"Stimulating" demand

Xian

The story goes how Old Man Kennedy was getting his shoes shined back in '29 and the shoe-shine boy was telling him what stocks looked good and what didn't. Old Man Kennedy knew the game was up and it was time to get out of the market.

I got my hair cut this morning and the middle-aged man beside me was telling the barber how he had downgraded his ISDN line to get DSL but the DSL failed the test and now he's stuck with a normal line. The barber was asking him what company he applied through, told him of the others, asked how far from the exchange he was, told him where the exchange was (as he didn't know), said "mmm, that'd be about 3km, as the crow flies. But it's not as the crow flies - it's the turns in the road and that."

Now if my barber can give me the technical requirements for DSL and people are talking of stimulating demand, you have to realise that something fishy is going on.

Answers on a postcard...

Dangger

The government are certainly going to spend money to at least look to be seen to stimulating demand. So perhaps they should be encouraged to do it the best way possible rather than do a leaflet drop into local libraries or by sticking a free Internet access PC in community centres around the country.

Rather than see Eircom continue to bombard us with un-informative adverts over television/radio/print about the benefits of broadband, the government should at least attempt to spend money to fill the gap in peoples perception of what broadband is and what it enables them to do. Stop the Eircom brain-rot (time to undo the damage of a giant rat strapped into a chair, using a computer!).

Further evidence of the confusion and annoyance felt by the public on the misleading facts they are being presented with via advertising of broadband can be found in the recent and I believe upcoming Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI)bulletin.

Rather than see the demand side initiatives completely rubbished I think we should consider what is the best way they could go about doing something rather than wasting the cash and seeing no results - a likely event if it's gone about incorrectly, and (dare I say) if they do not take heed of advice they are asking for.

flav0rflav

Riddle me this, why should the government stimulate demand for a technology? They certainly don't do it for faster processors, bigger hard drives, or mofo graphics cards. I see broadband as being in the same bracket as these other technologies. Once they are available they will be made use of. No? Am I simplifying things again? Is the comparison invalid? Are Irish people different?

The government, in my view, needs to stimulate the supply, not the demand, side of the equation. The barber demonstrates that, no?

But I suspect that the story might have been more like:
"Did you see Seinfeld last night?"
"No, I can't get Sky."
"Oh? You should get broadband, and kazaa."

nahdoic

I would suggest, that your barber would be the exception rather than the rule. Almost all of my non-techie friends still don't know the difference between 56k, isdn and adsl. Most people I talk to, still believe that 'hi-speed' is what they should be getting if they want to get more out of their net access.

I’d prefer to see the government investing more in the metro network, to enable wireless operators to get backhaul cheaply and easily. Then allow the small start-ups to educate their local population.

If the government, is going to be spending money regardless on this though, just to get across to people the difference between 56k, isdn/hi-speed and ADSL would be fantastic.

56k ####
isdn ######
adsl ####################################

So people can know what they’re missing out on. FRIACO is going to be stimulating demand, the government definitely needs to focus more on making backhaul cheaply and easily available.

nahdoic

Actually, now that i'm thinking about it. And it was suggested by other people before.

An advertising campaign on the difference between 56k/isdn/adsl AND wireless, and about how this wireless technology is safe to use, and how it's actually faster than 56k/isdn/adsl.

Mr_Man

The economic advantages of having a clued in and web-enabled society are evident. The issue for the Irish Government is how to achieve this at minimum cost to the taxpayer. On the supply side it has made some positive moves with the relevant legislation and the MAN's. If the Eircom appeal against the LLU is thrown out then this will hasten the improvement in the supply side.

On the demand side the general population need to be informed of the reduced costs and benefits which can flow from having broadband. This is not made any easier by Eircom's actions such as raising line rental, screwing up the rollout of DSL and the pathetic advertising campaign - strapping the mouse to the chair might be a good idea, if you were going to put a bullet in its head, but it does little to inform about the advanatages of BB.

Further the constant scare stories about computer viruses which circulate in the media only make it more difficult to persuade the non-tech savy to look at the new technology.

One of the key ways of driving this change is through the schools, the kids can lead the way in educating their parents - if they have access and explanation of the technology from primary school onward. Getting a proper infrastructure in place is vital if we are serious about being a player in the 'E'-World, at the moment we are falling further behind.

Just my 2c

M.

Xian

Originally posted by Dangger
Rather than see the demand side initiatives completely rubbished I think we should consider what is the best way they could go about doing something rather than wasting the cash and seeing no results - a likely event if it's gone about incorrectly, and (dare I say) if they do not take heed of advice they are asking for.

My intention would not be to 'rubbish' any such initiative. My intention would be to plot a course that best acheives IO's objectives. From experience, this has been through keeping our message simple and not diluting it in any way. Right now, our message is simple: "Ireland is behind in the development of
broadband technologies due to the lack of appropriate supply (not demand). This lack of supply is due to lack of competition at the last mile infrastructure level." Just because a demand-side initiative is inevitable does not mean we should support it, and I believe that supporting such an initiative would dilute our message.

If money is to be spent on a public awareness campaign, it should be spent on making the public aware of alternatives to internet access over POTS, in conjunction with funding for these alternatives.

flav0rflav

Demand/adopter bell curve. Innovators, Early Adaptors, Early Majority, Late Majority, Laggards. Where are we on it? That should determine an appropriate strategy as regards the promotion of broadband.

I would suggest we are really in the Innovators/Early Adaptors phases. Where I presume mass promotion is of little value?

Or are we breaking from Early Adaptor to Early Majority? I doubt it.

I presume the government has some take on this?

Eircom are in the throws of mass marketing, no?

Fergus

This is a non argument when the only real provider of any possible broadband is the duopoly. Until that is sorted out, trying to get more people online is just trying to get more people to buy in to the Internet as they choose to provide it.

In a normal competitive country, you have broadband providers running TV advertising about not only the advantages of broadband, but why their broadband is faster than the other guys, and what extra wonderful things you can do cos of it.

If the govt owned the infrastructure, this sort of promotion by the govt would make sense. But of course, they don't.

MDR

I agree with Fergus, and add that flat-rate internet will help stimulate demand for broadband in the medium to long term. This government driven demand is a white elephant, the government could go out and spend millions whipping up demand, and Eircom/Esat would still fold their arms and tell us there is no demand.

MRBI clearily states there is huge demand above and beyond most first world countries within the nominal €30 - €40 price range, the sheer number of ISDN lines is evidence of this alone. We don't need demand side initatives, we need supply side initatives.