… or at least on the Irish Sea :)
I read an article in the news today warning travellers about high mobile phone charges when travelling on the Irish sea by ferry. Apparently, these mobile phone charges are not covered by the new EU regulations. The full article is Ferry passengers warned over mobile fees.
It is interesting, because one of the ferry companies, is advertising the fact that they provide free Wi-Fi onboard:
Whilst onboard you can enjoy free WiFi, …
See Ferries to Ireland for more details.
So it appears that travellers may pay above average mobile phone charges, but not pay any Internet charges. Yet, presumably, the access technology is the same in both cases!
I read an interesting article on patents relating to LTE today in Patent pool uncertainty looms over LTE roll out.
It would be a disaster if the successful uptake of LTE was hampered by patent issues :(
During the weekend I read about Intune Networks and the Exemplar Network in Ireland’s next big thing - Govt commits extra €5m to Exemplar Network. It appears to be a very positive development, and I am delighted to see that it has such strong links to fourth level research.
The video Digital 21 - The Exemplar Network is worth looking at also. Unfortunately, I cannot embed it here :( It is funny to hear Eamon Ryan describe it as open source, and then realise that he does not actually know what that means :D
Tags: Exemplar Network, Intune Networks
I have experienced customised ring back tones a few times this year. This is where the mobile phone owner can select the ringtone, usually a popular song, that a caller hears while waiting for the mobile phone owner to answer. In my limited experience I thought it was amusing, but I would not go so far as wanting to use one.
Now Jinny has taken this a step further by enabling the mobile phone owner to select the advertisements that the caller will hear while waiting for the mobile phone to be answered! For more information about this read New Mobile Advertising Solution - Ring Back Tone Advertising - Stimulates Customer Interest in Jinny.
I can understand why this idea is appealing to both the mobile phone owner and to the operator. Indeed, it is actually a very good idea. However, as a caller I think this would drive me mad, or at least discourage me from calling somebody if I knew I had to listen to advertisements first!
I am not the only person thinking this according to Jinny Software unveils ringback tone advertising and The ‘Why Would You Want That?’ Award goes to….. The latter article is very critical! I guess that it is easy to know that Jinny (or its parent company) is not a member of the TM Forum!
Tags: Jinny, TM Forum
Today is the first day of lower mobile phone roaming charges within the EU. See EU roaming charges fall further for more details.
This news is great for consumers, especially considering that it is now coming into holiday season. It is also good news for Policy and Charging Control solution providers :D
Last night I read that Eircom will start upgrading its broadband offering. You can read more about this in either Eircom unveils ‘next-generation’ broadband or on Eircom’s site. (Unfortunately, I cannot link to it because all the links appear to require a session ID :( Stupid!)
One of the main points of this announcement is that Eircom will upgrade existing 1MB/s, 3MB/s, and 7MB/s connections to 8MB/s connections free of charge. That is good news, although I am not sure how many people really need this extra speed.
The other interesting change is that Eircom will now charge users based on the amount of traffic transferred. I realise that I do not know how much I transfer at the moment. I must investigate this on the Eircom web site :o
Finally, I agree with IrelandOffline’s assessment that there is a lack of “next generation” about this offering! See Eircom and “next-generation” broadband.
Tags: Broadband, Eircom, IrelandOffline
I was delighted to read yesterday that Openet has launched an expansion program for its operations in Dublin. This expansion consists of creating 35 new jobs. Perhaps more impressive is the fact that these jobs are being described as R&D type jobs! For more information about this read Openet’s R&D investment creates 35 new jobs.
I have recently heard a lot of anecdotal evidence from friends and colleagues that the economy is slowly starting to improve again in Ireland. This would appear to be more evidence of this!
Tags: Ireland, Openet
I attended a very interesting webinar recently about Cloud Computing. It featured a case study about a Spanish company called Yoigo. It was claimed that Yoigo used a Cloud Computing backend to become operational in 150 days!
This is actually quite funny, because according to Yoigo the company had the license for the previous six years during which it was not used!
Tags: Yoigo
Vodafone has updated its Irish website recently. The two changes that excite me the most are:
- I can now send 600 free SMS messages every month! I send the majority of my SMS messages online!
- I can now send SMS messages to mobile phones in other countries.
The timing of these changes is perfect for me to send all my Christmas greetings :)
Tags: Ireland, SMS, Vodafone
Delighted to read Threat to Eircom ‘three strikes’ plan. It will be interesting to see how Eircom reacts!
Tags: Eircom, ISP, P2P
