How many people feel less interested in adsl now, then they did 6 months ago

Boston

I do, don’t get me wrong id still love to have it, but a lot of recent events have dashed my hopes of having a decent, fairly priced service. It was when eircom published there adsl prices I realized even if I could get it I wouldn’t. it seems to be penetration of broadband here has been set back years and will likely to continue, when the odtr sets a wholesale adsl price, which we all know she will be forced to do so. Eircom will probably enter into long and expensive legal battles. I think she would be better off getting stuck into the court case now rather then 12 months down the road. Personally I don’t believe all this crap that eircoms the sole reason that theres no broadband here, and I don’t believe its as expensive as the likes of esat and ntl say to set up there own broadband network.

Dont be at yourself

I feel less hopeful, excited and enthusiastic for adsl, but I still want it really bad

Matfinn

Thats a very good point your making Boston about people falling out of interest in getting some sort of broadband. Personally, when I was on the internet first, and when I learned of cable internet access in 1998, I was waiting with baited breath for it to come out. At that time, a crowd called Cablenet had been running trials for it in the Malahide/Swords area of North Dublin. Cablelink were sure they would have it out soon enough. Now its three years later, and if anything we have gone backwards with the likes of broadband. I dont really give a ****e anymore about DSL or cable. I have waited and waited and waited so long, and with recent events that have occurred, I'm tired of waiting for telcos to pull their thumb out of their arse. As long as our telecommunications industry is governed by a group of clowns, we will never have decent net access, so Im not going to hold my breath. I still however fully support IrelandOffline, and I believe that if we can work together whatever happens, we can make a difference. Sure we have already achieved quite alot. Talk of doing nothing and going no-where is not helpful, more of a hinderance as it damages our morale. We can make a difference, and it will happen, hopefully soon.

Matt

NeilF

What I've realised is that I won't be getting broadband through the last mile from Eircom, but through some other means such as satellite or wireless from someone like Chorus. Eircom, in the position of monopolist, chose to prevent us from having broadband. Others will come along and supply our demand. Eircom will lose out in the long run.

And if broadband isn't here when I graduate from college in two years time I might take up the challenge myself and become the broadband baron

Dustaz

well i was stuck with dialup at home from 93 to 2001. Thats why im prepared to pay the RIDICULOUS asking price for dsl. My interest hasnt lessened. im just appalled at what im being fleeced for.

dahamsta

I'm not interested in flat-rate or broadband Internet access.

I need them.

Now.

adam

Supercell

Originally posted by NekkidBibleMan
I feel less hopeful, excited and enthusiastic for adsl, but I still want it really bad

Pretty much sums it up for me, the horizon doesn't appear to be getting any closer:mad:

The_Scary_Man

I haven't lost interest in broadband in fact I am still very much interested. I would love to be able to video conference with my daughter in The States without a 5 min lag and consistent choke but what has happened to me is that I find myself less likely to become excited at the announcement of new breakthroughs or new services being rolled out. Apathy is setting in and at this rate when something concrete does happen it will pass me by because I'll have lost hope and stopped going to the trouble of keeping track.

b20uvkft6m5xwg

It is a good observation Boston. Overall, I think the champagne is goin a bit flat especially w/ court delays etc.

I know theres ppl like Adam who are in desperate need of ADSL and quickly, but the longer this goes on, the more I'd be happy to settle for another No-Limits (56k Flat-rate) to come along. Obviously, the provision of DSL is of immediate importance, but perhaps we should crawl before we run:)IMO

rymus

Going thru a phase here of trying to block out any thoughts of ADSL. id only be fooling myself if I thought Id have eircom adsl (or any xdsl service) installed in the next 12 months. Right now all I'm keeping up hope for is 2 way satellite (a long shot) or unmetered 56k (seems to be an even longer shot)

Going to build a wireless link to my place of work and sponge off their isdn lines for a while

oscarBravo

Originally posted by 80project
I know theres ppl like Adam who are in desperate need of ADSL and quickly, but the longer this goes on, the more I'd be happy to settle for another No-Limits (56k Flat-rate) to come along. Obviously, the provision of DSL is of immediate importance, but perhaps we should crawl before we run:)IMO

