Recently in broadband Category

Adrian highlights yet another advert that is highly misleading.

Why do ISPs keep on doing this?

Do they enjoy getting hauled over the coals by the advertising standards people?

Or does the benefit of duping people outweigh any negative consequences?

I came across this rather amusing cartoon on XKCD today, but while it is amusing I also suspect that it reflects a certain degree of reality for a lot of people in Ireland still.

How hard is it for people to get a reliable internet connection in a new house or flat?

I'd hate to even think about it.

Some of the larger ISPs in the UK have signed up to a new code of conduct with OfCom, the UK telco regulator.

The ISPs have made key commitments governing speeds and other key aspects of their product offering:

1. provide customers at the point of sale with an accurate estimate of the maximum speed that the line can support, whether it is in the shop, over the internet or on the phone;
2. resolve technical issues to improve speed and offer customers the choice to move onto a lower speed package when estimates given are inaccurate;
3. ensure all sales and promotion staff have a proper understanding of the products they are selling so they can explain to their customers the meaning of the estimates provided at the point of sale; and
4. provide consumers with information on usage limits and alerting customers when they have breached them.

The list includes household names such as AOL, BT, O2 and many more.

More coverage here

Related articles

• Ofcom to introduce code of conduct for broadband advertising [via Zemanta]
• Code agreed on broadband ads [via Zemanta]
• Ofcom concern over unclear broadband speeds [via Zemanta]
• Voluntary code for internet speed [via Zemanta]
• Broadband speed: Ofcom introduces code for providers [via Zemanta]

French ISP free.fr, which is part of the Iliad group, has announced an IPv6 offering.

Free is one of the first operator in the world to deploy IPv6. This new generation of IP protocol, set to spread in all devices in the coming years, optimises services development provided to customers. IPv6 is by essence supported without requiring specific update in the last version of operating systems: Windows Vista, Mac OS X, Linux.

Over the last few months the issues with IPv4 depletion and the lack of adoption of IPv6 by commercial entities has been attracting a lot of media attention.

There seems to be a little debate heating up between Karlin Lillington on one side and Damien Mulley on the other.

There's also a couple of threads over on Boards.ie

The question is whether there is an issue of demand or is it a matter of supply.

Are people unable to get broadband because they don't want it, or is it a case of the ISPs not being willing to supply it?

Or is it more of a chicken / egg scenario?

The Register reports that users of 3 Ireland's broadband services have been getting a rough time.

The report confirms some of the issues that have been reported by users on Irish ISP Test, Boards.ie and elsewhere.

The kind of issues facing users are caused by ISPs using NAT for their network, instead of providing dynamic IPs or even fixed ones. This can lead to IP ranges being blacklisted

I suppose it comes as little surprise to many people to discover that there were several complaints about Irish ISPs to the Irish advertising standards authority. Adrian Weckler covers some of the low points for both UPC (NTL / Chorus' new owner) and Digiweb. What's surprising is that there aren't more complaints. I guess a lot of people don't believe in using official channels

According to Adrian Weckler Dublin City Council will not be pursuing its plans to introduce free wifi throughout the city. A report commissioned by the local government suggests that the provision of wifi could infringe on European Union legislation.

Irish broadband ISP Magnet Networks has announced its plans to pull back from the residential market citing issues with incumbent telco Eircom. Prior to the story breaking on ENN, Irish blogger and broadband observer / activist, Damien Mulley, had already suggested that Magnet's move was to be expected. While existing subscribers and certain housing estates will not be affected by the company's move it is still very worrying. When will there be true competition in the Irish market?

IrelandOffLine's Damien Mulley sent this out yesterday evening:

In the Irish Independent today, it was announced that the Department of Communications has killed off the group broadband scheme. Despite stringing-along groups since mid-2005 with the promise of another funding round and the Minister himself telling people in media interviews to apply for group broadband funds as recently as a few weeks ago, no new round has opened since April 2005. The third round was promised and promised and now it seems that those who were told that it was coming have been seriously let down by the Department. Despite not offering another round for almost two years the Minister squarely puts the blame on consumers for their lack of demand. > From the Independent: "In the two years since the Group Broadband Scheme was started, only 7,200 subscribers have signed up - the potential pool of subscribers is about 400,000 people. It will end following the second phase of the scheme. Mr Dempsey said yesterday that the take-up was very low and the roll out too slow" We do not believe that this spin on the facts is true, since all applications were refused since April 2005. If you have been part of a community group trying to get broadband for your area, or were about to set something up, I would very much like to hear back from you. Please email me at this address and include you area and whether you formally contacted the Department of Communications and whether your local broadband coordinator worked with you to prepare for round three of the funding. In the meantime as this is an election year I strongly suggest you contact every one of you local political representatives and explain your feelings about the broadband situation in your area and in the country as a whole.