Substandard British service providers are damaging the Irish economy

Impetus

Camelot, the British lottery operator take over the Irish Lotto, and for the first time in its 28 year history, a lotto has to be deferred (read cancelled) due to a technical glitch. Anyone who has lived or worked in GB will be aware of its flaky infrastructure and frequent breakdowns of numerous services that one takes for granted to run 24/24h in the rest of Europe. The Lotto blame Telefonica 02 – whose network operation is outsourced to BT. Another British company.

The Irish postcode (Eircode) is another mess…. Run by another British company. Incompatible with the postcode system used in the rest of Europe. Re-inventing the wheel and an invitation to hackers and data thieves.

The traffic light system in Cork is a mess – it uses British central control software (SCOOT) and street equipment, which is supplied by British entities. The waste of excessive green time at minor roads, and the provision of inadequate green time on main routes with large volumes of traffic is a gross waste of people’s time and a creator of traffic chaos. Best switch the system off as it is part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

One suspects that most Irish politicians never lived in GB to experience the flakiness of its infrastructure, and neither lived in a mainland EU country such as Germany or France to experience what can be achieved in terms of reliability of systems etc.

Next comes the BA (IAG) takeover of Aer Lingus - landing a loss of direct Europe-wide connectivity to Irish citizens - loss of LHR slots after 5 years after sale, arrival delays, obsessive British security whose securi-bots are programmed to treat everybody as a terrorist, poor cabin service, high rates of delayed or lost checked baggage, long passport checking delays at LHR (we don't have any passport checking in the rest of Europe) etc etc. Aer Lingus, worth €2.5 billion + to be sold on the cheap for €1.4 billion.... and nothing to gain for it except massive pain for the travelling public.

When will the Irish Government ever learn? How long more will people put up with this incompetent government decision making?

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/retail-and-services/lottery-defers-10m-jackpot-draw-because-of-technical-problems-1.2091341

Banjoxed

Well that's one of the more novel, and dare I say obsessively researched, anti British posts I've seen on Boards.

Now, I've got a snappy slogan for Eircom.

Half the broadband, twice the price.

Impetus

Banjoxed wrote: »

Well that's one of the more novel, and dare I say obsessively researched, anti British posts I've seen on Boards.

Now, I've got a snappy slogan for Eircom.

Half the broadband, twice the price.

I have no experience of Eircom VDSL2+, but I have experience of three other broadband providers on the continent, and the page-fill times are far faster on the continent than on the Irish cable monopoly inferred in your posting.

Page fill times are far more important to most internet users compared with MB/sec speeds between a subscriber and the head end. The internet connection is a function of end to end performance, and the contention ratio and ping times etc. One suspects that you are one of many fooled by the 240 Mbits/sec advertisements, and speedtests that only run between your machine and your ISPs server!

Banjoxed

Impetus wrote: »

I have no experience of Eircom VDSL2+, but I have experience of three other broadband providers on the continent, and the page-fill times are far faster on the continent than on the Irish cable monopoly inferred in your posting.

Page fill times are far more important to most internet users compared with MB/sec speeds between a subscriber and the head end. The internet connection is a function of end to end performance, and the contention ratio and ping times etc. One suspects that you are one of many fooled by the 240 Mbits/sec advertisements, and speedtests that only run between your machine and your ISPs server!

Fooled? Not really. It's either Eircom or midband fake broadband up here.

Gumbo

I wouldn't blame it on the British, but I would put it down as something that happens when state services are called to be privatised.

Prosponed draw.
No terminals working for the last 2 months or so.

All in the name of privatisation.

Sheldons Brain

Well cocked up privatisation is somewhat a British trait.
But I think in general Ireland could benefit from looking further afield and taking ideas from successful places about the same size, be they Denmark or SIngapore.

Graham

Maybe the lottery should have been left where it was, it's not like the country needed the money to finance a children's hospital or anything.

I say hand back the €405 million license fee now, better the sick children wait than punters quickpicks being delayed.

Impetus

kceire wrote: »

I wouldn't blame it on the British, b
ut I would put it down as something that happens when state services are called to be privatised.

Prosponed draw.
No terminals working for the last 2 months or so.

All in the name of privatisation.

Switzerland has numerous privately owned railway networks and the SBB (public) network. They all work superbly together. All rail lines, together with trams, buses, boats, etc (mix of private and public) are available online at
http://www.sbb.ch/en/timetable.html

I have a friend who flew via LHR, for an intended lunch meeting, and as soon as his turn came at the check-in desk in T5 at LHR, the entire baggage handling system and check-in procedure went down - for three hours. He arrived at his destination 5 hours late. He and his wife joined the queue with thousands of others to make alternative arrangements.