A-flippin-men. Goddammit, I can even [temporarily] live with the fscked-up 28k POS line I have here, if I can only have FRIACO. It brings tears to my eyes thinking about how easily Eircom could toss us that little crumb, and knowing that they won't. My government, my government, why hast thou forsaken me?

oscarBravo

Originally posted by rymus
Right now all I'm keeping up hope for is 2 way satellite (a long shot) or unmetered 56k (seems to be an even longer shot)

2-way satellite is available now, but on terms that make Eircom look like a charity: try a 50MB download cap for EUR200.

dahamsta

I know theres ppl like Adam who are in desperate need of ADSL and quickly, but the longer this goes on, the more I'd be happy to settle for another No-Limits (56k Flat-rate) to come along. Obviously, the provision of DSL is of immediate importance, but perhaps we should crawl before we run

Oh, I absolutely agree. I've always said that always-on - or at least flat-rate so I could connect and disconnect without having a scientific calculator at my side - was of primary importance to me. Speed will be a bonus. Caps are evil, but if they are necessary to make the product cost-effective for service providers, I'm willing to tolerate them while they fiddle with it. Contrary to popular belief, in particular inside the telco's and ISP's, I don't want something for nothing - all I want is a fair product for a fair price. In fact, if anything, this continued belief strikes me as odd, if not utterly ignorant - do they really think we're such fools as to want a service that can't be sustained? We've been there once before, and certainly we don't want to go there again...

However I'm both encouraged and discouraged at the same time at the moment, if that's possible.

The article in The Phoenix was terribly disheartening, suggesting as it does that the "new" Eircom is going to be in even worse shape than the "old" Eircom so thorougly fleeced by the fearless - and utterly incompetent - leaders of the company. They're simply not going to be able to afford to roll out broadband to any decent level, unless they have a stunning wildcard up their sleeve, which I very much doubt given the reputation of the figurehead. This means that unlike the UK, we're not going to be able to rely on a rash of start-up "virtual" ISP's reselling broadband services to us - because there simply won't be anything to resell. On top of that, it appears that the negotiations for pricing are still at loggerheads, which is... well, it's just sad.

That said, I think we're going to see some progress real soon now. I know I've been saying that for years - we all have - but I genuinely have a good feeling at the moment - I can feel it in my water, so to speak. I think the Local Loop Unbundling process is starting to see light at the end of the tunnel, and although that will of course mean a very slow progression towards a competitive marketplace, it will be progression nonetheless, as against the "progress" so far, which seems to find us in a reverse gear. Rumours abound, and although none of them can be relied upon - I've learned my lesson there - or even repeated for that matter, I have to say that I'm cautiously - very cautiously - optimistic.

I'm not going to hold my breath, for that still remains suicidal, but I'm going to try and be a little more optimistic in the run-up to the new year. I'm going to throw everything I have into IrelandOffline, and the Blackout, and our lobbying efforts, and the other plans we have. I hope you all will too. After all, it's a worthy cause, n'est pas?

adam

ednwireland

I agree with all the comments about needing broadband
Ireland needs it from a business perspective now more than ever without it we are all doomed. I live in the north west and there is no infrastructure (eircom offered one of the companies round here satellite backup but it came down in sligo - the same place ther fixed line ends up ). The real problem is our politicians don't understand the problem. Ireland is a relatively small country broadnband should be the same as road or rail ! infrastructure n terms of funding. the backbones that are there are funded generally by goverment.
The one thing that hasn't been learnt from privatisation in the UK is that backbone infrastructure is only put in in easy areas and high customer concentrations. Ireland has the population of manchester over a larger geographical area. the irish government should take the swedish approach and guarantee broadband to every home in the country (suddenly you take a number of restrictions on working and company setup away from the regions particularly). without it Ireland will lose everything it has gained in the last few years ( and I will have convert my acre to growing potatoes and learn to really surf )


Last one out switch off the lights

Boston

I actually have a good feeling about 2002, weather that means we will get broadband or that ill move to America, I don't know

One interesting thing though. I was reading up something today and I noticed that if a semi private or private company, in a monopoly position, and is providing a merit want (I.e. something vital to the well being of the states people) and they are abusing there power, the government can retake the company.

