I simple reboot of the cable modem wasnt the solution.
maxtoralias was however spot on the mark
When you first activate your account online with NTL they use the first MAC address connected to the cable modem. All I had to do is change the MAC address on the D-Link router to that of the Ethernet MAC address on my laptop which was the first device connected and Voila problem fixed.
Thanks for all your input on this.