Send a letter to the Irish Times

SkepticOne

Today (Friday, July 26, 2002), an article by David Long, chairman of IrelandOffline, was published in the "Net Results" column, part of the technology section of the Irish Times business section.

We would like members of IrelandOffline to submit letters to the editor of the Irish Times in order to get a debate going in that paper. Do you agree with the article? If so, why? How does this relate to your own experience? Maybe you disagree with aspects of it. We want this to run for as long as possible.

To get a letter published, it is best that it is short, snappy and to the point. If possible, include something of yourself in the letter. Express yourself.

You must include with the letter, your postal address, day and evening telephone numbers. They may get in touch with you for verification of your identity.

Letters should be sent to:
Email: lettersed@irish-times.ie (no attachments).
Post: Letters to the Editor, The Irish Times, 10-16 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2
Fax: (01) 671 9407.

You may like to post your letter here on this thread first. This will help others in composing their own letters and any inaccuracies will be spotted. But feel free to send the letter straight in.

Now get writing

SkepticOne

Here's the text in full:

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

By David Long, Chairman of IrelandOffline.

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.

Hannibal_12

Let me be the first to say, well done. I sincerely hope €ircon(executives) are reading that, might make them spit out their caviar at breakfast. We need more articles of that quality. I would be interested to see if €ircon reply and even more so as to what their reply would be.

Edit:I'll probably fire one off myself following on from your one. As was stated previously its a great starting point for a debate.

timod

Just wondering if anynody else got a bounce:

Delivery failed 10 attempts: copy.lettersed@irish-times.ie

Note: I sent it to lettersed@irish-times.ie

Tim

SkepticOne

Still bouncing, tim?

MrPudding

I got bounced too. Retrying.

SkepticOne

You might try faxing if you have access to a fax machine. It's important that these letters get through. Many 56k modems have fax facilities.

timod

Originally posted by SkepticOne
Still bouncing, tim?

dunno... sent it again, so far so good

BoneCollector

Ireland is now lagging behind in the Internet phenomenon

Ireland is now lagging behind in the Internet phenomenon. Unlike everywhere else in Europe you can access the Internet anytime of the day for as long as you like for less than €20 a month without having to worry about running up a large telephone bill.
In Ireland a person accessing the internet at home will pay per minute around 3c peak 8:30am-6pm and around 1c off peak 6pm-8:30. The effect of this is acting as a deterrent to most people utilizing the potential of the Internet and e-business. The cost to the Irish public is not short of €25 per day compared with our European counter-parts which cost an average of €1 per day.
What is missing from the equation is a Flat-Rate product, which can only be provided by Eircom.
Being the Main Telco in Ireland, Eircom control all the telephone lines which all other Telco`s must purchase from. The cost in providing any Internet product is directly related to the wholesale price which Eircom sell to other companies like Esat. If the price set by Eircom is too high then the likes of Esat or any other Telco cannot afford to offer any competitive internet products, which upto now is stagnating the internet growth in Ireland
It was not too long ago that home telephone owner`s where able to make local calls for as little as 10 pence. Regardless of how long you where talking on the phone. This was taken away by a former government minister Mr Mc Cowen in the mid eighties. We now pay per minute which makes internet access one of most expensive in Europe.
So far, all figures being pushed out of Government Dpts which look good on paper only relate to E-Business, which say that we have abundant internet access in Ireland in the business sector, leaving out the Residential market which has been neglected for nearly 20 years. Until cheap affordable internet flat rate products or offered by Eircom, Ireland is missing out on the digital revolution which our European counter-parts are enjoying.

MarkR

I came to Ireland in 1990, so I never realised that you actually had flat rate. Pity it was before the internet and the public had computers had taken off!! (10 p for as long as you want) Well done Eircom.

By the way, was the above letter published? Did any other letters get published regarding the issue?

DonegalMan

Originally posted by Legbreaker
By the way, was the above letter published? Did any other letters get published regarding the issue?

I sent a letter too - copy below for interest.

Don't know how many people actually did write, but I haven't seen any published.

I also wrote to the Irish Times last year - at that time in my capacity as Acting Charman of IrelandOffline - challenging remarks made in the paper by Anne Corcoran of Eircom, stating that there was no demand for flat rate Internet access in Ireland! They did not publish that letter either.

I think this emphasises my point about the lack of general interest in this subject outside of people already involved with the internet.


Martin Harran

Internet Access

Dear Sir

In your Business Supplement of 26th July, David Long, Chairman of IrelandOffLine, wrote about the state of internet access in Ireland and the consequent 'digital divide' with the rest of Europe.

It is unfortunate that these problems to date seem to be recognised only by those involved in the technical aspects of IT and not by the Government and business leaders.

Interestingly, the same supplement had two other articles - "European productivity can benefit from increased use of technology" in the Comment section and "Republic needs to recapture its competitive edge" in the Observer column. Is it not obvious that these issues are interrelated?

No-one knows for sure what shape the Internet will take over the years ahead but it is already obvious that it will be the primary communications medium for business and industry.

Inadequate Internet access is already having a direct impact. My own business is a retail chain with four branches in the South and four branches in Northern Ireland. In the North, I am able to link the branches together over the Internet for a real-time stock control system; in the South, we have to develop unwieldy systems to overcome the lack of proper Internet access.

Can we really be serious about regaining our competitive edge or aiming to be the E-hub of Europe when a recent survey by the Economist showed Ireland dropping a further place to fifteenth in the list of leading Internet-friendly countries; when the UK had half a million broadband connections up to May of this year and are continuing to connect at a rate of 20,000 per week whilst Ireland has less than 1,000 in total to date; when the cost of broadband in the UK (including Northern Ireland) is about one third the cost of that in Ireland?

Martin Harran, Director
VFM Floors

LoBo

that's a very good letter donegalman, I hope it gets published.

Let us know please? (not an irish times reader)

SkepticOne

Originally posted by Legbreaker
By the way, was the above letter published? Did any other letters get published regarding the issue?

I haven't seen any either. One of the problems might have been that the Irish Times' mail server was down over the weekend after Dave's article and momentum would have been lost.

Nevertheless, it is always worth writing to the papers. There have been letters on this subject in the past.