A Tsunami here would kill far too many, thanks to €ircom

spongebob

Eircom considers the 999/112 service it runs to be a luxury item and has recently served notice on the state that it Must be paid between €7m and €10m (can'r remember which/they picked it outta a hat not me) a year to continue so doing. The Dept of Comms was seemingly daft enough to negotiate with them and these negotiatons are ongoing . Some of you may have noticed that €ircon was not obliged to so do in the USO ....this being the prime getout clause.....unlike Functional Internet Access for example

Eircom have therefore adopted a policy of being as obstructive as possible in its general facilitation of the emergency services until it gets the €€$$ from the taxpayer.

Eircom actually does have a point here, Muck believes that Eircom/O2/Voda should be jointly tasked with the 112/999 obligation under a special SMP designation as the Public Safety Notification system, the Tsunami helped crystallise my thoughts on the matter .

A situation such as an incoming Tsunami can only be dealt with by block calling Mobiles/Landlines in coastal cells and telling them to head inland NOW !!!!!!!! , the same principle applies if a chemical factory in Cork catches fire and a noxious cloud heads towards Middleton. A combination of a Mobile/Landline INTEGRATED emergency system TOGETHER with a Civil Defence type NOTIFICATION and ALERTING system is what is required , especially in an Island Nation with great pretences to having an advanced communications network. The above system works on scabby old Switched PSTN low bandwidth voice systems which is all we have in Ireland anyway.

I have no faith that the money grubbers in Eircom will stop demanding money therefore I expect Comreg to pull fingers out of turkeys and the like and publish a rapid consultation on the kind of system we actually may need going forward. Designate the bastards and tell them to do it themselves. The best form of revenue assurance for a carrier is to ensure that their fúcking customers are alive !!!!! Most Telco customers in Ireland are within 10km of the Coast. Revenue assurance budgets will cover the cost .

M

is_that_so

So this is really about Eircom and only tenuously connected to disasters

Capt'n Midnight

are you implying that Eircom/Comreg aren't a disaster ?

public payphones have long been part of disaster planning - they are the last lines to be turned off. How many of them are there in any of the new estates surrounding our cities - again part of a public service obligation.

is_that_so

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

are you implying that Eircom/Comreg aren't a disaster ?

public payphones have long been part of disaster planning - they are the last lines to be turned off. How many of them are there in any of the new estates surrounding our cities - again part of a public service obligation.

Touche

spongebob

The Irish Government cannot propose or implement any relevant system until Comreg sorts out 112/999 Notification , they have historically never enforced the Payphone issue despite making noises at Eircom. One year Eircom took out 1000 pay phones and never told Comreg until they were gone , they never went back in either .

At present the Irish government cannot guarantee the existing National Emergency system because Eircom want their money and also want it backdated and because the citizen/her safety is under a soggy pile of policy gunk in the Comreg Central Bunker. If sellafield goes tomorrow McRedmonds get his upfront.

Comreg MUST act first, a vague general first stage consultation next week would be dandy.....buts thats if Comreg were capable of clear thought .

We have never seen much evidence of that

M