ASTRA 2E now moving to station at 28.5 east

[SJ & RE]

Sounds interesting to most who can understand all this mumbo jumbo in my mind. Shall get hubby to read it to then explain it all to me in baby plain english.
Gosh why does it all have to be so darn difficult to get ones mind around it all.
Tis about time some geek sorts out a wire to plug into the tv and into a phone socket in order to receive whatever you want and then the payment is added to your phone bill

[EMM]

I hope the time will come eventually when all we will need to do is to connect our laptops , Ipads etc to the TV, click on BBC/ITV etc enter a means of payment and normal service will be resumed.
Until then we have all these various suggestions, money being paid to a third party etc etc.
Regarding reception in Cabanas NO different to Carvoeiro, all the Algarve and neighbouring parts of Spain are all affected.

[Sheila]

Hi

From the Optimus website - O Cliente terá sempre a opção de, após esgotado o tráfego do pacote base, de navegar a uma velocidade reduzida de 128Kbps, sem qualquer custo adicional - basically after the download limit amount your speed will be reduced to 0.128Mbps........

I was on a TMN deal with exactly the same term. I asked in the Optimus shop and was told the same applied. I asked World Telecom re the 3G offering and was told the same. I asked Vodafone and was told the same. Optimus offer unlimited on 4G but this is then locked to your address and I suspect is also subject to the following restriction advised by World Telecom (do not know 100%). The following is from an e-mail from World Telecom to me relating to their 4G offering(Optimus supply their connection) :-

• 4G Integrated 50Mpbs package with monthly charge €35.20 + VAT = 43.30€
1) Activation process can take up to 24 hours reminding the activation is done with a new phone number.
2) 12 hours of phone calls to Europe.
3) The equipment cost is 110.00€ one time charge, the payment needs to be paid
4) You do need an Analog handset to plug into the 4G router.
5) Contract period of 24 months.

*********************
Tarifário 50/5
Mensalidade € 35.20
Velocidade de Download até 50 Mbps
Tráfego 21:00 - 09:00 25GB por mês *
09:00 - 21:00 ilimitado

As you can see even the 4G offering is limited to 25GB per month between 21:00 and 09:00.

You are correct that you can get unlimited downloads on all (or most) 3G contracts but I have not found one provider that does not reduce the speed after 15Mbps download per month. If you can get a provider to put in writing that they will then please post it on here as then package will be of interest to others

Pickwick

The price seems to be dropping. I have just had a price for 4g of 26.40 per month +Iva with a promotion of 8.80 + Iva for the first 4 months.
I asked about the reduced speed and she said they have a fair usage policy of 50gb / month but she hasn't had any complaints about the speed slowing down when hitting the traffic limit.....whatever that means.

[pickwick]

Hi

The price is not dropping!! If you add the promotion discount of 8.80 to the reduced price (for the 4 months) of 26.40 you get 35.20 which is the mprice quoted in my post!

Pickwick

[Sheila]

Unless her english is very bad that's not what she said. This is a quote from her email:

"There are no installation cost when the activation is done at your promises, you only have to pay for the router in case it’s a 4G network a onetime charge of 110.00€, the monthly charge is 26.40€ + Tax per month but we have a promotion of the first 4 month the charge will only be 8.80€ + Tax thereafter you pay the normal price."

[pickwick]

Hi

I posted the e-mail World Telecom sent me so you can read it above (in blue) and make up your own mind what she is saying re the monthly cost for 4G!!!! (it seems pretty clear to me that it will be 43.30€ per month after the "cheap" period and that you are in for 24 months and a total payment of 900€ plus!

Pickwick

[Sheila]

Hi

I posted the e-mail World Telecom sent me so you can read it above (in blue) and make up your own mind what she is saying re the monthly cost for 4G!!!! (it seems pretty clear to me that it will be 43.30€ per month after the "cheap" period and that you are in for 24 months and a total payment of 900€ plus!

Pickwick

I asked her(someone called Sanela) to confirm the price and this is what she said:- ( received a minute ago)

"The special deal we on offer is 24.20€ + VAT but you will only be charged 8.80€ + VAT=10.82 during the first 4 months of the contract thereafter you pay 24.20€ + VAT=29.80€ so it has reduced in price."

So its gone down again in the last 2 days from 26.40 to 24.20!!??!! Perhaps she doesn't even work there!

[pickwick]

Hi Sheila

Odd. It was Sanela that sent me the quote I posted!!!!! I would try Optimus WoW if I were you??!!

Pickwick

[Sheila]

Hi Pickwick,
Do you know why you need an analogue handset to plug into the router? Is that only if you want to make voice calls?

[pickwick]

Hi Sheila

Yes the handset will be for calls.

Pickwick

[Sheila]

Optimus looks like a better deal than Work Telecom at 24.99 Inc IVA for 20mps supposedly unlimited usage. Does anyone on this forum have any actual experience of this service?

[iLovePortugal]

I hope the time will come eventually when all we will need to do is to connect our laptops , Ipads etc to the TV, click on BBC/ITV etc enter a means of payment and normal service will be resumed.
Until then we have all these various suggestions, money being paid to a third party etc etc.
Regarding reception in Cabanas NO different to Carvoeiro, all the Algarve and neighbouring parts of Spain are all affected.

My solution (for anyone who wants to try it)...
Find a good UK VPN (usually the paid ones like Hide My ªss are the most reliable). Connect to it, then stream the main UK freeview channels free of charge via
TV Catch-Up http://www.tvcatchup.com/channels.html (UK Only Service> hence need for a UK I.P address via VPN!).
If you have an HDMI output on your laptop, you can hook it up to your TV then set the TV catchup video box display size to full screen and you will be able to stream live UK TV on your tv via your laptop. Almost as if you're back home in Blighty (minus the weather of course!)
If you don't have an HDMI or TV, then you can still watch it through your laptop. Screenshot http://oi58.tinypic.com/2dkzj8k.jpg

Or if you don't want to pay, there's always American tv at http://www.ustvnow.com/ (for US citizens only). I say this because it asks you to tick a disclaimer box to confirm you're either a US Citizen 'permanently resident outside the United States' or are serving in the US military,... bla bla bla. Not that I would advocate doing such a terrible terrible thing *rolls eyes and acts all innocent*
Shame on the UK government for not extending satellite tv to ex-pats. So much for Television Without Frontiers! http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/ ... 101_en.htm The chocolate teacups!

[Michael Crane]

When on holiday I use http://www.expattelly.com

[joeysoap]

When on holiday I use http://www.expattelly.com

Nice one Michael, looks the easiest access so far for anyone who is only visiting for a week or so at a time.

[HampshireRich]

When on holiday I use http://www.expattelly.com

Nice one Michael, looks the easiest access so far for anyone who is only visiting for a week or so at a time.

Wouldn't trust him - look at the first headline on the BBC Local News for my area:

LOCAL NEWS HAMPSHIRE & ISL…
Cranes 'affecting TV reception'
High street attack victim identified
Work resumes on Ageas Bowl hotel