cable phone dilemma

[glenis]

my phone is cable (ntl) and i am really frustrated as i want broadband but can't as my phone is not a bt line and ntl don't do broadband in my area ,why do all broadband providers specify you must have a bt line. it used to be a bt line before i changed to cable ,from what i can remember no extra cables were fitted they just changed my number .what is the difference between my line and my neighbours?

[j2buttonsw]

You may have an existing BT line and the the NTL line was put in addition to it. Years ago (>10 years) cabletel went round and installed a cable system but some people declined the offer of a cable point. These cables were used for television and later broadband. NTL took over from cabletel and they will no longer install new cable points. Only BT has ADSL (an alternative broadband system) enabled telephone points so you need to change your NTL phone line for a BT one (or reactivate the BT one if available). You could have the BT line just for ADSL and so keep your existing NTL telephone number or you may want to ditch NTL all together (after all their telephone charges are much higher than BT) and live with a new BT number. It is odd that you may have NTL phone and cable television but not broadband as they are usually packaged together.