NTL cable broadband question

Hello group,

I wonder if any of you could help me. I've just moved home and want to set
up broadband and a phone.

The house appears to have an NTL cable box in the main room, and the
telephone socket next to it has "ntl" written on them and not "BT". I don't
know if I'll use the cable box (this is just for digital TV right?) because
I am getting Sky installed separately.

Since it seems I have no BT line in the house, am I restricted to NTL
broadband? Or are there any other providers which can use the NTL line? If
not and I'm not happy with the NTL offers, will I have to get a BT line put
back in? I thought that BT own all the hardware connecting the local
exchange to the house, so at what point does the hardware become NTL's and
how easy/cheap is it to get reconnected to BT?

Is this worth doing for a different provider?

Tanel.

"Tanel Kagan" <tanelkagan@(nospam)hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello group,
>
> I wonder if any of you could help me. I've just moved home and want to
> set
> up broadband and a phone.
>
> The house appears to have an NTL cable box in the main room, and the
> telephone socket next to it has "ntl" written on them and not "BT". I
> don't
> know if I'll use the cable box (this is just for digital TV right?)
> because
> I am getting Sky installed separately.

NTL have an underground cable run to your house which terminates in that
box. You (well, NTL) can connect either a set top box for TV or a cable
modem for internet access to it. The phone socket is connected to a second
cable which NTL have run to your house. This is just a basic analogue phone
line.

>
> Since it seems I have no BT line in the house, am I restricted to NTL
> broadband? Or are there any other providers which can use the NTL line?

Nobody else can use the NTL cables as they are run underground to an NTL
cabinet somewhere down the street where they join the NTL fibre optic
network.

>If
> not and I'm not happy with the NTL offers, will I have to get a BT line
> put
> back in? I thought that BT own all the hardware connecting the local
> exchange to the house, so at what point does the hardware become NTL's and
> how easy/cheap is it to get reconnected to BT?

The NTL stuff goes nowehere near a BT telephone exchange and so nobody else
can use it. There may be BT wiring to your house, just no obvious phone
socket. Look on the outside of your property for a wire coming from a
telephone pole. Of course BT's wiring could be underround too, but this is
normally only the case for newer houses.

> Is this worth doing for a different provider?

I'm not sure. NTL have a bad reputation for customer service. I have cable
through telewest and I've found them to be great. The problem with cable
providers in the UK is their coverage. NTL covers some areas and telwest
others. A lot of areas have no cable coverage at all. If you call BT and
give them your address they will tell you if there has ever been a working
line in your home. If there has it should just be a matter of an engineer
coming round and cabling it back up. When I had that done a few years ago it
was all free.

HTH

Rob

> HTH

Yes it does, very much, thanks Rob.

Tanel.

> The NTL stuff goes nowehere near a BT telephone exchange and so nobody
else
> can use it. There may be BT wiring to your house, just no obvious phone
> socket. Look on the outside of your property for a wire coming from a
> telephone pole. Of course BT's wiring could be underround too, but this is
> normally only the case for newer houses.

OK, forgot to mention - this is a new house (well about 8 years old). So
you reckon there could be underground BT cables too?

> > Is this worth doing for a different provider?
>
> I'm not sure. NTL have a bad reputation for customer service. I have cable
> through telewest and I've found them to be great. The problem with cable
> providers in the UK is their coverage. NTL covers some areas and telwest
> others. A lot of areas have no cable coverage at all. If you call BT and
> give them your address they will tell you if there has ever been a working
> line in your home. If there has it should just be a matter of an engineer
> coming round and cabling it back up. When I had that done a few years ago
it
> was all free.

I guess calling BT is the way to go here. Can they trace whether there has
been a line there simply on postcode and house number?

Tanel.

Thus spaketh Rob Walker:
There may be BT wiring to your house, just no
> obvious phone socket. Look on the outside of your property for a wire
> coming from a telephone pole. Of course BT's wiring could be
> underround too, but this is normally only the case for newer houses.
>


Our home was built in the 1960s, yet the BT phone line is underground and
connects to the green BT cabinets.


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"Tanel Kagan" <tanelkagan@(nospam)hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> The NTL stuff goes nowehere near a BT telephone exchange and so nobody
> else
>> can use it. There may be BT wiring to your house, just no obvious phone
>> socket. Look on the outside of your property for a wire coming from a
>> telephone pole. Of course BT's wiring could be underround too, but this
>> is
>> normally only the case for newer houses.
>
> OK, forgot to mention - this is a new house (well about 8 years old). So
> you reckon there could be underground BT cables too?

