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New government same old nonsense IrelandOffline, a leading consumer advocacy group for telecommunications, has become aware of a written answer given by the new Minster for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Pat Rabbitte(1). This answer is identical in wording and content to answers given by the previous Minister, Eamon Ryan. This calls into question any idea that the new Minister might be considering any changes in policy, at minimum, it illustrates a distinct lack of imagination amongst the staff of the Department. Myths portrayed as facts The Minister’s response to a question from FG TD Denis Naughten starts – “The...

IrelandOffline Quarterly Broadband Speed and Quality Survey Q1 2011 This is the fourth in the series of IrelandOffline quarterly survey, continuing from Q2 2011 when Ookla launched their invaluable Netindex Speed Test Site site. Between Q2 2010 and Q4 2010 the situation worsened dramatically to the extent that we in IrelandOffline commented in the Q4 2010 report that “Download speeds in Ireland are now less than HALF the EU Average which is 11.37mbits Upload speeds in Ireland are just over one third of the EU Average which is 2.82mbits Average Irish DOWNLOAD speeds have declined from 5.94mbits to 5.51mbits since...

Irish broadband tariffs are the highest in the EU IrelandOffline, a leading consumer advocacy group today received their copy of the European Broadband Tariffs Database which is Produced Quarterly By Quantum Web (1) The Analysis shows that Ireland has the most Expensive Broadband packages in the whole of Europe. According to Quantum Web “‘Ireland’s average tariffs for the 2Mb-8Mb speed band were the highest among EU member states in Q4 2010. The main reason was the high price for bandwidth. Most broadband packages in Ireland are capped and average around EUR33.8 per month; uncapped offers for the 2Mb-8Mb band typically...

Comreg – The captured regulator IrelandOffline a leading consumer advocacy group today examine the phenomenon of the captured regulator and how it applies to Ireland. What is regulatory capture? The captured regulators theory refers to the fact that, in most industries, the people who control government regulatory bodies are *THE EXACT SAME PEOPLE* who control the industry being regulated. Most regulations are written to benefit large corporations and their management. “Captured regulators” mean that regulators are answerable to executives in the industry regulated, rather than the general public.Regulatory capture is a form of government failure. A captured regulatory agency that...

IrelandOffline calls for an end to ComReg’s failure to protect consumers IrelandOffline, a leading consumer advocacy group, have examined a number of issues that ComReg, the telecommunications regulator, have promised action on and published papers on the subject and have refused to actually take any action. IrelandOffline call for telecommunications regulation that protects the consumer, not only the industry. Contracts In July, 2007, ComReg determined that no supplier of telecommunications services was fully compliant with the requirements of Regulation 17 of the Universal Service Users’ Rights Regulations. These regulations are compulsory EU directives and are in force since 2002. No...