Who agrees that IrelandOFFline have almost won the "Campaign?

Paddy20

I believe that IOFFL [IrelandOFFline] to the unitiated!.

Have almost achieved their stated aims and objectives, they are also - certainly winning - the propaganda war in the media? and for a voluntary non-profit organisation this is no mean achievement.

Who agrees?

paddy20;) "Three cheers for the Committee members past and present and of course - the Chairman, whom I will not name in my posting because if you do not know his name by now??;)

Bard

Yeah? theyre, great - - I agree with paddy20 I do?

mike65

The war is not over. Its only partially won. I know this cos I'm connected at 45.5 kbs not 512.

Paddy20 are you per chance, Austrailian. Nothing else can account for your use of question marks. (all those inflections)

Mike.

Paddy20

Mike65,

Quote: "its only partially won." I will take that as an "almost won" as per the title of my thread?

Sorry, Not Australian - but a Paddy by birth and name and I am not here for an education in the use of "English" diction which is not even my Mother tongue.

The issue being dealt with in this forum is of much more importance!.

Best wishes.

paddy20;)

aka:- Paddy McLean, Ballybofey, County Donegal, Ireland.:D

Bard

More people than just the English or English speakers use question marks, quotation marks, commas, hyphens, etc. and use them correctly, Paddy.

I'm sorry about the smartarse nature of my last post, but I'd suggest that if you did use correct punctuation you might find that you get your point across to more people as it would make your postings easier to read.

Also, while I'm sure the committee appreciate the praise, I'm also fairly sure that they'll agree with me that there is little point to a thread like this. They're not exactly in the habit of patting themselves on the back.

Paddy20

Bard,

With respect, self praise is little praise indeed.
If it is not forthcoming from within our membership/ranks, then from whence or where shall it come, may I ask.

I was also in the main referring to the campaign as a whole which includes members, committees, chairpersons etc etc including even Boards.ie & even moderators. As for the side issue - I never claimed to be proficient in the proper use of English quotation marks etc.etc. As I am far from perfect in many respects and always amongst the first to acknowledge same.

I also believe that there is a need and a "point" for a thread like this. Let the members decide by responding or not?

Kind regards.

Yours,

paddy20:D

yellum

I disagree, the battle is not nearly one at all. There is a long hard campaign yet to be fought. Friaco is still not here, cheap broadband is not here, the ODTR is not regulating properly, the government is only slowing getting the message, the telcos still feel they can do whatever they want and screw over the general population.

The general population are not IrelandOffline aware yet. They are also not educated about that should be available to them. People are not aware of how cheap broadband is or that always on access for a flat fee can actually happen if its pushed for.

The IrelandOffline committee are doing well and hopefully after the IRC session that happened recently more will be done. There seems to be some stuff on the way and I hope this happens soon.

Paddy20

Yellum,

Even though you disagree. Very many thanks for a constructive and appropriate posting.

Regards.

Yours,

paddy20:)

ednwireland

long way to go - the main cities may have broadband etc. but until full llu and competition is available then we are nowhere near winning, public and media awareness has been raised but until we can choose in donegal between a number of suppliers then we need to carry on i.e. i want uncapped esat not capped eircom (note derry you can choose between 3 or so broadband suppliers)
a lot done more to do (now where have i heard that before ????????????)

gandalf

Nope no where near won, yes the noises are great but thats all they are. Until we have FRIACO and affordable broadband at prices our European neighbours and competitors enjoy then the campaign is far from won.

A couple of battles have been won but the war still goes on!!

Gandalf.

Fallschirmjager

good thread except for the english sidetrack...anyway


1. nope it aint over till the fat lady can connect at 512 anywhere in the country for 30- 40 euro

2. the government still cannot get investment in the fibre rings from outside companies at anything like the amount they need and therefore i think our message and answer is there....they are only investing in main centres and screwing everyone else. So to people like you Paddy and me in the arse end of wicklow -- the answer is clear -- go feck yerself...and wait and you will do with what you have.

3. do we need a congratulations -- YES WE DO and big bravo for the team who pushed and pushed particularly in the dark days.

4. lets not stop -- we have a momentum -- lets keep the pressure on.

