# ntl landline reliable?



## suzyann (25 Nov 2008)

Hi
I currently have NTL for both broadband and also TV basic package - The cost of this is just over 90 euro bi monthly . I have  a separate eircom landline - as the bill for this is around 100 euro bimonthly I am looking to see if it would be cheaper to have NTL for landline too ? My main concern would be the performace of NTL landline and reliability - Has anyone experience of this ? Also would I loose my current telephone number if I switched ? Any experience of NTL packages using tv , broadband and phone would be appreciated.
Many thanks


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## venice (25 Nov 2008)

phone line costs 4 euro if you have tv and broadband. I have all 3 for about 2 months now and no problem. I was told i could keep my own number but when i rang them a couple of week after getting the tv and broadband to see when the switch over would happen i was told it was not possible as i was a smart telecom customer. I had to change my number, not a big issue for me but annoyed that i was misinformed in the first place. If you are an eircom customer you can keep your old number but i have heard eircom are charging 50 euro for this but i dont know how true this is


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## Madangan (25 Nov 2008)

I have the 3 in 1 package for the last six months and no problems with reliability so far...I think it costs me €50 per month for tv, broadband and phone plus cost of calls.

You can keep your  old number but you will have to have that all arranged with both ntl and eircom...there may be a brief period when you have your old line with eircom and a new temporary number with ntl


If you have eircom phonewatch you will have to get phonewatch  to install a gsm unit so the phonewatch will be monitored through that instead of your phoneline as they cant monitor through an ntl number..


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## Lipstick69 (26 Nov 2008)

I switched a while ago - bit of a problem last week with dialling out but resolved itself within a few days. 

You can keep your number but there is a period when you have multiple phones as ntl give you a handset for your 'new' number and you keep your eircom one for incoming calls for a time. 

eircom charge for geographic number portability but it's a wholesale charge which ntl don't currently pass on. 

to the smart telecom customer, you could have kept your number - it is a requirement that all operators offer GNP


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## venice (26 Nov 2008)

i was told no way. The guy on the phone told me that if i really did want to keep my number i would have to transfer to Eircom and then to NTL. Stupid really like did he expect me to sign a years contract with eircom. I already had NTL in a month at this stage paying both ntl and smart. Then to make thing worse when i did ring smart to cancel they sent out a form which I send back and 2 weeks later when i rang for an update they told me they did not recieve it. I then faxed it in and they cancelled me last week...so annoying


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## hivas9 (26 Nov 2008)

Hi,
     I've the three in one package but sometimes the phone doesn't have a dial tone so you have to power the modem off for a while.This seems to happen at least once a week,so i don't know if that means incoming calls aren't getting through.I called NTL and they replaced modem but still the same.


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## podgerodge (26 Nov 2008)

hivas9 said:


> Hi,
> I've the three in one package but sometimes the phone doesn't have a dial tone so you have to power the modem off for a while.This seems to happen at least once a week,so i don't know if that means incoming calls aren't getting through.I called NTL and they replaced modem but still the same.




I had that problem when I started a year ago - no dial - tone half the time.  took a lot of phone calls but eventually I was told that a "switch" was not working properly. Has been fine for dial tone since.

Overall happy with the service.


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## suzyann (26 Nov 2008)

That's good to know - I think if i can get rid essentially of one bill and have ntl for all 3 options once is reliable it will save me money
Thanks for the responses


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## star32 (26 Nov 2008)

Have noticed a huge difference in the phone bill since moving to ntl, especially with mobile calls (for the better). Have had no service problems so far.


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## David_Dublin (26 Nov 2008)

I have had the problem re the dial tone mentioned above, but more annoyingly not taking incoming calls - only when you make a call out am I able to take incoming calls again. We dont use the phone much and we receive most calls to our mobiles so no big problem with it. I do know others who have this same problem. One thing I will say categorically, god help you if you need any support or have any invoicing queries etc, you will be treated like dirt. I am not alone in being frustrated to boiling point repeatedly with this experience, I have spoken to many people with the same experiences. It's a good cheap service, broadband reliable etc, but their customer service makes Eircom look like market leaders.


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## venice (26 Nov 2008)

Could not agree more with the above, service cheap and good but dont get me started about the customer service or having to query a bill, a nightmare....


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## David_Dublin (26 Nov 2008)

Do a little experiment, always worth a go before you sign a contract with someone. Ring into their customer service (not the sales extension) and see how long it takes to get through. You wont choose NTL if this is a decision maker/breaker.


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## podgerodge (28 Nov 2008)

David_Dublin said:


> but more annoyingly not taking incoming calls - only when you make a call out am I able to take incoming calls again.




hmmm this has been happening over the last couple of days and its only now I'm copping that making an outgoing call fixes it temporarily.  I had it put down to problems on the callers side.  But yesterday I couldn't ring home from my mobile and others failed as well to get through.  When a call was made from my landline later I was able to ring in again..

Customer Support here I come.....


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## eggerb (28 Nov 2008)

Changed to NTL Chorus about 3 months ago and took the 3mb broadband, phone and basic TV service. Before call costs, it costs me €44. I was paying eircom about €80 (incl "all ireland minutes") for bb and line and chorus another €32 for a basic plus TV service. Best financial decison for 2008! (Although, the way the ISEQ performed, that wouln't be difficult).

I was able to transfer the eircom number over no bother, no charge. Have the odd occasion (once a forthnight) when I can't receive calls as described above. When I called Cus Services they checked the signal, said it was weak, and arranged a tech visit. I cancelled because I've split the line and this _might_ be my fault. (I might move the modem closer to where the line enters the house). I can live with the odd landline in outage tbh. (Have Skype-in online number as a backup). Have had no bb outage.

Have had no problems with their billing. Roughly, same figure monthly.

Incidently, we were also paying Vartec about €12-14 for calls to Europe and eircom an extra €10 for their all-ireland unlimited landline package . Now, we make all calls (Ireland landline and Europe landline) through Skype using the RTX Dual Hanset (you can receive your landline calls on the same handset). Now, we pay €4.50 to Skype for all Europe (incl Ireland) landline calls unlimited - no silly 59 minute rule like we had with eircom. With this subscription, you also get a free online number (beginning 01 442**** or 076, 021 etc), voice-mail, caller-id, Skype on teh go number.

For the saving, I would defintely give Chorus NTL a go and consider a Skype subscription if you make many calls outside Ireland.

(No connection to UPC whatsoever. Was initally worried about the NTL Cust Services but haven't had problems with UPC Chorus NTL).


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## aircobra19 (29 Nov 2008)

I have one, just got to see it was reliable. We've had a few outages, but as its not our main phone, i dunno how long they've been. As you have a mobile aswell its not a critial as it used to be.

I used to find NTL woeful for customer service. But it seems to have improved massively since UPC took over.


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