Net Results: The doorbell went the other night and, after debating whether I really wanted to talk to a politician, evangelist, or charity worker, I threw caution to the wind and yanked the door open.
There stood a cheerful man wearing a Smart Telecom jacket and asking about my broadband. "Hallelujah!" I cried, even though I wasn't in the market for his virtual wares.
Why the delight, then? Because getting broadband out to the masses in this country has long demanded the activation of the ground troops, given that the generals haven't been able to do much of anything as they dictate strategy from Government HQ.
Forget the radio and TV advertisements and the billboards - we need door-to-door action and persuasive chat on the threshold.
At this point, we all know the litany of dire figures which underline that, while we may have an information economy, we don't have anything remotely approaching an information society. Indeed, sometimes it seems we must collectively genuflect before the Revenue Online Service, which gives us just about the only public online service of any note, and therefore keeps us from lying at the very bottom of the broadband league tables.
I think the Smart Telecom man and his promotional offer of €18.95 a month broadband is a recognition that there's more to the broadband problem than price and availability alone.
Yes, I know these are important issues - we do need to get that darn local loop unbundled (the "last mile" of cable that runs to the home), directly opened up to competition rather than, in effect, leased out by Eircom.
Moreover, the country and even the major cities remain full of broadband blackout areas, which always makes me think of parts of the US where one encounters "dry" counties in which no alcohol is sold.
However, it's a lot easier to drive to a neighbouring county to buy your beer than to undertake a journey many miles to an internet cafe just to receive your daily e-mails.
But there remains a bigger problem that goes well beyond the Government or the telecommunications companies, regardless of how ineffectual these have been. The bottom line is that we are the problem, and this needs to be accepted, analysed and addressed. Irish people collectively do not yet see value in having a home broadband connection. Maybe you do, you with your wireless-enabled laptop and iTunes library and ethical arguments about whether one should select Internet Explorer or Firefox for browsing the web.
But the person sitting next to you on the Luas or living on the farm down the road doesn't yet care enough. This issue is known as the elephant in the living room - the big obvious anomaly that no one wants to talk about because it is, in that very Irish way, more fun to issue press releases blaming Bertie or that giant Eircom mouse for not marching us triumphantly into the land of downloads, browsing, Amazon and eBay.
Oh, I know I have been among the first to throw stones at both Government and telecoms companies. And I know it isn't popular to say this, but let's face some facts. Despite the glaring gaps, especially in the countryside, there are now more than enough enabled exchanges to deliver faster and more comprehensive broadband take-up than we have right now.
Price is also not really a huge barrier - Irish costs range on average from €30 to €40 a month (US prices average €15 to €50 a month) - with many small providers like Clearwire and Magnet, Irish Broadband, and biggies like UTV, BT, NTL and Eircom, giving many options to many people for getting online.
And while I'm at it, give me a break - Eddie Hobbs or no Eddie Hobbs - the broadband generation is very happy to fork out close to a fiver for a pint in obnoxiously crowded theme pubs up and down the land, and to pay €300,000 for a starter apartment.
As a nation we pay some of the highest mobile phone charges in the world and still can't get enough (I'd guess the average twentysomething's mobile bill is larger than a monthly broadband subscription). So please! An extra fiver over what the Germans pay for broadband cannot really be an issue.
No, we just don't see the value of broadband, and this is a major problem that needs to be cracked.
There are reasons why we don't care about it, a big one being that most other nations got flat-rate dial-up internet long before we did, and were used to an "all you can eat" approach, enabling an easy transition into flat-rate, high-speed connections for just a bit more.
Instead, we grew used to thinking that the internet was something you rationed out at home and gorged on at work - let the boss pay for the high-speed connection.
And the long term result? Well, I don't know anywhere else in the developed world that still pushes evening and weekend internet packages, but they are still popular here.
Yes, we need the Government and industry to develop and push online services to encourage take-up too, but really, what is Bertie Ahern going to offer that is more compelling than Google?
That's why I think the Smart Telecom man is doing the right thing - doorstep the population, give them a good price proposition, and let's see if we don't finally see a real jump in broadband take-up.
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