Fear And Downloading

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The company set up to deliver the project will be called National Broadband Ireland (NBI). It will have to meet financial obligations under the plan of €2.4 billion, over 25 years.

In a statement, the company confirmed it was to spend an initial €220 million, and would “use these funds to get the project up and running”.  The capital funding would go towards the design and build activities of the rural broadband network, and would be invested ahead of State subsidies coming on-stream, the company said.

McCourt consortium to invest initial €220m in broadband project (Irish Times)

Earlier: Broadband Plan Critics ‘Like Brexiteers’

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21 thoughts on “Fear And Downloading

    1. b

      from the article…

      “Meanwhile, consumer advocates warn that satellite broadband will never surpass the capabilities of fiber-optic networks, which still aren’t available across most of America despite millions in subsidies bankrolled by American taxpayers.

      “There is nothing that has been unveiled so far in the market that is superior to fiber to the home yet in terms of capacity and potential,” Ernesto Falcon, lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Motherboard via email. “Cable rolling out gigabit networks and eventually upgrading to 10 gigabit networks means the only real infrastructure left that will surpass cable is fiber to the home,” he added.

  1. Pip

    Isn’t it odd, or worse, that they are talking about future-proofing broadband for 25 years…..?
    Go back 25 years, to 1994, and have a think. How the hell could you look forward and plan with any degree of accuracy, for things which have not yet been imagined/developed?
    And change now is faster than it was then.

    1. b

      so we should just not bother?

      don’t think anyone is talking about future proofing, but all anyone can do is put in the best possible solution available at the time. Every city in the world is wired with fibre, it’s not going away anywhere quickly

      1. martco

        precisely @b

        putting in €1 & getting out €5 (at least) sounds like a no brainer!!!!

        oh yeah & some fibre

        now then….must call broker & find out how I too can get access to this great money making National [Grahan (D {FG} OB) McCourt] Broadband Ireland vehicle

        cos it sounds like a FUPPING STEAL!!!!

      2. GiggidyGoo

        Are you related to Isaiah? There was an e-voting solution once upon a time. The best solution at the time? A subject of FG scorn on FF for €56m wasted mind you.

        1. b

          this is broadsheet in a nutshell

          one poster suggests we should use satellites and nobody bats and eyelid.

          Another points out that fibre is widely regarded as the best option and everyone loses their poo cos it’s in the FG plan. the problem with the NBP isn’t the use of fibre but the usual poohawks can’t see past their own nose

          1. Mickey Twopints

            Sweeping generalisation, b, if you don’t mind me saying so.

            I, for one, have more or less given up arguing with those who think satellites are the answer. You canna’ change the laws of physics, Jim etc. etc., and I’m not interested in spending my time trying to get others to understand the technology when they are so clearly wedded to an ideology.

            Don’t get me started on the gabhalbags who regard everyone outside the M50 as a “culchie” and unworthy of 21st century services because they “made a lifestyle choice” to live where they do.

            FTTH is fabulous, a wonderful thing to behold, it’s internet connectivity at its best.

            The problem isn’t fibre. The problem is the corrupt and incompetent know-nothing clowns in cabinet who dismiss the advice of their own experts.

          2. realPolithicks

            By jaysus they should put you in charge, you sound like you have the solution to everything.

          3. GiggidyGoo

            Every interview these past few weeks that Varadkar, Bruton, Donohue and the other minions have taken part in has not addressed the question of giving a €3bn (€5bn even) present to a business that Denis O Brien is involved in. The default reply is ‘well if we want to leave (pick a number out of your head) ‘x’ number of people without broadband, there’s no other suggestion coming forward’.
            Schoolboy arguments. Running away from the substantial issue of filling the bank accounts of the favored FG boss.

          4. Mickey Twopints

            @rP

            Was that for me?

            If you’re putting me in, then order several truckloads of quicklime and half a dozen diggers. Better get floodlights while you’re down there.

            I’ll leave ordering the gold plated Daimler until July to get a 192 plate, but you can make a start on the despots palace straight away.

          5. martco

            @b
            I know a money trick & good ole fashioned stroke when I see one…invented to benefit very specific people (and they ain’t country folk wanting d’internet)

            really provision of physical consumer internet infrastructure is an irrelevance…could just as easy be some other infrastructure matter like say water supply but let’s not get bogged down in that.

            one of the classic smoke & mirrors to muddy the arguments around this greasy till affair is the tech discussion – fibre vs cable vs satellite vs future methods & all the various architectures they could be deployed within. but that’s just irrelevant, could be gamma rays delivered over platinum it doesn’t really matter as this is just a vehicle to a) make these investors a few quid + b) boost DOB’s paper value & leveraging capability which in turn c) gives FG a cash channel cos they’re gonna need it very soon & some BS to cling to when that GE comes calling & they’re getting burnt at the stake.

            all done off our backs

            brazen & obvious & to that I say FUPP OFF

          6. Vanessa (spiritually) Frilly Keane

            From my mouth to yours Mickey Twos

            I’m totally satisfied Fibre is the solution and the way to go
            An’ have long canvassed for a full rollout
            Whatever it takes
            Even in some has-been Frillbit somewhere
            Maybe I should get someone else to rewrite it
            Or plug it inta a speech

            Meh …. no matter

            IMO ESB were best placed for this investment
            So maybe more effort on both sides should’ve been made to try and make it work
            Like letting ESB retain their annual dividend to the State until they were at full capacity (or whatever the terminology is for this type of thing)

            I myself would love ta’ see and test the Peter Smith Report
            As well a few other bits about his engagement that are giving me a bitta Conflict Ire

            And any other engagement under this Government
            and the previous Government
            He May
            Or MAY NOT
            Have successfully tendered for himself and his firm
            FOIs are in alright but shur’….

