NTL- gah!

The_TailGunner

The_TailGunner

The_TailGunner

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Dublin
ok..so my internet is working fine...top notch

but my digibox is another matter...

last night i heard an odd fizzing noise from under the telly...

go to investigate...the digibox is making an electrical *fzzt* noise..then the picture starts going black, then on, then black etc..

so i go to unplug it and ZAP! huge blue spark comes out the back, missing my hand by a couple of inches, and the whole thing dies.

on inspection, the box (fitted less than a week ago) is obviously second hand..its dirty, and according to my mate who also has ntl, is the older model of box.

to top it off, they cant get me an engineer til weds next week. GAH! :mad:

just venting :)
 
Just for the record my experiance with NTL upgrading the box.

They have 2 models

The black PACE one and the Silver Samsung one.

The latter is rubbish, slower and generally a worse box than the much older PACE one.

I "upgraded" to the newer one thinking it would be better but my god what a mistake, even changing channel is x3 slower. THe on screen display/ setop box software must be causing this im not sure though.

I dont think theres anything wrong with them giving you 2nd hand equipment, its theirs afterall. ASLONG as its electrically safe, make sure you get some free line rental kick up the fuss a bit more.
 
the whole time i had ntl tv - 5 years or so - i never had problems with the box itself. However mum downstairs is on her 5th sky digibox. they just keep going bang. awful.
 
Efour2 said:
Just for the record my experiance with NTL upgrading the box.

They have 2 models

The black PACE one and the Silver Samsung one.

The latter is rubbish, slower and generally a worse box than the much older PACE one.

I "upgraded" to the newer one thinking it would be better but my god what a mistake, even changing channel is x3 slower. THe on screen display/ setop box software must be causing this im not sure though.

I dont think theres anything wrong with them giving you 2nd hand equipment, its theirs afterall. ASLONG as its electrically safe, make sure you get some free line rental kick up the fuss a bit more.
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but the pace box is not good for internet - i think its max is 5mb and its dodgy at that - i've got a samsung and its not much different for the TV - about as slow as it ever was.
 
aardvark said:
but the pace box is not good for internet - i think its max is 5mb and its dodgy at that - i've got a samsung and its not much different for the TV - about as slow as it ever was.
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YEah that is a valid point.

I didnt have that problem as a have one of their stand alone NTL 250 modems, i think they supply them with all the dsl connections over 4mbit.
 
Ring NTL up, they should get an engineer out to you in the next couple of days (probably Friday or Saturday if you ring today).

The boxes often are "secondhand" as NTL rents them out, unlike Sky they are not always new when fitted into new installations, the up side of that is that if they ever go wrong NTL send out an engineer FOC (unless it's user damage) whilst you are with them.

We've had multiple replacement STB's here in the past couple of years (3 STB's fitted in the house) due to a problem with ondemand not working, and apart from the annoyance of having to hang around for the engineers and the phone calls it's not cost a penny.
Compared to my experiences with Sky, NTL are a wonderful company when it comes to problems with the service - Sky will happily charge you for sending an engineer out who cannot fix a problem (basically can only realign the dish), then charge you again for a "senior" engineer* out who may be able to fix it.



*One who is trusted with more than a hammer, drill and compass:p
 
they give let them loose with a compass now? its about time tbh.

The real truth is, ive had problems with both companies. I couldn't tell you one was better than the other because in truth, they are both pretty average. THe one saving grace for NTL is my broadband. Its far faster and stabel than anything adsl-like can offer me in this area. But even then its vastly overpriced.
 
james.miller said:
they give let them loose with a compass now? its about time tbh.

The real truth is, ive had problems with both companies. I couldn't tell you one was better than the other because in truth, they are both pretty average. THe one saving grace for NTL is my broadband. Its far faster and stabel than anything adsl-like can offer me in this area. But even then its vastly overpriced.
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Really? i think im paying 25.99 for a 10mbit and 'cos of my distance from the exchange ADSL dosnt go over 6mbit on a good day with the wind blowing east. THat was £29.99+£11 phone line rental. For me thats a pretty good saving. For me the NTL all in package is a lot better value than the sky one.
 
My Ntl BB connection died on Thursday night last week, I rang them Friday dinner time to report the fault, Saturday morning an engineer arrived but couldnt fix the fault as it was the actual cable between their box at the end of the street and my house. By 10am Tuesday its all back up and running again and theyve given me a months free BB for the inconvienance, not bad service imo. (im paying £34.99 for 10mbit... how come your paying £10 less :confused: )
 
Efour2 said:
Just for the record my experiance with NTL upgrading the box.

They have 2 models

The black PACE one and the Silver Samsung one.

The latter is rubbish, slower and generally a worse box than the much older PACE one.

I "upgraded" to the newer one thinking it would be better but my god what a mistake, even changing channel is x3 slower. THe on screen display/ setop box software must be causing this im not sure though.

I dont think theres anything wrong with them giving you 2nd hand equipment, its theirs afterall. ASLONG as its electrically safe, make sure you get some free line rental kick up the fuss a bit more.
Click to expand...
Wow, if the Samsung box is worse than the PACE one, then I *really* feel sorry for the Samsung owners. My PACE box is rubbish -- has trouble even loading anything remotely interactive. It annoys me when I see people with their Sky boxes with TV listings that actually work, and where pressing a key on the remote doesn't incur a 5 second delay. :(
 
Do you have all the TV and phone package aswell ?

When i ordered it i just asked if they would do it cheaper as i was a long time customer (that kind of nonscence) The sales bloke went yeah sure and knocked it off the toal price of TV+Phone+BB.

Try phoning them saying im thinking of moving to sky 'cos it works out cheaper, can you match the price,blah, blah blah?

Nothing to lose.
 
Nope ive just got BB only, I will give them a call tomorrow and see if I can get a permanent reduction, ive been with them for a few years now. (since they started using standalone cable modems, I was a trailist for them)
 
On a side note, and probably best directed toward the official NTL forum :)

Has anyone ever had working HTML emails or dosn't the set top boxes support them? That was one of the reasons i asked for the samsung box, it still didn't work. I know its all different firmware and stuff on them.

Its not a big deal really as i hardly use all that interactive and online junk on the TV because it is pitifully slow in my area and usually results in my STB locking up :)
 
Whoever said they were paying £24.99 for 10mb on NTL...thats wrong. £24.99 package history was 512mb > 1mb > 2mb > currently at 4mb (all free upgrades for being on £24.99 package). £34.99 will see you 10mb.

Also, the PACE ntl boxes are NOT better than the samsung ones! Most people go out of their way to upgrade to the samsung as the samsungs are much quicker generally. The PACE ones are notoriously unreliable and slow. Iv ebeen meaning to swap mine for ages as its just so slow and lags when you try to channel hop.
I liked the old skool cable where you got that noise everytime you clicked a new channel and you could hop through them so quick.
 
Efour2 said:
Really? i think im paying 25.99 for a 10mbit and 'cos of my distance from the exchange ADSL dosnt go over 6mbit on a good day with the wind blowing east. THat was £29.99+£11 phone line rental. For me thats a pretty good saving. For me the NTL all in package is a lot better value than the sky one.
Click to expand...


its £34.99 mate. and as for adsl, you can get packages for far less than that.
 
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Werewolf said:
Ring NTL up, they should get an engineer out to you in the next couple of days (probably Friday or Saturday if you ring today).
Click to expand...

wishful thinking :(

this is ireland...soonest they have an engineer is wednesday next week

needless to say, im going to try and get my subscription adjusted to compensate.

doesnt exactly instil a great sense of confidence into a new customer like me...
 
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