Whats IoffL more interested in?

Tellox

Flat-rate or Broadband?
Myself, Im more interested in flat-rate... I use the internet for mainly gaming, and most of the games I play are low-bandwidth, elimating a main reason for me to have high-speed, also to advoid high prices, and the fact that the entire country can be hooked up to flat-rate all at once, wheras DSL will be issued over a large peroid of time, and only to people within a radius of a city

Whats IOffL more interested in?

Dustaz

IrelandOffline is a recently formed organization, dedicated to bringing about the next step in Internet access for Ireland. Our goal is to drive forward the development of the Irish Internet infrastructure for the consumer. In particular we want to achieve the following:

Universal flat rate (unmetered) access to the internet for all users.
Complete Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) by Eircom.
Universal access to broadband services for all users

www.irelandoffline.org.

sceptre

There's no preference - the aims of the organisation (as kindly posted by Dustaz) are nice and clear.

Obviously the ultimate aim of everyone here is nice affordable (read "cheap") broadband, with no (or very reasonable) caps for all. That's in the long run.

For the immediate future (and remember this is only my opinion, I'm not speaking for the committee or forcing my idea down anyones throat), a reasonably priced broadband service, available from all exchanges, available to all customers where the technology permits AND a reasonably-priced flatrate service available to ALL is what we're effectively looking for.

(purely as info, Dustaz is on the DSL trials and I think has ordered the full product. I am not on the DSL trials and will not be ordering the full product. So even with the forum mods, there's representation for both aims)

Most posts here at the moment are about broadband, as you can see.
This does not mean that flat-rate has left the agenda or has been relegated to an inferior position. So if like me, you're either not going to see broadband in your area or aren't willing to pay a silly amount to get it (I fall into the latter category at the moment), don't get disheartened or feel you're being ignored.

muchos_bongo

An organisation whose committee wasn't elected btw...

SkepticOne

For me, both aims are equally important. It's about making the Internet generally more accessible and affordable. Broadband tends to be discussed here on the forum, I think, mainly because there are a lot of different technologies involved and people enjoy discussing the merits of the different types of DSL and cablemodems, etc. In our meetings with industry leaders and officials, we always try to push both parts of the agenda. In our meeting reports on www.irelandoffline.org, you will see that in most meetings, both flat-rate and broadband are discussed.

In reply to muchos-bongos, the current committee was elected at the last meeting at the Mercer Hotel in Dublin. They were elected en masse following a proposal by Martin Harran. In addition, a further motion was passed to allow the elected committee to appoint further members to the committee. This was done to allow the committee to expand and allow other members to stand down. I was appointed in this way. You are entitled to disagree with this but the power to do this was arrived at democratically.

muchos_bongo

I sit half corrected.

I would generally agree that it would be too time consuming to hold an election every time a board member needs to be replaced as it's a voluntary org. However, I think the frequency of public meeting should be increased and that there be a general vote for members of the board at these meetings.

Thoughts?

SkepticOne

Originally posted by muchos_bongo
I sit half corrected.

I would generally agree that it would be too time consuming to hold an election every time a board member needs to be replaced as it's a voluntary org. However, I think the frequency of public meeting should be increased and that there be a general vote for members of the board at these meetings.

Much of the last few of months has been lobbying and meetings with industry bodies, Government and officials. The next public meeting will be the AGM to be held at the end of this month. After this, I hope there will be more public meetings.

I hope everyone is clear that both flat-rate and broadband are equally important parts of our agenda. Any changes to the aims of the group will have to be voted on at the AGM.

Xian

Not so fast.
The concession was hard enough to win to be forgotten.

Originally posted by dahamsta
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=40775
we would ask that Xian and the membership accept the committee's assertion that it will prioritise flat-rate

A motion to have this prioritization included in the objectives will be tabled at the AGM. Just so you don't conveniently forget again.

Dangger

I agree, public meetings are long overdue. The AGM is currently on the cards for the 25th of May. However I'd value opinion on perhaps 2 pre meetings in non Dublin locations to get information to other members, I think its very important at this stage.

The recent whirlwind round of meetings draws to a close middle of next week, we are focusing on membership communication and a comprehensive write up of our activities over the recent months to be presented at the AGM.

David

timod

Just wondering David, if a Sunday might be better for the AGM? less people working, and possibly a higher turnout?

What does the membership stand at now?

later,
Tim

sceptre

Just wanted to poke my nose in and suggest that May 25 may be a week or so early for students who are members. Obviously a date that suits everyone is not going to be achieved - may be an issue though.

Cork

I think flat rate would be more achievable as the infrastructure has been in place for years.
Broadband will require a return on investment.

When Charlie McCreevy slashed Capital gains tax in half - revenue shot up.

This needs to be remembered

donaloconnor

I just emailed the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern about the lack of Broadband in ireland and the prices. Lets see his response, thats if he does respond, probably not but i kind of influenced him when i said that he would be sure to get more votes if he invested in Telecommunications.