Eircon Broadband Trickster Programme.


Dermot,

Please let me know whether we can proceed with the following: We are keen to make a “big” public statement about Eircom’s obvious broadband trigger initiative scam, before some journalist picks up the issue and we stand again accused of having missed the ball. Until now all our national media have simply re-chewed Eircom’s press release, but we can no longer count on that.
John





Public announcement on Eircom's Broadband Trigger Programme

What’s the issue?

Eircom has countered critics of their sluggish broadband rollout by announcing the dsl trigger program “Bring broadband to your area!”. They hyped it with their well-oiled PR machinery and all the media simply regurgitated their message.

But on closer inspection Eircom’s dsl trigger scheme is easily recognisable to be nothing but a scam, and not even a terribly well engineered one. Eircom is - again - simply counting on the gullibility of the Irish media.

And not only the media have been duped: in numerous regional and even government publications Eircom’s scam scheme is getting uncritically reported and applauded. (See resources for examples)


Have a look yourself:

Eircom has published a list of 150 smaller towns (see further down) where they promise to offer broadband, if and when enough people show their interest in the product, if and when a “trigger” level set by Eircom is reached.

A simple check shows the nature of the scheme:

The trigger levels are not achievable: uptake would often need to be in excess of 100% of fixed line holders within ADSL reach.

Eircom, the company that has [webmaster adds: right before the dopey eyes of spineless Regulator ComReg] brought down Ireland to second last place in the broadband ranking of EU countries, has simply done a massive con-job on the media, the politicians and the population.

Further indication for the con-job nature of Eircom’s trigger programme is the fact that they don’t even bother to update the site with the votes they are getting, so most places still show a level of votes of 1 or 2.


What is the context?

Even to expect an initial 10% broadband uptake in these towns would be a phenomenal achievement, anything above 10% is unrealistic. Unrealistic in an international and national context. (Communications Minister Dermot Ahern has for example in a recent speech in Budapest suggested for Europe to aim for a Broadband penetration of 10%. Ireland is currently at 1% or 2%.)

And: An exchange that already has fibre connectivity only needs about 50 broadband subscribers to make the dsl upgrade economical. (Not so for Eircom of course: They prefer the short term gouging of their helpless customers with overpriced dial-up fees. Eircom currently earn more from dial-up Internet than from phone calls.)

In the UK BT had a similar trigger scheme and while it was also used as a PR tool, at least the trigger levels were set at an achievable level and over 2000 exchanges were dsl enabled after reaching the trigger. BT has now scrapped the scheme and promised 95% dsl coverage by end of the year


How and why does the Eir-Con-Art work?

Psychologically Eircom work their swindle in the following manner: They proclaim: "Townfolk in 150 towns with less than 1500 inhabitants can vote and thereby achieve broadband roll-out. We've set a trigger level of between 200 and 500 for those towns."
On first glance, this seems high, but vaguely achievable. But the 1500 and 200 figures the Eir-Con-artist holds up before our eyes are the wrong ones:
Not the inhabitants of the towns can vote, only holders of fixed line accounts with Eircom can vote, that means households with landlines. So the much lower numbers of households in those towns are the numbers to go by. And households that are situated outside the narrow reach of ADSL cannot seriously be expected to vote for something they can not get anyway.

Additional note: Votes can only be cast over the Internet. Over half of households with a fixed line are not connected to the Internet.



Figures for Eircom Trigger Towns:

resources:


1. Eircom PR

After a fat press release to launch its broadband trigger programme in February 2004, the scheme is prominently paraded on www.eircom.ie, even on the company's US website.


Eircom's loud talking to the media is in strange contrast to its silence when it comes to promoting the scheme with the enduser.

2. Reporting in the Media

Practically all the Irish Media have uncritically "advertised" Eircom's trigger programme and fallen for the trickery; even the specialised ElectricNews knows no better than the rest and simply blows Eircom's PR trumpet, when it writes, and we quote it here as the typical example for all the other media "reporting":

"EIRCOM SETS BROADBAND TRIGGERS
People in communities across Ireland can now go on-line to register their interest in broadband, and hopefully get connected sooner, under a new Eircom scheme. The company said that under its new 'trigger' programme, individuals [It's account holders, Matthew] in towns and villages with fewer than 1,500 people can express interest in ADSL through www.eircom.ie. The company said that if expressions of interest in a particular town match a pre-set 'trigger level' -- ranging from 200 to 500 votes -- then Eircom will ramp up broadband rollout for that area. Once a site hits the requisite trigger, the firm will add the town to its broadband infrastructure build programme, though it will still take between six and nine months to build and install broadband in the area."


Full marks go to the Farmers Journal, though,

It is the only paper to our knowledge so far, that offered this critical line:
[From the 13 March 2004 edition] "The usage trigger levels that Eircom requires before it will upgrade exchanges in rural areas exceeds even the population of those areas.''


3.How Community groups were conned

A whole range of communities were conned into believing they could bring broadband into their localties, when they mistook a cynical exercise of Eircom PR for real:
"Help Roundwood get Broadband"
Or "Broadband in Glenties – Your help is needed" which writes:
"Glenties has been chosen for the eircom broadband trigger programme. This means that if we can register 246 votes then Glenties will be entered into the planning process and hopefully have it installed within in 6 - 9 months."

or "Broadband for Kinvara", who are so full of hope:
"NEW: Broadband Trigger Programme, which they say could lead to broadband being introduced to an area. For those that would like to see broadband come to Kinvara, please go to www.eircom.ie and follow the instructions".

These are just some typical examples.


4. In government web sites, etc.

No wonder then that Eircom's PR con-magic has also worked its way into government publications.
Example from the "Citizens Information Database":

"Coincidentally Eircom also launched what it called a "broadband trigger programme" yesterday. It said this was designed to allow consumers to directly influence the roll-out of broadband in their towns.

Eircom said a trigger level represents the requisite number of customers needed to enable broadband in a particular area. The company said once this level was hit, then it would automatically be added to Eircom's broadband build programme which would take around six-nine months to install thereafter.

A spokesman for Minister Ahern said Eircom had not cooperated with the Government website venture, in particular not supplying details on what exchanges were broadband enabled. "It is regrettable, but that was Eircom's decision," he said.

He said that Department officials had garnered the information on Eircom's pricing and services independently and published it on the website. Welcoming the Eircom site he said the two would complement one another.

Last night Eircom strongly denied that it had not cooperated with the Department. An Eircom spokeswoman said its pricing was public information, was on its website and there was no question of not providing it to the Department.

The Government broadband website is www.broadband.gov.ie. The Eircom site is www.eircom.ie."

We wrote to Minister Mary Hanafin (Minister for the Information Society) and Minister Dermot Ahern (Minister for Communications, Marine, and Natural Resources):

We also wrote to the various County Councils:

We strongly suspect that most of the Regional Press fell for the Eircom Trigger swindle and intend to contact them on the issue.

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