Writing for life

I just got off the phone with our local wireless broadband operator, Rapid Broadband, who informed me that there was STILL no covarage in my area. I know of three people less than a mile down the road who avail of and are generally very happy with the service — but I seem to be nestled in a lovely little wireless black-spot; a broadband dead-zone.

Our telephone exchange in Leap, as far as I know, hasn’t been upgraded to deliver ADSL, and anyway at around 6KM I think we’re just outside the cut-off point in terms of distance from the exchange. I was starting to get a bit excited about the prospect of mobile broadband — with offerings from Vodafone, O2 and 3 all jockeying for market share it seemed now might be a good time to avail. But no good.

Here in rural Co. Cork the 3G coverage is woeful. The nice lady in West Cork Mobiles in Clonakilty told me that she could sell me the O2 USB modem — but that where I live the coverage would be sporadic at best, and when I could get access it would be at a much slower rate than that advertised. In her words:

I can’t even get it at home, and I’m selling it! We’re treated as second class citizens down here.

It certainly seems that way when it comes to broadband access. Apparently the only places locally that you can get real broadband speeds from 3G are the town centres of Clonakilty and Skibbereen — both of which also have fixed line ADSL and wireless options available to them. Kind of makes a mockery of the term “mobile broadband”, don’t you think?

Looks like I’m stuck with the clunky and expensive 64k ISDN connection for the time being. I can live with it, barely, although it has me pulling my hair out when it comes to transferring large files. I just wish I didn’t have to endure all the adverts pushing the latest and greatest broadband options (complete with the usual “subject to availability, terms and conditions apply” guff). Hearing about the sort of connection speeds other people are enjoying when you know you can’t get them yourself is incredibly frustrating!

Every time I hear a new add on the radio, or read one in the newspaper I get excited, even though I know I shouldn’t. I fire up my web-browser, crank up the old ISDN, type in the web address and wait… and wait… and wait.

Why is it that broadband providers — who by definition are trying to appeal to those still struggling with a slower connection, don’t optimise their sites for access over dialup?

Eventually, when the thing does load up, and I access the coverage map and/or line check, the response invariably amounts to “you live where…“. I swear that sometimes I can hear sniggering in the background — or maybe that’s just the cogs whirring as the ISDN struggles to cope with the graphics.

Broadband availability in this country is a JOKE — and not a very funny one at that, especially when you’re trying to run a home-based business that relies heavily on electronic communication.

I feel like the whole media rich, interactive Web 2.0 experience is passing me by. I’m stuck in the narrowband doldrums while the digital revolution roars on without me. I can’t even use Skype properly, for crying out loud, and you can forget things like YouTube, Google Earth or Second Life. Even downloading software updates is a chore: to get the latest OpenOffice.org update I have to crank up the download before going to bed at night. If I’m really lucky and the line doesn’t drop mid-flight it might — just might — be finished when I go back in the morning.

So Santa, if you’re listening… I know it’s only July, but all I want for Christmas is a broadband connection. Surely that’s not too much to ask….

Technorati Tags: broadband, Ireland, mobile broadband, ADSL, wireless broadband, ISDN