CableHell
Encyclopedia
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
(previously known as NTL/Telewest
Telewest
Telewest, formerly Telewest Broadband and Telewest Communications was a cable Internet, broadband internet, telephone supplier and cable television provider in the United Kingdom...
for Cable TV services in the UK) to discuss issues and create a community where people could submit their own views of the company, and opinions on how to improve products or services. The forum membership included a number of Virgin Media
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
employees who helped out customers of Virgin Media
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
and provided a source of official information.
CableHell was occasionally cited by global news sources such as the BBC, The Times and The Guardian as well as other online publications.
Started in April 2002, CableHell was one of the UK's larger ex-ntl: focused customer support forums in the UK. There were numerous forums available for members, for each different type of service which Virgin Media
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
provides; such as Digital TV, Telephone, Internet and Mobile. There were also alternative forums for other topics and providers, as well as a number of support and FAQ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions are listed questions and answers, all supposed to be commonly asked in some context, and pertaining to a particular topic. "FAQ" is usually pronounced as an initialism rather than an acronym, but an acronym form does exist. Since the acronym FAQ originated in textual...
guides available.
The forum was previously known as Ntl:hell however with the re-branding of NTL/Telewest
Telewest
Telewest, formerly Telewest Broadband and Telewest Communications was a cable Internet, broadband internet, telephone supplier and cable television provider in the United Kingdom...
, the name changed to reflect this.
Employee Hacking
An employee of ntl was alleged to have attempted to hack the forum on New Years Eve 2002, and send abusive messages to their members. The hacker was traced back to Ntl offices and the company later carried out a formal internal investigation http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/01/20/ntl_suspends_employee_over_ntlhell/. Ntl terminated the employment of the individual and apologised to the forum http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/01/24/ntl_sacks_hacker_for_gross/.Closure
At 10:34pm on March 16, 2009, the site was taken offline by its owner http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/25/33647328-cablehell-gone-page-2.html#post34754849 without advance notice or explanation. At that time it had 387,625 posts, and 34,332 registered members.On February 23, 2010, Cable Forum announced the closure of Cable Hell by its domain owner, and its acquisition by Cable Forum, with the old Cable Hell Domain now redirecting to the Cable Forum site. The former Cable Hell moderating team began encouraging Cable Hell members to join a new 'temporary' site on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8590553694 In a statement, Cable Forum said it wished to encourage Cable Hell members to become members of Cable Forum. http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/25/33662037-cablehell-co-uk.html
The CableHell team members recently re-launched as http://www.interhell.co.uk
External links
- http://www.cablehell.co.uk (formally known as ntlhell.co.uk )
- http://www.virginmedia.com
- The Guardian - Going online for gripes of wrath
- The Guardian - City diary
- BBC - Do online rants get results?
- BBC - Will 'fourplay' be the next big thing?
- The Times - Agenda
- The Times - Let's call the whole thing off
- The Register - ntl: suspends employee over ntl:hell hack
- The Register - ntl: sacks hacker for gross misconduct
- The Register - AntiCap lobby group calls for BB freedom
- The Register - ntlhell protest site defends libel allegations
- WebUser Magazine - Customers hold NTL to ransom
- Interhell