It’s no surprise to 99.999% of Irish people that it has been announced that we in Ireland have the slowed internet connectivity in Europe. Things like 30MB cable broadband or 24MB ADSL2 are irrelevant to the vast majority of us despite the number crunching by ISP’s. Want an example? When I visit my family home (not out in some wilderness) we can have 26KBPS dialup to work on. Fantastic! There’s no broadband and no 3G signal. But according to the National “Broadband” scheme (which is 3G based) the area has full coverage. Just a few miles from here beside one of our largest military camps is another big broadband black spot.
All this rubbish I hear about “smart economy”, “digital hub of Europe”, etc, from politicians: it’s all BS. Until some backside is kicked and we have real connectivity, not just for homes but for businesses, then we’ll lag behind. This is basic infrastructure, as important as rail and roads. Modern business mandates the use of the Internet for communication and for cloud computing. We’re being held back and made uncompetitive.