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

[Adrian Wooster]

Although Eircom is acting the big incumbent, it is in the middle of demerger
based on share price - anything seriously detrimental is likely to focus the
holders of substantial  share holdings (unions and the board).

The reasons ADSL is "delayed" is two-fold. Firstly, as soon as Eircom
announce a commercial package they are under obligation to unbundle the
local loop - initially as bitstream and then full unbundling. The second,
and more serious, is that it is believed that Eircom's local loop copper has
been neglected for so long that is incapable of supporting the frequencies
needed for aDSL.

That said, technically there is absolutely no reason why iDSL can't be
rolled out as a starting point - it uses the same signalling as ISDN and
offers 144k (64+64+16 bonded) of unmetered access. Even that is a step in
the right direction and would bring "fast" connections to the entire
country - no worries of upsetting the BMW region, and the rural TD's holding
the balance of power.

It would however force Eircom to unbundle - a good thing but one which would
require Etain to actually rule on something, and carry it through. If Eircom
had any commercial pressure from the other carriers with alternative
technologies then this would be a lot easier - cable companies and CLEC's
alike, they are all as incapable of delivering as Eircom. We should by now
be able to have narrow-band wireless links to the internet with 384k
unmetered from Esat and Formus - one has folded and the other is very quite
after miscalculating the number of masts needed to meet its obligations.
Chorus has been promising services for months but in my area they can't even
get the TV to work.

The regulator will not step in - I defy anyone to say otherwise. Court cases
and multinationals haven't managed and the ODTR, like Eircom, doesn't care
about bad publicity. The best strategy here is to push her incompetence in
the face of her bosses (the Dail) and get her replaced.

Getting a journalist on our side is probably the best way - there is very
little informed debate in the media. The technical literacy of this country
is woeful - but without wider debate it will be impossible to change
anything. It is clear that between us we have a very broad and deep
understanding of the issues - lets find someone to publicise our message.

-----Original Message-----
From: Fergus McDonald [mailto:ottoman at gofree.indigo.ie]
Sent: 28 March 2001 12:43
To: iiu at taint.org; Chris Higgins
Cc: irish linux users group
Subject: Re: [IIU] Re: [ILUG] OT But esat unlimited has been scrapped


In terms of ammo, would it be possible to focus on and specify any people /
rganisations that are deliberately trying to hinder or drag feet on the
introduction of these services, and how and why. It would be something the
media could latch on to.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Higgins" <chris.higgins at horizon.ie>
To: <iiu at taint.org>
Cc: "Ruairi Newman" <bofh at tech-mad.org>; "Chris Higgins"
<chris.higgins at horizon.ie>; "irish linux users group" <ilug at linux.ie>
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2001 10:04 AM
Subject: Re: [IIU] Re: [ILUG] OT But esat unlimited has been scrapped


> > 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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