A connected community
I know that I have allowed adverse comments about the Hebrides.net set-up (right) on a number of occasions, but despite all the flak, we have to remember that being connected to the web is actually the way forward for this community.It may be frustrating, it may be slow (or slower than you would really like), it may be expensive, and service levels may be low, but anyone doing business via the web knows just how important it can be to island life.
Lots of our clients try to sell via the web and some do it very successfully, despite still being on dial-up or broadband at almost dial-up speeds, and a few do it very badly, mistaking an email address for a 24/7 web 2.0 e-commerce site.
The vision for these islands must be to attract back the educated masses we send away, so that they can work, live, bring up families and run a business from here. Some do it extremely well.
Much as I try to help friends and clients, nothing beats actual experience.
On Saturday I was asked if our firm still provided a certain service (I don't want to give too much away to the competition!) by a local gent I know very well. He had been recommended to us by a couple of his work colleagues who live in England but work with him on an oil installation outside the UK! These clients had found us through a website we have set-up for a niche area, and which is attracting 2/3 new clients a week, every week.
I might have thought that a fluke, except another site we own today brought in another new potential client from the middle East who found us because of certain key words in that site. He is looking to open a UK office to handle his expanding international business, and our physical location is totally irrelevant.
Tourism is great; manufacturing is rarely cost effective; retail is a big employer; the future growth in population and skills lies in selling ourselves as a onshore, lower-cost, alternative to off-shoring.
I was recently accused on this blog of claiming that the only real jobs were those where you got dirty or worn fluorescent jackets. Actually, what I said was that tourism had less of an impact on the community than people claimed. Services will be an important part of the future economy of the islands, but only if we diversify and draw back the diaspora with excellent telecoms, travel and the way of life.
That is the challenge to which I don't have all the answers, but which I really hope we as a community do.
31 comments:
Well said and I agree with just about all of it. But let's bring it back to the fact that the shambolic ConCom situation has therefore really held us back and will continue to do so until we get another alternative. I don't have the answer either but patently, ConCom is not it.
Are you saying that we should feel grateful for concom?
A thoughtful piece which could be reformed as a set exam question.
Living in South Uist I cannot help but feel that Storas have completely lost their way in stimulating any part of the community. Not sure what is going on up in Lewis and Harris but I feel that we are being badly let down by those who claim to be development officers, and the various agencies which they represent. Binnies joke is coming back to haunt us '...petty cash box - empty; petty squabbles box - full.
Grandiose schemes which squander public money will have little or no lasting impact on the communities - except perhaps to be a catalyst in an even greater drain on public services.
I believe, as do others with whom I have discussed this old chestnut, that any regeneration which comes about in the islands will be from within, and from the bottom up.
Micro packages of assistance to the myriad small business that are in the islands will have a wholly disproportionate effect to the benefit of the local economy. This is in sharp contrast to the various black holes throughout the islands which have appeared - and disappeared - over the years.
Latest scheme looming on the horizon in Uist is the £20m plan for Lochboisdale. How the local economy or community can benefit from importing families and individuals who have serious social problems is completely beyond me; and as for the yotties...
It would be interesting to have a buy-out watch blog. The Lewis ones are no better. Galson is applying for hundreds of thousands of public funds to build a completely unnecessary office unit and other things when there are already two perfectly serviceable empty units, previously funded by the public standing empty. Not much sign of democracy either. The trustees follow their own game plan, recognised as "THE community" by all external bodies. Crofters and residents only get a say in carefully constrained consultation exercises called by the Trust.
Pairc buy-out just seems to be a disaster probably caused by conflicts of interest between the majority of Trustees, who all stand to benefit if the SSE windfarm gets consent. After years wasted with the landlord running rings around them, residents were notified of a new ballot by the Trust in June/July on the way ahead. This was promptly abandoned when the landlord initiated another round of negotiations, which will undoubtedly fill the time until the money runs out. No further information provided for the community. No question as to whether the community would like to give their opinion on the proceedings. No interest from the outside agencies as to whether the Trust is representing anything other than themselves after all this time.
