Core problem: People's perception of broadband and its benefits.

SkepticOne

Originally posted by Hornet
I would LOVE To be there and listen to the answers the TDs give to school pupils about Broadband.

It would be an educational experience for one of these groups.

Boston

Originally posted by Ardmore
But you're making the mistake of thinking that FRIACO is going to get them using it more than they currently use it.

sorry but all evidence points to you being wrong. In every other country where a friaco product has been introduced internet use has increased dramtically. But anyway thats completely off topic.

Ardmore

Originally posted by Boston
sorry but all evidence points to you being wrong. In every other country where a friaco product has been introduced internet use has increased dramtically.

That isn't evidence pointing to me being wrong, it's simply information about other markets. All of that information comes from a time when internet access was growing everywhere anyway. Internet access grew during the same time here, even without FRIACO.

We already have what is effectively "off-peak" FRIACO, with the UTV €30 for 150 hours offer. Has it made a difference to the Home user? Is there anyone buying it who isn't already spending more than €30/month with Eircom?

The internet isn't new and shiny for most people any more, and the only people queing up for FRIACO are the people who already spend more than €30 a month on dialup access. And anyone currently spending an extra €19 a month for "hi-price", as well as call charges, will be falling over themselves to drop dialup altogether in favour of a single line with ADSL for €54, as soon as it's an option for them.

I know people in other countries who pay the equivalent of €25 a month for flat rate internet access. The only people that I know in Ireland that are interested are those who are already paying more than that. Their usage may well increase with a flat rate package, but the usage of people who don't think they spend much now won't be impacted. So our "average hours" numbers may well increase, but internet usage won't become more widespread. (In fact, if people manage to get the notion that you can't get on the internet without paying €25 a month, FRIACO may actually have a negative impact. Stranger things have happened in this country!).

It's too late for FRIACO to impact the "culture" of internet usage in Ireland. The only impact will be on the finances of Eircom, and existing "heavy" users. (Where "heavy" doesn't mean what you mean by "heavy" )

Boston

Originally posted by Ardmore
That isn't evidence pointing to me being wrong, it's simply information about other markets. All of that information comes from a time when internet access was growing everywhere anyway. Internet access grew during the same time here, even without FRIACO.

We already have what is effectively "off-peak" FRIACO, with the UTV €30 for 150 hours offer. Has it made a difference to the Home user? Is there anyone buying it who isn't already spending more than €30/month with Eircom?

The internet isn't new and shiny for most people any more, and the only people queing up for FRIACO are the people who already spend more than €30 a month on dialup access. And anyone currently spending an extra €19 a month for "hi-price", as well as call charges, will be falling over themselves to drop dialup altogether in favour of a single line with ADSL for €54, as soon as it's an option for them.

I know people in other countries who pay the equivalent of €25 a month for flat rate internet access. The only people that I know in Ireland that are interested are those who are already paying more than that. Their usage may well increase with a flat rate package, but the usage of people who don't think they spend much now won't be impacted. So our "average hours" numbers may well increase, but internet usage won't become more widespread. (In fact, if people manage to get the notion that you can't get on the internet without paying €25 a month, FRIACO may actually have a negative impact. Stranger things have happened in this country!).

It's too late for FRIACO to impact the "culture" of internet usage in Ireland. The only impact will be on the finances of Eircom, and existing "heavy" users. (Where "heavy" doesn't mean what you mean by "heavy" )

Find it hard to locate where you disagreeing with me, but anyway, i'm not saying use will be mroe widespread, (thought i know it will be) is saying use will definitely be more concintrated. People who get friaco will use the net much more, fact not fiction. I know of several shools in me locaity where the internet is limited to a single pc for no other reason then to kep costs down. To believe hat there isn't an underlining demand for these services just doesn't wash, and sound more liek an eircom rep to me.

spongebob

Originally posted by Boston
I know of several shools in me locaity where the internet is limited to a single pc for no other reason then to kep costs down

FRIACO will have an immediate and significant impact on usage during peak hours. Schools and Small Biznisses will relax their restrictions immediately. The modem contention ratio will be severly tested on the first monday in September I can safely say.

ISP's in Ireland can get away with ratios as high as 15-20 modems per 'user ' . With FRIACO this will drop but there may be sufficient daytime modems anyway.

Off peak it will have a lesser impact I think...in the short term.

