Business Post on Lieberman’s fight for survival:
The Connecticut contest is also widely regarded as a test of the strength of the so-called ‘blogosphere’. The term refers to the politically orientated web logs – or blogs – that have proliferated in recent years. On the liberal side, the blogs have provided a new forum for activists dissatisfied with the moderate Democratic leadership. Many of the blogs have campaigned vigorously for Lamont – a victory for the challenger would therefore be seen as a feather in their cap.
‘‘There are a lot of elements in this race,� Doug Muzzio, a public affairs professor at the City University of New York told The Sunday Business Post. ‘‘The most obvious is Lieberman’s position on the war and his closeness to Republicans. “But the deeper element is the role of bloggers. The way the opposition is organised and the way it communicates is different to how it was before.� Tuesday’s vote should provide more evidence on the question of how effective the bloggers really are.
Expect a slight increase in journalists interested in Irish political blogs if Lieberman crashes out. Are you listening Cian and Simon?
Both Mark Tighe in the Sunday Times and Kathleen Barrington in the Business Post cover the fact that the new owners of eircom have said in typical Aussie fashion that the network is shit. Something IrelandOffline have been saying for years, because it’s true. When the Oireachtas Committee on Broadband asked Isolde Goggin the head of ComReg about it, she instead decided to answer a different question.
Durkan asked the question: “I draw her attention to line failure in broadband. We were not able to get information on the extent of that line failure because it is supposed to be commercially sensitive. Is ComReg aware of the extent of line failure resulting in an inability to provide broadband services?”
Goggin said to question:
“We get information from Eircom about the rate of line failure and the time to repair, and issues regarding repeat faults and so on. Our experience of the number of lines connected to a broadband-enabled exchange that will fail the test appears to be in line with that in other countries. The experience in Northern Ireland, for example, bears that out. “
Let me be quite clear on this. The line failure rate on exchanges in the Republic of Ireland is around 20%. In Northern Ireland it is 0.84%. Our regulator knows this but told an official Oireachtas Committee:
the number of lines connected to a broadband-enabled exchange that will fail the test appears to be in line with that in other countries. The experience in Northern Ireland, for example, bears that out.
Anyone recommend a book from Amazon on how to count?
And what about other countries in Europe? What, if any, line failure rates do they have?
Are you listening Cian and Simon
More reading then listening. 🙂 I don’t know the lieberman thing was created by the vastly paritizan blogosphere built upon a vastly devided country which is not really here. Then again …. watch your back bertie 🙂
The podcast got a mention in the irish examineer they covered the 40 million poles question.
And yet McRedmond, despite his boss of bosses saying “the worst broadband in Europeâ€? and “the broadband network in Ireland needed significant investment to bring it up to an acceptable standard” denies denies denies.
John
Eircom have always leveraged top class PR and schmoozing with journos for good effect. That’s what well-established brands do well. Products or services get less attention than media posturing because that posturing directly affects share value.
I have met lieberman, seems like a down to earth guy, don’t now much about molloy, but it seems that politics is a never ending popularity race. I live in Connecticut, and I really haven’t seen a lot of tv coverage of late, but the ads are the best. Funny as all hell. I personally would like Molloy to win, seems to have a few good ideas from what I’ve been hearing. I should do a little more research.
B&B’s comments are interesting. I have broadband but the service is marginal, probably because of my distance from the exchange. However, I have traced the line from my house to the exchange and its condition is shocking – poles swamped in ivy, lines sagging across fields and in one case tied to a tree with a bit of string, bits of equipment hangong for dear life to some poles. That can’t help!
It should be noted that Eircom’s network was built with our taxes and we pay for it again with line rental. And they still can’t maintain it in a decent state!