Jul 30, 2001 09:44 PM
2788 Views
I have been with Ntlworld for some time past and, when I first, ''joined up'' I thought that it was the best thing since sliced bread. Those who are of the younger, more modern set will probably recognize this expression as the DB.
East Coast Cable dug up all the roads in Colchester, some years ago, and laid in cable for the, 'new' cable television channels that were coming our way. After many months of disruption and leaving all the pavements to take their chances with the oncoming frosty weather, East Coast Cable departed with all their tools and machines.
We next had all the door knockers, asking us if we wanted to link up to cable and, as the deal offered was good, I took on a contract for telephone and television. In my road I was and still am the only user!!
This year they were offering Digital Television at hardly any difference to the rate I was paying so, once again, I took on the new service - All channels now are digital and the pictures are wonderful - pity about the programmes that you are able to receive, mostly re-hashed repeats from the 60's and 70's if you ignore the better factual channels such as History, Geographia and Discovery. There are also some good music channels.
Then I started writing opinions - I could never stay connected for long enough to write an op and therefore, like most of you, composed in word and cut and pasted all ops off line. This system works quite well but now I have come up with something decidedly better, a cable modem.
NTL/Cable and Wireless as they have now become have fitted me up with a 64kbps cable modem which means that I am permanently on the internet 24/7 and all it costs me is £6.00 per month. There is another version which multiplies the speed by a factor of 10 i.e. a 512 kbps modem and this costs £24.95 per month.
Remember, as an NTL customer, I do not pay for the telephone line, that is the rental is included in the Digital TV/Telephone setup for £27.95 per month and I do not pay for any internet line calls as they are completely free. I do of course pay for telephone calls but these are kept to a minimum.
Why I phrased the title in the way that I did is because I have been sliding along in the mud until now. The connection to the Internet now is - switch on, when I have my desktop in front of me, click Internet Explorer and up comes my home page, on line immediately. The speed is far better that the old 56kbps as I could never get any more than 50.666 anyway.
Apart from the speed of connection, there is the added advantage that you are not cut off, at any time, when up or down loading. You know how annoying it is when you are just getting to grips with a particular site and you are suddenly cut off.
I think that I will start to save my pennies and get the 512 Modem - just watch my back!!
