Letters to Government / Eircom etc

Gunn4r

As I type this I am in work. I have an eircom engineer in my house (I just bought) fixing the phone point in the hallway. My mum was there to let him in and he is point blank refusing to install a second point upstairs even though I will pay for it!!! I am writing a letter to Eircom to complain (only the second complaint letter I have ever written the first being to Esat for No Limits.)

This gave me an idea. If people want to send me a letter in Word format addressed to whoever concerning the main issues concerning Broadband I will take it upon myself to print these letters , put them in envelopes and deliver them to the relevant government department.

Anyone think this is a good idea? I have the means, I have access to a serious printer, envelopes and work 5 mins from the Dail.


Gunn4r (spinnar2k@hotmail.com)

Fergus

Sounds good to me.. will you sign them as well?

There are a few ideas floating around about organising letter writing. I've got some source material to contribute too. Watch this space.

Cyphide

Go for it, mine will be on the way shortly.
Good work mate

jd

Originally posted by Gunn4r
As I type this I am in work. I have an eircom engineer in my house (I just bought) fixing the phone point in the hallway. My mum was there to let him in and he is point blank refusing to install a second point upstairs even though I will pay for it!!!

Had you ordered a second point before he arrived?
jd

yellum

A proper letter writing campaign should have all the letters delivered together by the IrelandOffline Committee. ( Photo Opportunity )

rymus

give me a couple of weeks and I'll buy a nice van and have "Ireland Offline" printed on the side of it...

Special delivery for eircom... about twenty lads carrying bags into the eircom reception and drowning the receptionist in mail

yellum

Reminds me of Miracle on 34th Street when all the letters are brought into the courtroom.

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0039628

DM

Boston

it will fail like all other atemps at organizing a leter campaign.

First the committe members seem to have a problem using the mailing list we all signed up for, so theres not the support needed(not everyone even looks at this board)

second, you seem to have a problem with a bloody template, not every(in fact very few) have the time to type up a letter.also a standardized one would make the whole thing look allot more professional. but no, never have I seen one for some reason.

sorry for pulling this all apart, but it seems the hold heart has fallen out of this campaign, and it take even long to get something done around here then to get an isdn line installed.

Sorry i cant just reply anymore with, yea good idea, wish there was away i could help.

dahamsta

First the committe members seem to have a problem using the mailing list we all signed up for, so theres not the support needed(not everyone even looks at this board)

We're addressing this. The committee has been publicly quiet recently because we're trying to come to a consensus on a fundamental reorganisation. This includes the mailing list, the website, membership as a whole, expansion, etc.

second, you seem to have a problem with a bloody template, not every(in fact very few) have the time to type up a letter.also a standardized one would make the whole thing look allot more professional. but no, never have I seen one for some reason.

Ditto.

sorry for pulling this all apart, but it seems the hold heart has fallen out of this campaign, and it take even long to get something done around here then to get an isdn line installed.

Ditto.

Sorry i cant just reply anymore with, yea good idea, wish there was away i could help.

There is. Write the letter.

adam

oscarBravo

I'm sorry Boston, but I have a problem with your response. In essence, you are saying "I want broadband and FRIACO and all that good stuff, but I couldn't be bothered putting in the kind of effort that writing a letter involves. Someone save me the hassle, type up a letter for me, and I'll see if I can get someone else to stick a stamp on it."

Put yourself in the position of a government minister, civil servant or public representative: you get a letter from an IrelandOffline member. Hm, you think, your ideas intrigue me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter. Next day, you get what are in effect five photocopies of the same letter. Dear me, you think, they're not a terribly creative lot, are they? A week later, inundated with identical form letters, they all go straight in the bin, along with any chance of the organisation being taken seriously.

Face it: it's too easy to organise a form-letter campaign. If each of us goes to the trouble to handcraft a sincere letter, it will go a damn sight further. I would rather see the politicians get fifty unique and insightful missives than five thousand clones.

Boston

thats ironic, i accused Dustaz of the same thing, i actually will have adsl within 5 days.

i just feel, one leter out of the thousands they recieve is like pissing into the wind(i heard that somewere) were as one amoung anothe thousand that we would send is a mighty force.

the likes of dahamsta and 80p and bard have proven many times before, they then are infinitely more persuasive in putting forward an arguments then I, so my would I put together something that would be a mer shadow of what they could.

It also would lack focus, we cant bitch to the government about half the things we would like to, but the communications bill is something they have direct control over, a thousand different letter will be on a thousand different subjects.

oscarBravo

No, no, no.

Differently worded letters on the same subject don't lack focus. Note: on the same subject. Face it, thousands of letters won't be read in any meaningful way. If the letters are identical, they are junk mail. If they are individually written -- however badly written -- they each carry their own individual impact.

I'll meet you halfway: a single-page document, with a sketched outline of the salient facts, could be a useful thing, but only as an appendix to a personally-written letter. That way you can be sure the facts are being conveyed accurately, while still not taking what is obviously an easy way out.

Adam, didn't you have a document like this at some stage? Is it up to date?

dahamsta

Sure do, podna:

Conclusions Drawn From OECD Data

Telecommunications & Internet Connectivity Facts

Two important point on the above: 1) Please ignore the reference to HDSL completely, it's a weak argument that won't achieve anything; and 2) Please do not refer to "line splitters" as "DACs boxes", because they're /not/ DACs boxes (see the Net/Comms board for more).

Also, we're working on this for future documents. Feel free to contribute:

BulletPoints

Also, on your comment about templated letters to TD's, I agree, they will have a very limited affect if they're all the same. But they won't be binned, they'll be FILED. Get it right please.

In all seriousness though, we'll supply something soon. It WON'T be a template, but we'll supply tidier versions of the above. We have to do it for /ourselves/ first though, ok? We'll be actually /meeting/ with these people, so we need them more that you so.

adam

Boston

thats what im talking about, the bere frame work