[Article] Bray People

Mr_Man

Following up on the work done by Martin in his local paper the following appeared in the Bray People this week:

IT expert warns of broadband problem

While welcoming the fact that Eircom have upgraded the Newtownmountkennedy exchange for DSL, a local businessman has warned users that all is not rosy in the broadband Garden of Ireland.

IT and computing expert Mark McGuinness estimates that between thirty and forty per cent of people connected to the Newtownmountkennedy exchange will not be able to avail of the benefits of broadband, for a number of reasons.

Furthermore, he plans to gauge the amount of local support to include the area in the Government's group broadband scheme. The scheme involves the Government partly funding the capital cost of an internet service provider to encourage the provision of a broadband service where it would not normally be commercially viable.

Mr. McGuinness feels one of the main obstacles to Eircom's upgrading is their use of carriers, splitters and pairgains. These devices split a physical line into a greater number of logical lines. The use of the systems is widespread throughout Wicklow but means that you can't get DSL.

No obligation

'Every house in my area suffers from this problem, and Eircom are under no obligation to remove them despite the fact that we are paying the same line rental as people who have a full line. These splitters also affect the connection speed you can get under normal dial up access. A phone line without a splitter is capable of speeds of 56k, but with a splitter you can only get a maximum of 33k or 28k depending on how much the line is split. This means it takes longer to surf the web and download files,' he said.

He also believes that Eircom' set limits of 3.5 to 4 km as the maximum distance from the exchange that you can get DSL will exclude a lot of people from rural areas like Newtownmountkennedy from the DSL catchment area.

'Exchanges are typically placed around 16 km apart so that the longest phone line length is 8 km or 5 miles. Therefore, using simple math, with Eircom's current range limitation only a third or half of the geographical area covered by an exchange will be able to get broadband,' adds Mr. McGuinness.

Alternative

While satellite broadband is an alternative, the Newtownmountkennedy native feels its installation and monthly charge render it an unattractive option for the majority of people. One way to tackle the situation, according to Mr. McGuinness, is through the group broadband scheme. However, in order to benefit from the scheme members of the local community must prove to the ISP and the government that there is sufficient demand in the area before the Government will sanction the grant. Therefore, he is urging people in the area from Roundwood to Sugarloaf to email him with their name, address and phone numbers if they would be interested in getting broadband.

'There is no monetary commitment at this time, and everyone's details will only be released to the ISP once they have agreed to set up a service,' states Mr. McGuinness. 'The Roundwood exchange isn't even listed as one that Eircom ever plan to upgrade. With a typical broadband wireless installation we are talking about €100 to €150, with a monthly charge in the €30 to €40 range.'

Anyone who may be interested in availing of the group broadband scheme can e-mail their details to BB4WU@hotmail.com

M.

damien

This is excellent. It's a good angle to go with. Exchange gets upgraded so the local IT expert comes on to chat about it and tell the people why still so many of them won't get broadband.

People should use this as a template for their area and their exchange. Any takers ?

viking

Very good article.

I would suggest that Mark checks with the DCMNR to see if the "availabilty" of DSL in the same area as the proposed GBS area, might cause any problems in applying for funding.

Viking

Ripwave

viking wrote:

I would suggest that Mark checks with the DCMNR to see if the "availabilty" of DSL in the same area as the proposed GBS area, might cause any problems in applying for funding.

The rates of subsidy for GBS have been set on a county basis, but the rate for counties on the east coast is ony 10 or 15%, versus 40% in the BMW region. (I'm sorry, I can't remember the exact details).

viking

spongebob

Wasn't Kinnegad lucky to be just inside the impoverished Midlands........by 200 Metres I make it from the border with Affluent Meath.

M

viking

Muck wrote:

Wasn't Kinnegad lucky to be just inside the impoverished Midlands........by 200 Metres I make it from the border with Affluent Meath.

M

Ironic thing is though, with all the hold ups on planning with the council, if we were 200 metres eastward we'd have BB installed by now... :rolleyes:

PRESS RELEASE – 7th October 2004

MINISTER ADDRESSES MEATH COMMUNITY GROUPS
RE. BROADBAND

The new Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Noel Dempsey T.D., made his first public appearance since the cabinet reshuffle in Navan Racecourse on Wednesday, 6th October. A capacity crowd turned out to learn about the Group Broadband Scheme for community groups, which is being administered by the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources (DCMNR).

The meeting, which was organised by the Community & Enterprise and IT Sections of Meath County Council, generated a huge interest amongst community groups who want to bring broadband to the county’s smaller towns, villages and rural hinterlands. In addition to the Minister, the speakers included Cllr. Tommy Reilly, An Cathaoirleach, and Mr. Tom Dowling, County Manager, Meath County Council, Mr. Vishal Vatsa, Dept. of Computer Science, NUIM: Ms. Mairead O’Donovan, DCMNR; and Mr. Pat Gaynor, South Westmeath Employment, Education & Training Services Ltd. A number of Broadband Internet Service Providers (BISPs) also attended including Digiweb, Ice Communications, Net 1 Communications and Ildana. The BISPs were available to meet with community groups to discuss developing potential partnerships in order to make applications under the Scheme.

Welcoming the Scheme, Minister Dempsey highlighted the opportunities which it offers community groups in areas that have previously been under-served with regard to broadband availability. Meath County Council was commended for organising the meeting, for informing community groups of the Scheme and for facilitating community groups in meeting with potential partner BISPs.

Viking

Mr_Man

Following on from the article above the related website is now up and running and can be found at http://www.bb4ne-wicklow.org If you have friends in the North East Wicklow area please encourage them to visit the site and if appropriate vote for broadband.

