Bulldog pulling out of residential broadband?

[Wario]

Bad news for bulldog customers.

Exclusive: Insiders say that Cable & Wireless will announce early on Thursday that its troubled Bulldog arm will focus purely on wholesale broadband
Bulldog, Cable & Wireless's unbundled broadband provider, is said to be poised to pull out of the residential broadband market.

According to sources within the company, C&W will announce early Thursday morning that with immediate effect Bulldog will focus purely on the wholesale market. The rapid success enjoyed by Carphone Warehouse, with its hugely popular 'free' broadband offer, is understood to have forced C&W into the decision, with sources pointing out that Carphone Warehouse signed up a third of a million customers in three months, nearly double Bulldog's total of 200,000 after two years.

A spokeswoman for C&W declined to comment for this story, but the company admitted last month that Bulldog faced growing pressure in the residential broadband market.

"Competition in consumer broadband is tough and is likely to increase as the rapid take-up of broadband slows," said C&W on 25 May, when it released its full-year financial results. "Providers will increasingly compete with each other to win existing ... customers (and) pricing pressure is likely to remain a feature of the market," it added.

In the 12 months to March 2006, Bulldog made a loss of over £100m on a turnover of £33m, which sources say C&W is most unwilling to continue to finance.

Bulldog was one of the first companies to use local-loop unbundling to install its equipment in BT's local exchanges and offer its own services. However, it has suffered serious customer service problems, with some users forced to wait weeks to get their broadband or phone service. This led to an Ofcom investigation last year.
It's not clear what will happen to Bulldog's existing customers. Withdrawing from the residential broadband market will also represent a major u-turn for Bulldog, which recently began an expensive advertising campaign

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39273829,00.htm

Look like bulldog will be no more. Most likely some other ISP buy out all the customers.

[The Prodigy]

Fuckin bollocks

Been waiting for these cunts to switch us over too 8Mb for months now!!
The exchange was sorted nearly a month ago yet the incompetent twats still have not sorted it out!!

Ohh well....

AOL 8Mb MaxDSL here I come

[Tattooed Freak]

I have been with Bulldog for 6 months now with absolutely no complaints. They restored my faith in Broadband after the shambles that was F2S.

[gunner]

Bulldog have been great for the last year or so, there were a few problems at first, but it all works well now.
What will happen to existing customers?

[Tattooed Freak]

I am due to move so this is convenient for me, not sure how they will handle this.

[gunner]

Lol, me too mate. Your in Barnet aren't you atm?

[whatnow]

What will happen to existing customers?

fuck knows becuase new customers are on 12 month contracts, and this is a clear statement by bulldog. (as apposed to old ones on a 1 monther)

makes me think shens. on the whole article...

[marcode]

AOL 8Mb MaxDSL here I come

sure about that?

http://digital-forums.com/showthread.php?t=266418

[The Prodigy]

sure about that?

http://digital-forums.com/showthread.php?t=266418

Fuckin hell

Looks like finding a decent and nicely priced true uncapped ISP is gonna be like finding rocking horse shit

Cheers for the info Marcode

[marcode]

www.aceinternet.co.uk
http://www.dslzoneuk.net/isp_ratings.php

[RhinoBanga]

The announcement is up:

http://www.bulldoglounge.com/announcement.asp



And I've just put thru my order with them

Update: Just read that page further ... looks like my order will go thru as they are accepting registrations thru 1st July.

[whatnow]

so this isn't bad news for existing customers as they are keeping us active...

I think I'm going to give them one day, I was quoted 9th of June for DoubleSpeed - if I dont get this I'll sack them off for a BT line and perhaps BE Unlimited...

[Tattooed Freak]

Certainly am, wherabouts are you?

@Marcode - nice one for the Ace Internet link, I am thinking about going to them when I move.

[Goldberg]

I got a flyer from them yesterday offering me broadband!

www.f2s.com for very good broadband, thats what I am on and they always come out top or there abouts (although they are now owned by Pipex!)

[Tattooed Freak]

F2S are c@nts, cut me off for 44 days while trying to upgrade me to 2mb. Customer service is none existant and the tecchies were useless. Guy who sits opposite me moved house 2 months ago and put in a request to take his 8mb line with him. They did a line survey and gave him the thumbs up. Then they gave him 512 instead and said he has to apply to regrade. C@nts.

[gunner]

Certainly am, wherabouts are you?

@Marcode - nice one for the Ace Internet link, I am thinking about going to them when I move.

Borehamwood, but have lots of mates in Barnet. Its a small world!!

[gunner]

Just got this:

Dear Mr Gunner

Today, Cable and Wireless made an announcement to the city stating its intention to revise its strategy in relation to Bulldog. From 1 July 2006, Bulldog will no longer take on new residential and small business customers. Instead, further customer acquisition by Bulldog will be through partnerships with major broadband service providers so that their customers can benefit from the extensive and superfast Bulldog network in the same way you do today.

What does this mean to you as an existing customer of Bulldog?

Business as usual. I would like to reassure you personally that we will carry on providing you with the same high level of service. Right now, our customer care agents are, and will remain, available to you for any support queries you may have. Our technical team continues to be fully operational and will go on expanding our network. Our finance team will also be fully available for all payment and billing queries.

Please be assured that our focus will remain entirely on meeting your needs. Our quest for providing our customers with innovative services, such as our recent launch of DoubleSpeed 16 meg broadband, will remain a high priority for us.

Further details including a full question and answer section are available in the Latest Announcement area of the Bulldog Lounge website which you can access by clicking on the following link http://www.bulldoglounge.com

We value your business and I look forward to carrying on serving you in the future.

Yours sincerely

[Goldberg]

Oh well, I suppose all companies can't be great all of the time.

[The Prodigy]

Panic over Bulldog are staying loyal to existing customers

Sweeeeeeeeet

[Tattooed Freak]

I'm putting a call into them this morning, I want to take the service with me when I move. Not sure if they will do this, I am en existing customer but will require a new line to be installed.