Given the abject failure of the government to provide universal, high-speed broadband to every household and business in the county, I have decided to introduce my own Bill that will do exactly this.
The main provisions of the Bill will include:
- Targets for the establishment of universal 5 Megabit broadband coverage by the end of 2009, and for universal 20 Megabit coverage by 2012;
- The establishment of a National Broadband Network which will include all private and public infrastructure for the delivery of universal coverage;
- The establishment of a National Broadband Commission to represent broadband consumers and to co-ordinate the implementation of the Network. Its members must be approved by the Joint Committee of Communications Energy and Natural Resources. It will report directly to the Minister;
- Provisions obliging the Minister to report on the NBC’s progress to the Joint Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources on a semi-annual basis;
- Regulatory reform including increased powers for Comreg to guarantee free competition in broadband provision.
It is out of frustration that I feel compelled to introduce this Bill. The government and the rest of the Luddites in Leinster House have failed to recognise the importance of broadband for
I will publish the Bill in full on the resumption of the Seanad next week. I would be delighted to hear your views on it. If you have any suggestions for amendments, or indeed you would like to tell me your own broadband experience, I would really appreciate it if you contacted me at shane.ross@oireachtas.ie
Shane,
Keep up the good work?
What level of penetration are you pushing for in your Broadband Bill?
Would you be able to send me on a copy of the Bill, please?
JJ
Well done Senator!
It is great to see a public person address this important issue. The inertia demonstrated by the Government to date on this matter has been lamentable. You, Senator, would seem to be the only individual in either House who appreciates the vital importance of a competitive Broadband service to the future of this country. Your decision to introduce a Private Member’s Bill is commendable, and deserving of cross-party support from all politicians. If the feedback from this evening’s “The Last Word” is any indicator, you already have that support from the general public!
I will be following the passage of the Bill with great interest.
Its great to see someone in government making the right noises..
I have recently returned to Ireland having lived and worked for 20 years in England. Zoning restrictions forced me to build a house 6 miles out of my old home town, Midleton, but the lack of network infrastructure means that I cannot get a connection faster than 128k in order to work.
It doesn’t seemed to be “joined up” government when you are forcing people to live outside of towns but not providing them with the basic infrastructure that most other 3rd world countries have.
My biggest question with regard to broadband in Ireland is why the UK and NI can push at least 512k broadband to ALL homes regardless of distance but in Ireland you have to live 4.5km from an exchange.
Its time to catch up with the rest of the world
I cannot begin to thank Senator Ross enough for this intervention.
While I will remain pessimistic about the success his bill will have I am sure that it can only be a good thin to highlight the problem.
Is there any way to find out what happened to the Broadband over Powerline (BPL) trial that Dermot Aherne, then Minister of Communications, announced in Tuam in August 2003?
Well done Senator Ross. It’s good to see that there’s at least one politician in this country who understands how bad things really are. It’s also good to see that even though Ministers Ryan and Killeen like to ignore your viewpoint (the truth) that you’ve not given up.
I wish you more success with this bill than with the previous motion.
Thank you. Something like this is long overdue. However, by 2012 20Mb may be seen as on a par with 1mb or even 512k today so this may prompt the government of 2012 to sit back in satisfaction if 20Mb is achieved. Perhaps the insertion of something like ‘with comparable universal progress thereafter’??
I realise you are commendably seeking universal coverage, so that would be a minimum.
Anyway, thanks for the concern. Luddites, indeed. If nothing else your bill might wake some of them up.
Dear Senator Ross.
For ten years now I’ve been running a website dealing with issues such as the Abuse of Children in care, Legal Drug Addiction and disability issues. The site is “hit” 70,000 to 80,000 times per month. Recently I moved to the heritage village of Ardagh and had Broadband installed by Last Mile Broadband. They are the only ISP in this area. I’ve had repeated problems with the service a fact admitted by their own technicians but instead of resolving the problem, Last Mile Broadband, based in Athlone had decided to “discontinue” their service to me. I’ve never failed to pay for Broadband since having it installed. All of my complaints have been genuine.
Due to the content of my website, many people are very distressed and upset by the fact that I’m to be disconnected. I’ve written to the Directors of the Company, John Gibbons and Cyril Moriarity as well as someone who appears to be a customer relations manager of sorts, asking that they do not discontinue the service to me. Not only have Last Mile ignored my “snail mail” and email, they also ignored emails from many people who have written to them explaining how important the site is to them.
My website is non commercial, I work on it free and have never expected a cent for the work that goes into it. Yes, I’ve been offered payment if I would agree to put some advertising on my site. Because of it’s content, the website is not suitable for advertising and it would be insensitive of me to capitalise on sensitive material to make money.
Perhaps you’d contact Last Mile on my behalf. I would appreciate your support on this one. If there is any way I can get the emails sent to Last Mile Broadband to you, please let me know.
“Liveline” on RTE and also TV3 as well are some American and Canadian radio and TV are interested in covering this story.
Congratulations on your radio interview Newstalk 23rd January and the very best of luck with your efforts to have Ireland covered with a decent Broadband Service. You will have my support and that of many others.
