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I recently had call to contact ntl when they announced that they were to limit downloads to a gigabyte a day. I am a PhD student, and use my cable modem to backup my research from my university computer to my home linux server once a week. The backup is almost always over a gig in size, so I thought it would be worth phoning ntl to find out where I stood.

The drone I spoke to was certainly unhelpful, and was bordering on insulting. She proceeded to try and explain that the bandwidth capping was in place to reduce piracy, as most copied DVDs were around 800 meg in size, and that no-one would ever need to download more than a gigabyte a day for 'legitimate home or academic' use. I listened patiently, and explained that, with that size cap, pirated DVDs (even at 800 meg) could be moved once a day. How did this stop piracy I asked?

She changed tack, pursuing the 'fair home and academic use' idea that no-one would need that amount of bandwidth for anything unless they were a business. Fair enough I thought, I'm using it for academic use, so it should be no problem.

She then tried to tell me that in fact, I was not excempt. She reasoned that, as I was at University, I would get a degree, and as I was getting a degree, I would get a better job. Therefore, using my cable modem for that purpose constitued commercial use, and I would need to upgrade to their business package!

Whatever, ntl.

Stunned, I asked to speak to a supervisor, who still could not answer any of my questions. The whole affair left me feel extremely angry, and like ntl were doing me a favour for allowing me to pay for their service for my own backup needs!

ADSL where available either direct from BT or several resellers (there are loads more). 512 down / 128 up costs about GBP 30.00 / month give or take.

There are two major cable operators in the uk, ntl: and Telewest. Both offer cable modem in almost all areas of their networks for about GBP 25.00 / month for 512 and 40.00 / month for 1M.

ntl couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery.

because I don't want ntl: meddlin' with electricity. They're dangerous enough in charge of a cable system.

(UK in-joke, sorry)

Move to the UK. I have NTL's cable TV, cable modem service and two phone lines. Price? £72.97 per month, ie. about $102.16 (for around 30/35 channels I think).

Cheers,
Ian

--
In need of some dARK Therapy?

Their URL is www.askntl.com. Don't ask me why, probably a squatter. Also take a look at www.broadband-cable.co.uk for more on their broadband cable modems.

And?
If you look here, you'll see that ntl in the UK have been doing this for a while now. For £19.99+/month you get 512kbps downstream, a load of TV channels, very cheap phone calls (3p/min max) and video-on-demand. And that's just on the analogue service. I don't know what they do on the digital service...
-- Nick

As we say in london, Bollocks.
NTL does offer cable in a lot of areas though, and for just £20 a month (or £24 including box rental)
And according to the FAQ it works with Linux (uses DHCP), its just not supported. The only downside is its limited to 512kbps downstream.