View Full Version : Bulldog Broadband 8Mb - £21.50 a month
Just checked for myself, and Bulldog will soon be enabling my local exchange. At the moment they've cut their unrestricted 8Mb service to £21.50 (for as long as you remain a customer). If your local exchange hasn't been converted yet, you can start off on their 1Mb service for just £9.75 a month, and they'll switch you over as soon as the service is available at the current offer price, so you won't miss out.
When taking their 8Mb service you must also take their phone line, which is the same price as BTs - £10.50 a month.
Their FAQ reports that they don't block any ports, and they don't restrict usage on their inter@ctive service. :thumbs:
Offer ends 31st December 2005.
Bulldog Broadband (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump.php?url=http://clkuk.tradedoubler.com/click^QS^p=26939^QA^a=60823^QA^g=11703645)
spartacus101
11-12-2005, 09:33
Does anyone know how Bulldog operate... I am on Telewest and have a separate feed for my broadband to my telephone. Does Bulldog use their telephone feed for their broadband?
GCfreako
11-12-2005, 09:44
Been with Bulldog before on their Int@ctive service.
They have the worst customer service ever!
Had lots of problems cancelling the service and they still owe me money 3 months after I've left them.
After seeing them featured on watchdog a few months ago, I would stay well clear until there customer service improves significantly!
I used this deal to get NTL to knock down the price of 10Mb service to £21.99....even NTL's retention department make you aware about Bulldogs legendary appalling service!
z
To be honest, Bulldog's customer service has improved dramatically over the last 6 months. They were a victim of their own success. Rolled out hundreds of exchanges but didn't ramp up the CS staff.
I'd say they're pretty much on a par with other ISPs as far as CS goes now. And the service is fairly solid once you get all the settings sorted out.
I'd still be weary - my neighbour ordered a couple of months back with them and was left without a working phone line for 6 weeks!
They had a very rough spell a while back, from what I gather they were taking on loads of new customers and rushed into the 4 to 8Mb upgrades for existing ones without bringing up the number of support and tech staff to match.
To their credit, they did stop advertising for new customers for a while until they'd sorted out existing ones and grown the support side to match. Only problem I had was when they did the 8Mb line upgrade and my router would somehow sync at a speed higher than the line quality would allow - it'd work for a couple of minutes then lose sync and try again. If it got a good sync, it'd stay up for a few hours before dropping. They limited my speed at the exchange and it's been fine since - wasn't delighted at the time (esp as it took nearly 2 weeks for an engineer to do that) but it's been pretty good since.
Bear in mind that unless you're very close to the exchange you won't be getting 8Mb. I'm about 1km from mine and get 4Mb - if you're a few miles away you may be best off just paying for a 1 or 2Mb service as that's all you're likely to get. www.samknows.com has a checker that tells you approximate distance to your exchange.
Also, if your phone/broadband is an important service to you then take their offer of installing a new line for bulldog - they're doing it for the same £1 as moving over a BT line until the end of the month. Bit more hassle as someone will have to visit, but it does give an easy back-out option if you want to leave Bulldog. While there's nice, established procedures for moving a BT line and broadband to an LLU provider (like Bulldog), there doesn't seem to be anything for moving back the other way. From what I gather I'd have to cancel the Bulldog arrangment, once that's clear get BT to reconnect the line, once that's done re-order ADSL. Potentially weeks of faffing about.
I was also aware of the poor customer service in that past, so checked the forums on www.adslguide.org.uk before posting - they look to get good reviews now. :)
redrhino
11-12-2005, 11:15
I am with them just now. Signed up to interactive and while waiting on the exchange to change was on alltime 1meg.
Had some trouble with the phone, ie not receiving calls and a lot of noise on the line. Noise on the line is sometimes still and issue.
When on BT line with Alltime, succesfully ran at 1meg all the time. Now on Bulldog LLU with interactive and runs mainly at 512 but has been known to hit 6meg. They have done tests on the line but as yet have yet to explain the poor performance. Saying that I am only a km from the exchange and should get 8meg no problem. I even went to the expense of buying a second modem to make sure the fault was at my end.
The customer services guys to their credit try hard, but I think they are heavily overworked.
Until they have proven to current customers they can deliver I'd suggest its a case of "Caveat emptor".
GCfreako
11-12-2005, 11:20
One of their main problems is the lack of communication between the Finance and CS departments. CS can agree to some things (eg refund you money) while Finance won't pay up.
2poor4this
11-12-2005, 11:34
Not comming to us untill april next year, might be something to threaten NTL with then :|
What is the upload speed on their service?
redrhino
11-12-2005, 11:52
What is the upload speed on their service?
