HARD-PRESSED consumers have received further bad news with confirmation that Ireland has the most expensive broadband packages in Europe.

THE country’s much-berated broadband services are getting even worse, with Ireland dropping out of the Global Top 50 rankings for download speeds.

One third of dial-up internet users in Ireland have failed in their attempts to switch over to broadband, according to the latest figures from the communications regulator ComReg.

IRELAND has the second lowest take-up of broadband in the EU 15 and has fallen behind three of the European Union’s new member states according to the latest figures.

TELECOM service provider Imag!ne yesterday offered consumers a free broadband service and cheaper local and national telephone calls in a move designed to shake up the Irish telecom market.

BROADBAND take-up was close to drying up completely before new high-speed internet access products were launched last month, according to figures released this week by Eircom.

Lobby group Ireland Offline has drawn attention to eircom’s slow progress in meeting its target of 500,000 broadband connections by December 2007.

INTERNET users in Ireland are paying twice as much as some European countries for high-speed phone line connections, a new report has revealed.

IRELAND is one of the most expensive countries in the world for broadband high-speed internet access, according to a new report.

Irish internet connections are 16 times slower than in any other EU country, according to a survey by the lobby group Ireland Offline.