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Chrysalis
01-03-2006, 02:49
It appears bulldog have sent out termination letters to some customers and are going to get rid of 90% of their customer base in total and 50% of their staff, just leaving business customers behind.

story is on adslguide and theregister sorry for lack of a link.

This leaves just 1 good LLU provider in ukonline and the uk broadband market has taken a turn for the worse this news makes me feel sad as bulldog were for a while been the only adsl provider taking risks.

Paul K
01-03-2006, 07:14
Sad? If you knew the problems a lot of people have been having with Bulldog you wouldn't be suprised at their decision to leave about leaving the consumer market. As a company Bulldog is a shambles and their billing department needs shooting.

Neil
01-03-2006, 08:23
It appears bulldog have sent out termination letters to some customers and are going to get rid of 90% of their customer base in total and 50% of their staff, just leaving business customers behind.

story is on adslguide and theregister sorry for lack of a link.

This leaves just 1 good LLU provider in ukonline and the uk broadband market has taken a turn for the worse this news makes me feel sad as bulldog were for a while been the only adsl provider taking risks.

Calm down-you've got your facts all wrong.

It's not Bulldog that has done that, it's Cable & Wireless (Bulldog's owners) in a UK business restructure.

http://www.cw.com/docs/about_us/investor_relations/Cable_Wireless_Announcement_Feb28.pdf

etccarmageddon
01-03-2006, 08:49
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/28/c_w_bulldog_pluthero/

he (the c and w CEO) has given it his full backing so expect the company to be wound down within the next 12 months! lol

Gareth
01-03-2006, 12:46
As a company Bulldog is a shambles and their billing department needs shooting.I can think of another company that fits that description too :disturbd: :D

Seriously, despite what problems they had/still have, I would much rather those be resolved than see the company withdraw from the market. IMHO, there aren't enough companies investing in LLU currently, which is why only those living in heavily populated areas are able to benefit from the increased competition LLU brings about.

Bulldog is allegedly the UK's LLU market leader, yet they only have kit in 400 exchanges so far. If they withdrew from the market then there'd be even less chance of the smaller exchanges being upgraded before the end of this decade.

zing_deleted
01-03-2006, 12:50
LLU isnt the way forward the only way forward is for BT to invest in the network billions need to spent and until it is the country is going to fall behind.Thank god for NTL (omg did I just say that:disturbd: )

Neil
01-03-2006, 13:22
LLU isnt the way forward the only way forward is for BT to invest in the network billions need to spent and until it is the country is going to fall behind.Thank god for NTL (omg did I just say that:disturbd: )

So the whole country has to rely on BT upgrading the networks & then charging what it fancies?

LLU is the way forward & has brought about some great competition in the marketplace & is responsible for the high BB speeds that people currently enjoy.

If it wasn;t for LLU, Bulldog would never have been offering 8 meg DSL etc, & therefore ntl/TW would have had no need to go to 10 Mb.

LLU is the way forward, anything that limits a monoply is a good thing IMO.

zing_deleted
01-03-2006, 13:25
I strongly disagree Neil. LLU fell flat on its ass for me and im sure a lot of other people.You know full well that adsl and vdsl will work for some but not the majority.NTL and Telewest if they lay more cables and cover the country will take reliance away from BT.But with BT's network in the shape it is it will hold broadband back in this country indefinately.

Neil
01-03-2006, 13:30
I strongly disagree Neil. LLU fell flat on its ass for me and im sure a lot of other people.You know full well that adsl and vdsl will work for some but not the majority.NTL and Telewest if they lay more cables and cover the country will take reliance away from BT.But with BT's network in the shape it is it will hold broadband back in this country indefinately.

So instead of BT having the high speed BB monopoly, we let ntl/TW have the monopoly instead?

Now there's a frightening thought.....:erm:

etccarmageddon
01-03-2006, 13:34
LLU isn't on it's ass - it's expanding at a substantial rate. what's scarey is if LLU ends up predominately in the hands of SKY - either by buying the corpse of bulldog and merging into ukonline or by bulldog being shutdown leaving ukonline to mop up the slack.

zing_deleted
01-03-2006, 13:43
ok I didnt try LLU then did I? It didnt fail for me did it? It doesnt cover just small areas near to the exchanges then does it? It covers every one on the areas dont it??? NOOOOO it doesnt and yes it did go tits up for me and yes the vast majority in my area can't use it sooo woopeee do lets leave BT's network as it is lets fall behind the rest of the world.Oh and etccarmageddon I didnt say it fell on its ass I said it fell on its ass for me

---------- Post added at 12:43 ---------- Previous post was at 12:41 ----------

I strongly disagree Neil. LLU fell flat on its ass for me and im sure a lot of other people.You know full well that adsl and vdsl will work for some but not the majority.NTL and Telewest if they lay more cables and cover the country will take reliance away from BT.But with BT's network in the shape it is it will hold broadband back in this country indefinately.