Not at home right now to do a speedtest for you, by from memory my upload speeds have been poor.
GCfreako
11-12-2005, 11:56
Around 7XXkb
Ah bugger. I was looking at a higher up as well as down for vid conf purposes.
Just to say I moved to them from Plusnet and they transferred that day fine and it's much faster for now the same price. I'm happy (although one of my friends is happy with the service but got charged twice in the same month and had a nightmare getting his money back!)
AdamBrunt
11-12-2005, 13:19
Just checked for myself, and Bulldog will soon be enabling my local exchange.
How did you find this out ? If I put my number in the availability checker it just says "up to 8MB" ??
look on samknows.com
put your phone number in there, and it will show you what your exchange supports.
if it is showing as 'up to 8mb' then the odds are heavily that your exchange has already been upgraded to bulldog LLU
Dave h-j
11-12-2005, 20:56
Ah bugger. I was looking at a higher up as well as down for vid conf purposes.
ADSL only supports upload speeds to 864kbps over ATM (so around 768kbps TCP/IP). If you need higher upload speeds then you'll have to look at ADSL2+, cable or SDSL...
I am with them just now. Signed up to interactive and while waiting on the exchange to change was on alltime 1meg.
Had some trouble with the phone, ie not receiving calls and a lot of noise on the line. Noise on the line is sometimes still and issue.
When on BT line with Alltime, succesfully ran at 1meg all the time. Now on Bulldog LLU with interactive and runs mainly at 512 but has been known to hit 6meg. They have done tests on the line but as yet have yet to explain the poor performance. Saying that I am only a km from the exchange and should get 8meg no problem. I even went to the expense of buying a second modem to make sure the fault was at my end.
The customer services guys to their credit try hard, but I think they are heavily overworked.
Until they have proven to current customers they can deliver I'd suggest its a case of "Caveat emptor".
This is exactly the same problem I was getting. I used to connect at 6.5M but all of a sudden, noise on the line and my connection down to 512K. They dont seem to have a clue what it is?
SpankySpanky
12-12-2005, 08:10
Been with Bulldog for a few months now and the service is generally good. Granted not as good as the iSP I was with previously (pipex) but it is way cheaper. One curious thing I have noticed, though; If you have been on the service for a few hours, it is prone to suddenly stop. I've found out that the way to rectify this is to use your phone to make a call and miraculoulsy the service is back up. No expert on these things, but my hunch is they have some sort of timer mechanism that cuts you off after a certain length of time and automatically puts you back on when they know you are actually present, as opposed to being out of the house and leaving the service going? Could be completely wrong and I suspect if I am I'm going to be told the real reason at some stage today. It is a bit curious, though. :suspect:
redrhino
12-12-2005, 09:05
This is exactly the same problem I was getting. I used to connect at 6.5M but all of a sudden, noise on the line and my connection down to 512K. They dont seem to have a clue what it is?
Did it ever get resolved? Unfortunately mine seems to have permanent noise on the line, and I'm never home when tech support is open.
Dave h-j
12-12-2005, 12:20
Been with Bulldog for a few months now and the service is generally good. Granted not as good as the iSP I was with previously (pipex) but it is way cheaper. One curious thing I have noticed, though; If you have been on the service for a few hours, it is prone to suddenly stop. I've found out that the way to rectify this is to use your phone to make a call and miraculoulsy the service is back up. No expert on these things, but my hunch is they have some sort of timer mechanism that cuts you off after a certain length of time and automatically puts you back on when they know you are actually present, as opposed to being out of the house and leaving the service going? Could be completely wrong and I suspect if I am I'm going to be told the real reason at some stage today. It is a bit curious, though. :suspect:
Whats the speed like? I reckon your connected to the same exchange as me (as it's the only LLU enabled on in the area) and it's a long way away..
They've apparently got a lot better recently so I'm thinking about a move...
I've with plus net just now and really want to leave after all the restrictions they have and i'm paying £30/month as it is, so this is a no brainer for me however what complications will I have moving? what should I watch out for?
ta much
Did it ever get resolved? Unfortunately mine seems to have permanent noise on the line, and I'm never home when tech support is open.
No this never got resolved, it seemed to be good for the last two days running at 5.5 MB, but today I heard static before I left for work. :(
edit: Just checked now and Im back to 512K. Seems like I will need to phone up
again.
I get a nice shiney 8mb with no dropouts. I used to only get 6mb max, but bought a new router (ovislink) and as soon as I plugged it in I got 8mb stable....Sorted!!
Some times I feel people blame the lines, the servers when it is actually their poor quality routers. And as for USB routers at anything over 1MB..forget it. Very unreliable.
