New ComReg Survey - Pick out the good stuff

damien

http://www.comreg.ie/whats_new/default.asp?ctype=5&nid=102131

Fly my monkeys Fly! Or , maybe can you go through this latest survey and take out the juicy bits so we can put a briefing document together and send it to the press later tonight.

We're up to our neck answering the ComReg consultation at the moment.

damien

and the other part is here:

http://www.comreg.ie/whats_new/default.asp?ctype=5&nid=102130

eircomtribunal

Had a glance trough it. All the old reliable misinformation. Keeping quiet about the damning results.

for example:
page 28 of the amarach report: Home Internet penetration is still at a miserable 37%. That is an alarming stagnation at a very low level. Not a word of comment about it.

page 34: Why have people not switched to broadband question: top of the list with 34% is the answer "BB not available in my area".

What does this result make ComReg comment? Look no further than page 12 and 13 of the other ComReg doc (Trends Survey Series/ Wave 2, 2005) to find this "analysis":

However, over half of the narrowband users surveyed have not considered moving to a broadband service, despite already having an Internet connection in the home.

These results suggest that the reasons for consumers not considering broadband are both broad and increasingly complex. In addition to the large number of respondents who do not currently have a home Internet connection, and do not intend to connect to the Internet in the near future; a large proportion of home Internet users remain unconvinced about the potential benefits of broadband in the home. Survey responses suggest that a number of factors inhibit the adoption of broadband by residential users including being unable to access broadband services, satisfaction with their current narrowband connection, or not using the Internet enough to gain benefit from a broadband connection.

..ComReg recognises that there are a range of challenges in relation to the roll-out of broadband in Ireland. Developing the penetration of broadband in the home among residential users is a multi-faceted and complex challenge. Progress needs to continue to be made to ensure availability of broadband to all consumers as well as renewed emphasis on demand stimulation, education and training of users in the benefits of broadband.

All the demand stimulation in the world will not help the punters who are out of bb availability.

P

viking

Still reading through it but I'm surprised to see that of those surveyed, there were 3 times as many people using CPS with Smart than BT Ireland. I wonder if these companies total customer figures tally with the survey?

AndrewMc

First impressions:

• When it comes to the Internet section of the Amarach report, they stop using trend graphs (like for mobile operators and land-line usage) and just give numbers. Convenient you can't see how things aren't improving much.
• 37% rate of usage despite 48% PC ownership means a whopping 23% of PC owners don't bother with the Internet. I think that's a lot.
• 70% of those without Internet don't intend getting it, either. Apart from not having a PC (frequently a cost issue?), the second reason is cost.
• I'm curious how the questions on pages 33-34 were asked. Page 34 asks people "Why have you not considered moving to a broadband Internet connection?". Did that actually include people like me who would have answered to the first question "yes, I have considered it", but would also answer to the next question "I can't"?
• Where did they find this group where 34% of them can't get broadband? We're told 90% of people can get it these days. Ahem.
• The second-highest reason for broadband takeup is always-on. What does rubbish like "Eircom so-called broadband time" do to this, then?
• There were no questions about broadband satisfaction - do people still think it's expensive (compared to other countries), fast enough, reliable enough? How are people getting the broadband - DSL, wireless, satellite, etc? How do people want to get broadband?
• "Renewed emphasis on demand stimulation". Many moons ago my economics teacher drew a very simple graph on the blackboard. It showed that as cost goes down, demand goes up. Real complicated. I think people who say they won't see the benefit of broadband despite having dialup already are really saying they don't see enough benefit for the current prices.
• Which reminds me - no questions in the report about usage patterns. How many days per week, hours per day do people use the Internet? They talk about trying to figure out why people don't move to BB, then don't ask what they're doing now.

Sponge Bob

Its not simply price. In some areas the takeup rockets when Wireless BB comes in thru a GBS, thats because the locals ALREADY KNOW their lines are all total crap so they dont 'consider' the Internet .

AndrewMc wrote:

• I'm curious how the questions on pages 33-34 were asked. Page 34 asks people "Why have you not considered moving to a broadband Internet connection?". Did that actually include people like me who would have answered to the first question "yes, I have considered it", but would also answer to the next question "I can't"?

By the same logic I have not CONSIDERED going to the moon because I KNOW that I dont have access to an ignorant sized rocket to GET ME THERE.

I will CONSIDER it when I get the ****ing rocket.


See the article on Comwreck about this stupid survey

AndrewMc

Sponge Bob wrote:

By the same logic I have not CONSIDERED going to the moon because I KNOW that I dont have access to an ignorant sized rocket to GET ME THERE.

I will CONSIDER it when I get the ****ing rocket.

I suppose it depends on your interpretation of the question. I considered getting broadband briefly, decided I wanted it, then waited many weeks until I found out I couldn't get it. (Took eircom over a month and seven calls to their sales line to figure out my brand new exchange wasn't the one they thought it was...)

Sponge Bob

But you had a right to CONSIDER it because you CORRECTLY ASSUMED it was available ......until you found out you were on a sub exchange that is

Then again I know of a guy who had no phone line because he knew it would be crap and unusable , lived up high in the sticks, and was approached one day about using his shed as a wireless access point for the whole valley below. Purely as a side effect he could have 1Mbit symettrical .

He said I'll have that

eircomtribunal

damien.m wrote:

New ComReg Survey - Pick out the good stuff

John Kennedy of siliconrepublic did just that. He surely did not have his critical or thinking hat on when he wrote this:

23pc of home net users have broadband

12.08.2005 - Some 23pc of home internet subscribers now use a broadband product, with DSL as the main method of broadband access in the home, the latest Trendwatch quarterly survey commissioned by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) suggests.

The survey of 1,000 people aged between 15 and 74 revealed the take-up of single-billing products has continued to grow with 26pc of those aware of it now using the service.

The survey also reports 34pc of current narrowband (dial-up) internet users were actively considering moving to broadband.

John surely meant to write:

Only 22pc[that is the figure in the ComReg doc, not 23%]of home net users have broadband

Merely 22pc of home internet subscribers now use a broadband product, with DSL as the main method of broadband access in the home, the latest Trendwatch quarterly survey commissioned by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) suggests – the percentage is well above 50% in the US, the UK and in other EU countries by now.

To put as positive spin on the fact that WLR (whole sale line rental) does not have the intended impact* on competition it should have had according to the Department's directive, ComReg puts forward this misleading and manipulative numbers game:
"The survey of 1,000 people aged between 15 and 74 revealed the take-up of single-billing products has continued to grow with 26pc of those aware of it now using the service."[sic] I wonder how many of the Irish journalists will fall for this cunning manipulation attempt?

While the ComReg survey tries to hype the figure of 34pc of current narrowband (dial-up) internet users having answered to their survey saying they had considered moving to broadband, the document quietly has to admit that currently only 37 of homes are connected to the Internet, a devastatingly low figure in any international comparison.
The Irish broadband penetration per households at some 8pc is still less than half of the EU-15 average.
ComReg makes no mention in the document that it was under ministerial directive to bring Ireland to at least the average EU-15 enduser broadband take-up and availability level by mid 2005!
Current average EU-15 broadband take-up stands at over 10 broadband connections per 100 inhabitants – Ireland: second last at 3.75!
Broadband is now available to between 90% and 100% of population in most of the EU–15 countries – Ireland: around 60% of population.

*"The introduction of Wholesale Line Rental in Ireland is symbolic but of limited economic impact in our view. With WLR prices set at Retail minus 10%, eircom retains the vast majority of the economic value for a line as is the case in all markets where this wholesale product exists." (Citigroup report on eircom, page 32)

P