Ireland, of all places, is calling for an Internet speed limit to be set across the EU, lead by minister for communications, Pat Rabbitte.
The speed limit is, as you probably guessed, a minimum speed limit. Meaning anyone who attains broadband in Europe should, by rights, have a 30Mbps connection. This is technically very feasible for most Europeans, but some very rural places might not be able to get this – at which point I’m sure some solution will be thought of.
A quote from ars technica says…
The Irish government says it’s prepared to put up €175 million ($219 million) to support the market’s failure to deliver broadband in rural areas. To be clear, the Irish government isn’t buying people Internet access—rather, it’s just making sure that a certain level of service is commercially available throughout the country.
Which is amazing. To put my story in, I live in Dublin city centre, cannot get fibre access and have to deal with shoddy customer service driven broadband provided by a company with third world connectivity. My ping is typically woeful, download speeds of “25Mbps” are typically from 2-8Mbps and all with an inflated cost of €40 per month, and very little availability from other companies. Or at least, no guarantee that I’ll get proper service for the price.
All in all, Ireland has a long way to go if Dublin city center customers can’t get decent service.
Call my a cynic, but this is typical Irish government rhetoric which is about the headline and not the people.
