If you have been used to Sky and move to NTL for digital television services
you will be very disappointed!




"Dom Robinson" wrote in message
t...
My sister has the Sky Family Pack and Disney, but no landline (her
12-month
minimum subs was completed at a previous address) and just uses her mobile
to
make calls.

However, she's looking to get the equivalent package on NTL and use their
phone system for calls to landlines so has worked out that overall it'll
be
cheaper.

I've no experience of NTL's quality of service over the digital TV side of
things, and until the competition is opened up for line rental in the
coming
months, BT want to charge £10.50/month for that, and despite there being
an
old socket in an upstairs bedroom, BT wanted to charge nearly £100 for
putting
one in downstairs when they reconnect.

Occasionally BT have cheap "reconnect to BT" offers, and when I did it 5.5
years ago I only paid £10 for the whole thing, plus the usual line rental
of
course.

All opinions welcome. TIA,
--

Dom Robinson Gamertag: DVDfever email: dom at dvdfever dot co dot
uk
/* http://DVDfever.co.uk (editor), http://LeilaniWeb.co.uk (editor),
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I don't think so

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 20:15:00 +0100, "Paul Westwell"
wrote:

If you have been used to Sky and move to NTL for digital television services
you will be very disappointed!

I don't think so

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 20:15:00 +0100, "Paul Westwell"
wrote:

If you have been used to Sky and move to NTL for digital television services
you will be very disappointed!

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 23:29:36 +0100, Ian (really address
) wrote:

The round window said it was Thu, 01 Apr 2004 07:06:29 +0100,so
deano grabbed his blunt crayon and scrawled:

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 20:15:00 +0100, "Paul Westwell"
wrote:

If you have been used to Sky and move to NTL for digital television services
you will be very disappointed!

I don't think so


I've got both, NTL and Sky

I've got two friends who both work for NTL. They say the only reason
they keep NTL at home is because as NTL employees they get the
facility at a reduced rate. If they had to pay full price for the NTL
service then they would both switch to Sky tomorrow.

My friends say that NTL's biggest selling point is on the combined
cable and telephone packages and for those people who do not want or
are not allowed a dish on their property.

I find watching the picture on my friends NTL boxes very frustrating.
I can see an annoying regular pixcelation (sp?) on screen every few
minutes. It is far worse than the occasional distortion on Sky.

The channel menus on NTL are silly. Sky group the channels into blocks
- music, documentary, news, films, sport. NTL appear to dump the
channels in any old order.

It either means learning all the channel numbers or scrolling through
the channel list very slowly to find the correct channel.

I gather this is all about to change for NTL because they may be about
to renumber all the channels to bring them in line with Sky.

I will give NTL their due that their cable modem service is generally
very very good.

Graham

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 23:29:36 +0100, Ian (really address
) wrote:

The round window said it was Thu, 01 Apr 2004 07:06:29 +0100,so
deano grabbed his blunt crayon and scrawled:

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 20:15:00 +0100, "Paul Westwell"
wrote:

If you have been used to Sky and move to NTL for digital television services
you will be very disappointed!

I don't think so


I've got both, NTL and Sky

I've got two friends who both work for NTL. They say the only reason
they keep NTL at home is because as NTL employees they get the
facility at a reduced rate. If they had to pay full price for the NTL
service then they would both switch to Sky tomorrow.

My friends say that NTL's biggest selling point is on the combined
cable and telephone packages and for those people who do not want or
are not allowed a dish on their property.

I find watching the picture on my friends NTL boxes very frustrating.
I can see an annoying regular pixcelation (sp?) on screen every few
minutes. It is far worse than the occasional distortion on Sky.

The channel menus on NTL are silly. Sky group the channels into blocks
- music, documentary, news, films, sport. NTL appear to dump the
channels in any old order.

It either means learning all the channel numbers or scrolling through
the channel list very slowly to find the correct channel.

I gather this is all about to change for NTL because they may be about
to renumber all the channels to bring them in line with Sky.

I will give NTL their due that their cable modem service is generally
very very good.

