NTL Telephone

Ok, I came here as I need aquick response and NTL won't do that!!

On Wednesday we're getting NTL broadband installed and also a phone line. We already have a BT line and from the main box, we have an additional 2 phones running off it - one in the study and one in an outside garage/workshop.

Question... do NTL install their telephone line into the existing BT box? Or do they fit their own box? And in either case will the engineers hook up the other two phones?

Thanks in advance for a quick response!
Cheers
Phil

NTL put their own phone box into our student house - the BT one (disconnected) is about 6 inches from the NTL one.

HTH,

A.

Yep. What Snoopstah said.

I did have NTL cable & telephone at home. They came in and put a new master socket in and just moved over the house wiring to their one. The old BT master socket is still there.

If you ask the engineer nicely they normally will have a look at your existing wiring and will do small additional extensions

- Trevor

I'm no telephone engineer, but I assume it would just be a case of simply splicing the existing wiring into the NTL one?

Yeah, same as.

To improve your chances of getting that extra mile service I also have a few tips I learned from a friend who is a mobile windscreen fitter which I'm sure are equally valid here:

1. Be pleasant. Don't get in a huff if they are late. It will almost NEVER help to get ratty with the installer, it's probably not THEIR fault anyhow.

2. Be curteous and offer them a cup of tea/coffee (cake/biscuits/sandwiches are a real bonus).

3. Have a pocket full of coins. When you talk with the fitter(s) jingle the coins (like you are keen to spend them). This (and the tea) usually labels you as a tipper in their eyes.

Usually you don't need to give large tips, a few quid is generally sufficient.

If this still doesn't get you what you want then, as a last resort, pull some notes from your pocket and offer to pay for any out-of-spec work - it's important to mention you don't want a receipt!

I got my new master socket installed and two further extensions at opposite ends of the house done for nothing! That said, they buggered up my brick driveway running the cable in.

The BT line and the NTL line will both terminate in seperate master sockets somewhere in your house. The house telephone wiring is then connected to that.

NTL won't fiddle with the BT socket because they're not allowed to since it is owned by BT and it's easier to just fit a new one anyway. If you ever decide to switch back to BT then the socket is already there.

They'll do all the work for you though so don't worry

- Trevor

To improve your chances of getting that extra mile service I also have a few tips

I've heard that showing off the empeg can also help.

Wouldn't that just make them jealous? Now if you had a multitude of spares lying around...

So can you gus "over there" chose to have a different local loop provider for your telephone? How does that work exactly? Do they share lines or run their own to their own central office?

Here in the US, we can chose our long distance provider, but our local phone service is still run as a monopoly...

Matthew

Local service is not monopolized anymore. I've actually had CLEC (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier) service here at home, though it's certainly much easier to get it as a business customer. Plus, at the time my CLEC was GTE, but it appeared that they were just leasing lines from my LEC, BellSouth, so I managed to get both GTE's and BellSouth's screwups. So I changed back.

Here you have three choices:

1. Go with BT.

2. Go with a cable company. Ideal if you want TV as well. Lower installation charges (90% lower). Completely separate network between you and the exchange (so can be good if your BT line is too noisy for a modem and they won't fix it). But poorer quality of service and non-existent customer service.

3. Go with BT for the line rental, but pay another service provider for your calls.

There is no distinction between local and national providers. Although as in point 3, you can choose to use another provider for certain calls if you wish.

I found simply showing them my learning remote control was enough to distract them for half an hour!

There was me thinking NTL were going seriously tits up - I have the local NTL offices and exchange 1/4 of a mile from my house and would they sell me cable? Would they nuffink!

Not much to ask - a 1Meg pipe would be nice + cable modem + cheap calls + cable TV.

Instead I have Sky satellite and a phone line which sometimes gets me a 50k connection, if there isn't too much noise.

One of the things the US seems to do better is high speed connectivity. I guess we got decent GSM so what more do we want?