NTL UK Broadband Speed FREE Upgrade !

[Coconutty]

For anyone using NTL Broadband at the "old" speeds of 150 K, 300 K or even 600 K, NTL are offering a FREE upgrade to 1Mb at the same price free of charge ! :D

All you need to do is go to the NTL Web Site Click Here (http://www.ntlworld.com/data-feeds/editorial/microsites/tierMigration/)
and follow the instructions for your Cable Modem or Set Top Box to be upgraded on line. ( Subject to some limited conditions & availability ).

Apologies if this is now rather old news, but it seems NTL haven't bothered to pass the message on to a lot of their exisiting customers ( or maybe it was just me they forgot to tell 'cos I keep my regular subscription paid up to date ! )
:ok:

[Evo]

With a thread title like that, I thought our spammer friend had returned... ;)

[Fire 'n' Forget]

I for one appreciate your post !! clicked the link 30 secs later 750k to 2Mb connection. NTL tight twats keeping this upgrade in hiding. :ok:

Thanks again m8

[Coconutty]

Evo,

In no way was my post meant as SPAM - all Spammers would be hung and castrated if I had my way !
I just thought it worth bringing this to the attention of anyone who may not know - to get the best value for what they may already be paying !
Although I am one of NTL's customers they are not necessarily the best or cheapest service provider, and - sadly - are not paying me any commission etc. for posting the message :{ !

[Evo]

Don't worry, not a rebuke - we've have a particularly annoying spammer who reregisters and bombards the forums with cr@p, so anything with FREE in the title sets the alarm bells ringing...!

[sky9]

Many thanks Coconutty, much appreciated.
I was told some months ago that they were upgrading the 300 to 600 in April so saved money by downgrading, but 1MB is a bargain.

[Man-on-the-fence]

At the moment if you are on a slower speed then you have a 1GB a day limit (aka a Cap). That means after you have downloaded that amount of data then NTL reserve the right to charge extra or slow down your connection.
Every email, webpace picture file and folder that comes onto your PC via your connection counts towards you limit.

If you upgrade the Cap changes to 3GB per calendar month. That is why I have not and will not upgrade from my 300k connection.

[Coconutty]

Man on the fence :

That is a very valid point for users who do lots of downloading and upgrade from a speed less than 1Mb to the 1Mb speed at the same price. Personally I don't do a great deal of downloading but thanks for mentioning it for those that do !

The alternative, like Fire n'Forget has done, is to upgrade to the 2 Mb ( £24.99) or 3 Mb ( £37.99 ) service, which leave you with the 1Gb daily limit that you get with the slower speeds.

Reading a bit deeper into the terms & conditions about what would happen if someone reached their monthly limit, NTL have this to say :

Customers with the 1Mb service (3GB per month) - Ntl will be monitoring across the network to identify customers who routinely exceed their data allowance, but not enforcing this allowance until later in 2005.
Before that time, ntl will be deploying new capabilities that will allow each customer to view their usage levels. Thereafter, customers who exceed their data allowance in any given month will be given options, which may include, for example, the ability to:

Upgrade to a tier of service with a higher usage limit
Choose to be billed for any incremental usage above their limit
Choose to use the service for the remainder of the month at a lower speed

That last option makes it still worthwhile to me as it won't cost any extra to slow back down again at the end of the month if ever I do reach my limit, which is unlikely.

Like all things there are pro's and con's so I guess you just have to read ALL the fine print and work out what's best for your own useage ;)

[rvusa]

Thanks coconutty!
I had been paying £24.99 a month for what seemed like forever and had been gradually upgraded to 750K.
I followed the link but, unknown to me, they had different username and password to the ones I had recorded so it didn't work.
Surprisingly, the customer care number worked well and I was upgraded to 2Mb and also given the correct username and password! Was told that it would take 24 hours to be upgraded but, on checking later, it was done within the hour. Great result!!

[Coconutty]

... and if you want to check what speed you are actually getting, there are a number of web sites that let you perform a simple test..
This one seems quite good :ZDNet (UK) Bandwidth Speed Test (http://specials.zdnet.co.uk/misc/band-test/speedtest50.html)
:ok:

[nooluv]

yeah " good on you" coco..
Upgraded to 1 mb saturday. Asked NTL why no info?
They said customers had been informed by email or letter..
Bullsh*t. Got neither..

Thank's nooluv........

[sky9]

I suspect that it was more to do with "if we don't tell them they may continue to pay a higher price without quibbling"

[Hamrah]

So, having read this thread, I rang NTL at 15:00 on Friday. Spoke to a nice lady, who after confirming my account details, gave me my free upgrade from 1.5Mb to 3Mb. Said it should take baout 20 minutes.

1 hour later, I tried my new "Upgraded service"...nothing. I then spent three hours thinking the set-top box, router, or PC needed resetting to no avail.

There then followed repeated attempts to contact the Broadband Support helpline. When I finally got " through", I got an answereing machine message saying the service closed at 8pm. :mad:

It took until midday on Saturday to get my service back, having received an admission from tech Support that the "sales" lady had disabled my current account and had "forgotten" to enable my upgraded account.

Even when they are giving something away, these guys make a mess of it.

H

[Coconutty]

Hamrah - sorry to hear of the problems you had ... NTL ( UK ) seem to have come a long way in recent years but still have plenty to learn.