Graham

"Graham Wilson" wrote in message
...
[snip]
, NTL and Sky

I've got two friends who both work for NTL. They say the only reason
they keep NTL at home is because as NTL employees they get the
facility at a reduced rate. If they had to pay full price for the NTL
service then they would both switch to Sky tomorrow.

My friends say that NTL's biggest selling point is on the combined
cable and telephone packages and for those people who do not want or
are not allowed a dish on their property.

I find watching the picture on my friends NTL boxes very frustrating.
I can see an annoying regular pixcelation (sp?) on screen every few
minutes. It is far worse than the occasional distortion on Sky.

The channel menus on NTL are silly. Sky group the channels into blocks
- music, documentary, news, films, sport. NTL appear to dump the
channels in any old order.

It either means learning all the channel numbers or scrolling through
the channel list very slowly to find the correct channel.

I gather this is all about to change for NTL because they may be about
to renumber all the channels to bring them in line with Sky.

I will give NTL their due that their cable modem service is generally
very very good.

Graham


I find it very strange that so many people complain of pixelation on cable.
This would suggest either a faulty box or a faulty local feed. In well over
three years on NTL I have yet to see pixelation on my feed at all. Agreed
the source sometimes has the problem - they must be the 'occasional' bits
seen on Sky as well - but other than that, nothing (bar the (was it?) seven
hours that channel 5 was frozen, I think, last Christmas!) It could of
course be down to the origin of the system as NTL grew by taking over other
cable systems - mine was Bell Cablemedia which became C&W and I understand
is one of the better quality installations.

Agreed also the channels don't seem to have a lot of structure, well in
parts anyway, but who looks at all 276(?) channels anyway? I guess we never
view more than about 20, so I have used the personal channel list facility
to put those channels in order for direct access - bit of a pain to do but
useful once done. Before the last software update this also renumbered the
channels 1-20 or whatever, but the program providers didn't like that as
they were then unable to say "channel xxx on Sky and yyy on cable" as this
caused dumb Britain too much confusion. So now, unfortunately, the channel
numbers are retained and you have to scroll up and down the twenty - unless
you have a good memory for numbers - but it's still quicker than 276!

And as you say, NTL can teach a few other providers - BT especially - about
quality and reliability of cable modem service.


--

Woody

"Graham Wilson" wrote in message
...
[snip]
, NTL and Sky

I've got two friends who both work for NTL. They say the only reason
they keep NTL at home is because as NTL employees they get the
facility at a reduced rate. If they had to pay full price for the NTL
service then they would both switch to Sky tomorrow.

My friends say that NTL's biggest selling point is on the combined
cable and telephone packages and for those people who do not want or
are not allowed a dish on their property.

I find watching the picture on my friends NTL boxes very frustrating.
I can see an annoying regular pixcelation (sp?) on screen every few
minutes. It is far worse than the occasional distortion on Sky.

The channel menus on NTL are silly. Sky group the channels into blocks
- music, documentary, news, films, sport. NTL appear to dump the
channels in any old order.

It either means learning all the channel numbers or scrolling through
the channel list very slowly to find the correct channel.

I gather this is all about to change for NTL because they may be about
to renumber all the channels to bring them in line with Sky.

I will give NTL their due that their cable modem service is generally
very very good.

Graham


I find it very strange that so many people complain of pixelation on cable.
This would suggest either a faulty box or a faulty local feed. In well over
three years on NTL I have yet to see pixelation on my feed at all. Agreed
the source sometimes has the problem - they must be the 'occasional' bits
seen on Sky as well - but other than that, nothing (bar the (was it?) seven
hours that channel 5 was frozen, I think, last Christmas!) It could of
course be down to the origin of the system as NTL grew by taking over other
cable systems - mine was Bell Cablemedia which became C&W and I understand
is one of the better quality installations.

Agreed also the channels don't seem to have a lot of structure, well in
parts anyway, but who looks at all 276(?) channels anyway? I guess we never
view more than about 20, so I have used the personal channel list facility
to put those channels in order for direct access - bit of a pain to do but
useful once done. Before the last software update this also renumbered the
channels 1-20 or whatever, but the program providers didn't like that as
they were then unable to say "channel xxx on Sky and yyy on cable" as this
caused dumb Britain too much confusion. So now, unfortunately, the channel
numbers are retained and you have to scroll up and down the twenty - unless
you have a good memory for numbers - but it's still quicker than 276!

