erol will go to in order to lobby ntl, bearing in mind Erol is neither an ntl customer, nor a UK resident.

Odd.

Got an axe to grind mate?

Nikko · 23-12-2003, 00:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stuart W

I am truly amazed at the lengths Erol will go to in order to lobby ntl, bearing in mind Erol is neither an ntl customer, nor a UK resident.

Odd.

Got an axe to grind mate?

Quite.

**Paul M** · 23-12-2003, 00:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nikko

Surely the choice, then, already exists?

No, there is no choice atm - anything I send to port 80 is routed to a Nottingham cache, there is nothing I can do about it unless NTL remove this automatic routing - then I would have a choice.

I believe that some areas within the NTL network do have this choice - their port 80 traffic is not automatically intercepted by a cache. Nottingham is not one of them.

Please do not get bogged down by who happened to start it - it's not really that relevant (I hadn't even noticed until it was pointed out) - lets be brutally honest here, NTL are unlikely to change anything based on an online petition - but at least it might wake them up slightly.

Nikko · 23-12-2003, 00:20

I understand the technicalities pem

check your pm

erol · 23-12-2003, 00:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stuart W

I am truly amazed at the lengths Erol will go to in order to lobby ntl, bearing in mind Erol is neither an ntl customer, nor a UK resident.

The lengths? 10 minutes to submit a petition is hardly 'onerous'. I (and others) spent 3 and half years lobbying for unmetered access in the UK, by comparision.

I am not a NTL customer, or currently a UK resident. However I have many friends and family that are UK residents and some that are NTL customers. My mother for example is an NTL Internet customer.

Quote:

Odd.

Is it really any more odd than mods of this site not being NTL customers? If one (or more) of them were to emigrate from the UK but continue participating here and being a mod here, would you consider that odd too?

Quote:

Got an axe to grind mate?

Not really. I genuinely believe that making the proxies optional for users would be of benefit to many users and of detriment to none. I am not sure a petition will achieve that, but I can not see how it could harm the ojective either.

Jon T · 23-12-2003, 07:19

I wonder what peoples feelings towards the proxies would be if NTL decided to make the caches(proxies) optional and that raised the cost of broadband to pay for all the extra off-network bandwidth that was being used.

Sounds like a "Damned if you do, and damned if you don't" situation to me.

All that's needed is for the proxies to be maintained(fixed?), their speed is sometimes pitifull, their automatic refresh appears to be non existant, and their DNS look-ups are too slow to accept changes in DNS records.

However as i've said, I think abolish compulsory transparent caching would result in higher costs to customers.

Jon

Neil · 23-12-2003, 08:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon T

I wonder what peoples feelings towards the proxies would be if NTL decided to make the caches(proxies) optional and that raised the cost of broadband to pay for all the extra off-network bandwidth that was being used.

Sounds like a "Damned if you do, and damned if you don't" situation to me.

All that's needed is for the proxies to be maintained(fixed?), their speed is sometimes pitifull, their automatic refresh appears to be non existant, and their DNS look-ups are too slow to accept changes in DNS records.

However as i've said, I think abolish compulsory transparent caching would result in higher costs to customers.

Jon

I see where you're coming from John, & agree with you in principal, but the thing is-why should people have to pay more for a BB service from ntl than they do for the equivalent ADSL service just because ntl's network is b0rked & oversubscribed? (& will only get worse as they continue with their new push to sign up new customers?)

Why should people have to pay Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£25.00 a month & still have to keep switching proxies to get it to work? If I bought/rented a product, & kept having to 'fiddle' with it every time I wanted to use it just to get it to work, I'd be mighty ******ed of-the same applies here IMO.

Customers are paying ntl for a reliable product with good service, & they're simply not getting it due to ntl's inadequacies-Jeez they can't even provide a reliable email service, which surely must be regarded as a basic service in this day & age.

Abolishing the transparent caches would raise BB costs undoubtedly, but that's the problem, ntl don't want to do that as they know they can't expect customers to keep paying extra just to get a basic working service, but they also can't expect customers to keep paying the going rate for a 3rd rate service either......

threadbare · 23-12-2003, 08:56

its not practical to allow everyone to choose their own proxies - it would screw up ntl's routing completely