Can anybody find the actually act or law that allows this.
it would be a good idea for ioffl to refocus as one of its goals to get telecommunications classified as a merit want/good.

seamus

Being one of the lucky people who has just moved into an NTL cable availing area, I am very tempted to start subscribing to this instead of waiting for ADSL. All I need to do is convince the others in the house that the internet isn't a waste of time, and they should pay part of the monthly fee for it. The housowner however is sticking to his belief that we don't need it, because we all have mobile phones, so therefore we dont need any kind of cables except the tv and power ones. Oh btw, he works for intel, so I reckon he's just a scabby bastid:)

El_MUERkO

I'd love adsl

But I doubt we'll get it as long as Eircom run the show >:

I recently lost my job so I'll probably leave the country in the new year anyway

dahamsta

2-way satellite is available now, but on terms that make Eircom look like a charity: try a 50MB download cap for EUR200.

Huh? Where? I thought BEAM was dead?

adam

Boston

its one thats been out for about 6 months as far as i remember.
its around 200 pounds for a 450mb download cap and a 50mb upload cap. it only runs at like 400k anyway.

to add to what i just said. A telephone is a merit want, imagine if the interent was one to

aidan_dunne

I agree with the other people here who have said that they would much sooner care about flat-rate access than ADSL. As someone who lives outside Dublin, ADSL was never in the running for me anyway, at least not for the foreseeable future (which in Eircom's case probably means 2075!).

Even though ADSL would be nice I could easily live without it as long as I had a reasonably priced, reliable, 24/7 unmetered package. As it is, I'm now stuck with 75 hours a month Esat No Limits (which, of course, used to be as-much-as-I-wanted-off-peak a month No Limits until the dreaded "letter" arrived). The No Limits service wasn't a proper unmetered package in the first place and is even less so now with the 75 hour a month limit.

I used to pay £20 a month for as much off-peak access as I liked, which was still over the odds compared to what they get in the UK for example. Now I pay £20 a month for 2-and-a-half hours a day. For my 20 quid I should be getting 27/7 access, not "watching the clock" access.

Therefore, as far as I'm concerned, unmetered dial-up access is the first priority, especially as it's something Eircom could give us at the flick of a switch if they really wanted too. So, as I said, while ADSL would be nice I can live without and was never really bothered about it anyway as it would take years for us to get it "down the country" anyway.

What I would really like as a Christmas present this year would be for Eircom to announce that they were finally going to offer unmetered access and FRIACO to the other operators. Come on Eircom, stop being the mean old Scrooges for once and give us something to really celebrate this Christmas! Well, we can all dream, can't we? ;-)

oscarBravo

Originally posted by dahamsta
2-way satellite is available now, but on terms that make Eircom look like a charity: try a 50MB download cap for EUR200.

Huh? Where? I thought BEAM was dead?

Cedar Technologies in Castlebar, the crowd that organised the VSAT link to the school on Clare Island, are reselling a product called StreamBeam, I think it's carried on a Hughes bird. I'm not even going to bother posting contact details, the prices are completely out of line with what's on offer.

dahamsta

Cedar Technologies in Castlebar, the crowd that organised the VSAT link to the school on Clare Island, are reselling a product called StreamBeam, I think it's carried on a Hughes bird. I'm not even going to bother posting contact details, the prices are completely out of line with what's on offer.

To be fair, if the prices they're charging are the same as the prices on the Streambeam website, they're not that far out of line with comparable products, like Beam-that-was and Tiscali's service offering in Italy. It is more expensive, but for some people it would be worth it (I'd take it myself if I could afford it at the moment). The one pricing element that made me flinch was the overage of a Euro per megabyte. If that isn't an error, it's scandalous.

adam