And as you say, NTL can teach a few other providers - BT especially - about
quality and reliability of cable modem service.


--

Woody

I've got two friends who both work for NTL. They say the only reason
they keep NTL at home is because as NTL employees they get the
facility at a reduced rate. If they had to pay full price for the NTL
service then they would both switch to Sky tomorrow.
So they don't like their employer

My friends say that NTL's biggest selling point is on the combined
cable and telephone packages and for those people who do not want or
are not allowed a dish on their property.

Biggest selling point
1) Cheaper than sky
2) No red dot

I find watching the picture on my friends NTL boxes very frustrating.
I can see an annoying regular pixcelation (sp?) on screen every few
minutes. It is far worse than the occasional distortion on Sky.
Rubbish

I watch sky and NTL on the samre TV (NTL av1, Sky Av4) there is no
difference in picture quality exept on NTL there is never a red dot -
improving the picture quality no end

The only difference in the feeds is that Ntl is quieter

The channel menus on NTL are silly. Sky group the channels into blocks
- music, documentary, news, films, sport. NTL appear to dump the
channels in any old order.

It either means learning all the channel numbers or scrolling through
the channel list very slowly to find the correct channel.
Rubbish

NTL allows the USER ie me to organise the channels
So on my box it goes

BBc1, BBC2, ITV1, C4, c5, BBc3, bbc4, itv2, SS1, SS2,SS3,SSx, prem
plus, Ukgold etc

Going backwards it is PPV(never use) R1 ,r2 r3 r4, r5, r5x etc
suits me

You can do it your way

I gather this is all about to change for NTL because they may be about
to renumber all the channels to bring them in line with Sky.

A good idea if it is true but NTLs menus customisation gives it the
edge


I will give NTL their due that their cable modem service is generally
very very good.
True

Oh and did I menntion NO RED DOT


Deano
Graham

On Sat, 01 May 2004 17:15:50 +0100, deano wrote:



I've got two friends who both work for NTL. They say the only reason
they keep NTL at home is because as NTL employees they get the
facility at a reduced rate. If they had to pay full price for the NTL
service then they would both switch to Sky tomorrow.

So they don't like their employer

I don't think they have a problem with their employer - just the
television service offered by their employer.


My friends say that NTL's biggest selling point is on the combined
cable and telephone packages and for those people who do not want or
are not allowed a dish on their property.

Biggest selling point
1) Cheaper than sky

I would prefer to pay slightly more for a serivce that I feel is
better quality.

I find watching the picture on my friends NTL boxes very frustrating.
I can see an annoying regular pixcelation (sp?) on screen every few
minutes. It is far worse than the occasional distortion on Sky.

Rubbish

Unless you have seen the television sets in question, how can you make
such a statement?

The channel menus on NTL are silly. Sky group the channels into blocks
- music, documentary, news, films, sport. NTL appear to dump the
channels in any old order.

NTL allows the USER ie me to organise the channels
So on my box it goes

With Sky you can create favourites as well.

However, I find there is no need to create a favourites list because I
can jump to the relevant section (news, documentaries, sport) and
easily select the channel.

Graham

In article ,
says...
The channel menus on NTL are silly. Sky group the channels into blocks
- music, documentary, news, films, sport. NTL appear to dump the
channels in any old order.

NTL allows the USER ie me to organise the channels
So on my box it goes

With Sky you can create favourites as well.

However, I find there is no need to create a favourites list because I
can jump to the relevant section (news, documentaries, sport) and
easily select the channel.

Or simply remember which numbers are for which channels. It's not difficult.
--

Dom Robinson Gamertag: DVDfever email: dom at dvdfever dot co dot uk
/* http://DVDfever.co.uk (editor), http://LeilaniWeb.co.uk (editor),
/* 973 DVDs, 285 games, 33 videos, 82 cinema films, 72 CDs, laserdiscs & news
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