Rural Groups Scheme Advice

jaredGalen

I live in county Limerick, near a village called Athlacca. (telephone exchange is Meanus)
Needless to say the chances of a provider supplying broadband is
quite small. I am keen to try and get some kind of a community effort started
to help us help ourselves down here. What this entails, I'm not quite sure yet.

At the moment I am doing the basic research myself (I am based in Dublin and have the use of nice 11Mps wireless connection at home , wouldn't have the patience to try and do it at home)

I would be grateful if people could just drop any advice, links, personal experiences or costs/pricing in here with relation to other group or cummunity effors they have come across or have been involved in.

Hopefully it will not only help me but maybe others in the same position.
Sorry if people don't like this concept of a thread but I need as much help as I
can get.

oscarBravo

Several villages in Limerick have attracted broadband service providers. A community effort is a good idea, but it's more likely to be successful if it's used as a process to assess demand for a commercial provider, rather than a DIY approach.

Disclaimer: I'm speaking as someone who pretty much pioneered the community broadband concept in Ireland, and who is now in the business of providing broadband to rural areas.

damien

See how nice Paul is? He didn't even pimp his company. Check out http://www.westnet.ie/ who are helping local communities to get broadband.

oscarBravo

Cheers, D. 'scuse the website, it's overdue an overhaul.

jG, you can PM me or (preferably) jbkenn for more info.

jaredGalen

Thanks for replying. I sent a PM to jbKenn as you suggested.
Thanks again.

jG

WezzyB

You should probably get in touch with your local Group Broadband Co-ordinator.
http://www.broadband.gov.ie/bbinfo/home.aspx

I know there is someone campaigning/organising something similar in Ballyagran www.ballyagran.com, which isn't too far from you and you will probably need to do the same things as he has.

A note in the Limerick Leader or Vale Star wouldn't hurt either......

thegills

Hi,
Check the DCMNR (GBS section) website for schemes already approved and for lists of service providers committed to building the GBS networks near you, it would be easier for them to extend their proposed network into your area. After that you really need to establish a demand. 20+ people should do it. Oh and stay away from Satellite BB.
Dave

wiredup

damien.m wrote:

See how nice Paul is? He didn't even pimp his company. Check out http://www.westnet.ie/ who are helping local communities to get broadband.

I find it hard to take westnet serious with that crappy website of theirs - its never updated and much of it (forum) does not work.
Its very frustrating because westnet has so much promise, are the only organsation of its kind near me but do not offer a service in my area.
I am keen to be a customer Westnet! Sort your bloody website out!!!

oscarBravo

Like I said - overdue an overhaul. We'll get something done with it real soon now, but we're genuinely flat out building infrastructure.

Where in Mayo are you?

Duiske

Hi Guys, Are there any companys similar to Westnet operating in the South-East (carlow,Kilkenny) area ?

Duiske

Forgot to ask this. For a community based scheme, roughly how many subscribers would be needed to make it a viable option ?

oscarBravo

It depends. I've heard some providers say they wouldn't bother for less than a hundred. I think our smallest community had 30 expressions of interest.

daveharlowe

Hi jaredGalen,

Could you do it yourself?

You are not that far geographically from others who have done just that....

Have a look at the new forums of the hobbyist http://www.irishwan.org/

IRC channel here:

Server: irc.irishwan.org
Channel : #limerickwan

regards,
Dave

wiredup

oscarBravo wrote:

Like I said - overdue an overhaul. We'll get something done with it real soon now, but we're genuinely flat out building infrastructure.

Where in Mayo are you?

Sorry Paul, I sounded a bit harsh in my first reply towards westnet - its the dial up frustration that does it :eek:

I'm near Partry. I was wondering why your infrastructure does not follow along main roads like the Castlebar to Ballinrobe road or the Partry to Westport road. There is always a large population along roads like this and if you had infrastructure in place it could branch off in all directions from any point along the main roads.

Sponge Bob

wiredup wrote:

I was wondering why your infrastructure does not follow along main roads like the Castlebar to Ballinrobe road

Eircom have fibre under that very road so you could get 155Mbits at the bottom of your garden if you asked them nicely for it . Alternatively you could run your own cable from Party to Castlebar, last price I heard for the dig and road repair afterwards was about €180 a Metre .

oscarBravo

wiredup wrote:

Sorry Paul, I sounded a bit harsh in my first reply towards westnet - its the dial up frustration that does it :eek:

Believe me, I know the feeling!

wiredup wrote:

I'm near Partry. I was wondering why your infrastructure does not follow along main roads like the Castlebar to Ballinrobe road or the Partry to Westport road. There is always a large population along roads like this and if you had infrastructure in place it could branch off in all directions from any point along the main roads.

"We won't need roads where we're going..."

Wireless infrastructure follows topography (specifically hills), not roads. Pimpage taken to PM.

irishgeo

any chance you hitting achill island soon?

oscarBravo

irishgeo wrote:

any chance you hitting achill island soon?

Yes - for various values of "soon". Can't say more at the moment.

irishgeo

oscarBravo wrote:

Yes - for various values of "soon".

can you explain by what you mean by the above.

oscarBravo

irishgeo wrote:

can you explain by what you mean by the above.

Not specifically. We have identified a number of possibilities for access to Achill. I can't say definitely when we'll get there, but it's not one of those places we don't currently have a strategy for (and there are a few of those).

I'd love to tell you that we'll be launching service in your area on the 16th of Whenever, but I don't want to sell you vapourware. I hope you understand.

cgarvey

So IrishGeo, PM oscarBravo with your email address, and ye can take it up there , and maybe arrange for him to email you when they do know more.

.cg