[HPFGU-OTChatter] Need advice from UK residents on services

[GulPlum]

At 15:54 05/06/03 , Ladi lyndi wrote:
>Hey Everyone,
>
>I need some advice on who you can recommend for
>TV, internet and phone service providers.  We saw
>one company, Telewest, who offered everything we
>wanted in a package, but they aren't available in
>our area.

<snip the rest>

This is going to be a bit long-winded (and somewhat non-linear) because 
expectations and the technological solutions in the UK are slightly 
different than the USA or Holland.

First of all, although Dutch or US expectations would lead one to think 
about cable services for internet connectivity as a first port of call, the 
slightly different history of the issue in the UK (about which I know a 
great deal, having been involved in the way things are currently run coming 
about) means that ADSL is probably a cheaper bet *for internet access*. It 
is therefore important to know what you want and how much you're prepared 
to pay for it.

Let's get cable out of the way first.

If Telewest don't provide services in that area, then chances are that NTL 
do. It's a bit complicated, but broadly speaking, the UK is currently 
divided into two cable companies on an area-by-area basis. Both companies 
(NTL and Telewest) offer cable TV, telephone lines and broadband Internet 
services, and although technically they are permitted to offer telephony 
services in each others' "fiefdoms", they generally don't. They are 
currently not allowed to provide non-telephony services outside their 
allocated areas.

However, cable coverage, even in London, is far from 100% and it's possible 
that your street, or even your house alone, is technically not 
"connectable". (The usual statement is that cable services are available to 
about 70% of the *population* of the UK; in terms of London *homes*, it's 
around 80%.)

If you know the FULL postcode of your new home, this page on the NTL 
website will tell you whether services are available: 
http://sales.ntl.com/index.jsp?cust=ntlcom_intbroadband .

If you want cable TV as well, you can get an all-in-one package which 
includes TV, net access and telephony services at a better price than the 
three separately (NTL's pricing structures here: http://www.ntlhome.com and 
Telewest's here: http://www.telewest.co.uk/html/bundles/bundles.htm). Based 
on some very generalised assumptions, if NTL services *are* available in 
your new home, that's probably your best bet.

If you're not served by NTL's network, you're really limited to getting the 
"wires" of your telephony services from BT (i.e. the erstwhile state-run 
telecoms provider). Unless the house is brand new, it's a fair bet that a 
telephone line is in place (Middlesex is big and most of what goes by that 
name is actually part of London; the name Middlesex actually has no 
administrative/legal meaning at present). The first thing you should do is 
to find out from the owners (I assume you're renting the house?) whether a 
phone line is present and what services are currently connected to it. 
These will probably be only a basic telephone service.

Unlike the USA, the UK telecoms system doesn't rely on separate local and 
long-distance carriers (bearing in mind that this is a tiny island of a 
similar size to the smaller US states, although much more densely 
populated). What most people would consider a "standard" telephone service 
would consist of a single line from BT which would offer you all the 
services you need, and possibly an extra subscription contract for 
discounted local, national or international calls.

Several companies offer those services at more competitive rates (perhaps 
strangely, most of those companies basically sell rebranded products bought 
from BT at wholesale rates). For international rates, the options are 
pretty much limitless, from a BT-only service, through subscription-based 
resellers onto "credit"-based VOIP providers (whose charges can be as 
little as 5% of BT's rates). Circumstances are very specific and again, I 
can only stress that your options are almost limitless.

I would suggest that assuming the house already has a phone line (and that 
it's from BT), you ensure that it's up and running in time for your 
arrival, and you include one of BT's  "Together" plans 
(http://www.bt.com/Choices/index.jsp?obsNoSee=Y&vStore=1120&obsPage=/at_home 
.jsp&obsType=LINK&obsOID=46321 - sorry for the long URL) which should 
ensure you have the mix of services you need at an affordable (if not 
necessarily *best*) price. (Please note that without one of the "Together" 
plans, you're likely to get a poor deal on just about every aspect of your 
phone usage). I would expect that until you sort your lives out, you'll 
probably spend most of your time contacting friends in either Holland or 
the US. :-)

As for Internet access, the various "Together" plans include different 
levels of usage. Whether or not you choose to upgrade to ADSL services 
(which are likely to be available in that area) depends on what you use the 
net for and for how long per day. If you decide to take up that option, 
ADSL services in the UK are extremely competitive and the options are, 
again, pretty much limitless. Here's a web site which offers all kinds of 
analysis and comparisons of the various solutions on offer: 
http://www.net4nowt.com/

OK, I've said a lot more than I had meant to, I hope it makes sense and 
that there's not too much detail, but if you want to know anything more, 
please fell free to ask... :-)