As 'the Gov' are in town I hope they are reading this.
This taxpayer is being well and truly shafted by these bought out communities. All they do is beg, beg, beg and wont stand up for themselves. They see it as a right to get grants. Giving them grants does not help. It shelters them from the real world.
Stick the rents up and produce a product. Rent out your sporting assets. Produce lamb, beef, milk and honey (opps getting carried away) Make a business from the land instead of being freeloaders.
Don't build unneccesary halls/community shops that will put other local businesses (like Dods van and Cross Stores) to the wall.
Listen to the people instead of just doing what you want and believeing that you have an open remit. You do not.
The desperate aspect of the community run estates is that there is no avenue for appeal when the management team goes off on their pet dream.
Virtually every agency, including the labour politicians that foisted this scheme on us, has a vested interest in making sure that buy-outs 'work'.
Hence all the trumpeting when there is more ribbon cutting at the expense of local individuals, businesses, and long established groups that actually worked for the benefit of their community.
Raise your head above the parapet and the committee (this is getting a bit Russion) have the ability to give it a serious dent.
Lets hear it for the buy-out watch blog.
"Being connected to the web is actually the way forward for this community"
I couldn't agree more, which is why some of us are fighting for a better service than the current ConCom one.
With the vast sums of public money wasted on this project and the QoS provided, we all should be up in arms about this. The consultancy fees alone for the ConCom project exceed the amount it would have cost to upgrade these 21 exchanges in 2005.
ConCom isn't something to be thankful for as it's "better than dial-up", it's something we should be mad about as the amount of money spent here should have ensured the Western Isles a superb service not a disconnected one that has set this area back by years.
8:07 AM there is a big pot of European funding "for the development of information society in Scotland" which is primarily for ICT services than deployment of broadband infrastructure, and as we haven't actually got a reliable "broadband infrastructure" there is a case for funding exchange upgrades, and let the ConCom wireless system serve the out-reach areas. So there is a solution, if the authorities show some contrition here.
What has been really shameful about this whole saga has been the attitude of our councillors and MSP (our MP by the way has been supportive), who are putting public sector pride before their constituents, and until they are big enough to admit mistakes have been made then we will continue to be on the B-roads of the information highway.
@ 7.29 -
(8.07 here)
"and let the ConCom wireless system serve the out-reach areas."
Well τhat's the problem, innit. Full sympathy to those in town with overloaded BT systems but the problem with ConCom is that it can't reach all the outlying areas (outreach??) and at this rate never will. It's simply not fit for the purpose it was principally intend for because lo! we have hills and tides.
It's got to go, and either a more conventional wired system (but with adequate capacity) or another innovative one THAT WORKS needs to be introduced.
I see the usual misconceptions still abound.
1) Being on an ADSL enabled exchange is no guarantee of broadband. It most definitely is not a guarantee of 8Mb. The further away you are from the exchange the lower the speed of broadband you will be able to get, if you are able to get it all. I am on an enabled exchange and the most I was able to get was 512K and that was unreliable.
2) ConnCom own the network, Hebrides.Net (aka scotnet) is the ISP. The network is actually very good, it just needs extended. The ISP definitely needs work - on prices firstly and secondly on the meaning of the phrase customer support.
3) Most of the slowness being experienced by both ADSL and ConnComm internet users is due to the fact that both networks use the same Thus off-island microwave link. This link would I have to assume be nearing capacity.
4) Most of the outages that ConnCom suffers are due entirely to electricity outages. The electricity infrastructure is the one that we should really be looking at and demanding an upgrade.
Regards
MadEddieH
Sorry but it doesn't matter what you say, the bottom line is that Concom or Hebnet or whatever you like to call it is an extremely poor and uncompetitive service which has cost an exorbitant amount of money. Further there seems to be little prospect of improvement until there is recognition of the above.
