Broadband Update: Operators to Announce Higher Speeds In Coming Days
Published January 28th, 2008 in BroadbandIn advance of the publication of my Broadband Bill in the Seanad, I have learned that several telecoms operators intend to make major announcements in the coming days. It is thought that areas with speeds currently in the region of 2-3Mb broadband will soon have services offered in the region of 7-8Mb.
This may be proof that our campaign to improve broadband is having tangible results. But it is not reason for complacency. Thank you for all your emails and responses thus far, and keep them coming here or to shane.ross@oireachtas.ie. Your stories and suggestions have been hugely helpful.
Erm, these speed increases were planned and announced/leaked since last year. These speed increases will not be universal and many lines will not take the higher speeds.
While listening to the radio earlier I heard the subject of broadband speeds being discussed and I quickly honed in on the conversation. I heard Matt Cooper on The Last Word talk with you about the broadband infrastructure in our country.
I’am a twenty year old network infrastructure trainee with Kepak Group and I know first hand how bad the situation is. While living on my own trying to get broadband into my flat was a nightmare it took Imagine weeks to hook me up at the local cabinet, because apparently Eircom were taking there time in porting my account and giving them access to the exchange. Even when you do get your DSL in you have to expect not to get the full “up to” whatever Mb/ps advertised and have to deal with high contention ratios. I think that the advertising speeds should be an issue for ComReg or the Advertising Standards Authority.
Also my opinion is that Eircom are doing their best to slow down the progress of other ISPs and the fact that we still have to pay €25 line rental to Eircom per month is a shame. I wish that the government could open up the existing infrastructure to allow for better competition.
The idea that I heard on The Last Word about using the NDP allocated money to pay for the laying of new ducts for new fiber is a great one and I hope that something will come of it and soon (not in the next 10 year plan or whatever). We really need this upgrading of our infrastructure to stay conpetitive in the future and attract more large companies to our shores. If things stay the way the way are now, in five years time when the rest of Europe is on high speed DSL, Ireland will not look so good of an option for businesses.
I have never “really” followed politics and have always thought that politicians in this country never understood the internet and all it’s workings, today has opened my eye’s. They key to this whole thing is to get the younger generation (18 - 25 year olds) interested in the problems and how to come about a solution. They will know that this effects them on an everyday basis and they will make sure to let the government know what they want and if it is not sorted that government won’t be in power come the next term of office.
I have a lot of friends that I will mention this to and I hope to get them involved. We can all e-mail Eamon Ryan and let him know that this should be a top priority for him. I am going to e-mail Eamon about this now (or in the morning) and will c.c. you on it.
I hope that you keep pushing this issue from your end and I will try to do my part as a young citizen. Sorry for the rambling on but I felt it all needed to be said. By the way I think having the blog is a very good idea, it is very easy for you to communicate with the public and let them know what’s going on, I will make sure to add it to my list of RSS feeds.
Regards,
Joesph Holland.
Congratulations on your efforts to promote the cause of universal broadband, Senator Ross.
Although an upgrade in speeds by telcos is welcome, it is important not to lose sight of the full meaning of UNIVERSAL broadband. In particular, just because an exchange is enabled does not mean that all people connected to that exchange can avail of it.
In my case, I have recently purchased an Eircom landline for my house so that I could get broadband. My neighbours on each side of my have DSL from Eircom, but I am told that my line does not pass the broadband test, because it is a split line (aka carrier line). I now have to order another new phone line, and hope that this one might be a “full service” line, not shared with another customer, and capable of supporting DSL. So I have to pay twice and hope I end up with one useful line.
Eircom cannot guarantee that the new line will work, nor do they offer refunds if it fails to support broadband, even though that is what I am buying it for. Normally one would expect goods/services provided to be fit for purpose, but by treating broadband is an optional add-on for telephone customers, Eircom manage to avoid this.
