Internet Access?

Hello Donna, Good luck with Telefonica they do seem to be your best option. Our Orange thingy is working today but it really is like watching paint dry. We have 2 Orange mobiles and have no problem with signal for them so thought we would be OK with Orange broadband.

We are in Peniscola which is on the coast between Barcelona and Valenica, a lovely place to be, not too overdeveloped, but the weather is really bad at the moment......whereas in Manchester it's warm and sunny...sod's law eh! Oh well back there next week. We were in the  Dales and theLakes in March, stayed in Windermere and Malham, beautiful.

Best regards, Irene

Hi Donna

Not sure if it was a typo from you, but the dongle came with 1 Gigabyte of bandwidth and not 1 megabyte as you put in your post.

Mark

PM Jane (jane b), I believe she has some sort of wireless internet as her property is not on mains telephone. I'm sure a satellite service of some sort is being used, but I think they can be pricey.

Mark

Hi All,

Being a technogeek, I've been reading this with increasing interest, seeing as the Mrs and I are moving to Spain soon.

ok.

The 'thingy' or 'dongle' internet option:

This is a Mobile Internet Service provided by a Mobile Phone Service provider, such as Orange, Vodaphone, 3 ,etc. Now I know most of you will have worked this out, you’re not dunces, and I'm not going to treat you as such. However, there are pros and cons of this service.

Major Pro : Wherever you are, and I mean wherever, you can hook your laptop up to your mobile phone, and connect to the Internet, on the proviso you have a STRONG signal on your handset.

Major Con: Not very secure, as mobile phone signals can be intercepted, also signal strength fluctuates, so connection speeds will be VERY, VERY SLOW.

Satellite Internet Option:

Expensive! I mean really, really expensive. You need a dish put up just for this service, so installation costs are high.

Major Pro: Download speeds are quite high.

Major Con: Upload speeds are quite low. During stormy weather, if the dish hasn't been setup correctly, then the dish can move around, causing connection problems. Price

Landline Internet option:

Hmm! Quite a few options here, as quite a few companies offering 'high connection speeds'

DON'T be taken in by these speeds that they are offering!

The connection speed you get DEPENDS on the quality of the infrastructure (landlines). So, good quality infrastructure means high bandwidths (connection speed), however these may NOT be available, even if the quality is good, if the local infrastructure is not Local Loop Unbundled (LLU) , or Unbundled Local Loop (ULL) as they say in Spain. If the local exchange is LLU (ULL) AND the ADSL company offering you connection HAS THERE OWN equipment installed in said exchange, THEN and ONLY THEN will you POTENTIALLY get that MAXIMUM speed, as the distance you are FROM the local exchange ALSO determines your max connection speed.

If the company that put in the telephone lines into your area has not relinquished part ownership of those lines, and operate those lines 100% themselves, then you won't have a LLU (ULL) telephone exchange. If you haven’t got such an exchange in the area, then your ADSL connection will only be as fast as the company who provides the 'physical' connection, and again this is determined by the distance from said exchange.

Confusing I know, but here are some examples to help:

a) Colin lives within 2 miles from his LLU (ULL) exchange, the telephone lines are good quality and his ADSL provider has their own equipment in the exchange.

Result:  he gets 8MB maximum from his provider, however during peak times it drops a little.

b) Mark lives 3 miles away from the same exchange as Colin, the telephone lines are good quality and uses the same ADSL provider.

Result: he gets only 5 to 3MB maximum, and again during peak times it drops a little.

c) Brian lives within 2 miles from the same exchange, but it is NOT LLU (ULL), the lines are good quality.

Result: He gets the maximum speed from the company that owns the exchange, usually no more than 2MB, quite often less.

d) John lives within 2 miles from the same exchange as Colin and Mark, however the telephone lines are old and outdated.

Result: Dial-up. Broadband cannot be supported on these lines

Does anyone know if there is a Telefonica Office In Torrevieja. I orderd a phone line and broadband in April 2008 and I am still waiting. I have sent numerous emails which have  been ignored. The only email they replied to is when I gave them my bank details so they could collect the money. I have phoned several times only to be told different things from, we cant find your address, to there is no l ines yet and no adsl in your area despite my neighbour a few yards away having adsl.

It seems they like to take your money for the initial installation and then ignore you. I think because we are english they think they can treat you how they like.

Id rather speak to someone face to face but hving said that Id probably end up ripping someones face off