Pre-Election Lobby Group?

Villain

Ok first of all this is my first post here so mods if you feel there is a better for place for this please by all means move.

As I'm sure everyone is aware this is an election year, so for the first time in 4 years and for the last time for another 4 years the Politicians are actually listening to anyone that can promise them votes so heres my two cence.

Eircom have made it clear that they will only provide broadband to 90% of exchanges because it isn't viable for them to invest in the other 10% and they are looking to the government to help pay for the last 10% which are small rural exchanges.

So I was thinking Ireland Offline should use this election to form a large lobby group for those who are within 6.5 km of an exchange but can't get broadband due to the exchange not been enabled.

There is no point imo in just complaining you won't get anywhere you neeed concentrate on one area at a time and put proposal's together for that area, i.e. Lobby the Government to inveest money to enable the last 10% then when that is achieved push for better speeds and more availability i.e. longer distance from the exchange.

Opinions good or bad more than welcome

damien

irish1 wrote:

i.e. Lobby the Government to inveest money to enable the last 10% then when that is achieved push for better speeds and more availability i.e. longer distance from the exchange.

eircom are going to be given the money to enable all the exchanges they want from what I'm hearing from really goos sources but it will be well past the election before it happens. With the level of investment from the Government it means they have to go through all sorts of hoops before giving the money to eircom in a "fair" tender.

Villain

Well I'd be looking for it as part of any pre-election mandate, seriously the next 5 months is the time to get this government to act, and I really believe bashing them on every issue concerning Broadband isn't the best approach, concentrate on one major issue and get that acted on.

Apart from enabling all exchanges is there anything else you think we could push onto the TD's and wannabe be TD's when they start banging on the door looking for votes, saying we want broadband everywhere and want it improved in quality is a nice idea but it won't happen, we need specific area's to push.

damien

irish1 wrote:

Well I'd be looking for it as part of any pre-election mandate, seriously the next 5 months is the time to get this government to act,

They're following EU tendering rules due to the extent of the funds. If they don't then they will be fined and stopped by the EU.

Villain

Doesn't mean they can't commit to it though does it?

I just feel that everyone is talking too generally we need specific's do you have any?

jwt

How about the following that i've cut and pasted from the thread about IOFFL goals


March 2005
http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2005/03/21/story873277853.asp

Ireland Offline spokesman Aidan Whyte said Ireland would miss out on foreign investment and jobs unless recommendations by an Oireachtas committee and state research agency Forfás were implemented.

March 2005
http://www.electricnews.net/news.html?code=9594833

Finally, IrelandOffline claims that until the recommendations of the Oireachtas Report on Broadband and the similar Forfas report on broadband are implemented, Ireland is going to remain backward when it comes to broadband provision.

October 2006
http://www.enn.ie/blog/index.html?/archives/149-Ireland-slumps-again-in-latest-broadband-tables.html

As Chairman of Ireland Offline, Damien Mulley, puts it, "The Government is wilfully ignoring valid recommendations from Forfas, the Oireachtas and the Information Society Commission while at the same time inventing meaningless broadband targets to make it look like Ireland is achieving something.

And its something Damien and I have repeated as nauseum in print, radio and TV.

We have workable solutions. We don't have solutions that are being worked.

John

Villain

But you see the ordinary voters hear "Oireachtas Report" and tune out, imo you need to get back to basic's forget about looking for everything to be solved and all reports implemented.

Go after the ordinary "dog on the street" who hasn't got access to broadband and who will be answering the door to various Politician's in the run up to the election. I'm not saying my opinion here is right or I have the answers but I work in the I.T industry and I deal with Telco's on a daily basis and tbh I have ended up saying just stay with Eircom because the inability of other companies to deliver the kind of service a business requires is shocking but if eircom are forced to speed up porting this might improve.

My point really is get a campaign going for the election which concentrates on one major issue and make the voters aware of the issue and let them know that the people they vote for have a chance to tackle that issue. The recent polls show how close this election is going to be every vote will count.

It may even be an idea to try and sit down with the different parties and try get them onside in exchange for publicly banking them to get elected because they have promised to do xy and z.

If I'm wasting my time here let me know.

qwertplaywert

the op wants a campien for better access to echanges........we should be focusing on the 10 percent eircom arnt gonna upgrade

damien

irish1 wrote:

Go after the ordinary "dog on the street" who hasn't got access to broadband and who will be answering the door to various Politician's in the run up to the election.

