The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (DCENR) has published a consultation document, which sets out how its high-speed broadband map will evolve, including during the procurement phase of the National Broadband Plan (NBP). Under EU procurement rules, the high-speed broadband map is required to help ensure that State provision of broadband infrastructure doesn’t […]
SIRO, the ESB-Vodafone joint venture which is bringing Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) to 50 regional towns nationwide, has today announced a pilot programme for a potential second phase of its network rollout. The pilot programme will involve two test areas: a small-medium sized town (Skibbereen, Co. Cork), and one rural location in Ireland. Its purpose is to […]
The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) has published the results of a survey on broadband speeds. Unsurprisingly, they report that customer satisfaction is correlated with the transfer speed experienced by users (and that rural users are especially challenged). Speeds enjoyed clearly impact on satisfaction levels. For example, those fixed urban panellists who said they were […]
eircom, Ireland’s largest telecommunications provider, has launched a nationwide competition to identify the next Fibre To The Home rural trial community. The move follows on from the first successful trial site in Belcarra, County Mayo, which has seen business and residents of this rural community enjoy the enormous economic, educational and social benefits of having […]
As International Women’s Day is celebrated this week, a new report compiled by the Clinton Foundation together with the Gates Foundation, claims that access to the Internet is a key factor when it comes to improving women’s participation in educational, economic and societal opportunities. The Full Participation Report is driven by a ‘big data’ approach to over 850,000 data points, collected […]
Remember payphones? They used to be everywhere, distinctive green and yellow in Ireland, red in Britain. These days you might find one in a retro pub, a nod to the ‘good old days’. Nowadays we don’t just all have phones in our pockets: we’ve got media hubs, portable WiFi hotspots, TVs – and TV stations! So we […]
Last week’s announcement that broadband measurement company SamKnows were coming to Ireland, generated a lot of interest. So we invited their CEO, Alex Salter, to join us for a podcast (18:24,10.5MB,MP3). Alex explained the background of the company, and their mission to address the deficit of hard data when it comes to actual broadband performance in markets […]
Over the last few days there has been a lot of media coverage of UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s plans to force ISPs and content providers to filter “porn” and other “adult content”. While a decision in the UK is obviously not binding in Ireland, our politicians do tend to watch what Westminster is up […]
If you travel to the US then Karma might be viable option for you. It’s a wifi hotspot dongle with a difference. Not only does it give you access to the 4G network, but you can also earn bandwidth by sharing the hotspot and promoting the service to other users. They’re calling it “social bandwidth” […]
This week’s guest is Barry Shein, President of The World, the first company to offer Internet access to the general public, when it started in 1989. Today some people consider Internet access to be a human right, but back then it was very different. Barry still has the email he received from the US National […]
