A protest march for broadband - would you attend?

fergalfrog

Can I get opinions on the idea of holding a protest march to highlight the broadband issue.

This may seem a little extreme but the problem with broadband in this country is not being taken seriously enough in my opinion and the situation is getting worse rather than better. While we struggle to catch up, the rest of Europe and the world is forging ahead.

While cuts are being made everywhere it's difficult to believe broadband will be given the funding needed to take us forward in our so-called "Smart Economy". The nbs solution falls short for rural areas and does nothing for urban areas.

From my own point of view, I live in a small community called Willaimstown in Co. Galway which has no DSL broadband and my only option is satellite broadband (see williamstownoffline.com for full details). With the help of my fellow residents as part of our campaign we have gone down the route of lobbying our local politicians which has had little or no success (again full details on our site).

Those areas that are broadband enabled are not getting speeds or the service which one would expect (see other posts here).


While it is something I have not researched fully the following are my ideas:

- a short walk/march to take place in and around Dail Eireann

To encourage a larger number the distance travelled by the group protesting would be short. However I suggest a slow walk down along Kildare street (or similar) to describe the slow broadband that Irish users and businesses have to deal with. This would cause less problems in terms of traffic/business disruptions while at the same time conveying the message of the protest. I would also consider a flashmob style protest to encourage a higher attendance and give a quirky feel to the event.


- to take place on Saturday April 4th

This gives enough time to publicise the event and being a Saturday would not affect as many businesses. Workers and students would not need to take time off.


Your thoughts/ideas please! If the consensus is that this is a good idea and we can get decent numbers on the day then we can take it a step further. Remember we don't need to have 10,000 people there. Recently protests in relation to the war in Israel had 800 in attendance yet it was in most print and television media.

Depending on feedback over the coming week(s) a separate thread could be started to get an idea of numbers who would attend from this site alone (with boards.ie support perhaps). A decision could then be made in a month or so as to whether the protest should go ahead.

I would also welcome feedback from those representing Ireland Offline. I can understand if this is not something they want to be involved with. I have contacted them in the past and would welcome any ideas they might have.

Finally please do not PM me telling me I am wasting my time campaigning for broadband. I have had plenty tell me that already!

bealtine

fergalfrog wrote: »

Can I get opinions on the idea of holding a protest march to highlight the broadband issue.

Personally I'd like to see this issue climb higher on the media agenda, what with banks failing and dire economic woes coming at use from everywhere.
This (bb) is a key enabler technology for Ireland going into the future. There are many advantages to having a 21st century network. It is of similar importance to electricity (rural electrification).
Many people said of electrification "sure don't I have a paraffin lamp why do I need that stuff?" Sound familiar?

I personally would be in support of this idea.

The only downside to all this is, if you can leverage enough real people to step away from their computers long enough to "go outside" and "walk", you'll be lucky. Computers do tend to suck people into a strange world of instant communications and instant fixes.

This has been tried before too, I don't remember the details now, but it was during Dermot Ahern's tenure as minister. Perhaps some of the other, longer standing, members can remember the details?

clohamon

fergalfrog wrote: »

While cuts are being made everywhere it's difficult to believe broadband will be given the funding needed to take us forward in our so-called "Smart Economy". The nbs solution falls short for rural areas and does nothing for urban areas.

What, specifically, do you want the government to do?

SeaSide

It would have to be a very slow march

fergalfrog

clohamon wrote: »

What, specifically, do you want the government to do?

It's not for me to decide and in any case my limited knowledge of Net and Comms would mean I am not in the best position to decide.

It would seem simple though - if it can be done in a whole host of countries, why can't it be done here? Are we such a freak of a country because of the way our population is dispersed? Northern Ireland is 100% broadband enabled to my knowledge and countries geographically much bigger than Ireland have worked it out.

Galway County Council have told me they can broadband enable the whole county and have already done it successfully on a pilot scheme. All they are lacking is the funding.

In Donegal broadband was rolled out through using a microwave ring (see: http://breeze.itsligo.ie/p18431116/).

I am sure I heard before, that the whole country could get a microwave ring for less than 50 million euro giving everyone 100mbps.

Whether either of the above points is true or not is irrelevant. I am sure plenty of others can tell us what would be the best way. If we don't know how to do it let's get on the phone and ask Finland or any other country who has done it.

All that's missing is what this country has a lessening amount of by the day - money!


I attended the forum in Dublin Castle on Next Generation Networks. The Government knows what it needs to do - it's simply not prepared to fork out the cash for it. As it stands, in a few years time we are going to be in an even more pitiful state than we are in now.

