Irish Speeds not as bad as sugested

Whatsthisabout

There has been allot of coverage in recent times about how bad Irish speeds are in comparison to our European counterparts.

I was looking at the average speeds on speedtest.net and Ireland doesn't fair out as bad as some people make out.

For instance allot of the talk has been about users in France getting 20Mb and 30Mb connections, these connections do exist in Ireland however not very widespread (yet).

Looking at the averages this is what I came up with.

Based on the top 10 countries in Europe the average speed is
6369Kbps

Based on the top 10 counties in Ireland the average speed is
2748Kbps

This means that unfair comparisons are been drawn when you base our average speed on that of the highest packages available in other countries.
As the above shows although we are still considerable below the average we are not miles of. What do the rest of you think about this are people being a bit harsh on the speeds available in Ireland

tolosenc

Still a lot slower.

You work for eircom or something?

Cabaal

even compared to the UK Ireland does very bad, pretty much every BT telephone exhange in the UK is enabled for ADSL Max (8MB), Ireland is far behind no matter what way you look at it.

As for the comments on 20MB in Ireland, Dungarven, Co Waterford has had 9MB since 2001 and I think its faster now, yet only now are exchanges and the majority of cable being upgraded to these types of speeds.

paulm17781

Cabaal wrote: »

As for the comments on 20MB in Ireland, Dungarven, Co Waterford has had 9MB since 2001 and I think its faster now, yet only now are exchanges and the majority of cable being upgraded to these types of speeds.

I think that is 20Mbps now.

Whatsthisabout

Most exchanges are enabled for 8Mb but very few receive anywhere near that due to the condition of the last mile.

England's average is 5764.7 so again we are not miles behind them either.

I know its still lower but on average we don't fair out to bad. Especially given that Irelands population are still not as technically inclined as others in Europe. this will have an effect too as people who only know how to check an email or to and look up the odd webpage are only going to subscribe to 1Mb packs meaning out average is going to look lower.

hideous ape

Whatsthisabout wrote: »

Especially given that Irelands population are still not as technically inclined as others in Europe.

Not sure what country you've been living in for the last five years but even the most backward farmers now use computers and technology. Games consoles and mobile phones continually outsell other countries per head of population.

The people can only avail of the technology available to them...our government has acted poorly over the last ten years.

We always take the negative view "we're a small country, therefore a small financial base for broadband companies to operate in".

How about "we're a small country, therefore it requires less resources to put in place the best broadband network in the world"

We've missed the the financial boat on this one...with companies declaring we have hit rocket speeds of 8mb...give me a break. We had the chance to put in place something that would have pushed the country forward, instead we're now staring at the construction industry....praying things don't go pop!

Went on a bit of a rant there...apologies;)

Gonzo

our speeds may not be quite as gloomy as suggested, there still not great but I think the worst thing about Irish broadband in general is its lack of availability in widespread parts of the country outside of towns and the price of the broadband itself. We have to be one of the most expensive broadband countries by far.

rav1410

Whatsthisabout wrote: »

Especially given that Irelands population are still not as technically inclined as others in Europe.

Can open, Worms everywhere

Whatsthisabout

I still stand by my technically inclined statement but before it gets way out of hand let me explain a little bit more what I mean.

If you take the amount of population into account and that it has only been very recently that things have really shot forward for Ireland it is far more likely that somewhere like the UK per head of population are more broadband friendly.

This should mean it wont affect an average value but I would still believe in the fact that if you look at London alone which is a far bigger metropolises then most cities with a huge population of young go getters that these people are far more likely to both have access to high speed connections and be aware of the benefits of having a 10Mb connection versus a 2Mb.

On top of this you have the likes of BBC and Sky and other media organisation putting pressure on both people and ISPs to improve availability and speed in order to access the endless services now being offered on the internet like TV recaps streaming shows on the websites.
This has not really happened in Ireland yet.

PogMoThoin

What those stats don't show is that a large percentage of the rural population can't get broadband at all and have to rely on mobile internet or stay on dial up if all else fails

everdead.ie

What you have to realise is that most people on 8mb broadband in the uk struggle to get 2mb because their are so many people on each line. With ntl offering 12mb/s on their home broadband and eircom going up to 7.6mb/s for home users it's not going to be that hard for ireland to catch up to the european average but what we need to do is stop putting copper into new houses and future proof them by putting fibre in them. Hopefully this will make it cheaper to roll out fibre. BT are even putting off using fibre and that makes this our chance to leap frog the brits and jump up to the top ten(lets be serious we cant hope to beat the japanese or koreans). If you look at America they are using fibre just to get 20mb/s again cause the population is so dense in area's they can't give those speeds on dsl lines. sorry i guess i went off point :mad:

Whatsthisabout

Another thing to take into account is that every dsl provider in the UK shape torrents this means that more people get what they are suppose to.

