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The ASA ruled that the LLU pioneer, now owned by Cable & Wireless, had not supplied sufficient information in the advertisement, which stated: 'Heavyweight Bulldog is straight in there, no waiting around. Standard Broadband doesn't stand a chance! Bulldog's knockout broadband starts at a featherweight £10.50 a month.'

A listener complained that the £10.50 price is not accurate, as it only allows up to eight hours online each day, after which an hourly charge of £1.50 applies.

Bulldog argued that said the reference to 'standard broadband' in the advertisement was an important qualification in the comparison because at the time they were no faster

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than 1Mbps and were also limited in some aspect, usually either by download limit or by time limits. Therefore, it said, the advertisement was only drawing a comparison to other limited and slower broadband services.

However the ASA adjudicated that all important limitations and qualifications to an offer should be made clear in the advertising and that a time-based limitation plus the additional charges were 'significant conditions which should have been made clear in the advertisement'. It added that it also considered it unfair of Bulldog to compare its 4Mbps broadband service to other standard broadband services without stating those conditions.

2005 has been something of an annus miserabilis for Bulldog, which has been beset by complaints over performance and customer service. The company today moved to address these problems with a 'major package' of changes to follow last months revamp of its management team.

The ISP has opened two new call centres and implemented a new order, tracking and billing systems, but maintains that most of its customers have had no problems and that satisfaction rates, according to its own surveys, are rising. Nonetheless it did apologise to customers who have suffered poor service.