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I appreciate any effort on the part of a government to exert pressure on industry to deliver a product to citizens that keeps up with the times, but I'm not sur

I appreciate any effort on the part of a government to exert pressure on industry to deliver a product to citizens that keeps up with the times, but I'm not sure it really matters anymore. Any connection that can stream YouTube at an acceptable resolution is 'broadband' in my eyes, while someone who's rsyncing terabytes daily would probably suck up as much bandwidth as they can get and come back for a second helping. Maybe, just maybe, everyone has learned the Nerd Words well enough that we can simply refer to connection performance by X number of megabits per second (probably not). Good thing the FCC doesn't control Ireland, or I'd no longer be able to declare that I have broadband via satellite! Well, part of the time, anyway.

rsynnott 3y ago
25Mbit/sec isn’t really good enough for 4K video. > Good thing the FCC doesn't control Ireland, or I'd no longer be able to declare that I have broadband via satellite! Well, part of the time, anyway. I mean, you can call it what you want, but it’s under the minimum standard set by the NBP in 2012 (30Mbit, 25ms). Fortunately, if that’s the best you can get, you’re almost certainly in an NBI intervention area, so a minimum of 500Mbit via FTTH should be available to you at some point. You can check here: https://nbi.ie/map/ https://nbi.ie/map/
- theodric 3y ago
  December 2026, pushed back twice so far. The places that have service have post-launch prices far exceeding that of Starlink (and launch prices matching Starlink). It's "National" in the sense of being funded by taxpayers, but not in the sense of being operated as a public good. Just the usual operation to funnel tax money to politicians' cousins and friends and set them up for life with a revenue stream. I can't imagine why you'd need 4k streaming. I can't tell 4k from 1080p on my 65" from my chair, and my phone isn't 4k.
  - rsynnott 3y ago
    > The places that have service have post-launch prices far exceeding that of Starlink … Eh? “ In Ireland, Starlink costs €65 per month with a one-time installation fee of €450.” There are a bunch of providers on NBI, but with the cheaper ones you’re looking at ~45EUR/month for 500Mbit/sec, no installation fee. (In general, unless you’re planning to switch provider every year, you should avoid introductory offers, at least in this country; Eircom’s 75EUR after a first year at 35EUR, say. If you avoid this type of ‘offer’, though, it should be in the 45-55 range.)

rsynnott 3y ago

25Mbit/sec isn’t really good enough for 4K video. > Good thing the FCC doesn't control Ireland, or I'd no longer be able to declare that I have broadband via satellite! Well, part of the time, anyway. I mean, you can call it what you want, but it’s under the minimum standard set by the NBP in 2012 (30Mbit, 25ms). Fortunately, if that’s the best you can get, you’re almost certainly in an NBI intervention area, so a minimum of 500Mbit via FTTH should be available to you at some point. You can check here: https://nbi.ie/map/ https://nbi.ie/map/

theodric 3y ago
December 2026, pushed back twice so far. The places that have service have post-launch prices far exceeding that of Starlink (and launch prices matching Starlink). It's "National" in the sense of being funded by taxpayers, but not in the sense of being operated as a public good. Just the usual operation to funnel tax money to politicians' cousins and friends and set them up for life with a revenue stream. I can't imagine why you'd need 4k streaming. I can't tell 4k from 1080p on my 65" from my chair, and my phone isn't 4k.
- rsynnott 3y ago
  > The places that have service have post-launch prices far exceeding that of Starlink … Eh? “ In Ireland, Starlink costs €65 per month with a one-time installation fee of €450.” There are a bunch of providers on NBI, but with the cheaper ones you’re looking at ~45EUR/month for 500Mbit/sec, no installation fee. (In general, unless you’re planning to switch provider every year, you should avoid introductory offers, at least in this country; Eircom’s 75EUR after a first year at 35EUR, say. If you avoid this type of ‘offer’, though, it should be in the 45-55 range.)