I am not saying this is a good solution it would be nice to have fast speeds and to do what you want with it, but lets face it P2P generates huge amounts of traffic if not restricted and our infrastructure and most countries infrastructures don’t allow for that at the moment

paulm17781

Not technically inclined?

We have more hi-tech jobs per capita than anywhere else in Europe. Most of the biggest tech companies in the world have European head quarters here. Not technically inclined? :rolleyes:

AlmightyCushion

Whatsthisabout wrote: »

Another thing to take into account is that every dsl provider in the UK shape torrents this means that more people get what they are suppose to.

I am not saying this is a good solution it would be nice to have fast speeds and to do what you want with it, but lets face it P2P generates huge amounts of traffic if not restricted and our infrastructure and most countries infrastructures don’t allow for that at the moment

So does youtube or itunes (probably not as much traffic as torrents though). Should they be blocked?

everdead.ie

paulm17781 wrote: »

Not technically inclined?

We have more hi-tech jobs per capita than anywhere else in Europe. Most of the biggest tech companies in the world have European head quarters here. Not technically inclined? :rolleyes:

The big companies with the european headquaters pay esb networks for dedicated 150mb+ lines. Well i'm studying in nuig and you have to realise that the net was created to transfer scientific documents it wasn't created to handle video thats why if they can connect to it the 'grid' that cern have created will make this much easier improving speeds for everyone and in the future(a very distant future albeit) you will be able to get dedicated lines at speeds of 50mb/s which is a hell of a lot better then an undedicated line at 100mb/s.
youtube and itunes use servers not p2p The problem is the likes of the bbc iplayer and c4 online

Whatsthisabout

paulm17781 wrote: »

Not technically inclined?

We have more hi-tech jobs per capita than anywhere else in Europe. Most of the biggest tech companies in the world have European head quarters here. Not technically inclined? :rolleyes:

I didnt say we are not technically inclined or that those who are technical are somwhat not as good as people else where but in other contries boradband is deffinatly more of a way of life then here.

paulm17781

Whatsthisabout wrote: »

I didnt say we are not technically inclined

Erm... You said

Whatsthisabout wrote: »

Especially given that Irelands population are still not as technically inclined as others in Europe.

Whatsthisabout wrote: »

in other contries boradband is deffinatly more of a way of life then here.

That because it is more widely available, better promoted and often better priced. We got DSL about 5 years after the UK. This solely comes down to operators / government. This "lower PC penetration" or "Not technically inclined" lark is what the government / operators / Comreg feed us as excuses for their under performance.

flyswatter

No, Ireland are one of the slowest in terms of broadband. Look at even the UK where you can get 8mb broadband for the same price as 1mb here and the UK is only middling in the average of broadband speeds.

everdead.ie

flyswatter wrote: »

No, Ireland are one of the slowest in terms of broadband. Look at even the UK where you can get 8mb broadband for the same price as 1mb here and the UK is only middling in the average of broadband speeds.

Um like's been said ya we agree the uk has faster broadband but due to p2p traffic and heavy saturation they rarely ever get anything near those speeds. which is why recent upgrades make irelands broadband a lot more competitive.
read this http://www.computing.co.uk/vnunet/news/2199219/brits-less-half-advertised

DingDong

I don't think speed is the main issue with BB in Ireland its more availability. Most people would just need BB for general browsing so a meg or two would be grand.
Say we had 50 or even a 100megs in the morning do we really need it?

paulm17781

DingDong wrote: »

I don't think speed is the main issue with BB in Ireland its more availability. Most people would just need BB for general browsing so a meg or two would be grand.
Say we had 50 or evening a 100meg in the morning do we really need it?

Definitely not. I don't even need my 6. None the less, Broadband is the big "thing" at the moment. Companies need good infrastructure. Investment will fall behind if companies can easily get 20Mb in cheaper (labour cost) countries they are more likely to look there. We need good infrastructure and for business yes, I do think higher speeds are necessary.

JohnC.

Whatsthisabout wrote: »

Looking at the averages this is what I came up with.

