No, nowt footie, but a small thrill for all our techies :-) Newcastle not even in the pipeline!

Fast web coming to a set-top box near you

LONDON (Reuters) - Cable operator NTL is launching what it believes is the world's first broadband service via set-top boxes, the company has said.

The service -- which will allow users to access high-speed Internet services by plugging their computer into their digital television decoder -- is to be launched in Manchester on Monday.

Leeds and London will follow later in the year.

More than 500,000 homes already have set-top boxes incorporating the cable modem necessary for connecting a computer to NTL's high-speed network.

The company said the 25-pounds -a-month service will bolster the cable industry's lead in broadband in Britain, one of the worst off nations for high-speed Internet connections.

"Over 8,000 people pre-registered even before the marketing campaign has kicked off," said a spokesman for NTL, the larger of Britain's two cable firms. "It shows the almost pent up demand that's out there."

Installation will cost between 17.50 pounds and 100 pounds depending on whether the customer chooses a "do-it-yourself" installation option. The computer does not have to be in the same room as the decoder.

The boxes, made by Pace Micro Technology, provide download speeds of up to 512 kilobytes a second, nine times as fast as dial-up connections.

NTL had 26,800 customers using stand-alone cable modems as of March.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2001

Answers

Ample Pace

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2001