[ILUG] Re: Broadband providers

[Justin Mason]

Timothy Murphy writes:
> On Mon 13 Aug 2007, Lisa Muir wrote:
> > You obviously don't have to ring them as much as I do then. Lucky you.
> > I find the reality quite different, and I would strongly urge everyone
> > to get their broadband from a different provider from their line
> > landlord, and for extra insurance your voice carrier.
> 
> Your experience is sad, but your advice is very foolish, IMHO.
> Most of the very serious problems with broadband
> seem to arise from communication - or rather, lack of communication -
> between ISP and landline owner, if these are different.
> 
> If the probability of communicating rationally with one telecom is epsilon,
> the probability of a rational conversation involving two telecoms
> is epsilon^2.

Spot on. A cursory browse through the boards.ie broadband forum will
demonstrate that Tim is indeed correct.  It's full of stories of people
getting caught between their ISP and the Eircom technicians who always
seem to be required to take action, due to the half-assed attempt at
leased-line unbundling that has taken place in this country.  "Bitstream"
LLU means that Eircom still own and operate the physical equipment, while
the ISPs the customer deals with leases use of them.

On top of this -- LLU will be moot soon, since Eircom is in the process of
doing another end-run around the regulator by making the exchange
obsolete:
http://www.eire.com/2007/07/17/comreg-has-to-make-the-right-choice-for-the-future-of-broadband/

--j.