4G

Share experience regarding ownership of property and/or living in Portugal.
sasha1
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Re: 4G

Post by sasha1 »

Thank you Andara. This might be a suitable solution for us.

Sasha
Sheila
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Re: 4G

Post by Sheila »

andara wrote:Feedback for Sasha and Widge.


The good news is that I am now getting broadband speeds as high as 9 Mbps (and sometimes as low as 2), both more than sufficient for my needs. The WIFI router is tiny and of course portable and so can be used anywhere. You only have to connect it to the old router to charge the battery.

The possible downside is that, being so tiny, it could be easily lost or perhaps worse, by careless or shifty visitors.... But that's another story.
What's the coverage like? If you have 2 people working 15m apart can they both get a signal?
andara
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Re: 4G

Post by andara »

I have tried a simple test using my iPad, smart phone and Kindle at the same time and all got a signal with very good response times.
widge
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Re: 4G

Post by widge »

Thanks andara, back out on 3rd April & having the Cabo Visao installed. Will let you know how I get on.
pickwick
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Re: 4G

Post by pickwick »

Hi

To have a chance of getting a WiFi signal throughout a villa you will need a mains powered router with 1 or more aerials. The portable MiFi devices are meant for personal/car, portable usage and have limited battery life between charges and limited range.

Pickwick
andara
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Re: 4G

Post by andara »

Pickwick is absolutely correct. Ideally, you should be no more than about 15 metres from the MiFi router to get a signal. That's fine for me, but not ideal for, say, someone who wants to watch Uk tv via the internet in one room whilst someone else wants to download a film in another.
Sheila
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Re: 4G

Post by Sheila »

We went to the Optimus shop in the Algarve shopping centre on Thursday and signed up for the 20mbps 4g service for 24 months but you have 15 days to check out the service before you are committed.
The WOW router cost 49.99. We took it home, switched it on and picked up the network straight away on my Android tablet. It couldn't be simpler. We are about 15 minutes from Monchique.

We had no problems streaming TV. It said the 'Link' speed was 65 mbps but not sure what this really refers to. At the other end of the house it dropped to 5mbps but apparent speed was still very good. We used it plugged into the mains as well as mobile. We will need to have it on the mains to run the web cam when we are away, which incidentally connected to the router by just pressing the WPS button on both.

So it doesn't look like I will need the Ethernet cable/sockets I asked the builder to install specially to boost the signal at the far end of the house.
HampshireRich
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Re: 4G

Post by HampshireRich »

Sheila wrote:We went to the Optimus shop in the Algarve shopping centre on Thursday and signed up for the 20mbps 4g service for 24 months but you have 15 days to check out the service before you are committed.
The WOW router cost 49.99. We took it home, switched it on and picked up the network straight away on my Android tablet. It couldn't be simpler. We are about 15 minutes from Monchique.

We had no problems streaming TV. It said the 'Link' speed was 65 mbps but not sure what this really refers to. At the other end of the house it dropped to 5mbps but apparent speed was still very good. We used it plugged into the mains as well as mobile. We will need to have it on the mains to run the web cam when we are away, which incidentally connected to the router by just pressing the WPS button on both.

So it doesn't look like I will need the Ethernet cable/sockets I asked the builder to install specially to boost the signal at the far end of the house.
For good quaility HDTV streaming you will need 5-6 Mbps so you are probably at the limit with the 5 Mbps. The booster is a wise precaution as the overall speed may reduce if more and more people take up the network.
EMM
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Re: 4G

Post by EMM »

I ahve been told that a cable connection, ethernet, hdmi etc is always preferable to wifi as the signal suffers from far less degradation and possible interference.
If you have wired connectivity available why not use it.
Sheila
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Re: 4G

Post by Sheila »

EMM wrote:I ahve been told that a cable connection, ethernet, hdmi etc is always preferable to wifi as the signal suffers from far less degradation and possible interference.
If you have wired connectivity available why not use it.
We didn't really have a choice.
We are 15 minutes from Monchique and pretty remote so it is unlikely we would get a decent wired connection. We checked out the neighbours and they have wifi. We certainly couldn't beat 65 mps with adsl! And it took no time at all to install.
The end of the house that only received 5mps will not be used for TV so it will be more than adequate and if necessary we can always move the router to the middle of the house rather than at one end.
EMM
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Re: 4G

Post by EMM »

Sorry what I meant was if you have pre installed the wired connections from your router in your property use them rather than rely on wi fi from room to room.
Sheila
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Re: 4G

Post by Sheila »

EMM wrote:Sorry what I meant was if you have pre installed the wired connections from your router in your property use them rather than rely on wi fi from room to room.
The only problem is the 4g router does not have Ethernet sockets so there is no way of connecting it.
Gary/Gaynor
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Re: 4G

Post by Gary/Gaynor »

We had 4g installed by world telecom get about 8mbs. They are going to install an antenna which should take it to 10mbs. Filmon works fine so the other half can watch correy, eastenders, emmerdale and the likes, Also tried my Rasberry Pi and it worked well.

Gary
Farol
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Re: 4G

Post by Farol »

the EU is abolishing roaming charges so I'm guessing and hoping that after that comes into force a 4g sim contracted in say England would work equally well in Portugal at no extra cost and vice versa.

For occassional internet tv this would provide a solution at next to no cost.
RichardHenshall
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Re: 4G

Post by RichardHenshall »

AFAIK unlimited downloads aren't yet common (or available?) on UK 4G contracts, even if they are available on UK 3G contracts.

In Portugal 3G contracts seem to have a upper limit of 15GB per month - would a UK 3G contract with 'unlimited' download still be unlimited in Portugal?
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