Ardmore

Originally posted by Boston
Find it hard to locate where you disagreeing with me, but anyway, i'm not saying use will be mroe widespread, (thought i know it will be) is saying use will definitely be more concintrated.

You were the one who said that FRIACO would encourage people who don't use the net much to use it more, thus building a market for broadband. Now you're saying that the main benefits will be for those who already use the 'net quite a lot.

People who get friaco will use the net much more, fact not fiction.

And (at the currently mooted €30/month) the only people who will get FRIACO are those who already consider themselves "regular" users.

I know of several shools in me locaity where the internet is limited to a single pc for no other reason then to kep costs down.

And they'll still limit it to a single PC, even with FRIACO. If Eircom had any sense, every school and library in range of an upgraded echange would have been given a free ADSL connection on day one. But half the schools would have turned it down!

To believe hat there isn't an underlining demand for these services just doesn't wash, and sound more liek an eircom rep to me.

To believe that there is an underlying demand from people who won't even spend €10 a month now is wishful thinking at best. The only underlying demand for FRIACO is for people who are currently spending a lot of time (and therefor money) on the net. These people would already be using broadband, if it was available.

Which gets us back to where we started. FRIACO at €30/month won't build a market for broadband at €50/month. (FRIACO at €10 or even €15 maybe, but that's not going to happen).

SkepticOne

Originally posted by Muck
Off peak it will have a lesser impact I think...in the short term.

If they are clever, they will have a specific off-peak package to cater for people who only access the net off-peak.

spongebob

Originally posted by Ardmore

Which gets us back to where we started. FRIACO at €30/month won't build a market for broadband at €50/month. (FRIACO at €10 or even €15 maybe, but that's not going to happen).

Not quite . The 8% rise in Line Rental for Everybody in the country will play into the hands of Comreg when it comes to the setting of USO obligations.

The highest line rental (by far) in Europe is in essence a Universal Service Obligation on the customer. The regulator ...armed with the efficient operator comparison along with the principle of accounting separation......can impose the Mother of all USO's on the Carrier that pulls in by far the most money amongst its peers for the maintenance of this network.

Essentially Eircom can now be forced to upgrade its network because it OBVIOUSLY has the money to do so.

Their timing was really really off when they tried to slither that one out quietly. They pumped their LRII (Long Run Incremental Income) base up to far and too soon and with no demonstrable cause.

It appears that the Eircom Board did not give the management room to manoever and forced their hand on the Line Rental rise. The Americans assumed that Comreg would be as amiable about this as the FCC has recently been but the Board, being largely US based, don't really understand the USO directive.

Interesting times, there are 2 more price rise packages in the pipeline this year.

M

Ardmore

Originally posted by Muck
The highest line rental (by far) in Europe is in essence a Universal Service Obligation on the customer. The regulator ...armed with the efficient operator comparison along with the principle of accounting separation......can impose the Mother of all USO's on the Carrier that pulls in by far the most money amongst its peers for the maintenance of this network.

Just as a matter of interest, how will this impact the whole notion of LLU? What happens to line rental when a line is unbundled?

spongebob

interesting Q.

Eircom get less money than normal becaue their exchange is taken out of the network price equation.

so a normal 16.20 ex vat (now) becomes around 8 I think. Page 6 of This Here should tell ya

eircom Currently bill it and pass the cut on to the alt.carrier

unified billing, due this year, will reverse this. alt.carrier will bill you the lot and pass it back, will also apply in CPS AFAIR

naturally they will seek an 8% increase in this component and will have to justify it with their dodgy figures, Comreg were not impressed with their costings in the FRIACO directive negotiations, remember

M

DonegalMan

I think we are missing a significant issue raised by David’s original questions.

Users of this forum are already ‘switched on’ to using the Internet in general and the advantages of Broadband in particular, but what percentage of the total population do they account for? Certainly less than 1%

In order to stimulate enough interest in Broadband to make it financially viable for the Telco’s, there needs to be a massive awareness campaign.

Potential customers for Broadband can be divided into two broad groups – business and residential.

As far as residential goes, I think it is much lack of awareness as concerns about price – how many ‘ordinary’ users even know what a cap is, apart from something you wear? There is little IMO that IOFFL can really do in this area, it is mainly a case of PR campaigns by the Telco’s – this is exactly what is happening in the UK with the high level of TV advertising going on.