Eddie - your own misconceptions are still abounding. The network set up by ConCom is not "very good", because:
1. the amount of downtime is unacceptable, whether caused by power outages or not. It's windy here and so we are without broadband for days. Not good enough.
2. it's criminally expensive
3. it's not reaching all the remote areas that it's supposed to.
4. it's often too slow for normal use.
What's very good about that? The problems are compounded by a very unhelpful isp, I grant you.
Bottom line is that there are far more "remote" parts of Europe and the world which have broadband that is:
1. More reliable
2. Faster
3. Cheaper for consumers
4. Cheaper to set up
... than Connected Communities. ConCom, as it functions now, may have been good if this was 2002-03. But it's nearly 2010, and there are many more rural places that are far more viable to live and work in than the Outer Hebrides, as they have much better broadband.
MadEddie H, how far are you from your exchange? On Barra there are houses over 8 Km from Castlebay exchange getting 2Meg. They are paying around £15 a month, slightly less than the £78.29 Hebrides.net charge. As has already been mentioned on this blog Hebrides.net cannot lower their price because the wholesale price they are being charged by ConCom is more expensive than other ISP’s charge retail. They simply cannot lower their prices, even with a major increase in customers, which isn’t going to happen because everybody knows this service is poor and expensive. Ask yourself this, if the ConCom service is so good why has the Council employed someone to initiate a broadband uptake campaign? Also please read some of the comments here. This is not just one or two people unhappy about this service;
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/betterbroadband/signatures
This initiative was strangled at birth because BT came along and upgraded all the big exchanges and took the potential ConCom customer base along with it, leaving us with a big white elephant that without subsidy will collapse. It has also left the people in the 21 exchange areas excluded from the 2005 UK initiative, with an expensive, unreliable service that cannot guarantee coverage. In the areas where there is an option, customers are going with the exchange. This speaks volumes.
Remember if HIE/ConCom hadn't "expressly excluded" these 21 exchanges from an upgrade in 2005 then the majority of people in these areas would have had a cheaper, quicker service FOUR YEARS AGO. Of these 21 exchanges, over half would give immediate 100% coverage to residents. HIE/ConCom will no doubt dispute this, which is easily dismissed because they never investigated the possibility of exchanges to provide broadband. Research is a wonderful thing. Blind faith is just plain stupid and this "ConCom is good" mantra everyone involved keeps chanting sounds more and more like a desperate prayer.
HIE/ConCom knew in 2004 that BT were reaching 8Km from exchanges and that the 2005 UK Government initiative to give broadband to all was just around the corner, and instead of reassessing the wireless option, carried on regardless up the ConCom. Need I remind you it is August 2009 and there are people in the Western Isles with no broadband service whatsoever. Given the amount of money spent on this initiative THIS IS SCANDALOUS.
(part two)
Also remember that BT trialled the wireless equipment chosen to provide this service and found it to be “cumbersome, expensive and prone to failure.” Six years down the line, an unreliable service that can’t give coverage, and at great expense to the taxpayer, this wasn’t really great prescience on BT’s behalf, they just knew what they were talking about. You would have thought that an organisation with great experience in this field voicing concerns about the suitability of this equipment would have been listened to. Apparently not.
This ConCom fiasco has more to do with protecting self-interests than providing the best services to the Western Isles as the way Northbay community was treated proves. Remember that HIE rejected the Northbay community request to have the ConCom funds redeployed to upgrade our exchange because we would get broadband "significantly sooner" through ConCom. This sudden desire to give us broadband was strange because at a public meeting in March 2008 HIE admitted that had they listened to our request the previous year then Northbay exchange would have been upgraded in 2007! The week before this meeting Castlebay School had one hour internet access the whole week. The electricity was working fine though. As it stands there are people here who cannot get any kind of broadband service at all, even the ConCom one that has been foisted upon us. People who signed up because there was no alternative are still waiting.
