France and broadband

phaxx

I don't know if this has been brought up before - apoligies if it has.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/20254.html

In the above article, apparently the french government is giving money (well, cheap loans or something) to help get the whole broadband thing going. Will it actually do much good, or is it just a bit of hot air? Is this what Ireland could do with? Surely something like £2bn would make a big difference?

The Sweeper

I don't think the broadband problem in Ireland is as much due to lack of funding as it is to lack of co-operation.

You need three things to have broadband internet access in your home: (i)close proximity to the exchange, (ii) good quality copper wire into your home, and (iii) a service provider that's willing to get their finger out and offer you the product you want at a price you can afford without remortgaging.

If you do have the first two, what are the chances we'll see the third any time before the new year...

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It's never too late to have a happy childhood.

LegacyUser

I know its an old chestnut by now but i had a customer in today (german)lives localy he was saying there are a couple of major citys in germany now using the electricity cables to provide broadband in to homes.When i pulled him up on the problem the uk had with these trials he went on to say the power cables had to be better insulated to prevent interference destroying data passed in this way.It would be the ideal soloution to this broadband mess.

Stone
ps he also said they were acheiving 2mb transfer rates on this system i havent checked so dont shoot the messenger

LegacyUser

Stonemason, your customer told you the truth...

Some suppliers have already finished their test-phases and offer those services in some bigger cities in Germany.
Here some sites of developers of those systems (not the people that provide the services). I think one or 2 have an English page online as well.
- www.ascom.de
- www.oneline.de
- www.ppc-ag.de
- www.polytrax.de
Oh, b.t.w they achieve up to 2 MB/s at present but say that there is potential to bump the whole thing up to 20 MB/s!!!
Whew - I'm getting dizzy!!!
Hmmm. Anyway, we can only dream about getting anything like this realized here in Ireland...

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dahamsta

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Anyway, we can only dream about getting anything like this realized here in Ireland...</font>

Probably, although it has to be said that the ESB showed quite a bit of interest in this technology when it first came out. Maybe now the technology has stabilised, they might come back to it. Remember, the ESB is due some serious competition, they need every revenue stream they can get their hands on...

adam

LegacyUser

i havent been following esb, wwhat competition. and yea their meant to invest 180million in a broadbnad backbone, what ever that means

dahamsta

The electricity market has being deregulated, that's why they started advertising and marketing themselves so heavily a couple of years ago. Of course, no-one has stepped up to the plate because of high startup costs and the relatively small size of the market, but it's only a matter of time.

As to their telecommunications interests, they had two options open to them: use the existing electricity network or lay fibre alongside the electricity network. They looked into both and made lots of announcements, but they backed out on both: the former because of technical problems with running data over power lines; and the latter because the investment was too high (a la NTL).

However it's been suggested that most of the problems with running telecommunications links over power lines have now been ironed out, and that would require a much lower investment. At the moment, there isn't much pushing the ESB into getting into the market, but they strike me as a clever bunch.

It's a possibility, but it would be much more likely to happen with more competition in their own market.

adam

LegacyUser

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by dahamsta:

It's a possibility, but it would be much more likely to happen with more competition in their own market.

adam[/B]</font>

I do agree strongly
They also would need to get a contract with an ISP or set up their on own services again. I am not sure if that would make sense after selling off oceanfree.net a few years ago...

dahamsta

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">I do agree strongly They also would need to get a contract with an ISP or set up their on own services again. I am not sure if that would make sense after selling off oceanfree.net a few years ago...</font>

Well, that was ostensibly why they set up Oceanfree in the first place, but I see no reason why they couldn't do it again. Plus, if they went through the electricity network, all they would need is the pipes, the modems and a big fat pipe on the backbone. They wouldn't need to go near the ISP's.

(Actually, I'm at a loss as to why you think they'd need to contract with an ISP. Eircom, possibly, but ISP's? They'd *be* an ISP.)

adam

[This message has been edited by dahamsta (edited 18-07-2001).]

The Sweeper

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2"> It's a possibility, but it would be much more likely to happen with more competition in their own market.</font>

I don't know, I think that if there's more competition in the electricity market we could be looking at years before ESB commit to the investment involved in the technological alterations to their existing network that would allow them to provide broadband. If another major player comes into the Irish market I could see them battening down the hatches and concentrating on consolidating their existing customer base, as opposed to trying to roll out a new offering.

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It's never too late to have a happy childhood.

dahamsta

Well, they appeared spooked the first time, looking around for new revenue streams quick-smart, but who's to say what they'll do - they may have decided to throw the whole thing out the window after the last time.

I get the impression any decision they make will be an intelligent one though - they seem to know what they're doing. They seem to have a whack more brains than the management of Eircom anyway. Course, they wouldn't have to try very hard...

adam

LegacyUser

If i understand correctly ESB is in colusion with BT (on the ocean thang).I know its a different technology but between them you would have thought that ESP electrical and BT telcomunication(and there respective expertise) that they would be in a great postion to take full advantage of the situation.I have to agree that id be happy dealing with the ESB over Eircom any day in the incompetant stakes Eircom are streets ahead.

Stone

LegacyUser

(Actually, I'm at a loss as to why you think they'd need to contract with an ISP. Eircom, possibly, but ISP's? They'd *be* an ISP.)

QUOTE]

Well, Adam,

they do have the cables. They don't have any other Hardware (Routers, Servers, etc.) and at present they definitely do not have any experts in networking.
Setting themselves back up as an ISP will probably take a good while again - not talking about the costs.
I'd love to see the ESB doing anything like this, but I am not really sure if they'd invest any money in the telecomms sector considering the present market-situation.

How I'd love to be wrong...

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