It may sound over-simplistic but if people need a road built they don't identify the specifics as to how the road surface should be or what land should be bought.

bealtine

fergalfrog wrote: »

It would seem simple though - if it can be done in a whole host of countries, why can't it be done here? Are we such a freak of a country because of the way our population is dispersed? Northern Ireland is 100% broadband enabled to my knowledge and countries geographically much bigger than Ireland have worked it out.

I don't buy the excuse that we live "too far apart" that's just smoke, a strawman fallacy, easy to knock down. I suppose if enough people repeat the great lie then it becomes true. (Now where have we heard that before?)

Yes let's get on the phone to Finland and ask them how to do it.
They can get fibre to within 2km of every building (house or office) for about 200 million. I know this because I asked them and their government has accepted the plan and is putting in place the finance.

Finland isn't a cheap economy and civil works cost about the same as here.
(Per capita GDP is about $45,000)
Finland is about 10 times larger than here and has lots of lakes, forest and tundra (frozen landscapes). Somehow they can manage to pull that fibre in.
It simply shows that if the will (and the plan) to achieve something more than mediocrity is available it can be done.
So let's get a bunch of industrious Finns over and let them do it.

Andorra can do it, granted it's a much smaller place, but it's noted for having lots of mountains.

The examples are numerous.

It's just such a coincidence that it costs almost exactly the same as it is to roll-out fibre to all rather than a brain dead 3G network in a country 10 times smaller.
The mind boggles at the inefficiencies involved.

All Ireland needs to start thinking about this and how we are going to solve this problem.

Ireland welcome to 1990...

bealtine

fergalfrog wrote: »

Can I get opinions on the idea of holding a protest march to highlight the broadband issue.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gHxGqBLEIin8NkBuxlqpCPPwr31AD9610G4G1

Not really relevant but check that out

Fogmatic

It doesn't sound extreme in the least! The very slow walk sounds a good way to make the point (and backwards would be appropriate for some of us).

I'd be there like a shot, but getting to Dublin & back in a day is a struggle from here.
To add to the impact, how about protests all over the country as well, on the same day; at the same time, even? More people could attend a local event (eg at every affected town/exchange). Anyone unable to get there could ring their TD or something that day/time (or at least leave a message). I imagine the local papers & radio stations (just for a start) would welcome the story.

watty

It should be in every major town.
posters with "Connection timed out"
and other browser error messages.

Tin can & string walkie talkies between every two marchers.

thefinalstage

I would be there. When and where?

RedLedbetter

Not only would I be there, but I could garuntee 10-20 close friends, let alone the amount of people in our locality. We'd need to plan a definite date, in one location, with about a months notice.

I love the ideas about posters with "Connection Timed Out" etc.

One thing though, we'd have to send a clear message on why we are protesting, as we don't want the Gov etc. coming back with "but sure everything'll be sorted by 2010 with the NBS". From my point of view, the focus should clearly be the NBS itself - not broadband availability as a gerneral concept.

Rgds,
Rob

Hank Scorpio

i`d attend!

seanybiker

Not a chance.

Vadrefjorde

Yes if ye have it before i have abandoned this island.

Fogmatic

Maybe it should be an annual event (or at least threaten to become one).

I think it needs a name. National Backwards Scheme day or something? (some others sprang to mind, but I don't think pre-watershed news programmes would be keen on those).

Yes, the more organised the better, though I don't think people should feel they've missed the boat if they can't get to an organised protest; impromptu ones would help to make a difference too (for instance, I could imagine people building up quite a head of steam in our local!).

Thraktor

I feel this thread needs a devil's advocate, and while I'd like to see a protest like this succeed, I'm not all that confident it would. For one thing, you need a lot of people before you get any serious attention. The 800 people who protested against the war in Gaza isn't comparable, as that was relating to a major international news story. Unless broadband was already in the news for some other reason, there wouldn't be much attention paid to a small protest. What's more, a small protest can actually be more detrimental to the cause than no protest. If the government sees only a small group of people out arguing for better broadband services (compared to the thousands protesting about medical cards and education funding), then that will just validate their opinion that broadband isn't an issue that people care about.

Secondly, you say that the protest should take place on a Saturday. Has it occurred to you that there will be barely anyone in Leinster House on a Saturday? The protest would really want to be mid-week to get decent attention, which as you point out makes it difficult to get people to. What's more, as bealtine said, the sort of people interested in this issue are going to be more inclined towards online campaigning than the get-out-and-march variety.

fergalfrog

Thanks Thraktor - I was looking for negatives and you have came up with some.

I just wanted to throw the idea out there really. It's all well and good posting rants on here but the issue seems to be getting little or no publicity. It affects me on a daily basis and I can't see any sign of the situation to get any better.

If anyone has other suggestions please let me know.