I just realised that today (or maybe it’s tomorrow) is the day that one year ago I rang the NCTE to request that they would supply my new school with their Broadband service. I asked how long the process would take and was assured it would take no longer than 2-3 months due to tendering procedures etc. Knowing that anything involving government agencies tends to take longer, I suggested maybe Christmas would be a good time to expect it. “Easily”, came the reply.
After searching for the shortest available broadband contract, sadly it was Eircom, as no one else offered anything less than a year, I waited for the call from the NCTE.
A year has passed with no sign of broadband. I worry that all 12 new Educate Together schools have been treated like this too. Effectively, we have to pay an extra €45 per month or do without Internet.
It seems shocking to me in such a small country why it should take so long to get broadband into a school when it takes less than a week when schools tender for contracts from other companies. Could I suggest that the NCTE allow us as schools can tender for our own broadband? You can supply us with the annoying filtering system in your own time.
