IOFFL AGM and a whole lot more.

Dangger

IrelandOFFline are currenty checking out venues for an AGM on Saturday the 20th of July in Dublin.

There will be a (long overdue!) newlsetter going to all members over the next two days, with the details and the format.

It's been a busy few months for us and it shows no sign of slowing down. We've had some good media coverage of late, and on the 8th of July we will be representing our members in the LLU public hearing being held by the EU's Competition Directorate-General to facilitate analysis of the remaining difficulties in the implementation of LLU and the progress of competition in the provision of broadband access and services.

We are also investigating making optimum use of our time in Brussels to meet with other relevant parties whilst we are over.

As most of you know we are a voluntary organisation, we need to raise some funds for the trip. Some members have very kindly pledged some money towards the tickets and B&B costs. We will be making an official call for donations of any size to ensure our passage, over the next few days. We are hoping to send two committee members over to the hearing.

We will also be attending the ODTR's seminar "Innovation in communications, planning for the future" on the 27th of June.

So there is certainly going to be a lot to report on at the AGM! As I said there will be more information and a progress report going out on the mailing list in the next day or so.

David Long
Chairman IrelandOffline

MDR

IrelandOFFline are currenty checking out venues for an AGM on Saturday the 20th of July in Dublin.

I will be there in spirit, my body will be on a beach in Solvenia.

Dustaz

2 bits of great news (well 3 if your mdr ).
Really looking forward to the agm. Any details on donation methods yet?

El_MUERkO

IrelandOFFline are currenty checking out venues for an AGM on Saturday the 20th of July in Dublin.

I'll be at a LAN in England.

Bard

I'd love to be there to contribute and to help out where possible - but on July 20th I'm afraid that's impossible as I'll be in Spain.

From an ex-committee member and an ex-moderator of this very forum, I wish you all the very best of luck with it !

G'wan the IOFFL!

yellum

Thats gonna be some busy month for me then. That was my only free weekend. I hope to be there.

BoneCollector

how much do we need to raise for the trip?
How many contributors do we have?

I would hope the point that eircom is a disgracefull! monopoly and a thorn in the side of hi-speed and telecomunications competition and progress in this country will be hi-lighted and persued with agressiveness.

my main tag line says it all.. "results not excuse`s"

also remember we had local calls for a flat rate regarless of how long or what time of day.. we have been ripped off again.

also another point that has been swept under the carpet is when they introduced vat on the bill...

the price always! included VAT..

we got a bill saying...

line rental £20
calls £30
total £50 <----this includes vat

then we got bills saying

line rental £20
calls £30
total £50 (eircom pay the vat @ 21% £10.50)

then this is what happend

line rental £20
calls £30
vat @ 21% £10.50
Total £60.50

So the price always inc vat which we where paying and now they add it on again externaly icreasing the cost of the bill by 21%
and have gotten away with it!??
How many more times do we need to be screwed by this company? before we take action?

mdf

So the price always inc vat which we where paying and now they add it on again externaly icreasing the cost of the bill by 21%

I think you'll find you're wrong.

BoneCollector

I think you'll find you're wrong.

Explain yourself
i think you`ll find i am right! unless you disputing the VAT percent at the time.
the above is given as an example and is! correct!

1) take alook at a bill 1 year before the introduction (total cost) £50 VAT is transparent as the bill makes no reference to it.
2) take alook at a bill 3 months before the introduction (total cost pointing out vat @ xx%) £50 this is now broken down showing VAT
3 take alook at a bill after introduction (total cost and then adding vat again) £50 and then adding VAT @ xx% =£50+VAT= more than £50 after adding VAT.

The cost per unit remained constant from section 1 through 3 until VAT was added in section 3 which pushed the unit price up by the vat %

they twisted and justified it by saying they where now passing!!!?? the vat on to the consumer and that telecom eirin/eircom will no longer pay this vat after the cut off date, when infact they where adding it again. (this was pointed out at the time and was dismissed)

These are FACTS!