In regard to business, though, I think there is something we can contribute. One area where I have been a bit disappointed with IOFFL’s success to date has been our lack of impact on organisations representing SME’s – SFA, Chamber of Commerce, etc.

Getting businesses turned onto the advantages of Broadband is a matter of education, showing them what Broadband can do for their business. For example, the guy (can’t remember his name) from SFA who was originally quite hostile to IOFFL changed his mind a bit when David took him through what I am trying to achieve in my own business and the obstacles I am finding.

One idea I suggested some time ago was a ‘travelling workshop’ organised by IOFFL, perhaps in co-operation with one of the other organisations, with demonstrations of what Broadband can do for business. This could also be an opportunity for some of our members to demonstrate their skills.

Worth following up?

Martin Harran

Dangger

Worth following up?

Absolutely. We have been aware of the opportunity with getting businesses more up to speed and on board. Recently we have focused our energies on attending a few conferences around the country getting ourselves known amongst business groups.

We attended a conference in Atlone titled bridging the digital divide in rural areas, for these reasons. Comhar Leader na hEireann and www.blackwater-resources.com were the organisers. I was honestly surprised at the high turn out and level of concern amongst the businesses who attended. It was of great vale for IOFFL to attend and show that we are committed to the cause but need their support in the matter.

Two interesting case studies were presented at the conference. One fro Donnie Morrison, of who runs
Work Global Advisory Services , and Chris McDonagh of Tele Arainn Teoranta on Arranmore Island.

Work Global has put the Outer Hebrides on the map as a leader in e-working and as an outsourcing location for customer contact centres. It based on Harris Island the home of Harris tweed on the Scottish Isles off the West coast of Scotland. From their own site, "the Outer Hebrides are fast developing into one of the best 'connected' real and virtual worker communities in Europe. A multi-million pound investment programme has brought our digital infrastructure to a very high standard and the islands now boast an enabling technology far superior to many areas. ".

Work Global is successful and expanding. They can operate large size call centre operations using their broadband infrastructire on the island. Tele Arainn Teoranta on the other hand do not have the capacity they require and are being hindered in their development. They could equal the success of Work Global, but as of yet they simply cannot get the capacity they require to operate large seat call centres. Quite simply if they had broadband they could create jobs right away. 10 jobs on Arranmore is qual to 1.4% of the population. They are currently using ISDN, they need broadband.

They finished their talk with eh simple message - "Give us the services. We will create the jobs"

The workshop idea is a good one, but something I feel we would need to go at in conjunction with one of more of the business organisations. Hopefully with our work to date, we have a good enough platform to work towards such a project.

SkepticOne

Originally posted by DonegalMan
Getting businesses turned onto the advantages of Broadband is a matter of education, showing them what Broadband can do for their business. For example, the guy (can’t remember his name) from SFA who was originally quite hostile to IOFFL changed his mind a bit when David took him through what I am trying to achieve in my own business and the obstacles I am finding.

Frank Delany. I think his point was that businesses wern't crying out for these services. I think, though, that there had been a demand for some time among businesses that was simply never addressed. Unfortunately broadband is a term used in Ireland for all sorts of things. While correct, technically, in most of the world it has come to mean services like DSL and cable internet. We are still using it in an older more general sense.

Mary O Rourke announced in, I think, 1998 that the national broadband network was being extended to Donegal - yet there is no 'broadband' in this other sense in that county, just a load of fibre in the ground.

There's a whole lot of education to be done on so many levels!

Boston

Originally posted by Ardmore
Now you're saying that the main benefits will be for those who already use the 'net quite a lot.

No, I always said the main benefit would come from people who have the internet and don't use it allot now, simply because it costs to much, every pc sold in Ireland (by big producers) now comes intraweb ready, with a free cd for eircom or what ever and a 56k modem. Most people only use it to check for very specific things, that would change with friaco, its generally excepted that friaco is a major stepping stone towards broadband, in fact I know of only one country where broadband was widely available before friaco, and that's here(available but not desired) there's a reason for that.

And (at the currently mooted €30/month) the only people who will get FRIACO are those who already consider themselves "regular" users.

Your completely wrong. When I first got onto the internet I was approached with an offer of 1 penny per minute by gateway, I thought wow that's great. then I was told of esat no limits which was 18 pound a month I was delighted, now I had never used the net before and I knew that 18 euro for off peak access was a much better deal then 60 pence an hour. You whole argument is based on the idea that the only people who buy those 3 for the price of two offers or people who already consume at least two. The whole principal of equi marginal returns comes into play.

