Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Dahamsta gets DSL. Rants to ramp up to 24/7.
Options
-
15-10-2003 3:49pm#1Credit where credit is due, dahamsta now officially has a DSL connection via UTV. It's only taken two years. Well, more than two years, but who's counting?
Unfortunately, I'm not entirely sure where to assign the credit. Eircom certainly deserves nothing but disdain, since they've hampered our efforts every step of the way. Perhaps Dermot Ahern deserves a little credit for his outspoken handing of the industry, but it has to be said that the TE selloff and Mary O'Rourke's gross incompetence far outweigh his all-too-recent efforts. EsatBT gets nothing but scorn from me, they're just Eircom by another name in my view; I'm certain that if they had their way, we'd just have another Eircom on our hands. There's plenty of other orgs, such as the IIA, ISPAI, SFA, IBEC, the Chambers, etc, but not one of them has taken a solid stance on these issues. No credit there.
That leaves me with IrelandOffline and UTV. I often wonder where we'd be without IrelandOffline, and the conclusion I often draw is that we wouldn't be much farther ahead*. I think we /are/ ahead, mind, just not far enough. We're certainly still miles behind everyone else, and dropping back further every single day. That's absolutely not IrelandOffline's fault though, and although I don't agree with a lot of what they do, I don't doubt for a second that they work very hard. The fault in this case lies squarely at the feet of the people that wouldn't listen to them. But IrelandOffline's biggest achievement isn't even comms-related, it's in giving birth to a fledgling form of digital activism in Ireland.
All of which leaves UTV, and that's where I'm going to lay a slight majority of the credit. It's not a whole lot of credit and they still have hard lessons to learn, but I have to say that on balance, I think that they've driven the market harder and faster than anyone else. They've pushed for FRIACO, they've pushed for DSL and they've pushed the standard of customer relations to a higher level; and I genuinely find it difficult to believe that I would be switching from FRIACO to DSL today if it wasn't for them. I probably wouldn't even be with UTV if it wasn't for the fact that Scott, Malcolm and Martin came on here and did something as simple as talking to us. It's the little things that count.
I hope they'll keep going. I hope they'll hammer at anyone that'll listen for price reductions and I hope they'll continue to raise the bar on customer service. And I hope everyone else will keep going too: IrelandOffline is a voice that gets listened to more and more these days, so I hope they'll ramp up the outgoings and get some more coverage on price reductions and operator equality; I hope Dermot Ahern will make /more/ forceful comments and bring pressure to bear; and I hope that Noel O'Flynn will stop fudging and pandering like a little girl and state clearly that yes, Eircom is the root cause of all of the problems. I won't hold my breath on that last one.
When all is said and done, I've got what I wanted. I've needed an always-on connection to the Internet for several years now, and finally I've got it. I've wanted to minimise my outgoings to Eircom for even longer, and at this stage I've brought it down from €200-250/month to €35-odd a month. I'd take that off them too if I could. But let this be a warning to you: I'm not going anywhere.
adam
* Don't stop reading now and lart me for that, it's an honest opinion and it's absolutely in no way a dilution of their efforts. They were my efforts too remember, I was part of it and I still try to help out when I can.1
Comments
-
-
-
-
-
Join Date:Posts: 29920
But IrelandOffline's biggest achievement isn't even comms-related, it's in giving birth to a fledgling form of digital activism in Ireland.
Ah now, digital activism has been around for a while now... perhaps not in Ireland as much as other places but its been alive and kicking for some time now in other countries and elsewhere on the net.
I fluff my ego by thinking that maybe Boards.ie added something to the mix too. The "glue" that stuck UTV, IOFFL and the general public together. Not looking for credit, just a footnote
DeV.0 -
Advertisement
-
Ah now, digital activism has been around for a while now... perhaps not in Ireland as much as other places but its been alive and kicking for some time now in other countries and elsewhere on the net.
Which is why I said "...in Ireland". Duh.
I fluff my ego by thinking that maybe Boards.ie added something to the mix too. The "glue" that stuck UTV, IOFFL and the general public together. Not looking for credit, just a footnote
I generally don't like stroking your ego DeV, but I have to concur in this case. IrelandOffline would have found it much more difficult to build a strong community of supporters without Boards.ie.
I still think the forums should be merged though.
ha ha
adam0 -
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
Not todays post, the one I linked to, where I mentioned the LOS issue. He thought people might be confused. I thought he was being oversensitive and refused. I take my posts here - everywhere in fact - rather seriously. Asking me to edit a post for the wrong reason is like showing a red rag to a bull. As John discovered, poor sod.
It's just one of those things, happens quite often to me for obvious reasons. It shouldn't sway people's decision about the service.
adam0
Advertisement