124124

..but sure, its looking good so far!

Thanks to you all at IrlOFFLine!

Chips Lovell

Can't say I agree really. The fact is we've no FRIACO diall-up and, more importantly, no affordable broadband. All the same, there have been some improvements and IOFFL is becoming a vocal lobby group.

pork99

"A Lot Done, More To Do "

to paraphrase the Warriors of Destinys' election campaign slogan

"A lot of bribes taken, a lot more still to take"

the main cities may have broadband etc

I live in Stillorgan Co Dublin and no broadband of any flavour is currently available, might as well be in the back-end of Mayo and I live within spitting distance of Sandyford Industrial Estate where Vodafone, Siemens, Microsoft etc have their Irish headquaters

But getting back to the bribes thing did anyone see Frank Fitzgibbon on Agenda on TV3 yesterday? Made a very good point; corrupt planning = bad planning = crap infrastructure

LFCFan

Originally posted by pork99
I live in Stillorgan Co Dublin and no broadband of any flavour is currently available

Have you not tried Irish Broadband? Or did you fail the LOS test?

pork99

Have you not tried Irish Broadband? Or did you fail the LOS test?

yes, failed it, me and all the others!

I believe that IBB had so many LOS failures around Stillorgan - Blackrock that they have suspended LOS tests until they can set up new transmitter sites

Its unfortunate, if Gov.ie and the ODTR had any cop-on they would be facilitating wireless bb as an effective means of providing some much needed competition and overcoming the infrastructural deficits eircom have left us with

LoGiE

I think IOFFL has done a great job in that the committee have been very active in meeting Ministers and representing IOFFL members on the radio and in magazine/Paper/online articles.
And I'm almost certain that a far greater number of the general public (And still growing) are now aware of the dire straight's our government/ODTR and our incumbent operator have Ireland in i.e. On the bottom rung of the broadband ladder
As for almost achieving IOFFL's stated aims and objectives.... not so fast. As has been mentioned already
-No FRICAO (Vital to development of the Internet in Ireland)
-No Affordable Broadband (Most expensive in Europe if not the world)
- We are still waiting on Complete Local Loop Unbundling by Eircon at a responsible wholesale rate.
IMO The beginning of 2003 will be when IOFFL really starts kicking Ass if things dont start to shape up and hopefully we'll see a proper flatrate by jan/feb

ozt9vdujny3srf

Repeating others hear but broadband :

ain't all over ireland yet
ain't nearly cheap enough

Dustaz

Gah, im paying the price for a misjudged comment a few weeks ago now

Please leave personal attacks on people out of the thread.

Anyway, roaring back on topic, the war wont be won untill those 3 objectives have been achieved.

joec

less of the childish nit picking intellectual battles lads paddy is being positive!this isint the place to fight battles that were won or lost at school when u were 5 and top of the class at grammar or spelling!!!! we are all human and sometimes its best to fight the urge and be less smart and more friendly or else people will be afraid to express themselves and that cant be a good thing ?
i also like the use of rhetorical question marks lol

De Rebel

Well done Paddy. There appears to have been a lot of IOFFL self analysis recently and we are in danger of loosing sight of the real targets and the real achivements. We have had a number of notable acomplishments in the recent past. And the organisation has achieved acceptance and even more importantly access to the decision makers.

I had a very personal eircom.net "experience" today which makes me want to garotte each and every one of the 7 million wasters working there. But I won't. Not yet. But boy oh boy will i savour the day. AND ITS ON THE WAY!!

Hats off to the committee, have a well deserved rest, mr. chariman, and lets all get ready for one massive heave-ho in 2003.

Paddy20

De Rebel,

Many thanks, you have certainly grasped the true meaning/spirit of my thread.

Just hope more members/supporters? will do the same!.

Merry Xmas.

