Eircom leaves ISDN users in the slow lane

EIRCOM is offering broadband connections to the internet — a much faster service than ISDN and reasonably priced.

Is it time once again to celebrate the joys of privatisation? No, once again it is not. Eircom rolled out broadband in Skibbereen recently.

Anecdotal evidence from round and about the town shows that ISDN users like myself have been switched to narrowband as a consequence.

In my case, upload and download speeds have gone from an unremarkable but serviceable 7 kilobytes per second to a useless 2.30 kps when transmissions are not completely stalled for ten minutes at a time.

There are two theories being advanced to explain this.

Some believe that the roll-out has been rather too successful and that the new broadband customers are hogging virtually all of Skibbereen’s miserly allocation of bandwidth, leaving the hindmost for the numerous ISDN users.

Then there are those contrarians who argue that the uptake of broadband has been disappointingly small and that Eircom has resorted to starve-‘em-out tactics in order to move stubborn ISDN users over to the higher priced broadband.

I would abandon principle and move over like a shot if I had the option. Alas, I have not been fingered for broadband heaven. Population density out my way makes the exercise unprofitable, I suppose, and besides, the rude engine-room noises inherent in the line connecting me to the exchange are certain to offend the sensibilities of a hot-house communications medium like broadband.

Surely the privatisation of public assets has meant once again that efficiency and low cost, while gains for the private sector, mean niggardly investment, irresponsible service and cheap quality for the customer.

Ned Bright

Cooragannives

Skibbereen

Co Cork