I think it is disgraceful that Eircom, with their monopoly on the phone infrastructure, are still connecting or reconnecting split lines in 2008. I also think it is close to extortion to have to pay twice to get one fully-functional line.
How nice to see somebody in Dáil Éireann knows something about broadband. It’s clear that most of the people up there wouldn’t know what the internet is if it smacked them on the nose. I can’t get broadband where I live even though it’s not exactly out on the sticks. My only option is a mobile “broadband” package. I won’t name the phone company but it is an appalling service and I can’t wait til I can cancel my account with them.
Hello,
Well into May now and no 7Mg broadband. Eircom 3Mg broadband is nearly 50EURO a month so I wouldn’t like to know how much 7Mg is going to cost.
One provider in the UK is charging £18 a month for 24Mb.
More Rip Off Republic material - rip off is not a strong enough term really.
“Many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade”
Hi there, EIRCOM ARE LYING THROUGH THIER TEETH and the gov. should be doin something about it. I rang eircom last week to see if i could get broadband and the guy said “not in your area yet sir” so I told him to cancel my account and i would get another provider and wireless broadband from VODAFONE. So he said “can u hold a minute sir” then he came back and said “Good news sir, your exchange will be updated ANY DAY NOW AND WE WILL CONTACT YOU THEN” So as you see these lies will only turn people away, Myself and several of my neighbours are switching and when we get THAT call from eircom asking us to change back…they will be told …”ANY DAY NOW” SO WHAT ARE THE GOVT. GOIN TO DO ABOUT BROADBAND IN RURAL AREAS ??? Surely 10mb broadband in ireland is a fantasy when I am 5 miles from a major town in Co Clare and i cant get 1mb. WHAT A JOKE
MARTIN
I’m more or less in the same boat as Martin. In my case, seven miles from a major town and within walking distance of my local exchange, which is not broadband enabled. Eirecom’s monopoly seems to give them the right to ignore the needs of some citizens of the state and the government would appear to support this ‘right’ through their lack of action on the subject. I’m strongly thinking of cancelling my eircom account and taking up the only available source of broadband available to me - a combination broadband/telephone package through satellite which has recently come down in price and is now on a par with the current offering from Eircom. Based on Martin’s experience, I’m looking forward to the reaction of Eircom when I tell them to cancel my account.
Having a new home on the eastern side of Cork city, I was stunned with the difficulty in getting broadband. Eircom do not provide DSL but have not indicated whether this is due to the exchange, the distance from the exchange or the line quality. UPC have not cabled the area so they are a no-go. Trees and hills block our line-of-sights for wireless (which is overly expensive for speed provided anyway but would be better than nothing) and “mobile broadband” is a non-runner as I know from my own personal experience in the telco industry how unreliable both coverage and speed can be with 3G. Reports and cost/bps of Ripwave-type solutions (IBB, Clearwire, etc.) are also unappealing. According to the DCMNR coverage map we probably have broadband (resolution cannot be examined in detail alas) but I would not be happy to pay for the speed-crippled wireless (3g, ripwave) services which are overpriced and much-maligned online. Eircom’s lack of transparency on if/when DSL might be available is the most annoying factor in all this but it’s astonishing to be in Ireland’s 2nd largest city and to face such a lack of options on real, high-speed broadband.
17th February, 2009
I live 8 miles from a mojor town in east galway and whilst the local exchange is broadband enabled I will not be able to get a decent speed until at least 2010. I’m stuck with snail ripoff “mobile Broadband”. What kind of infrastructure can we call this in this day and age?? no wonder the multinationals are leaving this “god forsaken third world couontry of ours”! Wake up Ireland!!!
I’m 3 miles from two towns in east galway and I can’t get broadband. I have phoned eircom several times over the last 4 years just to be told that the exchange is to go live in the next quarter… still waiting for it to happen. Even then their is no guarantee I will be able to get it. I’m paying rent for an office several miles away from my house just because I can’t get broadband. Something has got to give in this situation.