Talked to Alan Shatter tonight

gandalf

Alan Shatter was canvassing in Nutgrove Shopping Centre tonight. I approached him and had a chat about the internet access situation here in Ireland, FRIACO & broadband.

He latched onto the broadband issue, I explained to him that broadband in the respect of IOFFL was to each individual home and that Ireland has actually got pleanty of broadband but no access to the homes, I used my famous "We have loads of dual-carraigeways and no access roads" line. He said that the Fine Gael election manafesto has specific reference to broadband?? and when Bertie calls the election they will be releasing said manafesto.

Just thought I'd let you know.

Gandalf.

Dangger

Nice work Gandalf. I'm going to do my best to get more information in this manifesto ASAP.

wiredtothemoon

nice one gandalf, well done.


also....perhaps someone could compose a short list of bullet points highlighting the major issues here for people to use when the politicians come knocking - something that would be easy to explain to a politician in 2 or 3 minutes and would get the important points across clearly about FRIACO, broadband to the home, and flat-rate.

i don't want to meet them canvassing and think afterwards "why didn't i say this or point out that"

an informed, coherent and conciseargument is always better than impassioned ranting, however well-intentioned.

just a suggestion.......

Xian

Originally posted by gandalf
had a chat about the internet access situation here in Ireland, FRIACO & broadband.
He latched onto the broadband issue

Bunch of Pavlov's dogs.
The first is easy to explain: Mr. Shatter, if you were to consider leaving your internet connection on for a month, would you prefer to pay €20 or hundreds of euros? The second? Mr. Shatter, what exactly do you understand by the term "broadband"?
The first is a public necessity. The second is a sound-bite which every self-respecting politician eager to appear tech-savvy and concerned about Ireland's international standing as the <barf>e-hub of Europe</barf> should support.
FRIACO is a tla (well, sla). The concept is not, nor is its importance. Broadband is necessary in the long term, but flat rate access is neccessary now.
Howabout IrelandOffline organise a seminar for prospective members of the next government, with big colourful slides, starting with "This is a telephone line. You use this to call your ISP to connect you to a lot of other people on what is known as the W-E-B. Now at the moment, the longer you are on the W-E-B the more you P-A-Y, and that's B-A-D, because you want to stay on the W-E-B to communicate with the other people on the W-E-B".
After a year of that, maybe they'll qualify to take the broadband course.

gandalf

Originally posted by wiredtothemoon
nice one gandalf, well done.


also....perhaps someone could compose a short list of bullet points highlighting the major issues here for people to use when the politicians come knocking

There is something in the pipeline eh Skeptic (nudge,nudge, wink,wink).

Gandalf.

astrofool

adsl is launching next friday... (definite)

could tell you the prices, but then i'd have to kill you

Praetorian

I agree. Eircom sales reps are currently being briefed The time has come.

Also the nice people at Eircom are treating me to breakfast with Mick McCarthy this Monday + tickets for the match on Wednesday

=)Yipeeee!!!!

the_corpo

eh???

more info please, even if you only pretend it's speculative

i'm only after buying a new modem yesterday an all

Lemming

Originally posted by astrofool
adsl is launching next friday... (definite)

could tell you the prices, but then i'd have to kill you

After the numerous promises and false starts, you'll excuse me if I seem a little cynical and quote anothe rboards member here:

"I'll believe it when I see it"

moreover ...

I'll believe it when I'm sitting at home on a 512/128 connection

dahamsta

There appear to have been some high-level meetings this week, to try and sort out a final resolution on bitstream. I think there will be announcement from either (or both) Eircom or the ODTR today or sometime next week, but I don't know about a launch announcement. I don't think it's far off though, there's a lot of excitement in the air, and for once it's not just from us.

adam

the_corpo

see, it's murphys law. seriously
i've put off buying a new modem for yonks (i had a motorola/xp conflict), but the second i do they'll probably give free broadband to the nation

typical

in all seriousness, fingers crossed 8)

the_corpo

bah

end of the day and not a peep

hopes dashed yet again 8(

Hankster

Long time reader, first time poster in this forum. Keep on putting on the pressure guys.

Now to the crux of the matter.

Just phoned Eircom - who gave me the folowing information:

- ADSL enabled on 35 exchanges in Dublin (probably the same that have been posted numereous times over in other threads)

- No pricing information due to the struggle with the regulator.

- No information on the availability of uncapped access for home users. He did hint that it could be at least 12 months before any progress was to be made on this front.

- Keep on checking the website. We are supposed to expect a press release of sorts within the next two weeks or so.