But half the schools would have turned it down!

what are you basing this on?

FRIACO at €30/month won't build a market for broadband at €50/month. (FRIACO at €10 or even €15 maybe, but that's not going to happen).

Your last point was also muck, for some reason your talking about the principal of consumer surplus.

This point here is,I dare say pointless, no friaco service will build demand for broadband at 50 euro. I would even have to think twice about that. But at friaco service that is 15 euro is more likely to reduce the demand for a 50euro product, rather then the other way around. As friaco is a close substitute of broadband. This is all very basic economic theory here. I don't know

SkepticOne

Originally posted by Boston
Your last point was also muck, for some reason your talking about the principal of consumer surplus.

Hey, let Muck speak for himself.

spongebob

1. Eircom are an efficient operator, they keep telling us that. I take them at their word.

2. In a fit of rational behaviour and efficiency they have impelmented the highest line rental in Europe . 150% of the median from Paddys day . €21.15

3. As we will be paying far mor than the median or average we will (rationally of course) get a network that is 150% better than the european median.

4. Thanks to the wisdom Eircom have shown, 150% more resources may be devoted to the network than in more backward countries such as Sweden or Finland who charge slightly under the Median for their lines with a far lower population density than ourselves. We know that the underinvestment in te netwrok in Sweden and Finland has led to a shockingly low level of Broadband penetration because their underinvested network cannot cope with it.

5. Eircom have therefore put in place the final cog that was needed in the Long Run Incremental Investment that underpins the Universal Service obligation in Ireland.

6. They have effectively told us, Now we have the money, we will remove all the rubbish that was put on our lines when we did not have the money. After all they are efficient and rational.

7. There is no doubt any more that the finances are there to support 56k speeds for all. Eircom knew it was coming because they read the self same European directive that we did.

Let me take this opportunity to congratulate Eircom on their far sightedness and on their committment to their customer base. Unlike their other retail operations , the money for the network is ring fenced and will remain within Ireland. It will be spent on Irish workers running copper. It will spin back to the government in VAT. It will benefit us rather than the Bankers and Tony O'Reilly(Bart) because the line rental does not contribute to the profit margin in Eircom.

It will also help them to re-enter the mobile market next year........

nahdoic

Lady: Do I detect a note of sarcasm?
Frink: (reading sarcasm detector) Are you kidding me, this baby's off the charts, mmhay!
CBG: Ooh, a sarcasm detector, well that's a REAL useful invention. (detector blows up)

OHP

Originally posted by Muck
Let me take this opportunity to congratulate Eircom on their far sightedness and on their committment to their customer base. Unlike their other retail operations , the money for the network is ring fenced and will remain within Ireland. It will be spent on Irish workers running copper. It will spin back to the government in VAT. It will benefit us rather than the Bankers and Tony O'Reilly(Bart) because the line rental does not contribute to the profit margin in Eircom.

It will also help them to re-enter the mobile market next year........

This cannot be for real? You mentioned the words Eircon and Congratulate in the same sentence?


OHP

Hornet

Originally posted by Boston
Most people only use it to check for very specific things, that would change with friaco, its generally excepted that friaco is a major stepping stone towards broadband, in fact I know of only one country where broadband was widely available before friaco, and that's here(available but not desired) there's a reason for that.

FRIACO _can_ be a stepping stone and definitely _is_ a stepping stone _for_power_users if available before Broadband is available. I have to agree fully with Ardmore (and disagree with you) who is in my opinion spot on about FRIACO for non-Internet users or low-level users.

You wrote "Broadband was widely available before FRIACO"? You can't be talking about Ireland!? Widely available? Do I miss the sarcasm?

But seriously, the country where Broadband was widely available and widely used before any FRIACO-like offering is (not was!!) Germany. There are currently more than 3 Million DSL users in Germany and there is NO FRIACO product available. In fact, T-Online charged call charges PLUS an "Internet usage fee" (per minute) in the beginnings of the Internet in Germany.

Ardmore

Originally posted by Hornet
I have to agree fully with Ardmore (and disagree with you) who is in my opinion spot on about FRIACO for non-Internet users or low-level users.

