The Irish DO Want Cheap Broadband...

spongebob

...and have ALWAYS wanted cheap Broadband if they could get it!

NTL published their figures for the end of March 2000 here you See them reported.

Lets do some math to show the implications. NTLs cable rollout was to around 23,000 houses in the inner s/w area of Dublin .....from Tallaght in towards the canal.

Of the 23,000 households who COULD get it some1,900 have TAKEN the Broadband. Remember that this product is very much a word of mouth product and is not heavily advertised unlike other Broadband products I could mention. Some further households were added in Lucan since the period mentioned in the report, reportedly 3-4,000 more households can get NTL cable now. There are 1.4 Million household in Ireland so don't get madly excited about the 2% who can get this or with the glacial pace of the rollout. NTL won't break the figures down so that we can see the number with 128k and the number with 512k products. NTL in the UK have been told to stop calling the 128k product 'Broadband'. About 60% in the UK take 512k and the remaining 40% take 128k ....dunno about here.

The point is that it costs €40 a month including VAT for 512k and NO CAP and NO Line Rental on top.....thats what I call cheap Broadband.

By the end of March, Eircom had 'enabled' 500,000 lines for their 'Broadband' and had a takeup of under 3,000, in fact they had enabled 500,000 lines by November 2002 if you believed the guff in the full page ads in papers back then.. This was the pre RADSL flavour costing a minimum €109 + Line Rental . Thats NOT cheap Broadband.

Now look at the percentage takeup of the product by homes passed.

NTL = 23,000/1900 = 8.2% (512k/128k) 24:1 €40

Eircom = 500,000/3000 = 0.6% (512k/128k) 24:1 €109

NTL therefore had a 1350% Greater Takeup on their product with no advertising. BTW They were bankrupt most of this time .

Would this be because it was cheap?

Would the punters have gone for the cheap option because "There is No Demand For Broadband" as those in the know keep telling us??

shinzon

Muck me ole potato

Id settle for any broadband at this stage, just sent me weekly e-mail to comreg, on the rollercoaster yet again

Hmm yes around 2015 would be a realistic target

Regards

Shin

crawler

Nearly right muck - the down speeds are 150Kbps and 600Kbos on Cable - <

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BEWARE PIMPING!!!! Wrath of Dustaz etc etc....

Distance and coverage still the biggest problems for NTL ( and cable Co's ) but getting there....slowly.

maxheadroom

Originally posted by Muck
NTL = 25,000/1900 = 7.5% (512k/512k) 24:1 €40

Muck,


ntl:'s product is 600/128, not 512/512.

RicardoSmith

Theres still no data on peole who want it but can't get it too!

spongebob

NTL has 2 products Max, you are right, I have amended the above.

128/64 (now 150/64)

512/128 (Now 600/128)

Sorry. I am not interested in the 128/64 because that is not Broadband as the regulator told NTL recently in the UK. . I am trying to make the point that there is a sizeable pent up market for Broadband but ONLY at a price point, NTL are the only company who have found that price point in Ireland. Chorus are close, €50 for 512/128 in Kilkenny Clonmel and Thurles but nobody believe a single word that Chorus says so we will never know how they are doing.

Eircom still dont have CHEAP broadband. €54.50+€22.50 Rental = €77 . Funnily enough the takeup was dismal but has improved now that the entry level has dropped. Mindya that feckin NTL website is still total crap .....consistency in a world gone mad ...eh?

M

Da Man

This article http://www.electricnews.net/news.html?code=9360217 says that IBB has a €40 service for "consumers".

spongebob

Thats €48.40 including VAT Da Man. We Individuals must all pay VAT. I never quote a price that does not include VAT when comparing.

IBB's service has not been brilliant but there is some good news about it in the Broadband forum from kevok. Long may this continue.

IBB offer the LOWEST contention under €50 from what I can see.

The Chorus and NTL services have been more consistent in terms of real life performance (pings/uptimes) and over a longer period....so I gave both a mention in the under €50 a month including VAT category.

M

Dustaz

Originally posted by crawler
Nearly right muck - the down speeds are 150Kbps and 600Kbos on Cable - <

---

BEWARE PIMPING!!!! Wrath of Dustaz etc etc....

Factual error correction is fine

Calibos

Can......not.......resist.......line........rental......arguement.......ARRGGHH!!:D

Eircom still dont have CHEAP broadband. €54.50+€22.50 Rental = €77 .

If you going to add Line rental to Eircoms DSL pricing you have to add it to NTL's too.
If you get NTL cable broadband thats €40 + €22.50 (eircom line rental). = €62.50 Why???? Cause you have to pay it anyway!!!!! Even though you are no longer using your Eircon phoneline for internet access,, you still have to pay line rental on the line if you want to keep your phone. So instead of paying €55(Eircom) + €22.50(line rental) you'll be paying €40(NTL) + €22.50(line rental on phoneline which you presumably need to keep for phone use)

The only way you wouldn't be paying line rental if you used NTL for BB internet access would be either you get rid of eircom and their phoneline entirely and rely on a mobile phone thus saving on the line rental but paying exorbitant mobile rates instead...or you wait till NTL offer IP telephony over their cable network before getting rid of Eircom and their line and line rental.

I'm no defender of eircoms pricing and having line rental at all is a joke especially with the crappy USO's and exhorbitant price of it compared to other countries but its a separate issue from DSL pricing.......

maxheadroom

Originally posted by Calibos

If you going to add Line rental to Eircoms DSL pricing you have to add it to NTL's too.
If you get NTL cable broadband thats €40 + €22.50 (eircom line rental). = €62.50 Why???? Cause you have to pay it anyway!!!!! Even though you are no longer using your phoneline for internet access,, you still have to pay line rental on the line if you want to keep your phone.

Its actually worse than that - I know some people are going to argue that with ntl: you have the option of ditching your phoneline completely, so you don't have to pay eircom. However, you still have to pay for the basic tv service, and you have to pay for it monthly, which is the most expensive way (~17.50 a month if memory serves...)

crawler

Line rental arguement is not really valid for anyone ( Yes I know I said it was before )

For example to Power your PC you need Electricity - therefore the standing charge on your lekky bill could be taken into account..

etc etc etc....