The issue is broadband for all. People want broadband. Picking just one of the 12 areas that need tacking for people to get broadband will not work. They all need attention. They all need to be addressed so all people can get broadband if they want it. A single one of the issues will not give broadband for everyone.

The single issue is broadband for all, that's what it has been for years and might be for years to come.

The voters should not have to understand the mechanics of it and shouldn't have to tackle the morons at the door by explaining the intricacies of LLU, number portability, USOs, FIA etc. etc.

Villain

Yes but the Politician hears "Broadband for all" and says to themselves "Emm that ain't going to happen" where as if the Politician heres "Lets get every exchange in Ireland enabled for broadband that means the government have to fund 10% of Exchanges" the Politician goes away thinking he might actually be able to deliver this.

I'm not saying you shouldn't look for all the issues you want addressed but I just think you have an opportunity this year to get one or maybe two of those issues addressed and then build from there. Rome wasn't built in a day.

I just believe your not appealing to the ordinary voter and you are going to miss a real opportunity, looking for one issue to be resolved now doesn't mean you don't want the other issues addressed. I really think you need to get back to basics, I work in the I.T. industry and I have a strong interest in Politics and getting Broadband rolled out to as many people as techincally possible but I don't know what IrelandOfflline want me to ask my local Politicans for when they call looking for a vote?

You have the knowledge and you have been getting the media exposure but imo your coming across as a technical group of people who want everything solved without giving the people real basic examples of what is needed.

Liam Byrne

Don't let them get away with "enabling exchanges".....I'm in Limerick City and the exchange was enabled but eircom couldn't give me broadband. With that scenario, what chance is there that enabling exchanges will do anything for rural areas, where EVERYONE is likely to be a few km from the exchange ? That's feck all good....

At the end of the day, it was a blessing in disguise, coz with eircom unable/unwilling I ended up getting Smart BB which is at least twice as good (even excluding the contention argument) for half the price.

So what's required is for eircom to be a proper wholesaler - at the very least enabling LLU in all exchanges so that someone who'll give more people (7km over ADSL2+) an option, at a decent price, gets in there, and not just someone who'll come back and say "look, we did it, but there's no increase in uptake so we want to be compensated", which they'd say without explaining that with rural folk more than 5km from the exchange it was a non-runner from day one.

And that's stretching the "rural" aspect.....like I said, well inside Limerick City boundary was a no-go area until Smart got here; now eircom, Chorus, Magnet and everyone else wants in on the act.......but I'm sticking with Smart; totally aside from the cost and better product, they were the only ones interested in providing me with the service when I needed it; everyone else just jumped on their bandwagon.

lucernarian

Is €80 million better spent on upgrading exchanges or providing areas not served by a local exchange with broadband? Should the most disadvantaged parts of the country be prioritised? E.g on a trip to Tory Island in Co. Donegal, I saw a plastic Kerry Spring water bottle being used as a junction box for telephone lines. Those kind of areas are most desperately in need of modern communications, yet it's too expensive to provide it there.

Everyone needs access to broadband, 256 kbps symmetrical minimum, though any broadband deployed should exceed this. Eircom can ask for money for exchanges, that's fair enough. I don't even mind if they get over €100 million for the job.

But eircom must act on two things:
They must put a stop to the shameful of installing fibre-optic fed cabinets without any DSL in them. Why the hell would you bother to install a mini-exchange and then forget to get one which can handle DSL too?

There are solutions out there for pairgains and long lines and the like. Remote DSLAMS and repeaters. It's time eircom started offering these solutions to customers and end the bull**** of "can't do it, won't do it".

Not a cent should be handed over until the two conditions are met.

If IrelandOffline made the above their election message then that would be great. Though I thought they were putting pressure on eircom already. Look at the last few months. Everyone in the cities can get broadband now.

Ireland needs working broadband and it has needed it for years. It must be provided everywhere. The 28.8k universal service not-quite-obligation must be improved. LLU customers cannot be phucked around with any longer. That's my message to Noel Dempsey.

thebman

Hold Comreg responsible with consequences for their failures (they should have minimum targets that they have to meet for improving service in Ireland to consumers and if they fail then their needs to be consequences, be that firing people or reductions in funding, it depends on what is causing the problem [no point in cutting funding if the problem was lack of funding]. They should be funded by the tax payer solely and telecoms should not be allowed to give money/benefits to staff of comreg of any kind).

Fund wireless broadband for rural areas properly (minmum service should be guaranteed to be 1Mbps including contention ratio or in other words speed should never drop below 1Mbps).