By the way, I should point out that I'm not in any way "anti-FRIACO". IOFFL exists because of FRIACO - the treatment of the pseudo FRIACO NoLimits product was the catalyst for the formation of IOFFL. And the introduction of real FRIACO is definitely something that IOFFL can and should take some credit for.

I just don't think that it will have a significant impact on "internet culture" (for want of a better term) in Ireland.

Fergus

I think one problem with selling the consumer on a lot of Internet services is that the real motivation behind them is the supplier being able to lower costs of production. The advantages for the customer is less clear. For example, many people probably see an hour of HTML forms and clicking and scrolling and whatnot in order to do their shopping to be more hassle than finding a parking space. Not to mention the 6 Euro delivery charge or whatever.

What really works is services pulled by the consumer. Maybe things like Instant messengers, video conf, school reunion site, etc. Look at SMS on mobiles for example.

I think one 'killer app' in Ireland would be to put the school textbooks fully online and free. Every year we here the average parent moaning to Marian/Joe on RTE about having to find the cash to buy all the books again etc even though the cirriculum hardly changes. I know this concept has problems, but if we're serious about e-Society it's the sort of way the govt should be thinking.

In the US, ComCast are currently running TV ads about broadband. Some push the always-on advantage. Some push the bandwidth / video-conf advantage. Some talk about how it's faster than ADSL. The Irish general public probably needs to come a bit further before you could justify such TV campaigns.

Note that we have had an ideal marketing experiment going in Dublin 24 for a few years.. with one of the lowest priced 512k cable Internet services in the world. Maybe someone residing there could poll the neighbours and see what reasons come back about why they are not interested. AFAIK, it has been marketed to everyone there by NTL.

bk

Originally posted by Fergus

I think one 'killer app' in Ireland would be to put the school textbooks fully online and free.

Aaaaaarrrrrrrgggggghhhhhh!!!!!!

Brian runs to the top floor of the building and jumps off, due to going crazy from hearing those two god awful words again.

Unfortunately the building is only three storeys, so he just breaks his two legs

BTW I would think that the authors and publishers of these books would sort of object to this.

However I do look forward to the day when e-ink becomes a commercial reality and we can all do away with the bag and shelf full of books

Boston

Originally posted by Hornet
You wrote "Broadband was widely available before FRIACO"? You can't be talking about Ireland!? Widely available? Do I miss the sarcasm?

Something like 200,000 homes are adsl enabled. I'd call that wide spread. Of course only around 3000 of those actuaqlly have adsl and i think about 10% of thsoe have esats. the simple fac tis that all cities and most major towns have adsl avaiable in them. You line might be a piece of piss or you might not want to pay the price but it is widely available. At last count i had 4 different companies i could buy adsl from.

Hornet

Originally posted by Boston
Something like 200,000 homes are adsl enabled. I'd call that wide spread. Of course only around 3000 of those actuaqlly have adsl and i think about 10% of thsoe have esats. the simple fac tis that all cities and most major towns have adsl avaiable in them. You line might be a piece of piss or you might not want to pay the price but it is widely available. At last count i had 4 different companies i could buy adsl from.

And I thought there are 500,000 homes enabled!

But what is the definition of "enabled"? It means in Eircom-speak "a home that is theoretically within ADSL reach of an exchange with some ADSL equipment".

"Theoretically" because your line quality might not be sufficient. "Some ADSL equipment" because it could be a DSLAM with just 150 ports in a large exchange. This might be more than enough for the business customers that could afford the service, but for the marketing, you would still count each and every home user in this area.

Only a fraction of the 200,000 or 500,000 could actually get ADSL because there is a limited number of ports installed. Not that this is a limiting factor with less than 3,000 users, but "ADSL enabled" is marketing speak.

BTW: As far as I am aware the companies with own ADSL equipment (DSLAMs) are Eircom and EsatBT. I know that Via resells ADSL, but can't think of the fourth company as mentioned in your posting.

If you are one of the VERY few people that can buy ADSL in Ireland from 4 companies, you should praise the Lord! (Not that they are competing with each other too much, but, hey, you can't ask for everything.) Many people in Ireland can not get ADSL from any of the 3 or 4.

-Hornet

spongebob

Originally posted by Hornet
And I thought there are 500,000 homes enabled!

<snip>

Many people in Ireland can not get ADSL from any of the 3 or 4.