Yours,

paddy20;)

Puca

IOFL is a worthy discussion pressure group, but one thing that has to be looked out for and stopped is the amount of moaners and psychos who pots pure rubbish not backed up with fact or proofm, but are just here to man about anyything and everything, If that isnt stopped then IOFL will become a joke not taken seriously by the decision makers

pork99

IOFL is a worthy discussion pressure group, but one thing that has to be looked out for and stopped is the amount of moaners and psychos who pots pure rubbish not backed up with fact or proofm, but are just here to man about anyything and everything, If that isnt stopped then IOFL will become a joke not taken seriously by the decision makers

I think you are getting confused between the IOFFL commitee and contributers to this forum. The commitee are representing us to the govt. the ODTR, the media etc and are doing a great job. They are the ones who need to be diplomatic, "media friendly" etc, I could not do what they do, I would be too blunt.

This is a forum for free expression, if you see your country is being mismanaged by greedy, ignorant muck-savages then damned right you bitch about it, "the first duty of a patriot is to be rude about his country" as the man said.

Praetorian

Things are better than they were for people who use 56k / 64k with the new package deals from EsatBT / UTV

However, the progress towards broadband is sluggish at best. The prices are of course ludicrous.

I think i remmber Paddy saying that all he really wanted was good cheap 56k access. Thats not what im looking for!

We're half way there IMO

yellum

Originally posted by Praetorian
Things are better than they were for people who use 56k / 64k with the new package deals from EsatBT / UTV

Does anyone not remember the old No Limits which we all had ? It was a full step back and a half step forward.

delop

Im new to this BBS, but out of interest, what have ye achieved guys? Is there anywhere all this info have been collected? The best options for different areas etc...

Any info, from users of Leap?

Bard

Originally posted by yellum
Does anyone not remember the old No Limits which we all had ? It was a full step back and a half step forward.

Yeah, I still use IOL NoLimits at home... but have i-stream DSL in work and like many many others, as soon as it's affordable - or (yeah right!) comparable in price to the UK, I'll sign up for it at home too.

delop - if you haven't done so already, I suggest you take a browse through the very in-depth and informative IrelandOFFLine web site at www.irelandoffline.org

Praetorian

Originally posted by yellum
Does anyone not remember the old No Limits which we all had ? It was a full step back and a half step forward.

I wasn't really talking about that far back!

All those lucky people that didnt get kicked from No limits raise your hand

yellum

/me raises hand with Black Panther style grip

DeVore

I've been using Leap at home for 6 months.

It rocks.

To see more about it, search this forum for post by me on it.


With regard to the topic: no, theres a lot more to do. We cant just stop when a few of us have broadband.

FRIACO and decent broadband at a decent price.

Effectively IOFFL are the industry watchdogs and regulators since our ODTR are gummy powerless wets.
I dont mean that personally but I've said before and I'll say again that if Etain Doyle doesnt have the power to do her job she should RESIGN so as to put the lie to the idea that we have an effective regulatory body...


IOFFL have just started imho. But its a good start!

DeV.

Paddy20

Praetorian,

Yes, a long time ago I did state that all I was looking for was a fairly priced **Unmetered flat-rate Internet access service.

You see, I believe that you must be allowed to learn to walk before running. IMHO UTVip have now rattled the cosy anti- competitive structure that existed in the Republic for much too long, with their *OFFpeak flat-rate packages and I beleve they deserve a medal for throwing a rock in the pond of apathy that existed.

Also, lets not forget that UTVip was introduced here very shortly after our Chairman had a meeting with their Directors? The real benefits of the "vountary" work of all at IOFFL are yet to be fully reaped and we may not have very long to wait, even for a decent **Broadband offering.

Happy Xmas.

Yours,

paddy20;)

yellum

UTV were planning this for a long time Paddy20. Its clear to see these people are clever and have done lots and lots of research including lurking here for ages. I somehow doubt a meeting with IOFFL one day inspired them to roll out a project like this so quickly.

Paddy20 take off those glasses, they have a rose tint to them. Its still going to be a long hard slog where everyone has to contribute to win ourselves FRIACO and cheap broadband.

Paddy20

Yellum,

How the heck did you know that I wore glasses? bye the way the meeting that IOFFL certainly did NO HARM as action speaks louder than words and I personally believe that IOFFL are very much **Pro-active inall respects.

As I am an eternal optimist who believes it is possible too achieve the seemingly impossible my faith rests firmly with IOFFL is aims and objectives, which I have little doubt they will achieve? with bells on.

