Ireland's flimsy take-up of broadband

In its latest State Of The Net publication, Amas has produced a handy reminder as to the lack of takeup of broadband -- for various reasons -- in Ireland.
It reminds us that the 2006 Census survey showed about 20 per cent of Irish households opting for broadband. Yet 63 per cent of households chose digital TV. I wonder why?
The truth is that there is a lot of huffing and puffing over the "lack" of broadband availability in Ireland. I would estimate that at least 80 per cent of households in Ireland can get some form of broadband of at least 1Mbs. (It goes up to 100 per cent if you consider satellite, though this is still very dear.) And yet just 20 per cent take it up?
Come off it, lads -- admit that three quarters of the population can't be arsed with getting broadband into their homes...

Comments

[Georgie]

That might be true in Dublin or wherever but outside the pale there are a lot of people who want broadband but can't get it. Like where I live, Quin, a rapidly growing village outside Ennis in Clare. Loads of people want and need broadband but eircom haven't upgraded the exchange.

[Adrian]

Georgie,

According to broadband.gov.ie, you can get wireless broadband in Quin from BBNet (BBnet.ie). It also mentions Quinonline.com, although that depends on the local exchange (but how can Quinonline operate for Quin if the local exhange hasn't been upgraded?).

[Michele Neylon]

Even AMAS admit that they can't get DSL in the centre of Dublin. If the comments I see on Irish ISP Test and those we get from clients are anything to go by the real issue remains availability.

[Adrian]

I don't see that many comments about this on Irish ISP Test, Michele. But even if there were, how can 63 per cent opt for digital TV yet only around 20 per cent opt for broadband?

I think we need to admit that broadband just isn't thought of by the majority of Irish people as 'essential' (or even 'desireable').

[Cian]

There's still anecdotal evidence of coverage problems within ADSL areas.

Outside them the way many Irish towns have expanded over the last few years (building outwards along main roads) has increased the chances of housing estates being out of range of the exchange (even tho there may be lots of green land close to the town centre).

And that's before even mentioning the amount of clusters of housing estates that have been built in villages close to towns when the should have been built around the towns. We'll just forget about the crazy amount of once off housing.

The planning outside the major urban areas goes a long way to explain the broadband stats for such areas.

In my own two experiences of trying to get broadband at different houses with in reach of the exchange (both in Ballina), people may need to be very pushed to get it.

[Emmet]

Jack Webb wouldn't have settled for 'anecdotal evidence' Cian and neither will I. The facts Cian, just the facts.

[Cian]

Sure Emmet, will I send you the bill for the market research? :)

[Adam]

It's easy to look at availability as the single issue of broadband penetration.

Sure, plenty just don't want it and won't for a long time if ever - they check their email once a day or less and that's it.

But having the ability to get broadband is just step 1.

For many regular users of the internet, their dial up bill is still cheaper than the cheapest of BB services, for example.

It's even more of a cost burden for houses that have ditched the landline completely in favour of their mobiles (although that doesn't happen very often).

As for wireless, many wireless companies have gotten nothing but stick for their apparently terrible coverage for a while now too - I know I'd rather dial up than wireless going on many of the reports I've heard.

There's also the issue of actual availability; as I understand it some figures of availability (those used by the Gov for example) refer to the local telecom switches in each area but doesn't account for the cable going into each house, which is often 30 yars old and even split between houses making it worthless in terms of BB.

Sure, if all those issues were dealt with we wouldn't see 100% penetration, but I'd bet we'd be at the top end of the EU ladder as opposed to the bottom.

(And I wouldn't pay attention to polls on boards.ie, it's by no means representative of Ireland - It's census shows that 83.5% of its population is male, around the 65% is either in education or working in IT!)