Electronic Utilities

[ewx]

NTL's clever customer retention strategy means that their contract here is ending a bit after LNR moves out. I'm thinking of switching to BT for phones, Freeview for TV[1] and some as-yet unknown ADSL provider for Internet connectivity.

Phones: NTL's reliability has been less than stellar - we had to call them out to fix the phone line three times and only the third time did it stay fixed for more than a few months. BT's cheapest monthly rate (which implies online-only billing, which is fine by me) is only slightly cheaper than NTL's.

Freeview: I mainly watch Channel 5 and BBC channels, so there shouldn't be any problem with channel availability in moving away from NTL here. NTL's TV service is somewhat flaky (probably the fault of the awful STB but whatever.) I was thinking of getting a digital box with hard disk and dual tuner (Life On Mars is clashing with CSI at the moment l-)

ADSL: NTL's internet service has probably been the most reliable of the three for us (I know other people have found it unreliable). However I'll be glad to get away from their intercepting web and DNS proxies (the latter are particularly broken). The BT availability checker thinks my postcode could get 1.5Mbit/s which is a bit less than NTL seem to be providing right now but I reckon is plenty.

So, anyone got any advice/recommendations/disrecommendations?

Comments

[karen2205]

I like Black Cat for ADSL & BT for telephone services.

Check the Freeview site for Freeview coverage. For Bury St Edmunds it says 'no coverage', but I get coverage, I'm just missing Multiplex 2. I think Cambridge has better coverage, but it's worth checking with a local friend.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

I already check that but there are lots of Cambridge people reading this journal who can say whether it works for them l-)

[fanf]

Our freeview setup works fine. The DVR does the job but has THE WORST user interface.

[aldabra]

I got a Freeview box, but it won't get CBeebies without an aerial upgrade so we're still with NTL for the time being. I'd be interested to know what you decide when you decide it.

[aldabra]

... so I've got a box I'm currently not using, if you want to check your reception directly. And, er, borrow it until you get around to getting something fancier; it's Tesco's cheapest, so won't have a dual thingie or anything.

[rmc28]

As Tony says, our Freeview setup is fine, but we did need to get the aerial upgraded. I can ask Julian who did it (we got both 4 and 16 NW done together)

[lnr]

FWIW our landlord told us the previous tenant had freeview, and I presume it's got a shiny new modern aerial up there somewhere, since it does work for us.