News

Refunds due!

http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/ComReg1477.pdf Well done Comreg! Finally a decision that is consumer focused. Now apply the same logic to all the other telcos! This decision this means that eircom can no longer charge penalties when changing providers and many consumers are due a refund if charges have been applied to your account on these grounds. From the decision: “Eircom will immediately remove from its terms and conditions any provisions allowing charges, claims or penalties to be applied in lieu of notice.” “This means that Eircom customers outside of their minimum contractual term may change service provider by agreement with a new provider without...

Missing you already

IrelandOffline would like to take this opportunity to express its disappointment at the removal of Minister Rabbitte from the Department of Communications. Initially we were skeptical, as when Minister Rabbitte took over it seemed like business as usual, recycling old Press releases and statements, however the Minister seemed to get to grips with the position after a time. This is unusual as most Ministers in a difficult technical area like communications do not seem to comprehend even the basics. However Minister Rabbitte DID get to grips with many of the issues (but not all) Minister Rabbitte achieved two important transformations...

Comreg – the consumer champion

We here at IrelandOffline note once again that Comreg is announcing that they intend to measure the performance of broadband providers here in Ireland. Speaking at the Broadband Forum 2014 in Dublin, Kevin O’Brien said ComReg would be seeking to establish a panel to conduct speed measurement trials. “An ongoing bugbear of consumers is that actual broadband speed is often not as fast as what is advertised by their internet service provider. However, Mr O’Brien said the planned project would bring greater transparency to the Irish marketplace when it comes to speed.” Thanks for the update Kevin. We pointed this...

ESB – Vodafone Joint venture

IrelandOffline very much welcome the formal announcement this morning of a joint venture between the ESB and Vodafone(JV) to roll out broadband to a number of towns in Ireland. Any expansion of high quality broadband to areas outside of the major urban centres is to be welcomed. We do however caution though that this rollout is not the panacea to the lack of broadband in rural Ireland. This may be tackled at a later date. What do we know? The JV : Will target towns where there are more than 4000 buildings Some Fibre to the building will be included...

National Broadband Plan Map

National Broadband Plan Map IrelandOffline welcome to recent announcement of a National Broadband Plan(1) as finally the futility of prior attempts at a “national plan” have been shown to be abject failures. We would like to take this opportunity to announce our presentation of a map that outlines which villages/areas that are to be included, as outlined in departmental documents. The map will allow the user to quickly identify areas that are to be included using a simple map type display. The user can map NBP villages by constituency and some other metrics which also allows the user to identify...