Nthellworld

nthellworld was one of the first mainstream independent consumer lobby groups in the United Kingdom, whose main focal point was British ISP and Cable television company ntl Group. nthellworld.com was created by Frank Whitestone, a University Student, in November 2000 to create a community where people could discuss NTL issues, submit their own views of the company and publicise ntl's failings. Frank Whitestone later joined NTL and sold nthellworld.com to them in the process.

ntl:home, as the consumer division of the NTL was known (now Virgin Media), closed nthellworld.com in November 2003. However, in June 2003 after foreseeing the closure of the original nthellworld site by NTL, Neil Crayne and Mick Ramsden, launched a new version of nthellworld using the domain [http://www.nthellworld.co.uk nthellworld.co.uk] . In February 2004, nthellworld was renamed Cable Forum in preparation for an NTL - Telewest merger and to shift the emphasis of nthellworld in a positive direction. In October 2005, merger plans were confirmed by ntl and Telewest boards. NTL (Now Virgin Media) itself does not provide an official support forum for its customers.

Dates

* Nov 2000 : nthellworld.com created
* Apr 2002 : Frank Whitestone takes job at NTL and sells nthellworld to company
* Feb 2003 : nthellworld leaks information regarding a controversial broadband bandwidth cap which provokes a consumer backlash [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/02/08/ntl_implies_1gb_day_broadband/]
* Jun 2003 : nthellworld.co.uk launched by former administrators [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/06/25/fresh_twist_in_nthellworld_protest/]
* Oct 2003 : Frank Whitestone quits ntl over treatment, ntl pull nthellworld.com
* Nov 2003 : ntl confirm nthellworld.com closure [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/06/20/ntl_axes_nthellworld_com_feedback/]
* Feb 2004 : nthellworld.co.uk renamed Cable Forum
* April 2005 : Simon Duffy, at that time, ntl Chief Executive Officer, invites Cable Forum to meeting to discuss overall customer service issues and ways to provide official paths into resolving issues and complaints about the company, posted on Cable Forum by ntl customers.

* 16 July 2007 (23:55): Cable Forum passes 1 million posts

Additionally an interesting fact has arisen that if you try to access Frank Whitestones Blog from PC's within NTL, i.e. if you work for NTL, access is denied (confirmed by ntl associates posting on cableforum.co.uk).Fact|date=January 2008

ee also

* CableHell

References

* [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/06/20/ntl_axes_nthellworld_com_feedback/ ntl axes nthellworld.com - The Register]
* [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/06/25/fresh_twist_in_nthellworld_protest/ nthellworld.co.uk is formed after ntl closure of nthellworld.com - The Register]
* [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/02/08/ntl_implies_1gb_day_broadband/ ntl implies broadband caps - Information leaked on nthellworld.com - The Register]
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2004/08/22/ccangry22.xml nthellworld gets mention in Telegraph (August 2004)]

External links

* [http://www.frankw.net/ Frank Whitestone's blog]
* [http://www.nthellworld.co.uk/ nthellworld.co.uk]
* [http://www.cableforum.co.uk/ Cable Forum]