Lemming

I'll be available for the AGM .. just name where and when

btw ... who do I talk to about making a contribution to the Brussels fund??

Dangger

In the short term, (next three days) any one who would like to make a donation can contact me at chairman@irelandoffline.org , I'll make contact and arrange something. We are going to put a pay pal system in place on the site shortly.

We are hoping to send two (hopefully) committee members over, currently return Ryanair flights are around €75 each. We will most likely be staying for two nights as we are arranging to meet with some relevant people in Brussels whilst we are there.

sceptre

Does IOFFL still have a bank account? Might be an idea to put the account details on the site (or send them to people via mail) for people (like me and similar idiots) who don't have a PayPal account etc

Lots of people might contribute who don't use PayPal for auctions etc

Dangger

Yes indeedy!!! Sorry, should have thought of that, I'll consult with the treasurer and get that sorted right away.

Ireland Offline
AIB Sort Code: 93 35 70
A/C Number: 13015146

nahdoic

Originally posted by Dangger
We are going to put a pay pal system in place on the site shortly.

From my experience with paypal.com if you live in Ireland you will not be able to transfer money back to your Irish account. The only way it would be possible (now I could be wrong) is to actually set up a foreign bank account in the good ol' US of A. Then your paypal money can go to the american one - then you can get that american bank to do an international money transfer back to your Irish account.

In short don't be getting members to put money into a paypal account unless you are absolutely positive you will be able to withdraw it

In my opinion, that bank sort code and account number is all anyone needs - i personally can transfer it with banking 365 from home or anyone can pop into any AIB branch and say, hello I am a complete stranger, I'd like to lodge €50 to this AIB account please. Sort Code: 93 35 70 A/C Number: 13015146, and they'll do it free of any charge. Banks are nice like that - never have issues with taking money off people (make sure you get a receipt though!). I don't think anyone would have problems with that system ... would they?

dahamsta

You can withdraw money to your credit card though, can't you nahdoic?

adam

nahdoic

I don't see how adam. I've read through a lot of their faqs, I've even e-mailed them about it - how they can transfer it to German Bank Accounts, but can't transfer it to an Irish bank account which has the same currency. The option of refunding the money to your credit card never seemed to be mentioned anywhere.

They also make you consent to the fact that you have not registered with an American Bank - so if you accept any money you will not be able to transfer your money out of your account. (i'm sure they do this for serious legal reasons, it would be a bit fraudulent if they didn't)

Don't credit card companies frown seriously on merchants who have a lot of refunds - if pay pal did allow that I could see it getting seriously out of control the amount of refunds they would have.

I still have $50 in my paypal account, so if you can find instructions anywhere on letting pay pal refund to your credit card I'll let you know if Irish citizens can easily refund their cc or not!

dahamsta

I actually don't know nahdoic, I was asking.

I have a Paypal button hidden in the background on a site I run (Foot.ie), and it's hidden because I don't know, and I haven't had the time to find out. Of course, on Foot.ie it's not all that important, because I can just use the dosh to buy stuff on Paypal merchant sites. But it would be pretty useless to IrelandOffline if we can't get at the money. We haven't really looked at it in depth yet anyway, so suggestions are gratefully received.

adam

nahdoic

yeah. i would definitely recommend to the committee to forget about trying to set up any type of on-line facility for accepting credit cards it will be a pain to set up, cost money to set up and you lose a significant percentage on each donation - I don't think members would like to think that maybe 5% of their money going to Ireland Offline is actually going to Visa or whoever. Also you would be waiting, and waiting for well over a month possibly more to see any type of money to come back ... after any foreign exchance, handling fees you're down to pitence.

Ireland Offline isn't like most commercial companies - i.e. there's no other company providing the same services as Ireland Offline, so members aren't going to pop over to another site which has a credit card facility for accepting donations. We care about the success of Ireland Offline and we will make the little extra effort to pop into their local Bank, or Post Office. And a lot of people have banking 365, so it would be no extra effort at all.

This means

- No money will be wasted.

- Members know all money goes to Ireland Offline, no one else is getting a cut. So every cent will be put to good use. Great incentive for members.

