[IIU] Re: [ILUG] OT But esat unlimited has been scrapped

[Gearoid Griffin]

<my 2p>
I agree with pretty much every you say Chris, but first plan of action should definately be find out how much actual support we have for this. Its grand to say all the members of 
IIU and ILUG and  ie.* need this information, but you got to remember that these people are *probably* more aware of the situation than others off these lists. A central place 
needs to be setup where all this info should be gathered. Here a plan should be outlined what the site is trying to achieve (mmm broadband at reasonable cost *SOON*) and 
how each person can participate/contribute. The amount of mis-information  about DSL/Cable is crazy, and Im definately not clear whats actually going to happen. I do realise 
that alot of info is private and under NDA, but for example take the offering of PowerNet by Chorus, it is supposidly on offer around Limerick,  (and I know a fair few around 
Limerick) but I don't know of one person who has it or what quality of service are they getting. Personally I'd like this sort of information, for example when i visit a site from which  
I am going to purchase something, I like to see or know of testimonals. Anyway, work beckons
</my 2p>
Gearoid

3/28/01 12:04:55 PM, Chris Higgins  <chris.higgins at horizon.ie> wrote:

>> Perhaps IIU, or some of its people are interested in setting up a local 
>> ISOC chapter? There is no operational Irish chapter at the moment (Alex 
>> Gogan made a stab at setting on up a few years ago). ISOC carries much 
>> international weight, and Ireland is one of the few civilized countries not 
>> to have a chapter.
>> 
>> An ISOC UK rep will be in Dublin in a couple of weeks if anyone's 
>> interested in meeting him to discuss.
>> 
>> Alex.
>
>Alex, 
>I think that it's important that we don't create 'representative' bodies 
>without
>strong community support. Otherwise, everyone that's anyone will start their
>own, and no-body will get anywhere. 
>
>All that will happen, is the few people that are interested will end up on
>a 'committee', or will be 'the' committee... and we'll have the Irish ISOC
>chapter... and they'll go visit other ISOC chapters and talk about what it's
>like in Ireland.. 
>
>But nothing will get done.. we'll have a tick in the box that says 
>"Ireland has ISOC chapter"[1]. People will *want* to do something, 
>but without real community support it will go nowhere..
>
>Look at the ".ie Usenet Committee", for years when he was in IEunet, Nick 
>Hilliard ran the hierarchy, after he left I took over and I ran it for
>years, and now that I've left, Dave Rynne has got it... The last real changes
>that were made to the hierarchy were made by Nick. Then along comes the
>Usenet committee, and there is loads of .ie needs a committee and we need
>to be able to say that we have a committee.... So a committee is created
>and now we have a committee, and the committee are the committee, and 
>still nothing has happened... The www site is a joke, someone half completed it
>and as far as I'm aware nothing else has happened... The people involved 
>believe
>in the idea, but dont' have the time or the resources to do much with it.. and
>there is sod all community interest - so they aren't being pushed to do much..
>
>At the moment without a strong community cry for an ISOC chapter, all that will
>happen is that we'll get the same all over again.. A few people will put
>'founder of Irish ISOC chapter' into their CV and go play politics in a bigger
>field.
>
>What we need to tackle the broadband issue in Ireland is 
>a/ Information
>b/ Ammo
>c/ Targets
>
>(a) Information :- We need to have every member of the IIU list, ILUG, 
>    the IIA, all of the readers of ie.*, and everyone else we can get our
>    hands on to be aware of the issues.. Not just a few people who feel
>    strongly about it.. This has to get the attention of the larger community.
>(b) We need all of them to be given the bare simple facts (this country needs
>    local loop unbundling if we are to go beyond 56k)
>    What Eircom control, and why it needs to be pulled from their grip.
>    
>(c) Everyone then needs to bombard their TD, MEP, the Telecoms Regulator, 
>Eircom,
>    Esat and anyone else you can get your hands on with a simple request..
>    What are *you* going to progress with LLU.
>
>I believe that two faxes a day to the regulator from 'concerned citizens',
>asking where the ***k real LLU is, will have more effect than a single petition
>signed any one group..
>
>Especially if you follow your fax up with a query two days later looking for
>a response... Hmmm... hylafax and cron... :)  
>
>See - that's where the ILUG could help... write the scripts and write a FAQ on
>how to do it... we could even build an LDAP database of all the target numbers
>and host it with the linux.ie WWW site... Then everyone's hylafax config
>(or efax, let's not get religious about it) could query the next number...
>
>We'd just have to make sure that is doesn't become distributed denial of 
>service
>attack on the ODTR fax machine. 'cause that would just have the reverse effect.
>
>Alternatively, we continue to do what we have always done - sit down and take 
>it.
>
>
>[1] Not too sure if we get a tick in the box marked 'civilised' though
>
>
><DISCLAIMER> Comments are as usual my own, and do not reflect the policies
>of my employer (past or present)</DISCLAIMER>
>
>
>-- 
>** Chris Higgins                         e: chris.higgins at horizon.ie **
>** Technical Business Development        tel: +353-1-6204916            **
>** Horizon Technology Group              fax: +353-1-6204949            **
>
>
>
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