New technologies may help to close the State's digital divide

The wireless broadband revolution may assist those who require high-speed access to the internet but do not live in a DSL-suitable area, writes Jamie Smyth, Technology Reporter

Despite living in Arbour Hill, less than two miles from Dublin city centre, Mr Kiernan Gildea remains an internet dinosaur.

Every time he wants to look at the internet he has to dial up for a connection and listen to the screech of his 56 kilobit modem.

After calling Eircom customer care on a number of occasions, he has been told he cannot yet be connected to DSL - digital subscriber line (a type of broadband that enables people to connect to the web at high speed).

And Mr Gildea is not alone.

Forget the hype in all the television adverts about "free summer surfing" - more than half the Irish population cannot sign up for a DSL service from Eircom or its fixed-line telecoms rivals.

The roll out of broadband has been notoriously slow in the Republic and, even though Eircom is now forcing the pace, many areas face technical problems when it comes to accessing DSL services.

The critical issue for DSL coverage is the length of the copper wire that runs between a telephone exchange and the customer's home. Eircom's current technology - which most rival operators are choosing to use to offer a consumer service - only allows a signal to travel up to four kilometres along the copper wire.

This is the main reason rural areas are unlikely ever to be offered DSL services by these firms.

In theory, this should enable most of Dublin to get a DSL service, but the four-kilometre distances are not measured as the crow flies but, rather, the length of copper needed to traverse various housing estates and roads.

For some customers within the magical four-kilometre mark, a poor-quality copper line can also scupper their dreams of broadband access.

Some copper wires used by Eircom can be up to 50 years old and have suffered attack by rats or water damage. This can make them unsuitable for broadband.

Another problem encountered in some housing estates is a practice known as "splitting the line". This is a situation where 150 customers may be served by only 100 lines. That is fine for voice services because there is never a situation when all 150 people use the phone at the same time. But for broadband, which is an "always on" technology, it reduces the amount of homes that can be connected to DSL.

All of these problems can cause disappointment when customers ring Eircom, Esat BT or another DSL provider to undergo a line test to see if they can actually get a service.

One tip for consumers undertaking the dreaded "DSL test" is to unplug other devices that may be using the telephone line in the month that they are being tested.

There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that Sky Digiboxes or fax machines may interfere with the test and produce a negative response unnecessarily.

If this fails, then consumers can consider themselves to be on the wrong side of the digital divide.

But there is still hope for those "internet dinosaurs" who are willing to tap into the fast-growing wireless broadband revolution.

Forget third-generation mobile technology; for a low-cost broadband connection into the home or office, fixed-wireless technology is a real alternative.

Firms such as Leap Broadband and Irish Broadband are offering wireless broadband services at similar prices to DSL.

Initial coverage problems caused by the need to have a line-of-sight connection between a company's wireless transmitter and the consumer's receiver have more or less been solved. And a new generation of wireless technologies - based on a technology standard called Wimax - are currently being developed by big technology firms such as Intel.

Leap and Irish Broadband are setting up base stations in the major urban centres and there are signs that local communities may be able to tap into this type of resource.

The Government is running a group broadband scheme to encourage communities to pull together to aggregate demand for broadband in small villages.

This may go some way towards plugging the urban-rural digital divide, which threatens to marginalise the very communities that, ironically, could probably make the best use of broadband.

Information on the group broadband scheme is available from the website of the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources: www.marine.gov.ie