Tag Archives: Vodafone

A LETTER from a major international company supporting an application for a communications tower in north Clare has warned service will suffer if planning is not granted. Vodafone has supported the planning application by Vantage Towers Ltd for a 30-metre mast at Gortaclob, Doolin. The telecommunications giant said it plans to use the structure if it is granted planning permission and in its supporting letter stated that failure to progress it “could have a negative future impact on network subscribers enjoying future technologies”. Vantage has sought permission for a 30-metre lattice telecommunications support structure, with antennae, dishes and associated equipment at Gortaclob, Doolin.  In the application Vantage Towers said the proposal would improve the service in the area. “There is a clear deficiency in basic 4G coverage especially towards Doolin to the southwest of the proposed site, and the surrounding regional road network, with substantial areas of fair and fringe.” The company claimed current customer demand is not being met …

A WEST Clare farmer has slammed the quality of phone coverage being provided by Vodafone, which he said has a major impact on life in the Cross area. When he spoke to the Clare Champion last week, John Keane said there was no reception at all around his home, and it had been poor for some time. “It has been diabolical for months and months and we’re blue in the face from contacting them. You get through to some fella in Israel, and when they put down the phone they’re not going to worry much about a bit of phone coverage in west Clare. You can’t even talk to someone in Ireland about your phone.” He said numerous people living close to him had the same issue. Some time back there was media coverage about how poor the service was, and he said Vodafone started to take the issue seriously then, but the standard has slipped dramatically once again. “At …

DEVELOPERS looking to build a 24-metre mast in Quin have offered to reduce the height of the structure as part of an appeal against the council’s decision to refuse permission. After a significant local opposition, and multiple objections, County Planners refused an application from Vantage Towers for the structure at a site at Quinnville South. The planning authority said that the proposed mast would materially contravene the zoning of the site and adversely affect Quin as an Architectural Conservation Area (ACA). In addition, planners noted national guidelines stating that free-standing masts should only be located, as a last resort, in residential areas or close to schools. County Planners added that the mast development would also impact negatively on a medieval settlement area. In an appeal lodged earlier this month with An Bord Pleanála, Vantage Towers has now offered to reduce the height of the mast to 21 metres. The company said that this is in order “to uphold the attractiveness …

A MAJOR outage which affected the Vodafone phone and broadband network over a number of days last week has prompted renewed calls for better services for remote, rural communities. Cathaoirleach of the Killaloe Municipal District, Councillor Pat Hayes said the lack of coverage had severely impacted hundreds of people over the course of last week. “Obviously, at the moment, we have many more people trying to work from home,” he noted. “Parents are home-schooling and their children have to be able to access the internet. For a lot of third-level students, their phone is their only means of getting online and from Tuesday to Friday of last week, people across East Clare had no reliable coverage. One farmer was telling me about how he relies on his phone to monitor his livestock remotely and that service wasn’t available to him for days. That’s a serious issue.” The Fianna Fáil member said that when contacted the provider had responded, but not …

VODAFONE has fixed a fault which had caused a long-running problem with phone coverage in Loop Head. The company was contacted last week after local dairy farmer John Keane told The Champion of his concerns over the coverage for phone and data. He outlined how his family had paid over €1,000 over a six-month time-frame when they had virtually no coverage on the network. In response, Vodafone apologised for the network issue. This week, the company said its engineers have replaced a part on the network and that services are now available once again to customers in the area. The Keane family have confirmed that, as of last Monday, their phone coverage, and that of their neighbours, has been restored.

THE plight of the farming community in accessing mobile phone and broadband services in West Clare has been highlighted by a Loop Head man who estimates that his family have paid more than €1,000 over a six-month period when they have virtually no coverage. John Keane, who lives half way between Cross and Kilbaha, is a dairy farmer, milking over 200 cows a day. He outlined how, since last November, five members of his family have had worsening problems in accessing a phone signal, and said the issue is also affecting the wider community. The situation is now so bad that Mr Keane fears that in the event of him having an accident or a heart attack in his milking parlour, he would be unable to use his phone to raise the alarm. “I would die in the milking parlour, if, God forbid, I had a heart attack,” he said. “As a farmer, the mobile phone is a safety net. …

Clare Fianna Fáil  Timmy Dooley has sharply criticised  mobile phone operators for “lacking any urgency” in repairing problems with poor coverage in East Clare. He commented, “Mobile phone operators in Ireland, including Vodafone, have been overseeing poor mobile phone coverage in many parts of East Clare. Areas like Mountshannon and Whitegate have extremely bad mobile phone coverage. It is part of a wider problem for mobile phone users in the county and it is not being tackled.” Deputy Dooley said it is not good enough to treat customers like this and it reflects extremely badly on these multi-national companies. “As a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications, I intend seeking to bring Vodafone and other mobile phone operators before the Committee to explain why they have virtually ignored this problem,” he said.

Homes and businesses in Clare are set to benefit as a result of a joint ESB and Vodafone venture to upgrade broadband facilities across the country. The  €450 million investment will benefit 50 towns, among them Ennis and Shannon. ESB and Vodafone are to invest €450 million in building a 100%  fibre-to-the-building broadband network offering speeds from 200 Mbps to 1000 Mbps, propelling Ireland into the ranks of the world’s fastest broadband countries. Ireland will also become the first country in Europe to utilise existing electricity infrastructure on a nationwide basis to deploy fibre directly into homes and businesses, initially reaching 500,000 premises in 50 towns.