TrueWraith
02-01-2006, 11:13
i was thinking of this service till i read allo ur posts, is this service still full of problems please guys ?
as i'm on pipex 1mb atm and they dont seem to look like they gonna upgrade so would really like to move but to a no hassle service :)
thanks
I'm with Virgin so I get 2mb - how long will the switchover take? I had 2 weeks without access when I moved house so I hope it wouldn't be a similar length of time as I use it for work...
I upgraded to bulldog 8mbit from f2s ipstream, I was getting really annoyed with the drop in quality since the pipex takeover, no matter what the official line was. i saw my speeds drop down to sub 512 speeds for 5-6 hours a night, despite paying for the premium service and 20:1 contention. I never had ANY problems before the takeover.
The bulldog transfer could not have been any easier. Had about 5 hours of downtime in total while the transfer too place. Since then I've had the full 8mbit service whenever I've used it, and the bulldog service has worked out considerably cheaper.
It probably helps that I can see my local exchange from outside my window, I live that close to it :)
hawkm001
02-01-2006, 21:05
Just checked for myself, and Bulldog will soon be enabling my local exchange. At the moment they've cut their unrestricted 8Mb service to £21.50 (for as long as you remain a customer). If your local exchange hasn't been converted yet, you can start off on their 1Mb service for just £9.75 a month, and they'll switch you over as soon as the service is available at the current offer price, so you won't miss out.
When taking their 8Mb service you must also take their phone line, which is the same price as BTs - £10.50 a month.
Their FAQ reports that they don't block any ports, and they don't restrict usage on their inter@ctive service. :thumbs:
Offer ends 31st December 2005.
Bulldog Broadband (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump.php?url=http://clkuk.tradedoubler.com/click^QS^p=26939^QA^a=60823^QA^g=11703645)
For all those that thought they had missed this - it has now been extended to the 31st of January 2006 !!!
Hunter_zaz
02-01-2006, 21:06
had this for a few months, cancelled. Good speeds but disconnects too much. Worth it possibly for p2p.... but bad for streaming and transfering data
Prufrock
02-01-2006, 21:20
They had a very rough spell a while back, from what I gather they were taking on loads of new customers and rushed into the 4 to 8Mb upgrades for existing ones without bringing up the number of support and tech staff to match.
To their credit, they did stop advertising for new customers for a while until they'd sorted out existing ones and grown the support side to match. Only problem I had was when they did the 8Mb line upgrade and my router would somehow sync at a speed higher than the line quality would allow - it'd work for a couple of minutes then lose sync and try again. If it got a good sync, it'd stay up for a few hours before dropping. They limited my speed at the exchange and it's been fine since - wasn't delighted at the time (esp as it took nearly 2 weeks for an engineer to do that) but it's been pretty good since.
Bear in mind that unless you're very close to the exchange you won't be getting 8Mb. I'm about 1km from mine and get 4Mb - if you're a few miles away you may be best off just paying for a 1 or 2Mb service as that's all you're likely to get. www.samknows.com has a checker that tells you approximate distance to your exchange.
How likely am I to get 8Mbs if I am only 424 metres away from the exchange? (Well, when my LLU is finally enabled on my exchange - can only get 2Mbs right now, as it's not been done yet. :( )
voyager7
02-01-2006, 22:36
Bulldog Customer Service Appauling. Cancelled with them over 1 month ago, still no reply, according to their C.S. "cancellation still being processed"
Right all,
I have had BD since Dec 11th, since day one have had connection drop outs, most during the day and peak times 6-10pm. The tech guys well clueless and ran every test under the sun that they could think to do. I changed all the filters, connected the line to the master socket, installed a new ver of XP with just the modem software, even went out and bought a new netgear router/modem/wifi all-in-one. So went through every variable at my end yet no solution.
Until, one day when on the phone to the tech support ( again ) using their phone line heard a few clicks and then ""hello hello" from some random woman - lol just then, the answer hit me and the tech guy - A crossed line. So now a call to BT was made by the tech and then BT confrmed after tests that this was the case.
Once this was compleated I thought all was well - but no, same problem noise spike and line drops. so now they are in the process of changing 200m of cable withen the exchage that they control as the last option. After this they can do nothing as BT only guarantee the line for voice calls and anything else is "just extra"
So will keep you updated on how it goes but the customer service by BD has to be said so far has been great, all calls have been replied by within 24h as they say. Infact, most of the time i get a call back from the tech guy within a few hours.
Sam
They seem to have extended this offer to the end of Jan 06.
