An Idea:)

LegacyUser

First of all I would like to congratulate Martin and the crew on the great progress made at the seminar. I was having a nice read over the topics . So well done to all of you, and Im sorry I couldnt be there, but I had to be in work.

Anyway to my plan. The ODTR and some of the other big players in this situation say that flatrate internet access 'simply isnt econimocal'. They also feel that broadband isnt too viable also because of a lack of market. Well now what we should do maybe is draw up a case study into a country similar to ours ( similar in GNP, population, size etc ) who have good internet services. Theres no doubt about it that as a country ans as a people, we have some enthusiasm for internet access and computers in general. I think we are fairly 'tech minded' in general. Once we have had a look at these other countries, we should prove to eircom and the others that flatrate can be done, and we should show them this by working off the model that the succesful country for internet penetration has used. Take countries such as Canada and Australia. They have a very good internet infrastructure and setup, and an excellent range of affordabe services for the consumer. These are the things that we want. Both of these countries are over forty times our size and they have less than 20 million in population, so roughly you could say that they are in a similar situation to us. A closer match would be the north. People up there have 24 hour flatrate, why? because BT have unbundled their local loops and allowed UTV internet to offer this service. Nothern Ireland has a population of 1.5 million ( I think ), and Ireland has a population at least twice that amount. Think about it. If we work off their models we can achieve alot more by persuading the ODTR and all other involved parties. We could have the same down here what people have in the North, if Eircom were to get their act together.

Thanks for listening ( or reading in this case

Matt Finucane


Oh one last thing, I see Eircom are sponsoring a football team. Now companies sponsor football teams in order to advertise and sell their products or services. Why do eircom need to advertise really?? They are the only phone company in this country ( in all fairness ) and we would see their logo nearly every day on the TV or on our huge overpriced phonebills Truly they have lost the plot

LegacyUser

On the eircom topic. I suppose they are, trying to make themselves an appealing corporate body by sponsoring the irish team. But then again, if they dropped their prices, everyone would be happy?

Agree with your whole idea thing, but who will step forward and take on the job?

---

www.acid.ie

LegacyUser

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Matfinn:


The ODTR and some of the other big players in this situation say that flatrate internet access 'simply isnt econimocal'. </font>

I was not aware that the ODTR had this opinion of flat rate access. At this stage Eircom is the only company making such a claim and as they are the bottleneck it is not (under current conditions) commercially viable for Esat or others to offer a flat rate service.

LegacyUser

I have ntlworld, 52k is the best I've got. It's 100% free as long as we spend £15 on other services, and with 2 phone lines and TV that's easy to spend. And incase your wondering, I'm in Belfast.

It's good, but I would still like better, as I always want more more more...

PS- 1.7 million in Ulster, and about 6 million altogether in Ireland if I'm right.

LegacyUser

O.T. buuuut can someone who uses NTL answer one question for me?

Right now I'm paying £27 per month to NTL just for TV.

So, if I read this right, I can get TV + Telephone + Internet [not including call charges] for £15?!

LegacyUser

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by PiE:
O.T. buuuut can someone who uses NTL answer one question for me?

Right now I'm paying £27 per month to NTL just for TV.
</font>

Isn't around £10 for the basic TV package in the 26 counties.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">So, if I read this right, I can get TV + Telephone + Internet [not including call charges] for £15?!</font>

I think this involves relocating to the North and I believe the £15 includes the basic TV package, 2 phone lines + free calls to other NTL phone line customers in the UK, 24/7 Internet (including call charges) with option to upgrade to cable modem.

Not bad.

LegacyUser

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by PiE:
O.T. buuuut can someone who uses NTL answer one question for me?

Right now I'm paying £27 per month to NTL just for TV.

So, if I read this right, I can get TV + Telephone + Internet [not including call charges] for £15?!</font>

If you are living in Dublin you should be paying £27 pounds every three months for the basic TV service (this is 25% of what you are claiming to be paying).

Yes you can get all the above for £15 per month with unmetered connection to the Internet at weekends (you still have to pay line rental to Eircom and phone calls can be expensive during normal business hours)

Visit http://www.ntl.com/locales/ie/en/athome/starterpack.html for details of this service.

[This message has been edited by infomat (edited 31-08-2001).]

LegacyUser

In case there is any confusion, I was referring to the service in Belfast as mentioned by CoNfOuNd.