Sheffield today gained a 3rd broadband / phone supplier to compete with BT and Telewest.

The provider is Bulldog www.bulldogdsl.com
The city is not fully covered, the map here (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/Bookey/b7def11a.gif) shows where is covered.
Key
Red – No Coverage
Yellow – June 05
Green – March 05 (Live Now)
Black – Not Checked

List of citys here (http://www.bulldogbroadband.com/support/locations.asp) also has a phone number checker on there.

Easynet are also offering 8mbit ADSL via the consumer arm of ukonline but only one certain areas details @ www.ukonline.net/8000/

Alright for those in the city centre, but all the outlineing areas are still stuck with crappy BT RADSL lines!

you forgot Plusnet who are also Sheffield based - Bulldog is a poor 4th in my view..

Plusnet don't have their own lines to houses, which is what I presume Bookey means. Currently only BT and Telewest provide a direct service link to houses from exchanges in Sheffield - Bulldog will therefore be the 3rd.

Originally posted by t020
Plusnet don't have their own lines to houses, which is what I presume Bookey means. Currently only BT and Telewest provide a direct service link to houses from exchanges in Sheffield - Bulldog will therefore be the 3rd.

Correct t020 thats what I mean not what InternetOwl assumed.

:D

as of april plusnet will be providing 8mbt to the customers who can recieve it starting from £14.99 : )

Originally posted by damo
as of april plusnet will be providing 8mbt to all customers who can recieve it starting from £14.99 : )

Yeah, but with 'fair-use' bandwidth capping.

We'll be able to download less, even faster than before.

Originally posted by LesMcQueen
Yeah, but with 'fair-use' bandwidth capping.

We'll be able to download less, even faster than before.

Which is no use to anyone at all!!!!!

K x

Bulldog is crap

I dont live in sheffield but have bulldog and I wish I'd never moved from BT lol:P

Originally posted by LesMcQueen
Yeah, but with 'fair-use' bandwidth capping.

We'll be able to download less, even faster than before.


Is that true ?
What a con.

it's not a cap it's a restriction and I think you'll find it's much better than a lot of other ISPs are doing/proposing. It's not a case of you reach a certain amount of bandwidth and then you can't download anymore as long as you dont have really high useage for more than 2 months then you're fine. And even when you do all that happens is the speed is restricted and that doesnt inlcude upload ir anything downloaded between 1am and 8am

Originally posted by damo
it's not a cap it's a restriction and I think you'll find it's much better than a lot of other ISPs are doing/proposing.

The thing is that a lot of other ISP's (including their main competitor Telewest) are completely unlimited/uncapped/unrestricted for a few quid more.

telewest are a huge company so can sustain such heavy users bust most other ISPs have had to implement restrictions/caps tiscali being an example

I've seen lots of bad reviews from Bulldog over the years so I'll stay away for now. Happy with Freedom2Surf at the moment - don't think they've screwed anything up since I've been with them which is a minor miracle for an ISP.

classic example of bulldogs incompetence is in the billing area, took me 7 months before I got my first bill. Even then its wrong!!! but am not complaining as they are not charging me enough.

good thing about broadband is that internet telephone calls are now worth trying.
I was recommended www.skype.com. The clarity is excellent PC to PC and if you pay extra yu can even talk PC to telephone, worldwide

Boradband , its made the web usable

I hope this comes to Ranmoor area, I can't get a BT line as the people that lived in the house before me left a really big debt!

Originally posted by thechap
I hope this comes to Ranmoor area, I can't get a BT line as the people that lived in the house before me left a really big debt!

why dont you fax them a copy of your contract proving you have only just moved in? Then they should accept the debt isnt yours and give you a line.

Mr Bulldog,

I tend to think that if companies want to promote a good image then they should at least get their website right.

Your front page has a "can i get bulldog?" window where I enter my phone number and click "check".
Next page comes up with a blank box that I am expected to type in my number all over again!!!!
.......and can only move forward if I say that I want to transfer my line to Bulldog.

Sloppy presentation.

when I did the check it took me through the order process

AOL asked me a few weeks ago if i wanted to change from 512mb to 1gb connection for an extra £5 a month. I said no (i was in the process of complaining to them at the time).
I now find out today that AOL has put everyones connection speed up F.O.C !. If i had taken them up on their offer i would now be £5 a month worse off! Robbing B*******:rant:

Before someone jumps in to point out that the 1gb service has been upped to 2gb, i know!. However my line will only support up to 1gb :(.

read in last weeks sunday times that bt where meant to be updating all broadband customers up to 1mb cant see me been able to get it as the engineer who fitted my broadband said \ was lucky to get broadband in the first place unless bt have upgraded the exchanges again i can see me been stuck with the bog standard broadband for quite some time:mad: :mad: :mad:

Originally posted by damo
as of april plusnet will be providing 8mbt to all customers who can recieve it starting from £14.99 : )

Incorrect, BT Wholesale are starting 4mbit and 8mbit trials on the 561 busiest exchanges in the UK, Plusnet will be taking part in this trial, the nationwide rollout of 8mbit services will not happen until Q3 2005.

I've had Bulldog internet since August, i'm in S2. Not new really, is it?

I've found the reliability very good and it doesn't require you to wrap your pc up in any software, like AO-Hell does.

Originally posted by dinp
I've had Bulldog internet since August, i'm in S2. Not new really, is it?

