Anyone Use a Phone Company?

shemarg wrote:Skynetlink is not a microwave supplier. They use a landline. If you don't want the mobile option you can also opt to pay 7e for unlimited spanish calls (not mobiles) I have found them to be pretty good and helpful - in fact I've just signed up for my second 18month contract. The average monthly cost of my bill with the above option is 38e

Sorry, it's just that you said they came out and changed the dish on the roof for you so I assumed they were a broadcast company.
I will have a word with them, thanks.

I recommend RTN. ray-pc

All local providers are reliant on the Movistar network

The company's mentioned in this thread are not global network operators, they are local network operators.
An email sent via these providers will ultimately be carried by Telefonica, handed off to BT (or whoever) travel over their network & arrive at a local exchange. The email will then be routed through the equipment in the exchange to the relevant server & sent to the recipient via their local carrier (Talk Talk, EEE etc)
So in conclusion all these providers are reliant on Telefonica & are using the Telefonica network.
By definition they cannot offer a better service than Telefonica.
The whole “up to” thing relates to the signal loss between you & the local exchange. Cable joints, distance, temperature all relate to signal loss. I consistently see speeds of 8-8.5 Mb from Telefonica throughout the area.
Telefonica will support their infrastructure up-to their distribution point. A lot of people do not realize the cables within their community are not Telefonica's responsibility. They have a cable entering the community terminating at a location that contains the cables running out to the homes. That incoming cable is their property they are responsible for that alone, anything beyond that is installed by the builder. I never use the existing cables, they are always the cheapest crap you can get. You come across things like wires twisted together, cables sharing ducts with power cabling etc all resulting in lost speed.
Any speedtest is only telling you what the line is capable of achieving, not what speed you are actually getting. All a speedtest consists off is you sending a server a set amount of data in a packet, the server responds, you tell the server you received the response, software calculates the time lapse between & tells you how much data can be transferred over the connection at that time.
Your provider buys 10Mb off Telefonica for say 20€, they are not going to supply that 10Mb to you for 20€ where's the profit?
They are going to restrict your speed to say 3Mb to enable that 10Mb to be shared by 3 users each paying 20€. 20€ becomes 60€ = 40€ profit.
The speedtest is not aware of this speed restriction because it is just testing the time it takes a tiny packet of data to be carried from you to the server & back. The line is capable of transferring 10Mb but your provider can restrict you to 3Mb (or less) to maximise profit.

In the last 6 years I have only had 2 line faults with Telefonica, 1 took out a community in Almoradi when a cable was damaged during the gas installation & the other took out the whole of Algorfa for a morning. Both were beyond Telefonica's control & were repaired ASAP.

If your happy to pay go for Telefonica, If you live within a community PM me I can make it a lot cheaper for you

cheers.

Well, thought I'd give an update.
I'm still with the broadcast internet company, not with a landline. Orange took out a contract (I liked the 1 euro for virtually unlimited European calls) and even provided me with a router etc.
Got a phone call to say test it but don't use it. It worked. Next a call to say a Telefonica engineer would come to test out the line but the maximum they could provide was "up to" 6Mb. Fine as long as it was stable.
Next thing was an email to say that "for reasons unknown to Orange we cannot complete your contract".
Right, back to Orange (who wouldn't take the router back so it's stuck in the boot of my car) to find out that Telefonica said they can't fit a landline into our area of Quesada. Orange suggested 4g which I laughed at. They checked and, no, you can't get 4g in Quesada.
So. with Telefonica saying they can't fit it then it looks like I'm stuck. On the plus side, dvblab came out and fitted a larger aerial, a new router and checked the cabling and the system appears to be fairly stable although the speed does go up and down.
Ah, well. Looks like Quesada will take another 20 or so years to catch up.

You can get 4G in quesada - On Telefonica / Movistar network. There is an unlimited package available / no fair use policy. More for those requiring best speed internet / rather than calls (though you can VOIP very cheaply).

Packages still quite expensive, though a little 'birdie' tells me a new contract / price due in a couple of weeks & it will be less. http://tvtech.sharepoint.com/Pages/fast ... spain.aspx Speeds do vary in Quesada, one of the technicians reported 18Mbps in one location, though will be quite variable, so only real test is to take a router into actual location - which if local, can be done.

Paul