We moved house recently and this prompted me to investigate an alternative to my existing broadband supplier (Eircom). I rang NTL last week had a pleasant conversation with with an Irish sales guy who gently persuaded me to ugrade to NTL digital to boot (ok, I was kind of planning to at some point so he caught me in a softened up state).
The NTL man arrived on Tuesday and with a bit of tinkering on my part I had broadband connected all over the house via wireless by 6.00pm. Its the standard package (3mb download, €30 a month) and according to the Irish ISPtest its about the same speed as my €45 a month Eircom package.
Two nice touches,
- They texted me to remind me that the guy was coming the day before he was due to arrive.
- I had a problem when I first connected so I followed the instructions taped to the top of the cable modem (power off PC, power off modem, turn on modem wait 30 secs, turn on PC) for a laugh, and hey presto it worked!
Good job NTL…
Copacetic 
1. Last year I told NTHell to disconnect the landline because we were moving elsewhere, which as far as I can tell they did. However about 3 months went by before they stopped by to reconnect the service in my flat. However, what came as a shock was the fact that they kept sending bills to my new address now charging me for the time between they disconnected the service until they reconnected it (about 2 to 3 months). They were literally trying to steal money from me. And then I started to receive final reminder letters saying pay up or else. I bent over backwards trying to reach a real person through customer harras…er service. They never gave a solution and letters from them kept piling up in my rubbish bin.
On the other hand, by the time we were expecting someone from NTHell to show up for reconnection, some female executive called me up and offered me a deal in which I’d have to pay only £7.25 as a month charge, provided I made a payment of £25 upfront. The case is I wouldn’t have to pay a single £p during the first 3 months. I accepted, but as soon as the line became ready for use, they started sending bills for £11.50 as a month charge. What they are doing is illegal right? They’ve been doing this since we started this new contract. I desperately tried to get help and advice from somewhere but it was fruitless.
Then they sent the “debt� to a debt recovery company, and after trying to contact those guys, they forced me into pay like £100 of which I owed about £50 according to my estimates. I have the whole paperwork to prove what I’m saying. However they got away with it. I’m sure these sharks do the same to other hard working people and nobody does a thing about it.
As they have disconnected the line, they have the nerves to tell me I have to pay a further fee to have the line back, and the month charges are still running. So I have to pay to have the service back and furthermore I have to keep paying what they say I owe until the end of the contract. Can somebody tell me is there anything I can do to expose these rats? I’m sharing this in the hope that somebody who reads this will have an idea that can help start stopping these swindlers, or organize a group and together expose these fraudsters, legally. They have been in breach of a contract and don’t care what I say.
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Mary,
If you have a record of a request for disconnection I would guess your under no obligation to pay the original bills. As far as pitching for one price and bill for another, that is straight out illegal, don’t pay.
In general I would say if you are experiencing bad service, move to another provider. I have heard other people have had bad experiences with NTL, but so far so good, speaking for myself.
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The NTL man arrived on Tuesday and with a bit of tinkering on my part I had broadband connected all over the house via wireless by 6.00pm. Its the standard package (3mb download, €30 a month) and according to the Irish ISPtest its about the same speed as my €45 a month Eircom package.
The above is complete rubbish i just got a 6 meg connection all tests and download monitors show the connection running at less than 2 megs. NTL are a shambles. If you want a decent broadband service, I recomend moving country. Eircom are sh*t, worked there and know that if they ever offer you a “deal” be careful. Irish broadband’s connection time’s out connsistently and Ntl sold me a product which doesnt do what it said on the tin. Would you buy have a car?????
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Of course its not rubbish. Thats my experience I’m not saying anything about NTL being the best or worst, I’m just saying that in my case it was pretty good.
As far as not getting the advertised bandwidth, well several factors influence this, including contention and distance from the broadband switch at the exchange.
Yes, in general Irish broadband offerings are overpriced and underpowered, but you knew that before you signed up?
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just changed to NTL and if upload about 4 to 5 pages at a time, they all freeze amd i have close them a start from scratch…this didnt happen with eircom bband
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Totally opposite experience with me. NTL customer service is non-existant. We decided to upgrade the digital TV service and get broadband for the first time. After waiting in for 2days finally a technician visited, did the TV but couldn’t do the broadband as it needed a ‘booster’. I was told another appointment was made for a week and a half later (plenty of notice) but when the day came – no record of it. So another wasted day off work for my girlfriend. An appointment made for 9am next morning. Tech. turns up at 11 with no idea about previous visit and says we need a booster and separate company has to do that……
No management staff / nobody cares about customers.
We were warned about NTL, didn’t listen and found out the hard way. still waiting for any sort of resolution and having to look elsewhere. In my opinion – DON’T USE NTL.
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