At the March 2008 meeting with HIE/ConCom there was a UNANIMOUS VOTE in favour of pursuing the procurement and a petition signed by 90% of the community stating a willingness to wait for this process to occur was presented, and subsequently ignored by HIE - they never bothered presenting our petition at their board meeting on this issue. Through FOI we discovered that the procurement would have taken eight months, only a matter of months after their proposed completion date for ConCom (which ended up six months behind schedule and then promptly broke down for nine days! We still had electricity though.) Our MSP was asked to intervene because HIE were not giving a valid reason for not continuing with our procurement request. He didn’t. The Scottish Government were asked. They didn’t. At least the Labour MSP’s are trying to sort this mess out so I suggest anyone that wants a better service than what is currently (un)available then I suggest that you support their petition;
www.ipetitions.com/petition/betterbroadband
The SNP? SQNP more like. Supporting Quangos Not People.
Well done 9.10am you have hit the nail on the head. Your comment-
Grandiose schemes which squander public money will have little or no lasting impact on the communities - except perhaps to be a catalyst in an even greater drain on public services.
I believe, as do others with whom I have discussed this old chestnut, that any regeneration which comes about in the islands will be from within, and from the bottom up.
Micro packages of assistance to the myriad small business that are in the islands will have a wholly disproportionate effect to the benefit of the local economy. This is in sharp contrast to the various black holes throughout the islands which have appeared - and disappeared - over the years.
.....is absolutely bang on. Unfortunately the people paid to sit on their backsides and disburse public money are so reluctant to part with it the only those requiring vast sums have the time and the patience to do it. The rest of us are too busy just trying to earn a living. To add insult to injury, the latest scheme (SRDP) which on the face of it is excellent for the islands (if you've got a PhD in rural development and couple of days spare to fill in the application form) IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE BY BROADBAND!
Very amusing.
And it would be, except for the sad fact that it's true. Where are Con Com when you need them?
sigh,
I see we are back to the same old lies and the same old myths.
Once any of you are actually prepared to put your name against anything I'll bother to respond. Until then you anonymous cowards can keep spreading your hot-air.
Regards
My name is George V Macleod,of Northbay Isle of Barra.I have condemned Concom as a disaster for our Islands.
Your comments are bizarre and seem calculated to support Concom.
So now let me have your proper name and address as you promised.
See who is the coward now ??
George MacLeod,
Firstly - you claim I promised my full name and address - where exactly did I promise that? I'll tell you where - nowhere. Indeed this is yet another example of the over-exaggeration and plain lies that so many posters on this blog seem happy to utilise.
Nevertheless my full name is Eddie Hallahan and I live in South Bragar and here's a tip for you george - click the Name/url option and put your name in there.
As to supporting ConnCom - of course I support ConnCom, it is a brilliant solution to broadband provision in the Hebrides, regardless of the fact that not everywhere is covered yet.
The issues I have are with Hebrides.net in terms of pricing and support - any other ISP is welcome to use the ConnCom infrastructure if they like - but guess what, there isn't the customer base to justify it to them.
What's the solution - more customers on ConnCom rather than less.
Regards
it is a brilliant solution to broadband provision in the Hebrides
So all of the many, many residents who have complained of:
1. The lack of service.
2. If they have the service, the poor reliability or high prices or low speed.
3. The customer service.
... and those potential residents who chose not to move to the Hebrides because of how poor the service compares to mainland broadband services.
... are all wrong/deluded. And the various petitions (not just Barra, but also North Uist, Berneray and Lewis) were all made up?
And you are right? Why are you saying things that many hundreds of residents of the Outer Hebrides know, from direct experience, are simply not true?
sigh,
Yet more anonymous coward posts.
Connected Communities is a separate entity from Hebrides.Net. The first provides the network infrastructure while the second provides internet connectivity to users, via the underlying infrastructure. In much the same way your phoneline may be BT but your ISP tiscali/AOl etc.
I have repeatedly made clear that I support ConnComm but am not so enamoured of HebNet.
As to your 3 'facts';
1) Conncomm, in common with ADSL, 21CN, ISDN, 3G, mobile phones and every other communications technology covers some places while not covering others. The basis that most of the coverage comes from is economic i.e. are there enough customers to justify the investment in extending coverage to that area. Conncomm pays less attention to those economic drivers and is moving towards achieving the maximum possible coverage it can.