Thinking of going for this, but does any1 know if you can keep your old BT phone number when the move your phone line across?
Thanks.
They seem to have extended this offer to the end of Jan 06.
Thinking of going for this, but does any1 know if you can keep your old BT phone number when the move your phone line across?
Thanks.
yes,
no change to my phone number at all. Phoneline (voice) was down for about 6 hours in total on the day they transferred over.
Looks like they have extended this to 15th Feb and reduced it to £19.50 for 8meg broadband, still £10.50 for phone, so £30 a month for Inter@ctive package.
Matt.Wild
01-02-2006, 12:38
Right all,
I have had BD since Dec 11th, since day one have had connection drop outs, most during the day and peak times 6-10pm. The tech guys well clueless and ran every test under the sun that they could think to do. I changed all the filters, connected the line to the master socket, installed a new ver of XP with just the modem software, even went out and bought a new netgear router/modem/wifi all-in-one. So went through every variable at my end yet no solution.
Until, one day when on the phone to the tech support ( again ) using their phone line heard a few clicks and then ""hello hello" from some random woman - lol just then, the answer hit me and the tech guy - A crossed line. So now a call to BT was made by the tech and then BT confrmed after tests that this was the case.
Once this was compleated I thought all was well - but no, same problem noise spike and line drops. so now they are in the process of changing 200m of cable withen the exchage that they control as the last option. After this they can do nothing as BT only guarantee the line for voice calls and anything else is "just extra"
So will keep you updated on how it goes but the customer service by BD has to be said so far has been great, all calls have been replied by within 24h as they say. Infact, most of the time i get a call back from the tech guy within a few hours.
Sam
Sounds like you had a DACS installed on your line so BT could have more lines without having to increase there wiring and overheads...
redrhino
01-02-2006, 16:23
My bulldog connection has be flying of late. Connecting at 8mb per the modem stats, although shows 6mb on speedtest website.
Secret I've found is, when the speed drops logging in to the modem and restarting the modem connection but not rebooting. Not sure if this is an available option on all modems or not.
May work for others.
I might be interested in this at the current price now that my exchange is enabled.
However, according to Samknows I am 2.21 Km away from my exchange. Would I be able to get the full benefit of the 8 meg line being this far away from the exchange? Or would I still only be getting a 1 Meg line, like I have now with Pipex?
Does anyone who already has Bulldog live about the same distance away from their exchange? And if so what's the coneection speed like?
Thanks.
Dave h-j
01-02-2006, 19:19
I might be interested in this at the current price now that my exchange is enabled.
However, according to Samknows I am 2.21 Km away from my exchange. Would I be able to get the full benefit of the 8 meg line being this far away from the exchange? Or would I still only be getting a 1 Meg line, like I have now with Pipex?
Does anyone who already has Bulldog live about the same distance away from their exchange? And if so what's the coneection speed like?
Thanks.
2.21Km is probably the straight line distance from Samknows, in which case you are probably nearer the 3-4km mark in. Comparing to other people will only give you a guesstimate, as it all comes down to your particular line characteristics. If you can, check your modem/router and see if you can get your attenuation and SNR (signal to noise ratio) figures, as these will give a better picture of what potential speed is available to you..
2.21Km is probably the straight line distance from Samknows, in which case you are probably nearer the 3-4km mark in. Comparing to other people will only give you a guesstimate, as it all comes down to your particular line characteristics. If you can, check your modem/router and see if you can get your attenuation and SNR (signal to noise ratio) figures, as these will give a better picture of what potential speed is available to you..
According to my router I have line attenuation of 57 Down and 31 up. My noise ratio is 13 Down and 20 Up. I have no idea what these mean. What sort of figures should i be looking to have?
khuatcuong
01-02-2006, 20:45
I have to pay 40 for bulldog a month. Does anyone know how can I get to pay 21.50 a month?
Cheers
Ian Vinten
01-02-2006, 20:56
I have to pay 40 for bulldog a month. Does anyone know how can I get to pay 21.50 a month?
Cheers
Leave and join again unfortunately.
nigel_williams
01-02-2006, 21:28
I'm paying £29.99 a month for 2Mb with Bulldog. I've been waiting for them to upgrade my exchange for a while, all the others in my area have already.
When I spoke to them last week, they said the exchange will be upgraded at the end of February, so to switch to the 8Mb service I should just place an order via the website.
I ordered 8Mb from them last month too - sitting on 1mb while waiting for my exchange to be upgraded. No problems at all so far on this 1mb service, or with customer services.
I'm 1.53km from my exchange straight line (prob 1km more though in real terms) according to Samknows and it tells me an egineer visit is likely for any service at all, and 2mbps is a no-no. Well the 1mb went in no problems, altho my attenuation levels aren't great...
