[Article by SBP ] Broadband, but only in some places

damien

Sunday Business Post Article

Broadband, but only in some places

12/09/04 00:00
By Louise McBride

Figures from telecommunications regulator ComReg show that the take up of broadband rose by 44 per cent between April and June, but the picture on the ground is less rosy. By the middle of next year, Ireland must meet the EU average for broadband uptake, according to Damien Mulley, a committee member of Ireland Offline, a group lobbying for better broadband and internet access. "This means we must have 350,000 digital subscriber lines installed. We have only 72,000 lines now,'' said Mulley.

One of the most popular types of broadband is asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL). To be able to access ADSL, you must usually live within between 2.5 and 4 kilometres of a telephone exchange and your phone line must be tested for broadband compatibility. If your phone line fails this test, Eircom does not have to fix or upgrade the line, nor is it obliged to explain the reason for the line failure. According to informed sources, the number of phone lines failing broadband tests ranges between 20 and 50 per cent in some areas. Black spots are not necessarily confined to remote rural areas, which for geographic reasons often have difficulty getting access to ADSL. According to a senior industry source, particularly problematic areas include Carlow town and certain housing estates in Dublin, such as parts of Swords and Blanchardstown.

Last week, Esat BT said that 30 per cent of all lines in broadband-enabled areas were failing broadband compatibility tests. The operator also claims that less than half of all phone lines in the country can get ADSL. "There are 1.6 million phone lines in Ireland,'' said Peter Evans, product director of Esat BT. "Only 70 per cent of these lines (1.12 million) are on broadband-enabled exchanges. However, as only 70 per cent of broadband-enabled lines are passing broadband tests, only about 785,000 lines in Ireland can get broadband.'' A senior telecom source said: "Line rental is meant to be used to maintain and upgrade the phone network. We have one of the highest line rentals in Europe and yet we have a staggering failure rate.''

Eircom rejected Esat BT's claim that 50 per cent of all phone lines could not get broadband. "I don't know where Esat BT is getting these figures from,'' said an Eircom spokeswoman. She said the line failure rate in broadband-enabled areas was closer to 20 per cent. "Line failure rates depend on distance from the exchange and line quality,'' she said. "Broadband is a distance-based technology, and the technology will improve over time.''

ComReg would not comment on Esat BT's figures. "We are looking into the issue of line failure with Eircom,'' said a spokesman. "However, there are other ways of getting broadband than through a fixed line.'' ComReg licenses 80 other companies, such as Digiweb, Leap and Irish Broadband, which can provide broadband through fixed-wireless and other technology, according to the spokesman. One of the towns where the Digiweb wireless service is available is Blackrock, Co Louth, hometown of Dermot Ahern, the communications minister responsible for developing broadband. Although wireless and satellite broadband are useful for rural areas, availability of these services can be restricted. For example, with wireless broadband, users must normally live within a certain distance and line-of-sight of a base station to get the service.

Rural problems

Businesses located in prime urban areas will often find it easier to get broadband than residential customers. But firms outside Dublin experience difficulties with access and costs, according to Patricia O'Hara, chairwoman of the broadband working group of the Information Society Commission (ISC). "This seriously affects the competitiveness of firms in regional locations,'' said O'Hara. "Business opportunities are being missed because of inadequate infrastructure.'' O'Hara said Ireland needed to have broadband comparable to international competitors. "While the government has taken a number of important steps in regard to broadband provision in the last year, the broadband issue continues to be a key concern to the ISC.''

Business ADSL products are available from Eircom, Esat BT and Netsource. UTV Internet does not offer business ADSL, though a spokeswoman said the company expected to launch a business service before the end of this year. Monthly subscriptions range between €30 and €45 for small businesses to between €159 and €340 for large businesses. Before signing up to a broadband product, about promotional offers. Eircom has a few promotions on its self-install broadband products. (The self-install option may not be available to all customers, and charges may vary in certain circumstances).

For example, Eircom is offering a free self-install connection and two months' free subscription on broadband business starter until the end of December. The minimum contract is 12 months. A similar offer is available from Eircom. Customers who do not wish to retain the service after the two-month free trial period must opt out before the end of the trial. Otherwise the customer is automatically signed up for a minimum 12-month contract. Eircom's broadband business plus promotion offers €200 (excluding Vat) rebate on the first bill that includes broadband charges. The promotion is running until the end of December.

Esat BT does not offer any free trials on its business ADSL products, but until the end of December, a free upgrade is available on its products. Under the offer, a customer on the ADSL 512/256k product can upgrade to ADSL 1MB/256k and pay the same rent (€90). However, if the same customer were to upgrade to the 2MB/256k product, the rental would increase to €175. Customers can upgrade from ADSL 1MB/256k to ADSL 2MB/256k and pay the monthly rental of €175. Esat BT is also offering a monthly rental of €45 on its ADSL 512/256k product to customers who sign up for two years.

Speed

For businesses, the main priority is to get the information down fast, so it's important to look at the speed of the product, according to Ireland Offline's Mulley. With ADSL, download and upload speeds are measured in kbps - the speed of data transfer. One kilobit is equivalent to 1,000 bits of information. Most starter business packages offer download speeds of 512kbps; more advanced products offer speeds of up to 2048kbps.

However, it is important to remember that these speeds are not always guaranteed, depending on distance and line quality. "The main DSL product being availed of in Ireland is the 512kbps service,'' said Mulley. "Higher speeds are available, but are still too expensive to be considered by most people.'' Mulley said 512kbps access was being left behind in Europe. "As countries like France, Germany and Belgium all head towards having 10 megabyte connections to people's homes, we in Ireland are still struggling to get a basic DSL service.''

The contention ratio is also important when choosing a product. This indicates the number of people or businesses who share the same line. It is advisable to get the lowest contention ratio possible; if there is too much contention on a line, the service may be quite slow. The contention ratio on Eircom's business broadband packages is 24 to 1; Esat's packages offer a ratio of 20 to 1. Although most Netsource products have contention rates of 24 to 1, Office@Home and Origin have ratios of 48 to 1

damien

If you thought what Louise wrote was good and want to make additional comments then email the Business Post and give them feedback: sbpost@iol.ie

We can't stay silent when we agree with something like we can't stay silent when we disagree with something. It's good to let the journalists know they're doing a good job.

sceptre

damien.m wrote:

Eircom rejected Esat BT's claim that 50 per cent of all phone lines could not get broadband. "I don't know where Esat BT is getting these figures from,'' said an Eircom spokeswoman. She said the line failure rate in broadband-enabled areas was closer to 20 per cent.

34% (for example) is closer to 20% than to 50%...

viking

Eircom rejected Esat BT's claim that 50 per cent of all phone lines could not get broadband. "I don't know where Esat BT is getting these figures from,'' said an Eircom spokeswoman. She said the line failure rate in broadband-enabled areas was closer to 20 per cent.

I'll only need one guess as to who this spokeswoman is, but from my own personal experience, she tends to say* what needs to be said to the media even if the facts clearly differ. (The cynics out there will say "sure isn't that what all PR people do?").

* "...Eircom pointed out that it already has formal procedures in place for community groups to petition for broadband in their area." - This was at a time before eircom's Trigger site was even mentioned...

viking

If Eircom can't understand where EsatBT are getting their figures from and are rejecting them, why don't they settle the confusion and publish the official figures so that we can all apologise to eircom for being way off the mark with our numbers...

viking

Dangger

I'm quite sure the spokeswoman in question is Majella Fitzpatrick.