Could be. The only reason I mentioned it was that my parents used to live in
a house built in 1991 and the whole estate was cabled underground. Much
nicer :-)

>
>> > Is this worth doing for a different provider?
>>
>> I'm not sure. NTL have a bad reputation for customer service. I have
>> cable
>> through telewest and I've found them to be great. The problem with cable
>> providers in the UK is their coverage. NTL covers some areas and telwest
>> others. A lot of areas have no cable coverage at all. If you call BT and
>> give them your address they will tell you if there has ever been a
>> working
>> line in your home. If there has it should just be a matter of an engineer
>> coming round and cabling it back up. When I had that done a few years ago
> it
>> was all free.
>
> I guess calling BT is the way to go here. Can they trace whether there
> has
> been a line there simply on postcode and house number?

When I moved into a house which seemed to have a BT line, I went down the
road to the nearest phone box and gave them a call. They took the address
and confirmed that there had indeed been a working line there in the last
few years. They took my details and told me the line would be active in the
next few hours. I went home but I couldn't get a dial tone. A few hours
later I got a call on my mobile from BT who asked if it was working. I
explained it was still dead, and they said "No problem sir, we'll have an
engineer out to you tomorrow morning. Oh, and would you like us to divert
all calls to your mobile for free?"
Next morning a BT engineer rings to say he'll be 5 minutes late, and after
totally rewiring the house (wiring had been cut internally), it was all up
and running.

Superb service!

We're now on telewest for phone, TV and internet. The internet is fantastic
but the phone's crap. It's expensive and things like 1471 just don't work
half the time. Becuase we don't need a phone line to get broadband, I think
I'll soon be dumping the phone for VOIP.

Rob

"{{{{{Welcome}}}}}" <bhx___spam@trapped___hotmail.co.uk> wrote in message
news:Wld%f.52288$(E-Mail Removed) ...
> Thus spaketh Rob Walker:
> There may be BT wiring to your house, just no
>> obvious phone socket. Look on the outside of your property for a wire
>> coming from a telephone pole. Of course BT's wiring could be
>> underround too, but this is normally only the case for newer houses.
>>
>
>
> Our home was built in the 1960s, yet the BT phone line is underground and
> connects to the green BT cabinets.
>

In that case, it's anyone's guess!

It happens that Rob Walker formulated :
>> Or are there any other providers which can use the NTL line?
>
> Nobody else can use the NTL cables as they are run underground to an NTL
> cabinet somewhere down the street where they join the NTL fibre optic
> network.

.......erm, except AOL broadband can (could) be delivered over NTL's
cables.

"Tanel Kagan" <tanelkagan@(nospam)hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello group,
>
> I wonder if any of you could help me. I've just moved home and want to
> set
> up broadband and a phone.
>
> The house appears to have an NTL cable box in the main room, and the
> telephone socket next to it has "ntl" written on them and not "BT". I
> don't
> know if I'll use the cable box (this is just for digital TV right?)
> because
> I am getting Sky installed separately.
>

I think you'll find, unless you're paying the full price for $ky, they will
inisist on you having a phone line, BT or NTL. It's part of the agreement
for the subsidised installation.
I'm with NTL for telephone and broadband, and although their customer
service leaves a lot to be desired, both services have been fine for me. I
used to have their TV services, but switched to $ky some months
back.(cheaper). So you don't HAVE to have tv from NTl, you could just have a
foneline if you so wish ;-)

P.

> I think you'll find, unless you're paying the full price for $ky, they
will
> inisist on you having a phone line, BT or NTL. It's part of the agreement
> for the subsidised installation.
> I'm with NTL for telephone and broadband, and although their customer
> service leaves a lot to be desired, both services have been fine for me. I
> used to have their TV services, but switched to $ky some months
> back.(cheaper). So you don't HAVE to have tv from NTl, you could just have
a
> foneline if you so wish ;-)

That's exactly what I'm doing. Nothing in particular against NTL for
digital TV, but I've had Sky for 2 years and I'm familiar with it and happy
with it.

As long as the broadband and phone line works and works well, I'm not
interested in too many other "bells and whistles". Gimmicks are fine but at
the end of the day reliability is the important factor for me.

Tanel.