And his labelling of “begrudgers” is no consolation to the hundreds of thousands who are still unable to access broadband at home.

As a consultant I think you should do your analysis more carefully, it is a lack of availability AND a lack of understanding of what could be achieved if there was availability. The eircom/ComReg/others balls up in Ireland is a lack of willingness to a) take any commercial chances b) be booted in the arse by the regulator c) understand that the broadband business is chicken and egg, that has been amply proved elsewhere – if you don’t offer an option then there will be no take-up, but if you don’t show what can be done there won’t be any take-up either.

As a service provider if you have the money to pay for leased lines you don’t give a shit about punters who don’t, that is the ‘logic’ that has driven the present situation in Ireland.

Bye, Barry

E.

That being said, regardless of the availability of broadband, dial-up users are getting screwed over right left and centre in terms of service availability. Unfortunately, just because the dial up service is attrocious doesn’t imply that there is any sort of a broadband alternative available. In many cases there is not. So people who want broadband can’t get it. People whose dial up service is not adequate can’t upgrade. What is it about “rock” and “hard place” that people in lofty offices in Dublin don’t understand? When I left Belgium eight years ago they were rolling out cable broadband equivalent to what half the people in this country pay an inflated amount of money for.

I get the feeling it’s that there are people who make a judgement call on “sure who needs really high speed internet anyway” and they are not the ones who don’t have access to broadband.