-Hornet

did you see it in an ad somewhere

MOST people Hornet, way it is.

Boston

Originally posted by Hornet
And I thought there are 500,000 homes enabled!

But what is the definition of "enabled"? It means in Eircom-speak "a home that is theoretically within ADSL reach of an exchange with some ADSL equipment".

"Theoretically" because your line quality might not be sufficient. "Some ADSL equipment" because it could be a DSLAM with just 150 ports in a large exchange. This might be more than enough for the business customers that could afford the service, but for the marketing, you would still count each and every home user in this area.

Only a fraction of the 200,000 or 500,000 could actually get ADSL because there is a limited number of ports installed. Not that this is a limiting factor with less than 3,000 users, but "ADSL enabled" is marketing speak.

BTW: As far as I am aware the companies with own ADSL equipment (DSLAMs) are Eircom and EsatBT. I know that Via resells ADSL, but can't think of the fourth company as mentioned in your posting.

If you are one of the VERY few people that can buy ADSL in Ireland from 4 companies, you should praise the Lord! (Not that they are competing with each other too much, but, hey, you can't ask for everything.) Many people in Ireland can not get ADSL from any of the 3 or 4.

-Hornet

Your points are all crap since its not better or worse a service then most other adsl services. I also down now where your gettign this ports idea. Its very unlikely thats the reason people can't get adsl.

Btw i never said i could get it from 4 independant companies, i just said four campanies. 1 is reselling eircoms crap and the other is reselling esats, and then from either of them directly.

DeVore

Look lads, there is no silver killer app thats going to make everyone WANT broadband right now.

The internet is a 40 year project that is 25 into it.

Look at sweden... I'd like to see you get their broadband BACK from the masses without a riot. They take it for granted. Its a utility... like electricity and running water.

Why couldnt we all buy bottled water? why do you need always on, running water? Cos its convenient. thats why...

I wanted broanband because I had a vague inkling what it would do for me and because I would use it A LOT.
So it makes a huge difference to me now... I dont use dialup at all in my day to day life and I can tell you its PAINFUL to go back.

10 years from now it will be 10mb rather then 1mb. 20 years from now it will be 100.
'Not here' you say? well not if we dont force the pace but other places are already at cheap 10mb lines.

Like running water there is no absolutely justifiable reason why we need it... but we'd never do without it.

DeV.

STaN

So how are we to change peoples perception of broadband on a large scale?

Advertising by the telco's, community groups? Or maybe public events or forums?

Because if people are missing out on a utility such as what the internet has become to so many people, shouldnt they feel like they are missing out if they DONT have broadband?

DeVore

Games.


they are driving a lot of everything that is improving in tech terms.

Games and porn to be honest.


Most people who understand games and ping times etc understand the desire for broadband or at LEAST flat rate ISDN.

We should be pushing the alternatives to just web and mail usage. Video Conferencing with family in the states... downloading movie-trailers etc.

I've been giving this some thought.

DeV.

SkepticOne

Plenty of things will drive broadband just like in other countries where broadband is a) available and b) affordable.

Problem in Ireland is that broadband is:

a) not available widely.
b) not affordable.

Broadband at 100 euros will not sell. There is not point in raising awareness of it at that price.

Price is probably less of an issue with businesses. Around 70% of small businesses have ISDN and a lot of these aren't happy and would be glad to switch to broadband if it was available.

I think we are in danger of creating a problem which may not exist. Sure, if you go up to a random punter in the street, they are likely not to express interest in broadband. This is because it is an abstract concept. They don't know anyone with it,they've never seen it in action and they've probably never seen it even advertised so they've never given it any thought. I The reason for this is, once again, that broadband is:

a) not available widely.
b) not affordable.

I think someone made the point about mobile phones. Initially they were hugely expensive and no one bough them. When they came down in price, people started buying them. In the 80's if you had asked people in the streat did they want a mobile phone you would have heard: "Not interested, don't need one, etc." They were never marketed or priced for the ordinary person.

Despite this, there's a huge number of people in Ireland who would get broadband if only it was made available at a decent price. We could be ahead of the curve very quickly once the damn thing is out there. Let's concentrate on that first, ffs. It is much easier to raise awareness for something that is actually there.

What needs to happen is:

1. Make it widely available.
2. Bring down the bleeding price.
3. Do a bit of advertising.

Thats it.