2) The reliability of the service - the service has consistently proven more reliable than ADSL in my direct experience. Most of the reliability issues I have experienced have been linked to DNS and can be laid at the feet of HebNet. The only issues I have had with the reliability of ConnComm's infrastructure is when adverse weather has taken out the electrical power for a relay mast - generally at the same time as the TV has gone off, the mobiles have gone off and Isles FM has gone off - so like I said we should be looking at the power infrastructure and weatherproofing it.
As for the slow speeds - everyone on the islands is experiencing the same slow speeds - whether on 8mb ADSL in Stornoway or 1Mb HebNet. As I said they all go to the mainland down the same finite pipe. This is a major issue but it is there regardless of who your connection is with.
As to their prices - yes they are high, so were the prices for ADSL when it first came out - I hope that they bring the prices down soon and will fully support anyone who wants ConnComm or Hebrides.Net to bring down their prices.
And yes Hebrides.Net need to improve their customer service, but again I would point out the difference between the infrastructure provider and the ISP.
So again I will say that the ConnComm infrastructure is a brilliant solution.
Lots of people believing a lie doesn't make a lie true, just popular.
Regards
"anonymous cowards" that's rich coming from someone calling themself "MadEddieH"
you are either;
a) trying to be ironic
b) you parents were hippies
Ladies, ladies, ...ladies.
Step back from your hand bags.
I use the internet for my wee business and had originally used AOL dial up as that was all that was available. Broadband came to our area about 2 years ago. I was going to stay with AOL through old fashioned customer loyalty but their system could not be run on my then machine at the house, an old Apple Mac.
So, switched to BT at the house and remained with AOL in the office. After about 3 months of very slow speed in the office decided to do the 'buy local' thing and applied for a ConCom connection, against a lot of advice from grumpy ConCom clients. Three times (over 12 weeks) the visit to install was cancelled, and I then went to BT who had me on their system in less than 24hrs.
There were a few teething problems and the engineers came on site twice at the pre arranged time and got things sorted out.
Point being, once a service gets a crap name it is very difficult to turn it around irrespective of how technically complex it may be and how wonderful it could be.
I am not literate with the various computer jargon words, I only wanted a system that worked and had back up if needed.
Just because things have the tag "Hebridean' doesn't make them sacrosanct or invulnerable to constructive criticism.
the service has consistently proven more reliable than ADSL
Out of the 220 days of this year so far, ConCom been down for more than an hour on 41, and for 17 of them it's been down the whole day.
And you call this reliable? Are you trolling?
MadEddieH,I'm not particularly interested in you or anyone else being anonymous or not.
I am interested to hear who you work for though?
For the record I work for Her Royal Madgeness delivering mail, so have no vested interest in defending the reputation of ConCom/HIE/CNES etc.
Can you say the same?
I have no vested interest in defending the reputation of ConCom/HIE/CNES - I do not however work for the Royal Mail - I work for a private firm that, AFAIK, has nowt to do with any of the above.
Pardon my total ignorance of the local politics in this debate, but I have just noticed that the head of the chap in the picture is a cut and paste job.
Who he?
Ochone, ochone, you poor cratur. As well as needing computer classes it is perfectly obvious that you also require reading glasses.
Did you not see a picture of a youthful Angus on a previous post, reclining his magnificent body on the beach. Look closely and you can clearly see that this is him at the hub of his communications network.
The pose would be recognised whether in Paris, London,New York, or Barvas.
Is this Angus doing his bit for the local economy wearing the latest creation from Mr Haggis ?