Best wishes,
Paddy Doyle
Thank you for keeping this topic on the agenda, Senator. Not only is the situation inexplicable in the context of what has been achieved elsewhere, it is inexcusable. I’m sick of the soundbite solutions that are being trotted out yet never delivered. I’m sick of hearing the luddites talk about a ‘knowledge economy’ when they simply don’t comprehend what that involves and requires. I’m currently living in an area in Roscommon absolutely devoid of broadband (my mobile internet connection cannot be considered true broadband by any stretch of the imagination) with nothing on the horizon thanks to half-baked schemes.
Please don’t fall silent on this, we can’t fall any further back.
To the ministers who spoke in the previous debate, you should be ashamed of your ineptitude and dishonesty.
What Philip said. In the UK progress is being made towards 100Mb broadband, with BT saying that all new houses will be fitted with fibre to the home.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7202396.stm
Senator
I’d like to wholeheartedly support your efforts - it’s good that there’s at least one politician in this country who is treating this matter with the seriousness that it deserves. I’m sick of trying to contact the minister and local TDs and either not receiving a response, or when I do getting the stock responses “we’re making great progress in this area etc etc”. I’ve been trying to get broadband for years - I live in a fairly built-up area 12 miles from Galway city. All I want from politicians is some kind of commitment as to WHEN I will get broadband, but not one of them has even had the guts to admit that they don’t know / don’t care.
Thank you again for trying to address this issue and hopefully your efforts will go some way towards limiting the damage to the country’s reputation that this fiasco is causing.
The government spent millions on broadband projects that are useless.
Roads were dug up all over the country installing Fibre and MANS. Some of these MANS such as the one in Bunbeg Co Donegal home of Junior Minister for communications at the time now lies dead.
The second phase of the MANS was undertaken over two years ago boasting high-speed broadband for Donegal town, Ballyboey , Ballyshannon. According to Donegal County Council, work is complete on this project and we now have to wait for the Department of Communications to appoint a management company to manage the network.
If this company is anything like ENET, who manage Phase 1 then it will be impossible for small community providers to get backhaul.
Prices quoted by enet are insane.
Another project setup by a cross border company named ERNACT last year looks dead in the water. http://cns.ernact.net
The company from Northern Ireland appointed to install this so-called high-speed network, which was to be a model for other communities in Ireland, listen to this.
http://cns.ernact.net/TW/TWDocs/7/NB-Pat-BROADBAND-READY.mp3
This company appointed by Ernact do not have licences to operate.
They are using the licence free 2.4GH spectrum that is, and will become even more congested.
If you want to see a model of good solid technical, ability and knowledge then talk to Fastcom in Sligo.
This company hold the 3.6GH-licensed spectrum in the Northwest.
They never applied or received any form of government funding.
Have a look at http://www.fastcom.ie and see the coverage areas. In the North West
http://cns.ernact.net/TW/TWDocs/7/NB-Pat-BROADBAND-READY.m
Senator
Many thanks for highlighting this issue. I live 60 miles from Dublin in a small village, and have a wireless broadband connection via a satellite system. It cost 800 euro up front for equipment and 30 euro per month; for that I have a 2MB connection that works … sometimes. I tried hassling eircom, Irish Broadband and politicians. Nothing works. I understand France has a basic broadband connection of 15MB and that BT is pushing for a 100MB line in the UK.
Obvioulsy we are a smaller country, with a smaller population, but surely, surely we can have at least 5MB connectivity? Without a basic standard of broadband, as measured against other European countries, we are at a serious disadvantage, and this can only become worse the longer we neglect this vital service.
I moved to the country as I couldn’t afford to buy a house in Dublin, and I work from home three days a week. So on these days I am not commuting, thereby not contributing to traffic congetsion, not releasing carbon emissions into the atmosphere, not adding to wear and tear on the roads, and cutting down costs not only for myself but for the State. Surely this is a good thing? Why can the government not see that by supplying a decent broadband connection it will eventually cut costs all around? If people can work in an environment of their own choosing, their productivity improves and then the economy will improve.
Following thread is about crippled broadband quality provided by NTL.
Maybe it will be some use for you.
Good luck!
http://santa.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055194346&highlight=ntl tabula rasa
Senator Ross,
I am very happy to hear that someone is trying to do something about improving broadband provision in Ireland. I come from a small town in Co. Limerick called Kilfinane where we still have a dial-up connection. Broadband was recently introduced in Kilfinane but we have been told that our line is not suitable and we therefore will not be able to avail of broadband services.
I rent an apartment in Castletroy, just on the suburbs of the city - the apartment I live in has one connection for all the apartments which is very slow and we are not allowed to install landlines in these apartments or put up satellite dishes on the roof, which leaves me with the wireless broadband option. However, this does not work due to the buildings surrounding us.
I have tried to go through all options including wireless modems but there is not enough coverage for these to work either. I work as an IT Trainer and think it really is amazing that in 2008 these problems still exist in Ireland.
