Vodafone to connect public to national broadband hub network
<https://www.rte.ie/author/943193-adam-maguire/> By Adam Maguire
Business Journalist
Vodafone Ireland has been awarded the contract to provide services to the
broadband hubs being established in rural areas of the country.
A network of Broadband Connection Points will be the first locations to be
connected under the National Broadband Plan and will offer free internet access
to the public.
The locations include community centres and sports clubs, with the Department
of Rural and Community Development promising to bring around 200 locations
on-line before the end of the year.
A further 100 are set to go live in early 2021, with more promised over the
next 12 months.
National Broadband Ireland, which is tasked with rolling out high-speed
broadband across the country, will provide the connectivity to the locations.
As part of the newly-awarded contract, Vodafone will install and manage the
equipment that the public will connect to.
Under the plan the hubs will provide wireless broadband connections of up to
150mbps for three years, or until a permanent connection is made available in
the area by National Broadband Ireland.
"Vodafone will work alongside National Broadband Ireland, the Local Authority
Broadband Officers and site owners to bring early connectivity to rural areas
as soon as possible, having regard to public health guidelines," said Minister
for Rural and Community Development Michael Ring.
"I commend all of the site owners, volunteers and community groups that have
come on board to allow this initiative to happen. Many people will benefit as a
result of the community spirit shown by all concerned."
Vodafone Ireland CEO Anne O'Leary said the company was "delighted" to be
awarded the contract.
"The Broadband Connection Points will allow Ireland to continue to build
towards a digital society of the future," she said.
"As we look ahead to a post Covid-19 era, broadband connectivity will ensure
that rural Ireland plays a key role in our economic recovery".
Late last year the Government signed off on the â¬3 billion National Broadband
Plan which aims to ensure high speed connectivity is available to every home
and premises in the country.
Under the plan National Broadband Ireland is to connect 540,000 premises, a
quarter of which should be established by the end of next year.
It is hoped that 95% of the population capable of receiving a high-speed
service after year five, however it could be up to seven years before every
last home or business is brought online.
Review: Microsoft Surface Book 3
<https://www.rte.ie/author/666389-will-goodbody/> By Will Goodbody
Business Editor
Microsoft has been gradually and convincingly improving its hardware offerings
over recent years, to a point where it is now a really credible player in the
premium end of the tablet, convertible and laptop segments.
The Surface Book 3 is the latest iteration of its 2-in-1 laptop series and in
keeping with the trajectory, it proves to be an impressive piece of kit.
DESIGN.
The second you unbox the Surface Book 3, it is very clear that this is high
quality product.
The magnesium casing is robust and solid, but not in a rugged sort of a way.
It looks and feels a little like a Macbook, which is a good thing, with an all
over platinum colour finish and well laid out and very responsive comfortable
to use
keyboard.
There are two different sizes â a 13.5" and a 15". Our demo model was a 15"
and although it wasn't light it wasnât overly burdensome either, even though
it weighs in a little under 2kgs including the keyboard.
The track pad is fine, albeit somewhat undersized for the device, presumable to
free up more real estate for the keyboard.
The two physical buttons on the outside are for the power on/off and the volume.
It comes with 2 USB-A ports, 1 USB-C port, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack
and 2 Surface Connect ports (one on the base of the keyboard unit, the other on
the detachable tablet screen).
It also has a full-size SDXC card reader which is handy.
SCREEN.
If the design is good, the display on the Surface Book 3 is great.
The device uses a high quality PixelSense touchscreen display which when
detached acts as a very responsive and pleasant to use tablet.
Detaching takes a little bit of getting used to and requires pressing a button
on the keyboard followed by a disconcerting tug to release the tablet, although
the computer must be turned on for this to work.
The 15" model we tried had a 3240x2160 resolution, an aspect ratio of 3:2 and a
contrast ratio of 1600:1.
Overall the screen is excellent.
PERFORMANCE.
On paper at least, the Surface Book 3 packs a decent punch, as youâd expect
for a laptop in this category and at this price level.
The 15" model is powered by a quad-core 10th generation Intel Core i7 processor.
This is coupled with either 16GB or 32GB of memory.
And in practice the experience lives up to the paper based spec.
The device handles all sorts of processes with apparent ease, from basic tasks
like web browsing and document writing, through to heavier duty jobs such as
gaming and video editing.
Those sorts of tasks are helped along by the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
graphics chip and 6GB of dedicated graphics memory.
As you would expect at this price point, storage is solid state, with 256GB,
512GB and 1TB options.
It all adds up to a solid, reliable and impressive performance.
OTHER FEATURES.
The battery life is claimed to be up to 17.5 hours for typical usage when the
two batteries â one in the tablet and the other in the base â are taken
together.
We found it didnât stretch that far on the whole, but it did put up a good
show, enough to last a day mostly.
Obviously though much depends on what you are using it for.
The front facing camera has 5MP sensor and records 1080p HD video. It is
perfectly adequate, although for a device this premium, perhaps a little more
could have been expected.
There is also a rear-facing camera on the tablet. It has an 8MP sensor, along
with autofocus and 1080p HD video recording also.
The device also has a Windows Hello face authentication camera for biometric
based login, which is remarkably quick and accurate.
The front-facing stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos pump out reasonable sound,
but you wonât be fueling from them.
On the software front, the Surface Book 3 comes as youâd expect preloaded
with Windows 10 Home and includes a one month trial of Microsoft 365 Family.
The Surface Pen, which is a handy addition to the setup, is not included.
CONCLUSION.
There is an awful lot to like about the Surface Book 3 â a great screen,
attractive design and powerful performance.
If we were to criticise anything it would be that itâs a little weighty and
the trackpad is a bit undersized.
Oh, and then there is the price.
Starting at â¬1,849 for the lowest spec 13.5" model and rising to â¬3,449 for
the 15" 32GB 1TB model we tried, this is a very expensive piece of kit.
And youâd want to be pretty sure that you needed all it offers, or have very
deep pockets, to justify buying one.
But if you can tick either or both of those boxes, you are unlikely to be
disappointed by the Surface Book 3.
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