100% broadband coverage; the two step method.

clohamon

The holy grail for the department is to be able to claim

" 100 per cent broadband coverage"

Step 1. 100 per cent.... ....coverage

The use of electoral divisions (EDs) is the key. There is no good reason for using EDs in the context of broadband. The Poor Law Boundary Commission probably wasn't thinking of broadband when it was doing its work in the 1800s. The ED boundaries (townlands grouped together to produce similar rate income) in this context are nothing more than a grid. In fact, because the EDs are bigger in areas of broadband deficit they are likely to produce larger errors than a straightforward square grid.

The beauty of the ED is that it is the smallest geographic unit (LAU 2) by which the EU collect statistics. Therefore, if you can claim in September 2010 that all the NBS EDs are covered, and all the other EDs were already covered, then you have "100 per cent coverage"

Step 2. broadband.

The second part of the trick is to get the OECD and/or the EU to re-categorise mobile "midband" as "broadband". Comreg have already been communicating with IDATE, the EU's broadband research agent, about the NBS. As part of the annual survey, Comreg will be passing on details of progress shortly. As the IDATE survey concerns broadband there is no reason for Comreg to discuss NBS statistics with IDATE unless there is some plan to include mobile figures.

Meanwhile the diplomacy continues at the OECD. The Minister has been claiming for two years that the OECD is about to re-categorise mobile. If he succeeds and the EU agree too, then the claim at the top of this post will be statistically true and will put Ireland at the top of important international broadband comparison tables.

All for €50M.

Sponge Bob

But only if the OECD agrees to cook the books Clohamon .

Then there is the small problem called Germany where 27 MILLION 3G connections will be added to their existing figures thereby taking them as far past us as they already are The UK and Italy have 5 million each to add to their stats .

Ryans attempt to cook the books will make no difference I fear

watty

Remind me why we want people to have broadband?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/24/verity_stob_twirping/


I agree, that is their plan.

What the OECD would like to do is gather information on Mobile Internet subscriptions. Their problem is that no matter if you call this MidBand or Broadband, the operators worldwide create a problem because there is no International agreed definition that operators use in subscriber number reporting of "Internet".

• Some simply count all subscribers.
• Some count handsets that can access "internet" by whatever method
• Some count Smartphones (some non-smartphones can browse).
• A handset or Modem can have a cents per megabyte charge or flat rate account for Megabytes or Gigabytes of data per day, week or month.
• A handset or Modem can be PAYG or Bill pay.
• A Handset may only support Internet internally, or be "tethered" as a Modem (via cable, WiFi, IRDA or Bluetooth) to Netbook/Modem.
• There maybe Gadgets which are not phones nor netbooks/PDAs that use Internet via EDGE/3G/HSDPA. Kindle, Archos5-3G
• There are actual Modems. But some tethering phonesw can be as good.
• A modem can on one Gadget/Netbook/laptop or in a Router. It can be PC-Card, Express Card, USB, ethernet or WiFi (all exist, not just USB dongles).

Where is the lower cut off?

1) HSPA can be 21Mbps. It can also be 50kbps, slower than GPRS (10kbps to 70kbps). GSM can be a fixed 14.4 or 28.8kbps. EDGE can be be 50Kbps to even 2Mbps on EDGE2 ERAN with 70ms latency. Basic 3G can be 12Kbps to 340kbps. HSDPA/HSUPA/HSPA can be 50kbps to 21Mbps. Or even in theory 42Mbps.

2)
Do only dedicated Modems on Netbooks/Laptops count.
Or tethering Handsets?
Or iPhones, Eseries/Nseries, Archos Tablets with builtin 3G, Kindle


A particular handset or Modem can be GPRS, EDGE, 3G, HSPA depending on Location on the same operator and account.

Data Allowance can be 50MByte to 15GByte a month, or per cent at up to 500 Euro per Gigabyte or more!

So apart from "is Mobile 3G Broadband", the OECD has only gathered figures of Subscribers (in any sense) per Operator and these issues of what is actually being counted is the main reason 3G (or EDGE) has not been included other than the technology used for Fixed Wireless Installs (obvious Internet Data subscribers).

Of course it's fantasy to claim EDGE/3G/HSPA is Broadband. It's Wireless Dialup (sometimes broadband speed) and may not even connect, or drop connection even when on a fixed Router.

What does the Irish Government hope to achieve? In fact if we are honest we would get extra grants to help our woefull infrastructure. What is the value of this lie?

clohamon

watty wrote: »

What is the value of this lie?

Eamon Ryan wouldn't be the the only example of a minister letting a windfall turn into a dependency. The value in the lie now is in the cost of un-telling it.