BB options in co. wicklow

smcnamara

people,

what are my options for BB in avoca co wicklow. I cant get any sense out of eircom about if/when they'll upgrade the exchange. What I really want to do is get a flat rate BB for net and skype access and stop paying eircom shed loads of cash for a crap service. So....

satellite: too expense to set up AFAIK, latency, doesnt help with phone calls etc
wireless: no chance as I can barely get radio
local exchange: god knows when this will happen

currently I'm running on ISDN but the calls are massive. BTW any one know a flat rate dual channel ISDN ISP? I'm using oceanfree at the minute but its pay as you go which just pours more money into the eircom hole.

:mad:

Mr_Man

Hi,

if you have any contacts in the local school you might want to check with them who will be providing their BB access as part of the Schools BB rollout, and pray it isn't a satellite provider. If it is wireless then you may be in with a chance of being able to piggyback on the back of that service.

Failing that you could check to see if anyone in the locale is running a campaign to bring a Group Broadband Scheme to the area. There are several underway in Wicklow at the moment, but I haven't heard of anyone doing one in Avoca.

The last option is then to run a campaign to bring BB to the area via a GBS scheme yourself. The Govt have recently changed the rules for these and made it easier for an ISP to get their capital grant frontloaded. The big problem for somewhere like Avoca is where the ISP will be able to get their backhaul from.

Good Luck

M.

smcnamara

where can i get info on the rules for establishing a GBS? Can you explain the backhaul point. FYI I believe there is black fibre running along the train line that esat (?) installed a few years ago - runs all the way into arklow.

thanks.

Mr_Man wrote:

Hi,

The last option is then to run a campaign to bring BB to the area via a GBS scheme yourself. The Govt have recently changed the rules for these and made it easier for an ISP to get their capital grant frontloaded. The big problem for somewhere like Avoca is where the ISP will be able to get their backhaul from.

Blaster99

If you google for Group Broadband Scheme you'll find info on a government site somewhere. GBS is a lot of work, you'll need to find lots of people in your locality who're willing to sign up, you'll need to find an ISP to provide the service or bandwidth. But you do get grants if you're a successful applicant. Backhaul refers to the big pipe of happy bandwidth that's going to be used by the community.

If you're going down the GBS route, find another group who're doing it in Wicklow already and swap notes.

Mr_Man

Hi,

check out the following link for the Government's take on things relating to the GBS. http://www.marine.gov.ie/display.asp/pg=1484

For more information on a GBS from an organisers perspective check out
http://www.bb4ne-wicklow.info or http://www.broadband4kinnegad.com/index.php

Cheers

M.

MagicBusDriver

I think eircom is the only company doing flate rate 128k ISDN. 75 hours for €30, 150 hours / 2. 64k should be ok for most things though.