Is there a website that tells you when your local exchange will be upgraded?
could someone tell me how to check my line snr :nuts: :?:
redrhino
02-02-2006, 12:24
could someone tell me how to check my line snr :nuts: :?:
You need to view your modem settings and look at the stats. So will be dependent on your modem.
khuatcuong
02-02-2006, 14:35
be careful!!! The quality of Bulldog is not that good. I am using it. Drop out all the time :(
I've been with em since March and they've been great. I'm 800m from the exchange and get around 6M in speed tests and close to that on p2p networks.
Dave h-j
02-02-2006, 18:08
be careful!!! The quality of Bulldog is not that good. I am using it. Drop out all the time :(
I don't have Bulldog, but I believe that they have two different speed profiles with different target SNRs. Perhaps you are on thw profile with a target SNR of 6dBs which is sailing a bit to close to the wind for your connection.
I think you can ask for this profile to be changed so that your target SNR is 10dB. This should give you some leeway if your SNR wanders around a bit during the day (and therefore instigate a disconnection when is drops below the threshold). This does mean however that you will lose some of your speed, but it should stop the disconnects.
HTH
tecnobabble
02-02-2006, 22:21
i just upgraded to 8 megs and actually get about 6 megs in true speed, no line drops and very very stable. much better than their two meg service I was on before.!
I get constant dload of about 750k-so neare 7mb than 8 but well happy with it-was dropping out loads-changed my router and has not dropped out once in last 6 months-overall very happy with it
getting dload speeds on newsgroups of 850 Mb/s so no complaints here
arsenalfc
03-02-2006, 12:05
I would stay clear of Bulldog to be honest, there customer service is a joke, if they don't know what to do on the phone they say an engineer will ring you back, by the time they ring 2 weeks later we've normally fixed the problem.
Also they didn't come good on there offers, still in an ongoing dispute with them over how much we are paying, it was supposed to be 6 months at £21.50 +£10 phone line, we got the first month free and have been paying £60-£70 a month to them and this is supposidly including free calls to land lines.
I have to say download speeds are great but trying to browse is a nightmare, even without anything downloading.
great service from bulldog here. they have no usenet server though
blakea8k
03-02-2006, 15:56
I've rang up every day for the last 2 weeks since i transfered because i can not recieve incoming calls, they say an engineer will look at it and phone your mob but it never happens.
bulldog are soon to start a 20m service
Been with Bulldog since Monday and having major problems. Most of the time I get 'error 0721' when trying to connect, other times it connects just fine at between 6 and 7 meg.
This is with their supplied USB Speedtouch modem.
What's the most likely cause of this error?
Dave h-j
04-02-2006, 07:38
Been with Bulldog since Monday and having major problems. Most of the time I get 'error 0721' when trying to connect, other times it connects just fine at between 6 and 7 meg.
This is with their supplied USB Speedtouch modem.
What's the most likely cause of this error?
Not sure what a 0721 is, but having a quick look it seems like a problem contactnig the remote server.
When this happens, I assume that the modem has sync'd (i.e. has a solid light instead of a flashing one)? If so, first thing I would do is get the up to date drivers.
Next I would connect my model directly to the master socket, to remove any possible problems with the internal wiring.
I tend to find USB modems are extremely fussy about the type of computer they are connected to and also the line conditions. I would recommend an ADSL router and connect to you PC over ethernet (i.e. wired network) instead. See if you can borrow one to see if it helps.
marc_angelus
04-02-2006, 10:51
Been with Bulldog since Monday and having major problems. Most of the time I get 'error 0721' when trying to connect, other times it connects just fine at between 6 and 7 meg.
This is with their supplied USB Speedtouch modem.
What's the most likely cause of this error?
my new housemate signed up with bulldog before he moved in and had nothing but problems. First they came a week late to install his service, then it wouldn't work, and despite phoning them every day, he remained without service for the next two weeks! Eventually they came to the conclusion that his modem was faulty and sent him a new one, which worked, but the service disconnects several times a day and won't go above 4mb. he just bought an adsl router to see if that improves things, but personally i wouldn't go near them after all that hassle.
Thanks for the reply Dave h-j. Just realised this is in completely wrong forum, for which I apologise.
Gonna try my wife's laptop directly in the master socket and see how it goes. If that connects everytime, will invest in a wireless router/modem. This is being posted via Bulldog, by the way, connected at 6.7Mbps tonight :)
Bulldog are a real joke at the moment....I've been trying since December to cancel the service they installed in October and still no joy....I would not use them again!
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