NT-FUCKING'L

[LazyManc]

I think i'm more upset with the sorry state of our telecoms infrastructure compared to other countries than with the limits being imposed by NTL. Places like Korea, Japan, Sweden etc are lightyears ahead of the UK in terms of bandwidth and cost, we're getting ripped off as usual.

[mr blonde]

Lazy Manc, if it were easy to change the telecoms infrastructure of the uk dont you think it would have been done by now?

Im guessing we were one of the first countries to get a full telephone system that runs on copper lines. To destroy that and replace it all with fibre will take a long time, when installing new lines roads will have to be dug up and people will get pissed off. Further to that they will have to install a whole new system of things at in the relay/repeater stations over the country. Yes fibre is cheap but not when you have to replace everything else that goes with it! I hope this doesnt sound patronising, cause i dont mean it to get across like that. Yes we do get ripped off in this country but sometimes we dont get a choice because of our infrastructure and other reasons. Bear in mind Brazil (i think), is still a developing country and has a better "fibre" system in place than most of america. This is a prime example as the country grows they need a phone system, so place a fibre system so roads wont have to dug up later.

Anyway, Baron, yes i totally agree with you on the points you raised, well all but one. The reason why i started it was because i live with 6 people in total all sharing this one connection (sssshhh i know its against ntl rules!), so i personally dont want the connection to be limited as with all 6 of us downloading we tend not to get a good rate each! However since this debate sort of got away from what i intended of my original post (my fault as well), i will now shut up

[Chief]

If I move to an NTL area, I will still get NTL.

Those of you who are complaining obviously have no idea of the costs of running an ISP. Bandwidth is expensive, very much so. And companies like NTL have to pay off a lot of debt they have accumulated when they built the HUGE infrastructure in the first place.

So if a small proportion of users take up a large proportion of the bandwidth, they push up the price for everyone else.

I would like to see NTL making a helthy profit and reinvesting in services rather than being skint all the time, I would like to see the "whinging teenagers" who use up more than a gig a day downloading wanking material (cos they can't get laid) paying more for the provilege, and leave the rest of use with smaller telecoms bills.

I would love a 1 Mb line with a 500 Mb daily limit that comes in at £25 for example. Who here REALLY uses more than a gig a day anyway? Whoever you are, you are richer than me cos u keep having to buy new hard drives!!!

We live in the REAL world, not the "1996 Internet where everything is free world" You can't keep trying to get a free ride all of the time. Someone has got to pay for the bandwidth used, and I don't want to pay for you.

Unlimited probably refers to the fact that it is always on.

You are probably right baron - but still, some people WANT to use it more than others - if i was in an NTL area, i would pay extra to have a true unlimited service. the fact is i have 1meg/256kbps cable from telewest - and i pay £40/mo for it, i would happly pay up to 50 or 60 for it, perhaps bordering £80 for a 2mb line... but my work will be getting 10mb leased line soon and i have a wireless link to my work so im not really too bothered.

[Ze_Baron]

Agreed. At the moment, ADSL and cable customers are getting a very easy ride!

I mean come one, a 512k connectoin for £25 a month? It wasn't that long ago that a modem connection costs that much.
Ahh, the joys of 14.4k

Ze Baron looks around to be confronted with stunned silence.

It is true, I AM that old...

[Ze_Baron]

I would like to advertise the fact that Demon ADSL is very good. Wolvi Skull and I spent the weekend playing "Road to Rome" on EAUK servers with a ping of 20 each all sharing the same line.

Marvellous! Every so often, technology works and surprises you. Makes it all worthwhile really...

[LazyManc]

The reason telecoms in this country has progressed so slowly is down to one thing - years and years of BT monopolising. No competition = no reason to get off their arse and develop the network. It's only recently with OFTEL intervention that the ball has started rolling. I'm not say that they should immediately dig up and replace every bit of copper wire in the country, i'm just pointing out the fact that while the government is singing the praises of how we've managed to get 20% of the population "wired up" (or whatever the figure is) the rest of the world is another 200m down the track. It's a very British trait to simply accept the current situation and make the best of what we've got, make do and not complain, but why should we? Wouldn't you like to think that in ten years time we could at least be on par with the general standard globally?

And about using 1Gb a day, i'm another pleb on a shared connection, so 1Gb a day isn't hard to do on a regular basis, especially with mid leeching 24/7. Luckily Kingston seem to be a lot more lenient than NTL so we don't really have a problem with it. I'm not expecting everything free either, if heavy users are causing a problem, just add a second pricing teer for those who want unlimited access at say £40-50 a month instead of just capping it.

[Ze_Baron]

Yes, I think that multi-tiered packages are the way forwards too...

That is the model teh USA and Canada seem to have adopted.

[mr blonde]

Lazy, not sure if i agree with all of that so i think we will have to agree to disagree. However, i have to agree with you on the British trait thing, its pisses me off something cronic . That is why i want to leave the country and go somewhere else, basically ive had enough of the biritsh way of life so i want to go somewhere better. Yes i may encounter the same problems in another country but hay, at least they have they will have (hopfeully) unlimited band width!

Whats this multi-tiered thing? I get the basic idea of it, but what sort of packages are offered apart from unlimited. It seems like a good idea to me to have this multi-tiered system, are you paying attention NTL?

[rib?]

are you paying attention NTL?

i'm working at an NTL site on thursdays, i'll drop that one in when im in the cafeteria

Rob.

[Chief]

heh, i get paid 40% cash, 60% bandwidth.. thats gonna increast to 10% cash 90% bandwidth in august