Based on the top 10 countries in Europe the average speed is
6369Kbps

Based on the top 10 counties in Ireland the average speed is
2748Kbps

I don't understand how being less than half the average is considered "not bad."

everdead.ie

DingDong wrote: »

I don't think speed is the main issue with BB in Ireland its more availability. Most people would just need BB for general browsing so a meg or two would be grand.
Say we had 50 or evening a 100meg in the morning do we really need it?

Intresting point but if you have 50 or 100meg youd probably find something to do with it for instance an office might split it between their 50 computers giving them 1meg internet each. I know their are still huge tracts of country not served but it's not an issue for most people cause we are selfish people.

godskitchen

I split my time between here and the UK, I lived in the UK for 16 years.

I have a 20Mb line in the UK and all my friends have BB.

What I would point out is a lot of people in the UK are happy with 1Mb (not that 1Mb is really available any more). I know a lot of families who only have the basic package with people like TalkTalk. They dont see the need for higher speeds.

Saying that Irelands speeds are not that far behind is a joke! All BT's lines have to be able to carry 24Mb by 2012 and they have been forced to outline when each area is getting upgraded.

Virgin will have 50Mb by the end of the year............and wait for it, for the same price I pay for 1Mb here.

BT are now forced to lay fibre to all new buildings.


We are so far behind here its not funny, not just in terms of speeds/availability but also cost.

DingDong

paulm17781 wrote: »

Definitely not. I don't even need my 6. None the less, Broadband is the big "thing" at the moment. Companies need good infrastructure. Investment will fall behind if companies can easily get 20Mb in cheaper (labour cost) countries they are more likely to look there. We need good infrastructure and for business yes, I do think higher speeds are necessary.

I understand that Paul for business, but I'm talking about the general public. Most companies can get the higher speed especially if their in a new business park. Fibre is naturally brought into the park. Others will have big civils cost to get the fibre to them.

Another question for everyone who or what do you feel is holding the country back from having BB for all, cheaper and faster

paulm17781

DingDong wrote: »

I understand that Paul for business, but I'm talking about the general public. Most companies can get the higher speed especially if their in a new business park. Fibre is naturally brought into the park. Others will have big civils cost to get the fibre to them.

Not everyone has that. My company is in a newly developed area. There was nothing other than leased lines and the usual broadband available. We have a high need to send large volumes of data around the world and the lack of speedy connections is a serious problem.

DingDong wrote: »

Another question for everyone who or what do you feel is holding the country back from having BB for all, cheaper and faster

Part of it is infrastructure. The other is the companies have no need to offer anything great. Though they could have provided us up to 8Mbps several years ago, why bother when it seems like a great speed down the line. I also think the problems with LLU are a major factor. For that I blame the government.

everdead.ie

I agree that 1mb is enough for a lot of people but 62% of britons get less then half their maximum speed and 25% get a quater or less it's because isp use terms like 'up to' and in the small print you get depending on the qualty of your line and distance from the exchange it is something however that all dsl lines experience. It will become very apparent as the top packages hit the higher thresholds of 12mb/s. Virgin is using fibre to the home as their cable which makes it possible to offer speeds of 50mb/s. preety sweet.Another major issue in ireland is their is a 24 to 1 contention rate on eircom lines and whats holding back development is eircoms bottom line they're waiting untill the government subsidise them to provide a service to the last 15% of the country. It's a joke that eircom was ever sold off by the government. And it's a joke that a fine gael councillor is trying to push through a bill for only 5mb broadband.

DingDong

It was very short sighted of who ever constructed the business park your currently in Paul. If your company is willing to pay the price they could always have fibre brought to your office although its might not be cheap

I didn't want to say it but I agree eircom do have alot to answer for. Are they putting any money back into the network or just beating a dead horse?.
I also agree Eircom should of never been sold off. They have the best duct system nation wide and could easily upgrade their network to mega bandwidth.

paulm17781

DingDong wrote: »

It was very short sighted of who ever constructed the business park your currently in.

Perhaps, none the less, this is a reality in this country and one that isn't being properly addressed

godskitchen

everdead.ie wrote: »

Virgin is using fibre to the home as their cable which makes it possible to offer speeds of 50mb/s. preety sweet.

Its only fibre to the curb and in most cases its only fibre to the transmittion box at the top of your road and coax the rest of the distance.

They will be getting 50Mb by using DOCSIS 3.0, which effectively bonds two lines together.

BT will be offering 100Mb up and down to anyone who can get fibre for the sum of £55 a month.......................no caps either, not even talk of fair use in the contract I saw.

paulm17781

Do UPC do fibre to the kerb / junction or is it mainly Co-ax?