Perhaps it's time to remind them of a genuine complaint letter that actually won a UK competition a while back as the "Complaint letter of the year" ...... It seems to be doing the rounds again via e-mail so apol's if you've already seen it....

Dear Cretins,
I have been an NTL customer since 9th July 2001, when I signed up for
your 3-in-one deal for cable TV, cable modem, and telephone. During this
three-month period I have encountered inadequacy of service which I had
not previously considered possible, as well as ignorance and stupidity
of monolithic proportions. Please allow me to provide specific details,
so that you can either pursue your professional perogative, and seek to
rectify these difficulties - or more likely (I suspect) so that you can
have some entertaining reading material as you while away the working
day smoking B&H and drinking vendor-coffee on the bog in your office:
My initial installation was cancelled without warning, resulting in my
spending an entire Saturday sitting on my fat arse waiting for your
technician to arrive. When he did not arrive, I spent a further 57
minutes listening to your infuriating hold music, and the even more
annoying Scottish robot woman telling me to look at your helpful
website....HOW?
I alleviated the boredom by playing with my te$ticle$ for a few minutes
- an activity at which you are no-doubt both familiar and highly adept.
The rescheduled installation then took place some two weeks later,
although the technician did forget to bring a number of vital tools -
such as a drill-bit, and his cerebrum. Two weeks later, my cable modem
had still not arrived. After 15 telephone calls over 4 weeks my modem
arrived... six weeks after I had requested it, and begun to pay for it.
I estimate your internet server's downtime is roughly 35%... hours
between about 6pm -midnight, Mon-Fri, and most of the weekend. I am
still waiting for my telephone connection. I have made 9 calls on my
mobile to your no-help line, and have been unhelpfully transferred to a
variety of disinterested individuals, who are it seems also highly
skilled b*llock jugglers.
I have been informed that a telephone line is available (and someone
will call me back); that no telephone line is available (and someone
will call me back); that I will be transferred to someone who knows
whether or not a telephone line is available (and then been cut off);
that I will be transferred to someone (and then been redirected to an
answer machine informing me that your office is closed); that I will be
transferred to someone and then been redirected to the irritating
Scottish robot woman...and several other variations on this theme.
Doubtless you are no longer reading this letter, as you have at least a
thousand other dissatisfied customers to ignore, and also another one of
those crucially important te$ticle-moments to attend to. Frankly I don't
care, it's far more satisfying as a customer to voice my frustration's
in print than to shout them at your unending hold music. Forgive me,
therefore, if I continue.
I thought BT were sh!t, that they had attained the holy pi$$-pot of godawful
customer relations, that no-one, anywhere, ever, could be more
disinterested, less helpful or more obstructive to delivering service to
their customers. That's why I chose NTL, and because, well, there isn't
anyone else is there? How surprised I therefore was, when I discovered
to my considerable dissatisfaction and disappointment what a useless
shower of ba$tard$ you truly are. You are sputum-filled pieces of
distended rectum - incompetents of the highest order.
British Telecom - w@nkers though they are - shine like brilliant beacons
of success, in the filthy puss-filled mire of your seemingly limitless
inadequacy. Suffice to say that I have now given up on my futile and
foolhardy quest to receive any kind of service from you. I suggest that
you cease any potential future attempts to extort payment from me for
the services which you have so pointedly and catastrophically failed to
deliver - any such activity will be greeted initially with hilarity and
disbelief quickly be replaced by derision, and even perhaps bemused
rage. I enclose two small deposits, selected with great care from my
cats litter tray, as an expression of my utter and complete contempt for
both you and your pointless company. I sincerely hope that they have not
become desiccated during transit - they were satisfyingly moist at the
time of posting, and I would feel considerable disappointment if you did
not experience both their rich aroma and delicate texture. Consider them
the very embodiment of my feelings towards NTL, and its worthless
employees.
Have a nice day - may it be the last in your miserable short life, you
irritatingly incompetent and infuriatingly unhelpful bunch of tw@ts.
JohnMade me chuckle even though I AM happy with their service :D

[windy1]

I am probably missing a trick here, but using the link given,
the NTL upgrade piccie says the upgrade to "broadband plus" is £3.99 per month.

Presumably this is on top of your normal sub ( in my case £24.99pm). So where's the freebie?

[rvusa]

Windy1

If you look at my post a few back you will see that I too was paying £24.99 a month. I had originally bought 300k for that price and had been steadily upgraded to 750k over the years. For exactly the same price, using coconutty's link, I was upgraded to 2M. I did have to use the phone to achieve this but it cost no extra and no, NTL hadn't informed me either.
Using the ZDNet Speed test gave me more than 2m.

[221B]

Don't click the Broadband Plus link! (unless you want that service) - It is different to the speed upgrade which is free.

The link is:ntl speed upgrade (http://www.ntlworld.com/data-feeds/editorial/microsites/tierMigration/)

Click on the box with a picture of a cable modem (or set top box) this will take you to the pages where you log in and select the appropriate speed options. The modem should reboot itself straight away and will then be running at the new speed.

[windy1]

Success! many thanks to all.
The auto upgrade didn't work; it returned an unrecognised user name. Phoned support line and it turns out my user name remained at the value first used when I was a dial up subscriber years ago. I changed my email user name since then (due spam probs) but for this speed upgrade routine to work, it requires you input your original user name. I hope you guys keep good paper records!

[nooluv]

Windy 1. you don't need to auto upgrade! Just phone your local NTL office free. As long as you have your account number etc they upgrade in minutes.