Connecting With The World Wide Web

It is said that internet years are like dog years; the passing of one year in the real world turns to seven online. Familiar online services and sites such as Skype, Google, Facebook, Youtube, iTunes and others have sprung up in the last ten years or so and have become part of our daily lives for staying in touch, work and relaxation. Phone and tablet applications are increasingly used for everything from speaking to friends and family abroad, banking, booking flights, paying our bills to playing games.

This connected world is dependent on the rails of communication being in place; the wires and cables that carry all of our voices, messages, videos, songs and business across the country and across the globe. Without this basic infrastructure we will be left behind as everyday services that we depend on are moved online to reduce costs and increase speed and efficiency.

At present there are no plans for any of the companies to provide proper wired broadband services on the island. We are left with a stop gap, a wireless service that will not serve our needs in only a few short years ahead. We urgently need to plan and pressure the powers that be to provide these services, much as the community did in the 1950’s for electricity and in the 1970’s for our water. The island recently lost a returned family of five to the mainland through lack of these services, we can ill afford to lose anyone else.

By Seamus Bonner