Broadband options for Rural communitys

daithicarr

I was wondering if there is anything Rural community's in Ireland could do to supply their ow broadband, perhaps on a co-op basis? Or is it something that is only possible on a larger scale.

I know the government has some national broadband scheme which seems to be continuously watered down and pushed back , but its very existence means a community might waste a lot of time getting something set up when there is a possibility of something superseding it in a very short time ?

clohamon

daithicarr wrote: »

I was wondering if there is anything Rural community's in Ireland could do to supply their ow broadband, perhaps on a co-op basis? Or is it something that is only possible on a larger scale.

B4RN are the pin-up community fibre scheme in UK and have an informative website.
Croagh Patrick Community Broadband and West Waterford Community broadband do fixed wireless access (FWA) in their respective communities.

daithicarr wrote: »

I know the government has some national broadband scheme which seems to be continuously watered down and pushed back , but its very existence means a community might waste a lot of time getting something set up when there is a possibility of something superseding it in a very short time ?

Yes, ‘crowding out’ has been a problem with the previous three schemes, but based on previous performance, the amount of money available, and what we know about the NBP so far, there is very little likelihood that it will deliver anything of substance. A well led community fibre scheme would have nothing to fear from government competition.

watty

The NBP is a recipe to do nothing.

daithicarr

it has been raining the last few days, so Ive been suffering from rain haze, knocks out my "Broadband", only really seeing this now.

Ive been reading the B4RN website with great amazement. Their Inital project was

"The original service area was set to cover 8 full parishes plus parts of another two
amounting to around 235Km2 containing 1450 properties. Estimated build cost was £1.723M. "

That seems a fairly affordable price tag for such a excellent piece of infrastructure ?

Am I missing something

clohamon

daithicarr wrote: »

Am I missing something

....probably Barry Forde or someone like him.

There's also a lot of volunteer work required; and cooperation from local landowners may not be as forthcoming here as it is in the UK.

Kristopherus

I doubt you'll get anything resembling a satisfactory bb service to rural Ireland until the ESB decide what they're going to do with their infrastructure.

daithicarr

Yeah I can see how having someone of his caliber would certainly be a massive advantage.

Dont see why local people here would be any less willing to cooperate and volunteer than in England? There is a history of Co-operatives in Ireland in Rural areas.

excuse my ignorance but What has the ESB's network got to do with it?

clohamon

daithicarr wrote: »

Yeah I can see how having someone of his caliber would certainly be a massive advantage.

Dont see why local people here would be any less willing to cooperate and volunteer than in England? There is a history of Co-operatives in Ireland in Rural areas.

Volunteering ok, but there's a lot of it. The shares for work idea might help. The way-leaves on private land might be harder to get here - just a feeling.

daithicarr wrote: »

excuse my ignorance but What has the ESB's network got to do with it?

ESB Telecoms FTTB joint venture with Vodafone|BT - due to be confirmed soon. FTTB to 500k homes. Starts where UPC ends and competes with Eircom in suburban and semi - rural areas. There may be follow up phases. Hopefully the full planned extent of all phases and mapping will be released at launch (with a timeline) so as not to deter private initiatives like yours.

daithicarr

Is this the project your referring too ?
http://www.esbtelecoms.ie/infrastructure/south_west.htm

I presume then it will be more extensive than what they currently show.
I see Eircom are planning on having some fiber network in Dingle town, the nearest town to me.

http://pressroom.eircom.net/images/uploads/4453_Eircom%20Map%20Page%20FA4.pdf

I wouldn't hold out any hope of those of us outside the town getting any service , But given they might just serve the main population concentration in the area it might mean they greatly reduce the potential for a local initiative.

Id love someone to come along and provide the service to us, but I haven't seen anything yet which suggests this will happen.

clohamon

daithicarr wrote: »

Is this the project your referring too ?
http://www.esbtelecoms.ie/infrastructure/south_west.htm

No it's this.
http://www.esb.ie/main/innovation/telecoms.jsp

swoofer

is that just hot air from ESB? last news item is dec 2012!!

clohamon

GBCULLEN wrote: »

is that just hot air from ESB? last news item is dec 2012!!

I don't think so. Enabling Bill is what allows it to happen.