Britain's ATC system is based on 25 year old technology. It breaks down more frequently than any other system. The only breakdown I remember in the Irish system was caused by a defective Ethernet connection, which was discovered by Thales, the French supplier that supplies many of the ATC systems in Europe. But not GB - re-invent the wheel country, big time.

When telephone exchanges were being digitised, most phone companies in Europe opted for Ericsson AXE or Alcatel E-10B. Britain stumbled with a home brew "System X" for a decade or so before giving in.

There is something radically wrong in the DNA of this country. It should not be allowed to affect the DNA of Aer Lingus, and if it does it will be the responsability of the politicans who hold the casting vote.

Graham

Impetus wrote: »

There is something radically wrong in the DNA of this country. It should not be allowed to affect the DNA of Aer Lingus, and if it does it will be the responsability of the politicans who hold the casting vote.

Could you clarify if the "this country" refers to Britain or Ireland in your most recent rant?

Impetus

Graham wrote: »

Could you clarify if the "this country" refers to Britain or Ireland in your most recent rant?

I should have assumed it is obvious - "this country" = GB - speaking of which many people there and systems refuse to use the ISO code (GB) for their country, and have resort instead to "UK" which means nothing. Anymore than using "United Republic" (or UR) and expecting it to mean Ireland, and Ireland only.

My postings to this thread constitute statements of fact, ie it is not a "rant". Some of my best friends are English.

andrew

OP, you're cherry-picking the data to fit your own story.

I blame the teachers.

the dark phantom

"The traffic light system in Cork is a mess – it uses British central control software (SCOOT) and street equipment, which is supplied by British entities. The waste of excessive green time at minor roads, and the provision of inadequate green time on main routes with large volumes of traffic is a gross waste of people’s time and a creator of traffic chaos. Best switch the system off as it is part of the problem rather than part of the solution. "

Thanks, I never knew this, I've never known a city to be as mismanaged traffic wise as Cork.

Graham

Impetus wrote: »

My postings to this thread constitute statements of fact, ie it is not a "rant".

Here's a few of interesting facts

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP), An Post and An Post Pension Funds have partnered to form Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI). So that would be Canadian, Irish and Irish.

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan is Canada's largest single-professional pension plan with over $130 billion in net assets and the 100% owner of the Camelot Group.

It is suspected that last nights failure was with the infrastructure provided by Telefonica.

Jippohead

What's anti-British about the OP?

Robbo

Graham wrote: »

It is suspected that last nights failure was with the infrastructure provided by Telefonica.

Would that be the same Telefonica operation in Ireland that are now owned and operated by 3? Because if 3 are still a "British" company, I think Chris Patten will be looking for his old job back.

Graham

Robbo wrote: »

Would that be the same Telefonica operation in Ireland that are now owned and operated by 3? Because if 3 are still a "British" company, I think Chris Patten will be looking for his old job back.

Would the be the Three that's owned by Hutchison Whampoa the Hong Kong company?

Guy:Incognito

Jippohead wrote: »

What's anti-British about the OP?

Blaming them on everything? Even the stuff that's the fault of Canadians and Chinese (Hong Kong)

Rightwing

After reading this drivel, I worry for us.

ardmacha

Rightwing wrote: »

After reading this drivel, I worry for us.

If all the other drivel didn't already worry you, I'd worry for you.

Harry Palmr

Impetus wrote: »

The traffic light system in Cork is a mess – it uses British central control software (SCOOT) and street equipment, which is supplied by British entities. The waste of excessive green time at minor roads, and the provision of inadequate green time on main routes with large volumes of traffic is a gross waste of people’s time and a creator of traffic chaos. Best switch the system off as it is part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

Brilliant, I thought you were serious but then saw this bit, so clearly not. SCOOT technology is used across much of the world and it sounds like the boyos in Cork have probably adjusted the management parameters to take account of local drivers.

OBaoghil.7

Banjoxed wrote: »

Well that's one of the more novel, and dare I say obsessively researched, anti British posts I've seen on Boards.

Now, I've got a snappy slogan for Eircom.

Half the broadband, twice the price.

I don't know about lottery systems as I don't take part in the lotteries, UK or Ireland but I have spent years in both Germany and the UK in Transport business. I support the negative comments regarding Cork traffic lights as I live in Cork. When not travelling beyond the speed limit you can be stopped at every light along the ring roads. It is so frustrating that simple systems could be used to keep traffic flowing. Furthermore, when there is very little traffic or during the night why are the all the traffic lights kept on? Many could be switched off. This is goes for the UK as well. The traffic light systems in Germany were always seemed more efficient.