Obviously madEddieH is quite happy with his broadband and has deep enough pockets to pay over the odds for the service. But sadly there are large numbers of people all over the Hebrides who feel extremely frustrated at having poor or non-existent broadband. For a great number the frustration is compounded by an unwillingness to stick their head above the parapet and identify themselves. This could be from simple shyness, but for a surprising number it is for the very practical reason that they have a business or financial connection with CnES or HIE. Only a complete fool would openly criticise their employer/ funder/ customer. So MadEddieH, just because your income is safe from off the island does not mean that other, anonymous, contributors are cowards. George MacLeod no longer needs HIE so he can use his own name. But the rest of us cannot afford that luxury. It is tragic that an apparently genuine attempt to give the Hebrides broadband ahead of the game has now become an albatross round the neck of the community. A lot of ink is spilt and a lot of breath is wasted on the subject of economic development, fragile communities, etc, etc. But this is the elephant in the room. Without broadband we might as well accept depopulation, outmigration and economic stagnation. This issue is one that unites incomer with local, left with right, unionist with nationalist. It is uncontroversial, and there will be no losers, only winners. (Fair Isle (pop. 70) has already got broadband!) So why will nobody do anthing about it?
Mad EddieH, I am delighted you are happy with your broadband. But please go easy on those who are not. Just because you do not have their problem does not make them wrong.
Or cowards.
Dear terrified of being cut off,
I am a believer in the fact that if what you have to say is correct then you shouldn't be afraid of putting your name to it.
As to anonymous cowards - it is basically a reflection of the way that some tech-oriented websites label anonymous postings. If people don't like me calling them anonymous cowards they can do what you did and set-up a meaningless identity which protects their privacy but at least ensures that we know who is saying what.
As to the various mistaken assumptions you have made about me and my circumstances; The firm I work for is a local one. I am not blessed with deep pockets - as anyone with a brain can see I have consistently said that the prices need to come down for the Hebrides.Net service, that said I also am aware of economic realities.
I fully support any drive for better broadband - as long as it is based on facts and not rubbish. One of those facts is that ADSL is absolutely no guarantee of getting good broadband - there are numerous people who even though they are close to their exchange suffer from slow, unreliable broadband so parroting the line that dsl-enabling the remaining 12 exchanges in the islands will solve the broadband is tosh - and dangerously distracting tosh at that.
I am more than happy to support people pushing BT to accelerate their 21CN network rollout in the islands - that would help improve broadband in a meaningful way.
I'm also in favour of putting pressure on ConnCom/HebNet to do meaningful useful things like 1) lowering their prices/changing their packages 2) increasing their coverage to reach the more rural areas 3) getting a decent customer service that runs at useful times.
What I am not in favour of and will actively fight is people trying to take us backwards in banging on about ADSL for the remaining 12 exchanges. Or how things should have been done diffeerently x years ago - they weren't so lets move on.
MadEddieH, firstly there are 21 exchanges needing upgraded, not 12.
As already stated Hebrides.net cannot lower their prices. The wholesale price they are charged by ConCom is more expensive than other ISP's charge retail.
ConCom haven't even got the funds at the moment to provide the equipment for the few people in Northbay that said they would take their service.
This is ONE YEAR after their proposed completition date for giving Northbay broadband "significantly sooner" than going for the procurement we all asked for.
Some people here signed up to ConCom over FOUR YEARS ago and still have no broadband. And let's not forget they would have had broadband four years ago if these 21 exchanges hadn't been "expressly excluded" for the 2005 initiative.
ConCom "a brilliant solution to broadband provision in the Hebrides" absolute b******s!
How long do you propose we give them? Another couple of years?
How much more public money should be thrown at this "initiative" in a vain attempt to make it seem viable and save public sector pride? Enough is enough.
If you'd bothered to look, instead of blinding defending ConCom verbatim, you may have discovered that there are proposals to use the Western Isles as a pilot project for 21CN.
Now isn't that a better way for public money to be spent than squandering it on a flawed service that has failed miserably to provide to all the Western Isles.
Our MP and a few MEP's seem to think so, as they have already put their name to the online petition, and I suggest if you (and anyone else reading this) want a better service than what is currently on offer, then I suggest you do likewise;
www.ipetitions.com/petition/betterbroadband
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