- The money will go through in 3 - 4 working days, no need to wait months.

- No minimum or maximum donation imposed on members.

However I would strongly recommend to put a very obvious and major link on the home page requesting funds.

Then on the page it is linked to, to say

- what the money is needed for

- give all the details necessary (account name, number and sort code) and describe just just how easy it is to transfer money in Ireland these days.

- show just how enormously beneficial every single contribution is, no matter how big or small (but with an emphasis on big ). And how every donation will be recorded and posted on the website with a link to their company, or name of the individual or their contribution will be treated with the strictest of confidence if they wish to donate anonymously.

Felix Randel

Any word on speakers? will there be a Q & A session?

Tellox

nice one lads
I'll see if I can donate a few euro later on..

Be sure to compare Ireland to Britain, and how we're chewing on our pillows every night after seeing those blueyonder 1mbit customers in a game of CS/Q3/JK2 ect..

obewan

I'm sorry to say that I will not be able to be there this time but I will forward a donation toward the TRIP.


1) Is there a certain amount set or is it up to each individual?

2) Can it be lodged into the above mentioned Back Account.?


Also best of Luck on both ventures.


Mick.

dahamsta

Any word on speakers?

I'm not sure we want to make this into a big thing. Personally, I would like to keep it nice and simple: A couple of short talks by committee members telling you where we are and what we're doing; a few votes on simple stuff like appointments/reappointments to the committee, and any motions suggested by the members; a question and answer session; and pints afterwards. I suppose if there's demand for speakers we could probably invite a few people, but I'm not sure it wouldn't interfere with the work we really need to get done.

will there be a Q & A session?

Absolutely.

adam

dahamsta

I'm sorry to say that I will not be able to be there this time but I will forward a donation toward the TRIP.

Thank you.

1) Is there a certain amount set or is it up to each individual?

No. It's totally up to you.

2) Can it be lodged into the above mentioned Back Account.?

Yes.

Also best of Luck on both ventures.

Thanks.

adam

Felix Randel

Originally posted by dahamsta
Any word on speakers?

I'm not sure we want to make this into a big thing. Personally, I would like to keep it nice and simple: A couple of short talks by committee members telling you where we are and what we're doing; a few votes on simple stuff like appointments/reappointments to the committee, and any motions suggested by the members; a question and answer session; and pints afterwards. I suppose if there's demand for speakers we could probably invite a few people, but I'm not sure it wouldn't interfere with the work we really need to get done.

will there be a Q & A session?

Absolutely.

adam

Good, i heard mention of a seminar, the type of thing you have speakers at. An AGM on the other hand is souly for internal affairs.

There has been people here that are quiet vocal when it comes to questioning this group about the road it is taking, and this will be a prime oppertunity to voice those concerns.

Any word on a venue, what time, and how long might it go on for.

timod

Any news on a venue/time yet?

Tim

SkepticOne

It will most likely be an afternoon session in a central (or reasonably central) Dublin hotel. There's a couple under consideration at the moment. The date, as you will be aware, will be Saturday, 20 July.

BoneCollector

I can feel a preminition coming on......
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZap!
Ah! it would`nt be the clarendon hotel would it!?

SkepticOne

Originally posted by BoneCollector
I can feel a preminition coming on......
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZap!
Ah! it would`nt be the clarendon hotel would it!?

No.

BoneCollector

No.

Are you Sure!? :eek:
This preminition was pretty strong!!
May it is true, but not untill after, i have broken your arms and legs in 10 places and convinced you thats where it should be

if you meet me at the following locations...

oconnel st
talbot st
gardner st
dorset st
parnell st
henry st
grafton st
dawson st
nassau st
westmoleland st
(i think thats 10!)

MarkR

Funny how he didn't mention was he going himself. I must admit i'm not going myself, but it's about a 4 hour bus ride just to get to the general area! I'll help in my own little way as I can, and not attack people for not living up to my ideas of what people should and should not do.

"Hello, Pot? This is the Kettle, You're black"