            But one thing small b tips off
            That I’d have’ta agree with
            Kinda anyway
            There is a general although subtle discontent around this gaff about making a buck
            And it’s a discontent that’s warmly wafted like a sickly smelling plug-in diffuser
            Yet gratefully remains in the background so you can easily ignore it

            As long as the low blow is into someone who might be viewed to have one over the lad effin’ and jeffin’ about anything wrong or lesser with their own lot in life
            They’re all cool and thumbs up and Ogie Ogie Ogie

            But pivot on that behaviour and put a mirror in front of their bemoaning
            You’ll be the one moderated
            While what might have lingered about as a bitta mean spirited snottyness
            Becomes full blown bareknuckle MMA cage knacker talk
            Click bait of course

            But that’s business of course
            It the internet
            And it’s the way it goes

  2. martco

    let me give ye all a bit of an example as to why fibre to the home & the numbers being quoted currently about what they’re gonna achieve is in this context a total load of blx

    a townland in Wexford…EIR currently has a fibre trunks neatly strung along existing & new poles at the roadside to potentially service 90 odd houses & farms with gates opening out onto the roads. a decent pricepoint offering too for 100-1000Mb. been available over a year now. so there’s only 33 houses currently hooked on. just a 1/3 takeup of the stunning best you can get fibre. why?
    the trick is getting it off the closest pole into the house. works great if you’ve luckily got a trunk in the ground you can pull it thru from the pole…else it’s digging on€ or getting the ok from your neighbour for your segment to cross their land to your eaves…I have neighbours that have 500m lane/driveway to the road & no poles…can’t wait to see Granahan () McCourt tackle that.

    so recap: EIR already have plant there, available, just 1/3 takeup on a well priced service.

    fibre is hands down best physical transport media…but not worth a damn if you can’t in practical terms haul it to the gaffs from the pole

    this is a SCAM

    1. Mickey Twopints

      Martco I think that aspect is down to poor planning (incompetence?) rather than scam. The installations as you know are carried out by K&N Networks on behalf of eir (since eir no longer have any staff capable of operating a screwdriver). The guys on the vans that I’ve spoken to are all self-employed subcontactors in K&N overalls. They are paid a flat fee per hookup, and any call back they have to do for free. The guidelines/rules they have to follow effectively mean that any installation which isn’t 100% straightforward, quick, and easy gets bypassed.

      They are not allowed to enter a loft or crawl space, and if there are trees in the way the customer will have to lop/chop them first. Also if ducting is required, the customer has to sort this and leave a dedicated duct with a draw rope in place. How many householders have the wherewithal to do that? I could, and so could you probably, but the general customer?

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wPOp5nSVDo

      1. martco

        exactly
        the K&N fellas are usually themselves very competent but what can they do when faced with a mini engineering project except call the survey team who will usually take a gander at it & say sorry, can’t until YOU run some 4” wavin

        point being is that even on the deployments that EIR took on as the “low hanging fruit” there’s a low adoption.

        so wtf chance has this blx???

        answer, there isnt. I’m not buying it for a second, nor are the vast majority of the punters involved I’d wager who’ve already been thru this over the years they’ve been trying for a connection.

        False electioneering hope & cash for FG as favourite benefactor dug out + lots of money for the “investors”

        SCAM

  3. Truth in the News

    Varadakar who has an answer to everything, ought to be able to tell us all
    whats the cost of a Meter or a Km of optical fiber cable similar to that which
    Eir have strung on poles all over the place, he already knows,as the precise
    unit cost was blotted out in the Technical Report issued by the Brutons Dept
    last week, why are we denied this information, anyways the Revenue know
    too, was there not VAT levied also, Whats going here is a couple of Children’s
    Hospitals and couple dozen Voting machines, all being given away to who…?

    1. martco

      cost per M varies
      we used to ballpark it at €60 per for hung & €150 per for dug ex vat
      but in current money + outsourcing etc I’d suspect it’s worse now.

      I’ll ask a friend for a current reckoner.

      I can assure you it’s LOTS :)

  4. Pip

    Amazon planning oodles of low-orbit satellites to deliver quality broadband, and of course their own services, to vast numbers of subscribers. Anyone?
    Meanwhile in the near future…….
    “What’s that big cable for, Dad? It’s not connected to anything in the house”.
    “Ah sure that’s that oul FG broadband yoke. Cost a fortune. Don’t think many bother with it now”.

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