So it could be another good few months before we see any sort of ADSL access in Dublin, never mind the rest of Ireland.

seamus

http://www.eircom.ie/cgi-bin/bvsm/bveircom/bladerunner/showContentDropDown.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1581856860.1018628939@@@@&BV_EngineID=jadcdkhlkfhhbedcfjgchgcghk.0&cid=Adsl&fromChannel=In+Business&selectedChannel=Products

This page has been updated today, but still no date. Funnily enough though, every occurence of i-stream in the document has been changed to i-steam giving a nice pun. (Hopes of ADSL are all just hot air )

pete

whoaaahhhh!!!!


i is running out the door to the pub, and i know that's ex vat, but... is this new???

eircom i-stream solo
For a single user, on a single computer

The product has both a USB port or ethernet option
Speeds are up to 512kbps downstream/128kbps upstream
Connection fee is 165 excl. VAT - Monthly fee is 89 excl. VAT
Additional equipment required: ADSL USB modem 145 excl. VAT or ADSL Ethernet modem 200 excl. VAT
For eircom i-stream solo the monthly allowance is 3GB.**

edit: inc vat @ 21% it would be €107.69

the residential page still says:

For a single user, on a single computer

The product has both a USB port or ethernet option
Speeds are up to 512kbps downstream/128kbps upstream
Connection fee is 151.25 inc. VAT - Monthly fee is 133.10 inc. VAT
Additional equipment required: ADSL USB modem 175.45 inc. VAT or ADSL Ethernet modem 242
For eircom i-stream the monthly download allowance is 3 GB. **

segadreamcast

"**eircom reserves the right to charge 3c ex VAT per MB for material downloaded over and above the stated monthly allowance."

Eircom reserves the right? That doesn't mean they're necessarily going to charge you...

Also, that ** is on the unlimited too?!? May I ask why?!? Makes no sense - how can you go over a limit of unlimited...

Also, didn't there used to be more than three packages or did I just never look at this page so much before?

pete

the residential page still says

** There is an additional charge of 3.6c incl VAT per MB for material downloaded over and above the stated monthly download allowance.

I suppose we'll have to wait & see if that gets updated in line with the business one.....

skrobe

i know at least its out now but 107Euro still looks pretty bad compared to frances 25Euro!! wonder what esat will charge?

segadreamcast

"eircom is offering a range of four products depending on the numbers of users, the network environment and the bandwidth requirements. There are two bandwidths available. "

And there are only three now...hmmmmm, interesting...

I dunno, 107 euro a month is a bit steep for me - without the cap, yes. But 107 euro a month and then MORE on top of that seems a bit ridiculous.

How the heck did the ODTR bow down to this?!?

Where is that interview with the ODTR?!? Does it shed some light on this?

pete

Originally posted by skrobe
i know at least its out now but 107Euro still looks pretty bad compared to frances 25Euro!! wonder what esat will charge?

It sure does, but I'd imagine that if they can bring the residential product to market at €89 or thereabouts inc vat (business can pay more for a higher level of support!) - or even €49 inc vat for 256/128, then a lot of people will take the bait.


edit: duhh obviously they won't release anything for €49

Hankster

Now why couldn't yer man on the phone give me this info?

skrobe

embarrasment probably!!

segadreamcast

You're lucky :P

I can't even get a call through to the Eircom ADSL place...

Phones are probably leaping up and biting them with these rumours going about...

skrobe

connection has gone up 50euro. the odtr have some more questions to answer

Matfinn

Finally we get DSL, sounds good even though Eircom are 4 years late in delivering it. Also the price is far too high when it comes to our European bretheren. I wont be getting it if it costs more than €40 per month, and certainly not at the prices they are charging for the setup hardware. I dont think many people will either.

Eircom read my thread entitled ' Broadband in the UK suddenly taking off '. You might actually learn something. That applies also to other telcos and the government.

Matt

Edit:

Apologies this wasnt meant to be a new thread I hit the wrong button , This post belongs in the 'Talked to Alan Shatter tonight' thread.

(mod edit - noted and moved accordingly - carry on)

ando

Originally posted by Matfinn
Finally we get DSL, sounds good even though Eircom are 4 years late in delivering it

But we haven't got it yet ? I don’t really like the attitude that ppl are having here, yes there is strong rumors of dsl being released soon, but thats all .... I've been disappointed over and over because of rumors like these. People here are acting like dsl WILL be released very soon... but news over the weekend shows esat, eircom's main competitor to be in serious trouble, if esat go under, you can bet your ass that eircom will do another one of these super long delay's and hey presto, another disappointment.

I really do hope the rumors are true, but I think some restraint is needed in spreading such hope among members