I've found the reliability very good and it doesn't require you to wrap your pc up in any software, like AO-Hell does.

Its how it's provided thats new.

You would of have 512/1/2 IPstream connection, Bulldog now offer LLU to some areas in Sheffield, this allows them to offer better and more bespoke services.

Actually all customers who can get it will be getting 8mb plusnet are working with BT in this trial not just "taking part"

Word on the street is that last night BT pulled out of offering 8MB broadband, because the tests failed at the last hurdle, so PlusNet aren't going to be able to offer it after all. The most they can currently offer over copper wire for the foreseable future is going to 4MB.

As for Plus Net's fair use rules, I checked out their web site, and you would have to use a massive amount of bandwidth before they capped you (which apparantly they don't actually have the technology to do yet as it happens, despite what they say). The tarriff I looked at (40 quid) gave you a monthly download of 75Gig and you are only capped if you go over that for more than two consecutive months. There is really very few people that will be able to download more than 75 Gig of worthwhile data a month.

unless bulldog are laying lines to peoples houses they are just taking advantage of lul as are plusnet and any other number of isps.

the basic issue still boils down to adsl with an 'ex' bt line or cable with telewest.

Originally posted by damo
Actually all customers who can get it will be getting 8mb plusnet are working with BT in this trial not just "taking part"

No that is not the case, BT are not allowed to offer better treatment to other ISPs has to be a level playing field.

The trial is Aprial onward till BT have enough live envrion data then small pockets of rollout as they resize the VP's then open to all ADSL enabled exchanges.

which apparantly they don't actually have the technology to do yet as it happens, despite what they say

Where does that info come from?

Originally posted by chill
Word on the street is that last night BT pulled out of offering 8MB broadband, because the tests failed at the last hurdle, so PlusNet aren't going to be able to offer it after all. The most they can currently offer over copper wire for the foreseable future is going to 4MB.
.

Nope - lines can manage upto 16Mbit just line loss and distance dependant, the trial has not been cut back to 4mbit.
There are active lines running 8mbit currently.
:)

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bookey
[B]Sheffield today gained a 3rd broadband / phone supplier to compete with BT and Telewest.

The provider is Bulldog www.bulldogdsl.com

I have had Bulldog ISP at my house in Hunters Bar since September 2004 - far better than AOHELL, Tiscali, or BT Broadband services in my personal opinion. Everyone is completely different - only problem with Bulldog is that it can sometimes take a while to reconnect to them if your PC goes down or the like. Also, they're still at a 'what does our finance department do again?' stage.........basically they keep sending out e-mailers telling you that payment dates for the subscription keep changing.

Apart from a couple of teething problems - £40/month (including line rental) for 1.1MB connection----happy customer.

Originally posted by Bookey
Nope - lines can manage upto 16Mbit just line loss and distance dependant, the trial has not been cut back to 4mbit.
There are active lines running 8mbit currently.
:)

So PlusNet are going to be offering trailling 8MB in April as planned?

Originally posted by chill
So PlusNet are going to be offering trailling 8MB in April as planned?

Correct. :D

Cool. I'd find it really hard moving away from my current (excellent & reliable) supplier, but 8MB might swing it.

Advice needed. I am on 512K freeserve unlimited broadband at 27 a month, and they tell me I am too far away from Wadsley Bridge Xchange to get any faster service. BULLDOG number checker says I can get 2MB service....who do I believe? Can anyone recommend changing or sticking with Freeserve.

Originally posted by goldenfleece
Advice needed. I am on 512K freeserve unlimited broadband at 27 a month, and they tell me I am too far away from Wadsley Bridge Xchange to get any faster service. BULLDOG number checker says I can get 2MB service....who do I believe? Can anyone recommend changing or sticking with Freeserve.

PM me your number I will check it out here.
(if you dont mind me knowing your number)

:)

Originally posted by nick2
The thing is that a lot of other ISP's (including their main competitor Telewest) are completely unlimited/uncapped/unrestricted for a few quid more.

Hi,

I think the OP was discussing LLU options and alternatives to BT so in that light I don't think Plusnet are relevant to this discussion. Having said that we are a very viable ADSL provider and it is true that, with the introduction to MaxDSL, we will be trialling speeds up to 8MB from April.

Any of you who would like information on the fair usage policies associated with these accounts can find it here: http://portal.plus.net/features/usage_guide.shtml
Basically our pricing will be dependent on your usage levels and not speed as has been in the past (you will be provided at the highest speed your line can support when signing up)

We may not be an LLU provider (yet), but those unable to get cable may want to consider Plusnet as an alternative.

Our products are suitable for all but a very small minority who need to saturate their connection 24hrs a day and we allow for very high levels of data transfer.

Kind Regards,

Does anyone have any experience of this service. They have unlimited 512KB broadband for £9.99/month with local loop unbundling in BTs Exchanges and will be coming to Sheffield soon.

http://www.ukonline.net/broadband/comparisononnet.php

I was interested in UKonline too but they've had coming soon for Shef for ages. Weird when I can get it in Chesterfield :)

My brother has Bulldog and says that it is constantly disconecting:rant: he's not a happy bunny, and he only gets 5 meg....not everyone can have the 8meg.

Can anyone advise me of a broadband provider that's uncapped and doesn't require a pre-installed BT line and that's cheap? Is telewest the only one in Sheff?