Nice to hear from you & Happy Xmas to you and yours.

paddy20;)

pork99

mismanaged by greedy, ignorant muck-savages

speaking of which, I'm watching a Prime Time about the Esat license carry-on

bit off-topic but this is the sort of thing we are up against - use your pull to get rich & screw the consumer

stormkeeper

use your pull to get rich & screw the consumer

Sadly, Eircom have been getting away from this for years

Calibos

As I am an eternal optimist

Well I'm the eternal pessimist/cynic and I'm inclined to agree with those in the forums who said, "those 'Cute Hoors' in Eircom were just waiting for some other companies namely UTVip/Esat to offer us a reasonably fair deal, which would soak up all the heavy users leaving them all the profitable users for when they finally launch a flat rate package of there own." It wouldn't suprise me if they used the same rationale in their I-Stream pricing. ie Get as many heavy dial-up users and early adopters to sign up for I-Stream at an outrageous price and then lock them into a contract for a year. They then launch a reasonably priced package for the rest of us.

Actually, having just re-read the last paragraph, that would mean we could soon be getting flat rate and reasonably priced broadband. Maybe I'm a closet optimist after all!:D

BigEejit

It wouldn't suprise me if they used the same rationale in their I-Stream pricing. ie Get as many heavy dial-up users and early adopters to sign up for I-Stream at an outrageous price and then lock them into a contract for a year. They then launch a reasonably priced package for the rest of us.

*going down on my knees and praying*
Please please please please

On topic again ...
I do believe that IOFFL are doing great work, they are the consumers voice and are being heard .... the question is though whether the right ears are listening .... If we could only find out if our ministers and other elected officials are taking this on board...!

Bard

Originally posted by paddy20
Yellum,

How the heck did you know that I wore glasses?

`

Paddy - he didn't - he used a "metaphor", saying you were looking at the "situation" through "rose tinted glasses".

"Look it up", maybe?

Terminator

Jesus - get off his case. Every chance you get - you make snidy remarks.

Bard

Originally posted by Terminator
Jesus - get off his case. Every chance you get - you make snidy remarks.

I'm not making a snide remark;- I've no problem, generally, with Paddy20 - until he starts insulting people's intelligence of course.

All I'm doing is pointing out something to him that he apparently missed. Chill.

Mark

Im just constantly grateful IOFFL even exist. Sure we may be connecting at ****e speeds now, but without them I dare say we'd be cheering over the latest 7.5k modem:)

Praetorian

Ireland Offline has definitely made a difference! The people who run it & the people who support it should be commended…We are getting there…slowly but surely.

I regret not having very much time available over the past 2 years, as I would have liked to have been more actively involved. I have however given the IOFL / Boards links to countless people. Every little bit helps I suppose…

DC

I'm not making a snide remark;- I've no problem, generally, with Paddy20 - until he starts insulting people's intelligence of course.

For god's sake quit with the silly jibes. I don't feel my intelligence is being insulted by paddy20. Not everyone gets an A in honours English. You're remarks to paddy20 are far more insulting. :mad:

Anyway.... Back on topic.....

Hats off to the efforts of IOFFL. I haven't been following events for that long, but I get the impression people in high places are taking notice.

One of the most important roles of IOFFL has been to counteract propaganda and other mis-information in the press and on the airwaves. This counteraction has been swift and effective, often leaving the mis-informers with egg on their faces.

Well done (so far)....

Bard

In an effort to keep this bullshit off the forum, I've PM'd you in response, DC.

Paddy20

Bard,

As you suggested. I have looked up - metaphor - . The application of a name or descriptive term to an object or action to which it is imaginatively but not literally applicable (e.g. a glaring error).

As I am - a classic migraine sufferer - who by coincidence wears "rose tinted" prescription glasses when needed and my retort at Yellums somewhat tongue in cheek comment was not meant to be taken so seriously!, .

Can I now be allowed please, to get on with my life in peace? Thank you.

Paddy20

OHP

Would this be considered to be a 'Troll' ?


OHP

Dustaz

Unfortunatly not.


Gone way off topic

Locked.