Is there anyone that can explain to me why the state of broadband in Ireland is so abymsal? In recent weeks I moved in to a new place that’s a stone’s throw from Dublin city centre. One of the first things I wanted to do was to get a decent internet connection for a reasonable price. As complicated as that sounds, I had hoped and nearly expected that it wouldn’t be much hassle to organise. How wrong I was.

The first obvious choice is the national telecoms provider, Eircom, but since they are intent on ripping customers off with an exaggerated line-rental fee on top of the monthly broadband charge I’ve decided to avoid them on principal. Unfortunately, the majority of other providers piggy-back on their lines so if you want another service you’ll still end up forking over the monthly line rental. The alternative, I thought, was NTL with their connection through the TV cable. Being just about a kilometer from their offices I thought they’d be on the ball but after giving them a call I found out that not only can I not get a web connection, but they can’t even provide me with cable TV.

One alternative comes in the form of those wireless router things that pick up the signal from a transmitter at the end of your street, but apart from the fact that they tend to be a load of crap, the area I’m in doesn’t pick up a good signal, rendering that option a complete waste of money.

And so I’m in a pickle, how can I possibly set up a good quality internet connection at home without having to pay disgracefully inflated rates? Any suggestions? I’ll be in the pub.

Two corporate giants have gone head to head in a historic race to see who can delay the release of their revolutionary product without pissing off every single last one of their customers the longest. Although Microsoft are very experienced in this area, Sony hit back today with news that the European launch date of the PS3 won’t fall this side of Christmas. But all is not lost for MS as they announce severe compatibality problems with the upcoming Vista OS that may lead to the latest in a long series of delays going back almost two years! Who will win out…watch this space.