Letters to the Editor.

SkepticOne

Tomorrow morning, an article by David Long (Chairman) will be published in the Irish Times.

When this happens, we will be encouraging people to write letters to the editor based on the article and the Internet situation in Ireland in general. The aim of this is to take the debate outside of forums like this and into the mainstream media.

Thanks to the people on this forum like quertyup and others who suggested this idea.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow. We'll have the full text of the article in a thread here. We'll also send an email out to all our members with a link to the thread for those who aren't regular readers of this forum.

Feel free to post sample letters in that thread. If you feel unsure of certain facts, committee members will be on hand to help. We will also be posting published letters for those that don't read the Irish Times.

We hope to keep up a stream of letters for as long as possible in the paper.

Thanks in advance.

aidan_dunne

Oh, you can be sure I'll be sending some pretty scathing e-mails to the Times about this, alright. The whole FRIACO debacle in this country has driven my blood pressure through the roof and I'm just about ready to go to town on all the parties concerned!

Bring on that article, guys. My eager fingers are just waiting to hit the keyboard and respond!

Dangger

From todays (26/07/02) Irish Times, by David Long


Irish Internet users are losing out on high-speed low-cost access.


During EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti's speech on 8 July at a public hearing in Brussels, he called on telecom operators to help make the Internet available at faster speeds, more quickly, throughout Europe.

Although it was revealed at the hearing that only 900,000 lines have been unbundled in member states since the liberalization of Europe's telecommunications sector, it is clear that Irish Internet users are paying excessive prices for poor service compared to users in the rest of Europe where unbundling has been equally slow.

Presentations by attending telecom operators on the range of products available at reasonable prices and varying speeds to consumers throughout the EU, highlighted the increasing digital divide between Ireland and the rest of Europe.

Dermot Ahern, Minster for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources has stated that low cost, high speed Internet access is a key element of this government's communications policy. However, while the government is spending large amounts of money on infrastructure development, we continue to fall dangerously behind in the formation of a connected, knowledge economy. Jobs are at stake. Multinationals and indigenous companies are aware of Ireland's lack of connectivity, and have begun to locate elsewhere or be impeded by it.

Focusing on assisting late adopters of such technologies, the government is overlooking what is available to those of us who are already using the Internet and realise its potential. We have had "high-cost, low-speed internet access" in Ireland for at least half a decade. Only four months ago was a truly broadband product made available, at a staggeringly high price. Recent aggressive marketing of slow "High Speed" ISDN connections, appears to have been an exercise in making Irish users grateful for what they've got while hoping that they do not find out that there are real broadband services available elsewhere at lower prices. With no 56K dial-up flat rate product available, is it any wonder Ireland's Internet penetration rate is as low as 34%?

During the 1990s as a result of increased exposure to the Internet during education and work, more and more people began to realize the opportunities that it provides. Many traditional businesses have now embraced the use of electronic data interchange, e-mail and use the web as a research tool. But lack of a flat rate 56K dial-up in Ireland has damaged the perception of what the Internet can be used for, and how it can be used. Clock-watching has become an acquired habit of the Irish Internet user, and slow speeds the expected norm.

Even with the introduction of affordable broadband products Ireland is still going to need a flat dial-up product. ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) is only available if you live within a 3.5 km radius of a phone exchange. In many rural areas the deployment of phone lines was poorly managed and the use of pair gains prevent the use of ADSL. Also many apartment blocks in larger towns and cities are wired in such a way that prevents the use of ADSL. So what are these users to do? Move house? Flat rate dial-up access is a must!

Recent research by the British Regulatory Authority OFTEL, which introduced 56K dial-up flat rate access, showed how the weekly average number of hours spent on-line by a user with a "flat rate" subscription is equal to more than three times that of a user paying per minute. Voice calls will not become more expensive if such a product was to be introduced, as many believe. Networks can be designed and configured to manage congestion with increased use, which is a common complaint made by flat rate opponents.

Many European operators have embraced the opportunities offered by blanket roll out of broadband services, and have moved quickly to ensure that competition has a hard time keeping up. Eircom have decided instead to stick to the status quo. It has been revealed that fewer than 1,000 ADSL broadband connections have been sold to date. Eircom said they hoped that ADSL would be the biggest thing that would happen in the Irish Internet market. Possibly -- but not if the cost to a user is close to €1,700 a year for a metered service! Faster unmetered products are available for just €480 a year elsewhere. Eircom protects the revenues from its current per-minute charging model to the detriment of its customers -- Irish users.

This government's first priority should be to lower the costs of what we already have. We are paying through the nose while waiting for something that may not be available nationally for years through the government's "New Connections" plan. The government, together with the ODTR and the Competition Authority, who have both seen their powers increase with the passing of the recent Telecommunication and Competition Bills, must take a more proactive stance. Home users and small businesses are not being given adequate consideration. In the short run they must work together to investigate the use of legal instruments currently at their disposal to ensure that Ireland has a chance at becoming a connected society able to compete within the knowledge economy of the EU. In the long run far greater vision, understanding, commitment and action is required to ensure we can keep up, when we manage to leave the blocks.

David Long is the chairman of IrelandOffline (www.irelandoffline.org), a consumer group lobbying for nationwide availability of flat rate dial-up access and affordable broadband services.

Mr E

Good article, David. Well done.

I think its fair to say that a pessimist (aidan? ) may have written the last line as follows....

"In the long run far greater vision, understanding, commitment and action is required to ensure we can keep up, if and when we manage to leave the blocks."

With the rumours of Esat's upcoming internet packages, hopefully (fingers crossed) we are just about to leave those blocks......

- Dave.

Dangger

In following with the guidelines provided by the Irish Times, all letters intended for publication should be clearly marked "Letters to the Editor". They may be sent by post to: The Irish Times, 10-16 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2; by fax to: (01) 6719407; by e-mail to: lettersed@irish-times.ie (no attachments).

All letters, including e-mails, should include the writer's full name, postal address, and telephone numbers (day and evening). Letter-writers may receive a subsequent telephone call from the Irish Times. This is part of their authentication procedure and does not amount to a commitment to publish.