A friend in France emailed me this weekend asking if I could look up some information on the St. Patrick’s festivites in Limerick for her as she is visiting Ireland that week - it was embarrassing to have to email her back and say that I could not access any websites for her due to a very slow dial-up connection.
I wish you the very best with your efforts and thank you again for what you are doing.
Best Regards.
Senator Ross, I commend you on your continuing efforts to highlight the scandalous lack of broadband coverage in the State, and will briefly tell my own tale of woe. I Iive in Kinvara, Co Galway, where, until now, the only available broadband was a limited wireless group scheme, and, more recently, a commercial wireless service, Airwire. While the people involved in these are to be commended, the service is limited in the numbers it can cater for, and in reliable up-time. In January this year, 2008, Eircom finally (!) enabled the local exchange, and as we live just 3 km from said exchange, assumed we would be able to avail of ADSL broadband through our phone-line. God bless our innocence, as my mother might say. While the phone-lines of our neighbours either side of us , no more than 20-30 yards distance, are deemed suitable, ours is not, and we are told that “that’s just the way it is”, and were given no explanation, or no hope of any remedy for the problem. The same is the case with numerous other households around. I have since been told that our phone line was probably “split” when being installed 11 years ago, and that this was a cost saving practice by the Eircom engineers at the time. However, a neighbour across the road is in the same quandary, and his phone-line was only installed in the last year or more, so this practice must still be ongoing. While Eircom are obliged, under legislation, to provide a phone-line, surely this line must be of some required standard, and surely they must have some obligation to at least explain why some lines are suitable, and some not, in the same area? Congratulations again on your campaign for a proper broadband service for all, and continue to fight the good fight!. Regards, Peter Reid
Dear Senator Ross,
Please use whatever powers you have to force this issue for all that it’s worth, the absence of suitable broadband services are causing huge problems to all levels of the business community.
Can I also ask you to give some consideration to another aspect. At the moment, the broadband services that do exist are in most cases variable speed, so the download is speed A, and upload is speed B, and in almost all cases, upload is pathetically slow. For many users, that’s not too much of an issue, but any business that wishes to operate a web site, but does not want to have it hosted on a central ISP service site is almost crippled before they start, as there’s no easy way to get a fast upload speed, which is needed to give users in other locations a good response time. I don’t need to tell you the sorts of speeds and capabilities that are being offered in other countries, you already are aware of that.
Please don’t be put off by the naysayers, who will pretend that ‘there’s no demand for broadband in Ireland.’ The demand is there, but there are many people who will not be ripped off with very high service charges for a substandard system, which in too many cases is all that’s available.
The other issue is the thorny question of contention. A high speed service is fine, provided it stays high speed when other users in the area are also wanting to use it. We’ve already seen that in some areas, there may be 20 or more users sharing one service, and if that happens, each user is getting a very poor and slow service, which is no help if it’s a business that’s trying to provide service to other customers.
Thank you for trying, the best of luck with your effors
Regards
Steve Garry
Senator Ross,
It’s great to see that someone in office is finally prepared to do something about the shambolic broadband services available in Ireland.
I’ve recently had a new phoneline connected to my new apartment in Dun Emer, Lusk, Co. Dublin. After applying for broadband connection I was told that “due to the sensitive nature” of broadband my line wasn’t suitable. A brand NEW line! After complaining to Eircom I was told that they were under no obligation to provide the public with a Broadband connection. This is no less than criminal, and what really ires me is that ComReg have given them this legal right. They have not only ruled that Eircom are to be the universal service provider in this country until 2010, but because Eircom refuse to install broadband capable lines, ComReg backed down and dropped the data requirement for lines from 2.4K to 0K (zero!).
What has frustrated me all the more is the fact that my neighbour, who lives 3 doors away in the same block of apartments HAS a broadband connection with Eircom. When I presented this fact to Eircom as proof that my line was faulty, they again retorted that as long as the phoneline works they wouldn’t do anything. The television is saturated with Eircom’s Internet/Talk bundles, but how many people are being left out in the cold because of their practices?
All the best with the campaign. I really hope you are successful in bringing Ireland into the 21st century.
Best Regards,
David Morris
Hi Shane
Wishing you all the best with your Bill, you certainly have my full support here.
You may also be interested in some discussions going on here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=60 - check out the first few threads.
Comments from David Morris above really make me scratch my head about eircom! Heres a man will to pay money for a service which they simply wont provide. Its staggering.
My own story is we have BB in a suburb of galway. The max the line can do is 2.6 Meg - we tried signing up to 7Meg but the line just couldnt do it. We finally got it to 2.6 although even at that its a bit unstable and needs to be reset every so often.
In this day and age in a major fairly new estate in one of our big cities and the lines can only do 2.6Meg… by international standards its a joke. An embarrassment.
I asked this company was my line poor but they said I have a very good line as Im getting this speed at 6km. I was stunned to hear 6km (its about 4 as the crow flies).
I was stunned to hear the only exchange was so far. Theres many hundreds of homes in this estate and it shows very bad planning to have them all on an exchange so far that BB speeds would be poor.
Anyway all the best