So instead of BT having the high speed BB monopoly, we let ntl/TW have the monopoly instead?

Now there's a frightening thought.....:erm:

Thats not what im saying at all Im saying BT need to invest billions to upgrade there network and not rely on copper cable (alu if your really unlucky) trailing all over the place

jtwn
01-03-2006, 17:10
As far as I am aware, in terms of the cables down in the street, ntl don't have a monopoly....anywhere?

Chrysalis
01-03-2006, 17:27
yeah they issued second report saying the consumer's are safe.

Neil
01-03-2006, 17:31
yeah they issued second report saying the consumer's are safe.

They never said that the customers weren't 'safe'.

Do you have a link to this 2nd report?

Stuart
01-03-2006, 17:53
I strongly disagree Neil. LLU fell flat on its ass for me and im sure a lot of other people.You know full well that adsl and vdsl will work for some but not the majority.NTL and Telewest if they lay more cables and cover the country will take reliance away from BT.But with BT's network in the shape it is it will hold broadband back in this country indefinately.
So instead of BT having the high speed BB monopoly, we let ntl/TW have the monopoly instead?

Now there's a frightening thought.....:erm:
Actually, I can see both your point and Zing's. While ANY monopoly is bad, BT probably need to spend many billions replacing/repairing/upgrading the lines from their exchanges to people's houses/businesses. LLU connections would suffer because of a bad line, but the user would still have to go to BT to get the line fixed.

My own phone line (from a pole in the street) was installed 30 years ago. It has had little or no maintenance, so would probably need to be replaced if I were to go to ADSL (of any kind). I suspect a LOT of BT's phone network is like that.

AdamD
01-03-2006, 17:58
The phone pole down the road from us required maintanance before I could get ADSL, well, I think it was the wire actually, but he was messing around with it for a good 20 minutes.

Chrysalis
01-03-2006, 20:15
ok not safe forever but in the near future it said something along the lines of they will work in restructuring bulldog or something.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/28/c_w_bulldog_pluthero/

Neil
02-03-2006, 19:23
ok not safe forever but in the near future it said something along the lines of they will work in restructuring bulldog or something.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/28/c_w_bulldog_pluthero/

I have no idea what you are reading.....

Speaking today, C&W UK boss John Pluthero gave his full backing to Bulldog and said he was "really happy" with it's performance. Last year the ISP, which has invested heavily in local loop unbundling (LLU), faced a probe by watchdog Ofcom following hundreds of complaints from punters.

Since last year's low point Bulldog has made "significant operational progress", Pluthero said, more than doubling the number of punters from 48,000 last August to 107,000 today.

At the same time, Bulldog's market share of its unbundled exchanges has risen to 20 per cent, while eight in ten orders are being fulfilled on time. What's more, the average time between when an order is placed and when it is delivered has dropped from 22 to 15 days, while nine in ten faults are now resolved in less than five days, compared to just four in ten last summer.

As far as Pluthero is concerned, Bulldog is the UK's LLU market leader and is something that "can build value for shareholders". With its kit installed in some 400 exchanges at present, and expected to double by September, the telco sees LLU as a "strategic asset" for the business.

Asked whether Bulldog would become a wholesale provider of LLU services, he said there was a "queue around the block" made up of ISPs keen for such a product.

"I could do it [provide wholesale LLU] tomorrow for a dozen customers," he said, "but it's not that attractive".

He rejected any idea that Bulldog's name had been "tarnished" following last year's debacle that saw the ISP savaged in the consumer press and probed by Ofcom. He also stressed that C&W's brand was strong too although admitted that it might need to be "refreshed".

However, the future of Bulldog only served a small portion of the two-and-three-quarter hour presentation Pluthero made to the business community.

skywave
29-03-2006, 21:07
So the whole country has to rely on BT upgrading the networks & then charging what it fancies?

LLU is the way forward & has brought about some great competition in the marketplace & is responsible for the high BB speeds that people currently enjoy.

If it wasn;t for LLU, Bulldog would never have been offering 8 meg DSL etc, & therefore ntl/TW would have had no need to go to 10 Mb.

LLU is the way forward, anything that limits a monoply is a good thing IMO.
Telewest is the way forward

Chris W
29-03-2006, 21:10
Telewest is the way forward

ntl you mean ;)

Chrysalis
29-03-2006, 22:01
ntl dont appear very forward thinking with their view on traffic utilisation.