NTL Cable Modems - yea or nay?

[TwinStripe]

After getting shafted by BT, it looks like I'm going to have to go back to NTL, cap in hand, to get a decent speed connection (after telling them to stick their TV service where the sun doesn't shine, because it was rubbish - doh)!
So, the questions sre these:
Is the NTL service any good?
Which of the two modems is better?
How much of a delay is there on the install?
How much do they REALLY charge for it?
I'm using ntlworld at the mo' and, for a large percentage of the time, it sucks the sweat from a dead donkey's doo-dah, so it must be influenced by this! Or is it?

thnx in adv.
:vader:

[Calzor Suzay]

Doesn't NTL's cable modem service require that you have at least there basic TV package?

[Shrubbery]

Originally posted by TwinStripe
I'm using ntlworld at the mo' and, for a large percentage of the time, it sucks the sweat from a dead donkey's doo-dah, so it must be influenced by this! Or is it?
:vader:

You've just described my experience over the past 5 months with NTL cable modem service perfectly ;)

My advice would be to hold off a bit and see if NTL do actually get their network problems sorted permanentlt, atm for me it's a good day or two here and there separated by longer patches of bad days :(

Having said that, it seems to depend where you live, some regions seem to be ok as far as I can gather, so you might get lucky. But I guess if you are having trouble with NTLworld already, you'll get the same sort of sh1te with cable modem.

[TwinStripe]

Ta for the replies guys. It looks like I'm gonna have to go with 'em no matter what so I'm gonna have to suck it and see! BTW Calzor, the 'TV' thing is a bit of an odd point to deal with. You see, in order to get a cable modem you have to go for their 'Starter Pack'. This basically contains a phone line and 6 or so TV channels for a tenner a month. Thing is, that the telly 'deal' is something that you've probably already got, 'cause it just consists of a TV point on the wall, which will have been supplied to you F.O.C. by the cable company when they took over from the older piped aerial systems!

The TV issue I had, was with the stupid additional TV package using Scientific Atlanta boxes. Half the time, it would pick up and drop channels at random, some of 'em disappearing for days on end. When I'd call customer services about it, I'd either end up waiting for half an hour to talk to someone, or all of their '0800' numbers would have crashed (true, happened a couple of times).

Still, that's my rant over with!
Thnx Again.
:vader:

[doug.connor]

I must admit people i've had few problems only once or twice i've had it slow down to a crawl for a couple of hours ( I think once was when a NTL router went down), must be related to location or something.

Doug

[werewolf_bite]

The only major problem we've had was when a router went down (luton area i think the guy said) last weekend, no net at all for about 8 hours, and limited net for a further 5 or 6 hours.