The Irish find it’s good to talk, great to text


6 Oct 2008

In what Eircom has said is Ireland’s first ever total communications survey, the firm has looked at top users across its mobile, landline and online services, in conjunction with its launch of new tariffs across Eircom and Meteor.

Looking at county-by-county activity when it comes to text messaging, making landline and mobile calls and download activity over broadband, Eircom has come up with a list of top communicators.

So whether it is due to extreme chattiness on one end or a sense of frugality on the other, Limerick is the top county when it comes to talking, texting and downloading, with Donegal and Louth ranking joint last at No 18, while Dublin and Carlow battle it out for second place on the list.

It is interesting to see that while one county – Dublin – ranks top for longest landline calls per inhabitant, it nearly comes in last on the list of mobile call length. The average length of a chat over a landline number is 4.02 minutes, whereas Dubliners talk on average for about 4.17 minutes. On the other hand, the average mobile call in Ireland lasts for 1 minute 35 seconds, yet Dubliners only stay on the line for 1 minute and 31 seconds.

Texting has always been popular in Ireland, and whether by pre-pay or post-pay, we very much rely on SMS to keep in contact. Limerick dwellers send a sizeable 8.7 text messages every day, with Offaly and Laois coming in at second and third place, but mobile users in Leitrim only send 4.78 texts.

While Carlovians are fairly chatty on the mobile (1.4 minutes per call) and also enjoy texting their acquaintances (7.7 texts per day), they also like to download: although Limerick ranks first with 5.55GB downloaded per broadband user, Carlow comes second with 5.38GB.

The average internet data download per month across the Republic is 4.63GB on a monthly basis, but all this talking, texting and downloading aside, Cathal Magee, managing director of Eircom Retail said that economic worries are definitely having an impact on how much we are spending: “People are definitely watching their pennies.”

Eircom said it is responding to this with six new bundles to help consumers make the most of their talking and texting habits. More information can be found at www.eircom.net.

By Marie Boran