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sinking or not... bye bye
Brush Master
21-09-2006
Whether HMS Homechoice is sinking or not, I am gone. Just cancelled the service. I have stopped using the TV service a while ago due to ongoing problems, and have now happily switched to NTL cable modem. Excellent performance, excellent routing, and all in one hands: no more pointing of fingers between Homechoice and BT, and no more self between the chairs.

What a relief.
masai
21-09-2006
How does NTL's internet speed compare? Are upload speeds as good/better?

My sister who lives in Cambridge only gets 10KB/Sec upload with her NTL.
Brush Master
21-09-2006
I guess the actual speed is a function of many variables. I have just uploaded a 15MB archive via FTP to Norway with an average of 55kB/s - that's not bad, but close to what I had with HC, too.
Downlink speed is much better, and it should - after all I'm paying much more compared to HC, so it better be good!

I like, however, that the routing seems more efficient, at least to those places where I "travel" most - you see, I'm a long-haul telecommuter to the US west coast (aka Silicone Valley). I've had insanely poor routing (as in: many hobs and long round-trip delays) from BT, reasonable routing from HC, and am now enjoying the best-ever routing with NTL.

So, I guess the bottom line is that performance judgement is a very personal thing. HC was pretty good on the stability of the service, we'll see what NTL does in this regard, long term.

Some argue NTL throttles by using transparent proxies on HTTP, and I must confirm that HTTP downloads are not very exciting with NTL. Even though HC also uses transparent HTTP proxies, their performance, relative to the subscribed bandwidth, appeared better. Might just be fewer users, though. However, HC's proxies screw you up on RPC over HTTP, so bye bye Exchange Server IMAP access via Outlook...

There are so many individual requirements and variables in all this that I seriously doubt that ISPs can be ranked in a way meaningful to many. Stability and reliability of service might be one "common denominator" aspect, but otherwise... You've gotta jump into the cold water and hope you're not getting a chill.

Make sure all your stuff is ISP-independent, e.g. set-up your own, independent email system, etc. Once done, you are at least able to move on once the minimum contract period is over.

Hth
AlexD
04-10-2006
Originally Posted by Brush Master:
“Whether HMS Homechoice is sinking or not, I am gone. Just cancelled the service. I have stopped using the TV service a while ago due to ongoing problems, and have now happily switched to NTL cable modem. Excellent performance, excellent routing, and all in one hands: no more pointing of fingers between Homechoice and BT, and no more self between the chairs.

What a relief.”

What does "self between the chairs mean"?
Brush Master
04-10-2006
Originally Posted by AlexD:
“What does "self between the chairs mean"?”

Very simple: if you are (as I was) with a DSL provider other than BT and felt the line qualitiy wasn't as good as it coud be, your ISP would point at BT (for the line), and BT would point back to the ISP, as their service (a landline for phone) works just fine. Yourself would be.... well, between the chairs, really.

I am now happy with NTL (so far at least), and if anything is wrong, it is for them so sort it out, no matter it is on the cable or the network infrastructure.
mbear
04-10-2006
Yeah but that's an inherent problem with ADSL - technology that continues to push copper wire way, way beyond what it was originally designed for.
M_at
04-10-2006
Originally Posted by mbear:
“Yeah but that's an inherent problem with ADSL - technology that continues to push copper wire way, way beyond what it was originally designed for.”

No - it's a problem that you will get when you have one company offering service over another company's infrastructure.

When company A uses company B's lines and has no jurasdiction over them there is always the problem of buck passing.
Peter We
04-10-2006
Originally Posted by M_at:
“No - it's a problem that you will get when you have one company offering service over another company's infrastructure.

When company A uses company B's lines and has no jurasdiction over them there is always the problem of buck passing.”


mbear is right, there will always be certain percentage of customers who need new wiring, its more cost effective that they should go to co-ax than replacing the phonelines.

Neither BT or the ISP can economically fix the issue, its not a juirisdiction issue, its simply unsolvable.
AlexD
04-10-2006
Originally Posted by Brush Master:
“Very simple: if you are (as I was) with a DSL provider other than BT and felt the line qualitiy wasn't as good as it coud be, your ISP would point at BT (for the line), and BT would point back to the ISP, as their service (a landline for phone) works just fine. Yourself would be.... well, between the chairs, really.

I am now happy with NTL (so far at least), and if anything is wrong, it is for them so sort it out, no matter it is on the cable or the network infrastructure.”

I have never hard that expression before! Is it from a particular region?

The reason I asked what you meant is because I had a clear picture of you hiding under the dining table "between the chairs" with your head held in your hands in despair! (I have felt like that with ntl before!)
Last edited by AlexD : 04-10-2006 at 14:43
Brush Master
04-10-2006
Originally Posted by AlexD:
“I have never hard that expression before! Is it from a particular region?

The reason I asked what you meant is because I had a clear picture of you hiding under the dining table "between the chairs" with your head held in your hands in despair! (I have felt like that with ntl before!)”

The expression has always been familiar to me so I can't say where it comes from. Anyways, I envision it more like sharing 2 chairs between three people. The ISP on the left and BT on the right chair, yourself sort-of on the edge of both in a pretty inconvenient ... I guess you get the picture, but yours works, too.
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