Viking, thanks for the heads up on the 'availability' issue. I was planning to contact the department about the Schools broadband rollout and how this may impact on the GBS's so I'll add that to the list of points.

Regards
M.

viking

Mr_Man wrote:

I was planning to contact the department about the Schools broadband rollout and how this may impact on the GBS's so I'll add that to the list of points.

They are two separate entities as funding is provided from two different sources.

Viking

EDIT: There wont be any cross-over between the two in any shape or form. The dept have receivied funding from IBEC regarding the schools project and the two funding schemes will be kept seperate. What this means is that if a GBS is set up in a town the school has a choice to pay for BB from the GBS provider or wait and get it free through the Schools project through whatever means is used.

jwt

Interestingly if a school convinces a WISP to provide BB to the school or a group of schools if they are close enough then the area is defacto wireless bb enabled

John

Mr_Man

Viking,

do you know if a school that moves to get BB early will have their costs paid once the other schools are BB enabled, or will they have to continue to carry the costs on their own ? If its the latter then there is a strong incentive for the schools to hang tough and wait to get everything for free ?

M.

viking

Its the latter, the school will have to cover the costs.

Viking

Mr_Man

Viking,

that's what I was afraid of, and it was confirmed by an article inside the front page of the Irish Times to-day which highlight's the plight of several schools in the Lanesboro/Ballyleague area. Broadband has been brought to the area but due to a lack of funding and the impending rollout of BB to all schools the seven schools in the area are unable to take advantage of BB.

Thanks
M.

viking

Schools not included in local broadband
Liam Horan

A Government-funded programme has brought broadband to a small village on the Roscommon/Longford border but seven local schools can't avail of it.

While the Government has said it wants to bring broadband to every school in the country, schools in Lanesboro and Ballyleague have no funding to tap into the new broadband service available in their town.

Community leaders yesterday called on the Minister for Education, Ms Hanafin, to provide the money to allow 1,000 schoolchildren immediate access to broadband.

The anomaly arose at the launch of the Lakeside Broadband Scheme, which has brought broadband to the towns by wireless network.

Up to 60 local residents and business people are expected to sign up for the service in the coming weeks, but the seven local schools will not because they have not got the money.

The Minister for Gaeltacht, Community and Rural Affairs, Mr Ó Cuív, said at the launch that the Government is about to seek tenders to deliver broadband to every school in the country.

But, in the interim, according to Mr Hughie Baxter of Lough Ree Development Co-op, funding for broadband in schools has been cut off - with the result that the seven local schools must stay outside the loop for now.

"We are on such a tight budget we couldn't give the service free of charge, so we are calling on the Department of Education to look at providing an interim solution. Schoolchildren are very interested in using broadband," he said.

Mr Ó Cuív said he was delighted to see small towns and villages getting ahead of some urban areas in providing affordable broadband access. He called on other communities to follow the lead of Lanesboro and Ballyleague.

© The Irish Times

I think the Dept. were quite aware that this problem would surface as the GBS projects got underway. The two mutually exclusive schemes were bound to overlap.

Viking

dahamsta

As usual, my offer of free hosting for BB4 websites remains on the table. Additionally, since Afilias have a promotion on .info domains at the moment, I'll throw in a free .info domain name.

The usual Ts&Cs apply, primarily that the sites are not to be used for anything other than BB4; plus you'll need to meet the regular wholesale cost of the domain if you keep it beyond a year.

adam

SkepticOne

viking wrote:

I think the Dept. were quite aware that this problem would surface as the GBS projects got underway. The two mutually exclusive schemes were bound to overlap.

Seems rather strange. What is the story with schools in DSL enabled areas? Is the purpose of the schools scheme to give free broadband or is it to bring broadband to schools that can't otherwise get it for reasons of availability? If it is to give schools free broadband, then there's no reason why this should not also be applied to the GBS schemes too.

Mr_Man

Hi Adam,

I wasn't aware of your kind offer, if I had been I could have saved myself a few bucks. Is the offer documented anywhere ?

Thanks

M.

viking

SkepticOne wrote:

Seems rather strange. What is the story with schools in DSL enabled areas? Is the purpose of the schools scheme to give free broadband or is it to bring broadband to schools that can't otherwise get it for reasons of availability? If it is to give schools free broadband, then there's no reason why this should not also be applied to the GBS schemes too.

AFAIK, schools in DSL enabled areas will get "paid-for" broadband most likely through DSL since its readily available. Schools in areas with no BB will have BB brought to them, either by paying for it through a local GBS that gets set up or by slapping a satellite to the school and giving them "broadband" through crappy VSAT. Other access methods may also be used but the most likely solution is VSAT in rural areas.

The separation is there to prevent ISP's from getting funding under both GBS and Schools as this is not allowed under EU law AFAIR.

E&OE,

Viking

SkepticOne

viking wrote:

The separation is there to prevent ISP's from getting funding under both GBS and Schools as this is not allowed under EU law AFAIR.

Thanks for the clarification. Because the GBS is a once off capital based scheme and the schools broaband is an ongoing subsidy, I would not have thought there would be a problem with the school applying for the schools scheme with an established GBS. I would have thought it would work just like a school in a DSL area. But there you go.

viking

SkepticOne wrote:

Because the GBS is a once off capital based scheme and the schools broaband is an ongoing subsidy, I would not have thought there would be a problem with the school applying for the schools scheme with an established GBS. I would have thought it would work just like a school in a DSL area. But there you go.

Yep, I agree with you. But thats the reason the Dept. gave me...

G

SkepticOne

I am not doubting your word. It is possible DCMNR are being over cautious with the EU rules.