Internet For All in Europe

evileyetmc writes "It seems that the EU has taken the next big step in promoting the concept of Internet for All, by attempting to 'ensure that the most Web-disadvantaged groups can get online.'" From the article: "The EC has now pledged to increase broadband coverage across the continent to 90 percent by 2010. Rural areas are still underserved, according to the Commission, with about 60 percent penetration. Urban areas fare better and are already at the 90 percent mark. The EC has also committed to putting new measures in place to halve exclusion rates in skills and digital literacy by 2010. "

Comments

eire

[wwmedia]

[rant]
Here in ireland we constantly being promised internet for everyone and we are always get screwed over,
maybe with pressure from Europe, Eircom will pull their head out of their behind (they dont listen to the governement much anyways)

hell im on wireless "broadband" (Irish Broadband) now in Dublin city center and i can barely get above 30K (yes thats almost twice slower than dial up! when were meant to het up to 512K)

soo much for Knowledge Economy!
[/end rant]

Re:eire

[Anonymous Coward]

I would have to agree, im on 3mbit, with a 30GB cap, and i pay 50 a month, that in usd is +27% ontop. They also charge you, or reserve the right to charge 30 a gigabyte used above 30GB, last time i checked a datacenter charges you 13c USD oer the quota.

Ireland and Britian are not seeing "The benifits" of this economic ability to give 3rd worlds broadband, when their own front door doesnt have the same simple privlages, who ARE able to afford to pay for broadband.

This could be arguged that we have massive monopolistic ISP's such as Eircom and British Telecom who refuse to make life easier.

I myself, was only able to even apply for broadband 9 weeks ago, and I certainly do not live in the middle of nowhere. To give you an example of how bad it is, I have yet to recieve an ADSL modem from the ISP i signed up to, im only on the internet cause I have my own hardware.

So im sorry for saying that "3rd worlds shouldnt have broadband" but I think they should honstly start in the most important place, at HOME.

Its great that they are doing these places it goes to show its possible to put an internet signal where theres no electrical socket to run a computer...

Pierce

Re:eire

[donutface]

Stop complaining, you live in the centre of Dublin, just go ahead and get ADSL, its only 30 euros a month. Have a look at some other countries who actually talk about how cheap Europe is for internet such as South Africa. In South Africa, with ADSL they cap their users at 3gb per month. If you want to download 100gb, its cheaper to fly to Hong Kong, and download it there, burn it to DVD's and bring it back home (Actual statistics, www.hellkom.co.za). You complain about monopolies, but you honestly dont know how good you have it, I thoroughly enjoy my ADSL in Cork, if your ISP sucks so much, pick up the bloody phone and change ISP.

W3C

[bsdluvr]

From TFA: According to recent research, 81 percent of Web sites in the United Kingdom are inaccessible to disabled people, while a separate report found that only 3 percent of European public-sector Web sites met W3C accessibility guidelines.

Good to see they are caring about accessibility and compatibility, because those two are often overlooked when talking about internet coverage. They are actually talking about 90% of the population, and not just 90% geographical coverage.

Re:I wonder how history will judge us

[ChrisGilliard]

in the US, the Internet will be a place for businesses that can pay the carrier cartels. In Europe, the Internet will be a place (more like what we in the US have today) where ideas are exchanged freely.

Don't hold your breath on this one. I think the more likely scenario is that in the US, you will have really fast service for a small fee and in parts of Europe, you'll have a slow connection provided by the government that has problems and is perpetually in great need of an upgrade. The truth is that the cost of providing internet service has dramatically decreased over time and will continue to do so. I've seen articles about the cost of providing wireless internet connections to a city. It's actually cheaper to provide wifi internet accross a city than it is to run a local ad sponsored newspaper. Ad sponsored wifi will be pervasive soon and no one will even consider using a slow goverment connection. Why waste the money?

Re:I wonder how history will judge us

[EsbenMoseHansen]

United States that guarantees free speech in the constitution (which is NOT typically guranteed in Europe)

You are wrong there, I think. To quote from the Danish constitution (chapter VIII, if you care)

77. Enhver er berettiget til på tryk, i skrift og tale at offentliggøre sine tanker, dog under ansvar for domstolene. Censur og andre forebyggende forholdsregler kan ingensinde påny indføres.

Translated (by me, tired)It is every citizens right to publish his thoughts in written or oral form, though being responsible to the judges. Censorship or other preventive measures can never again be instigated.

Just as sort of a public service :)

Re:I wonder how history will judge us

[JSchoeck]

No central or western european country has any state-run telephone/internet companies anymore. All nations have broadband faster at equal speed or even much faster than the general internet connection in the USA. For example: France has DSL 20MBit in cities and DSL 6MBit in other areas, Germany has DSL 6MBit in cities and at least 2MBit in rural areas with 20MBit coming this or next year. You hope/uninformed prophecy will not come true, because internet connectivity in Europe is already past the state you describe for the future.