UK NTL Broadband/Digital TV

[Gees]

Anyone else having intermittent losses of broadband and/or cable TV?

Seems to happen every few days. >:v[ Grrr.

[bugster]

I only have broadband from NTL, use Sky for TV. The cable service in my area seems pretty reliable. A colleague who lives in a different franchise area has just dumped them for ADSL as they were too unreliable for him.

Basically, it seems to depend on where you live!!

[Gees]

Thanks, Bugster. If it's maintenance periods or something, I could live with it. But they never admit to anything. :c)

Had them out so many times, but still every few days it seems one or the other or both drops out.

Since NTL is also free phone except for calls, I've hesitating moving to Sky and :cP BT. Plus, I've been in households where the transmission is lost on rainy days! Not ideal here in seldom sunny UK. :cD

[bugster]

I've hesitating moving to Sky and :cP BT. Plus, I've been in households where the transmission is lost on rainy days! Not ideal here in seldom sunny UK. :cD

Sky only dropps out in Extremley heavy downpurs, or its a poorly aligned dish. I get picture loss probably less than twice a year, and then only for a few minutes. Plus I get a much better channel selection than available on UK cabe. I also have the Sky+ PVR which is (IMHO) a superb device. Take a closer look, I doubt you will regret it.

BTW, you can dump NTL Cable TV and keep broadban and phone if thats what you want. As I said, all I have is broadband. Had Cable TV for 1 year then dropped it.

[Gees]

dump NTL Cable TV and keep broadban and phone if thats what you want

Now there's a thought! Only ever considered ditching them all.

I was sort of kidding/exaggerating about the rain thing. :c) But the house I was in must have had extremely poor alignment or something because it really did go out even in light showers. That was a few years back though.

Are you on your Bband from where you are now? Has it dropped about 5 times off/on the past few hours? Last trip out, I insisted on a separate cable modem which prevented box-related problems, but today I'm losing TV and Bband at same time.

Thanks again, Bugster. Much appreciated.

[Will Hay]

I was onto Sky last night for ten mins, my picture had been intermit. freezing for the last 36 hours.
They talked me through some shit (checking cables, resetting the box etc) and all seems fine.
We had a heavy, heavy downpoor the day before.
Will

[bugster]

Are you on your Bband from where you are now? Has it dropped about 5 times off/on the past few hours? .

I am at work now, so the broadband here is somewhat 'broader' than I have at home (we have a 4Mps leased line here, only 1meg Cable at home ) but it is several weeks since I last had a lost connection on my NTL broadband that I know of. My cheap Belkin router/wireless AP crashes much more frequently than my cable connection. As I said though, a work colleague has had nothing but trouble with NTL broadband in the last few monts and so is ditching them. cable problems can be as local as a street and as wide as the entire country (rare though).

[Will Hay]

I also have the Sky+ PVR which is (IMHO) a superb device. Take a closer look, I doubt you will regret it.

What's the deal with this, it's now free isn't it?
What's the benefit, simply another box and record to watch later?
Will

[RabidDog]

But the house I was in must have had extremely poor alignment or something because it really did go out even in light showers. That was a few years back though.

Thats good, keep aerial in same position , just re-align house.. god like powers required.

[Gees]

Will, did they blame the rain for it? Or something else. Or no explanantion at all? which is more likely, if they're anything like NTL! :cD I'm really not sure what way to go now.

Too few choices, IMHO. Exactly 2. :c*

[bugster]

I also have the Sky+ PVR which is (IMHO) a superb device. Take a closer look, I doubt you will regret it.

What's the deal with this, it's now free isn't it?
What's the benefit, simply another box and record to watch later?
Will

It is 'simply a PVR' in many respects. The main advantage is it fully integrates with Sky's Program guide, so to set up a recording, just find the entry in the program guide and hit record. Has series links on many programs too. Also, it records the exact digital data stream as receievd, so no loss of quality at all. Even records, and plays back the 5.1 audio on some of the films now, if you have an external decoder of course.

There was an extra £10/mth subscription with it but now, if your regular sky sub is over £30/mth the sky+ sub is dropped. The box itself costs about £200 now, I paid £300 for mine about a year ago.

[Gees]

But the house I was in must have had extremely poor alignment or something because it really did go out even in light showers. That was a few years back though.

Thats good, keep aerial in same position , just re-align house.. god like powers required.

LOL :cD I meant the house I was inside of - visiting! Must have been a dodgy disk setup.

[rhegedus]

I get BB from BT and cable TV from NTL in the London franchise. Over the past few days, there have been a few episodes of about 10 sec of 'white noise' over the audio of whatever program it was on, but when I checked the terrestrial channel (I was watching C4 at the time) it was on that too!

Still no cable broadband in London despite being promised it over 3 years ago........

[Will Hay]

I also have the Sky+ PVR which is (IMHO) a superb device. Take a closer look, I doubt you will regret it.

What's the deal with this, it's now free isn't it?
What's the benefit, simply another box and record to watch later?
Will

It is 'simply a PVR' in many respects. The main advantage is it fully integrates with Sky's Program guide, so to set up a recording, just find the entry in the program guide and hit record. Has series links on many programs too. Also, it records the exact digital data stream as receievd, so no loss of quality at all. Even records, and plays back the 5.1 audio on some of the films now, if you have an external decoder of course.

There was an extra £10/mth subscription with it but now, if your regular sky sub is over £30/mth the sky+ sub is dropped. The box itself costs about £200 now, I paid £300 for mine about a year ago.

Thanks Bugster.
So, you'd recommend it then?
Does it replace the existing box, or compliment it?
You say there's a noticable difference in picture quality?
Will

[Will Hay]

Will, did they blame the rain for it? Or something else. Or no explanantion at all? which is more likely, if they're anything like NTL! :cD I'm really not sure what way to go now.

Too few choices, IMHO. Exactly 2. :c*

Actually, I suggested it might have been due to the rain, they just fixed it.
They're quite good actually, always have been although even though the picture was a problem this week I've had it times where it looks like one of the first VCD's I created
Will

[bugster]

Thanks Bugster.
So, you'd recommend it then?
Does it replace the existing box, or compliment it?
You say there's a noticable difference in picture quality?
Will

It replaces the existing box. You get a new quad output LNB on your dish and 2 cables from the dish to the receiver. The installation charge (currently only £1 if you order via the sky website I believe) takes care of all this. Picture quality is about the same (the different boxes sky use vary only very slightly). But recordings playback exactly as the original broadcast, you can watch a program from the beginning while it is recording, pause or even rewind live TV etc. If you are a Sky customer and in the market for a PVR, it looks the best choice to me.

Yes I would reccomend it.

It even has an 'archive' feature that allows you to save recordings to VHS (or a DVD recorder I suppose).

Oh, and one other small advantage. Recordings, paused TV etc, lose those annoying red dots sky insist on putting on many of their programs, they are transmitted on a different datastream so don't get recorded!