Internet/ISP recommendations for Benalmadena/costa del sol area?

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qe2ex
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Internet/ISP recommendations for Benalmadena/costa del sol area?

Postby qe2ex » Sat Jul 13, 2019 4:29 am

Currently have movistar installed, but not too pleased with them, especially when the net went down recently and it took a week of repeated calls for them to finally fix it.

Any recommendations for other companies?

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costakid
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Re: Internet/ISP recommendations for Benalmadena/costa del sol area?

Postby costakid » Sat Jul 13, 2019 1:34 pm

Look in the free papers, SUR etc have lots of adverts. Teletec are supposed to be good but I think they are a bit expensive.

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Re: Internet/ISP recommendations for Benalmadena/costa del sol area?

Postby 1bassleft » Sat Jul 13, 2019 4:32 pm

I have had Ciudad sin Cables for over a year (who sold onto ExCom) and both have ignored me since April as my mobile data allowance is bled dry tethering while the disconnections make the internet unusable. Avatel had good-looking packages but my location was no good (checked twice, and they got back with the bad news within 12hrs so well worth checking). ahi+ (ahimas.es) coverage map confirmed I was covered, but I don't need (nor want to pay for) unlimited landline calls etc. If you're similar, I've gone ahead with Olivenet. 100Mb/s fibre internet for €20/month with nothing unnecessary added on. Installation free with an 18 month sign up, €30 with a 12 month (my pref) or something like €70 with no fixed contract. Emails responded to inside 12hrs. I also went to their Torremolinos office (my "finger on a touchpad" signature didn't match my passport one, quelle surprise) and the people there were very good. I would have done it in Spanish, but the guy's English meant I didn't have to.

The only problem is a 15-20 working day wait for installation, so I can't say whether the actual 'net provision is good yet (and my tethering is still hammering my data allowance). Near certain that the actual fibre infrastructure is Movistar's, so it's down to how responsive the provider is to emails/calls. So far, Olivenet impress, but they all do to begin with.

qe2ex
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Re: Internet/ISP recommendations for Benalmadena/costa del sol area?

Postby qe2ex » Sun Jul 14, 2019 4:31 am

Thank you, I saw both good and bad things about Olivenet when googling them a few weeks ago. Bad things were mostly related to lack of response when things went down if I remember correctly.

Will add Ciudad sin Cables to the list of ISP's to ignore then. Thanks.

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Re: Internet/ISP recommendations for Benalmadena/costa del sol area?

Postby 1bassleft » Mon Jul 15, 2019 2:55 am

CsC were based in Ciudad Real and I was reliant on email responses. Excom told me to switch my router off+on (well, dur), then ignored me. Excom like to charge more than CsC and prob want rid of me. In any case, I really don't want to faff with 10Mb/s "wireless" (CsC sends a wireless signal to the roof, but ugly cables were haphazardly pinned around my interior walls) when fibre availability in B-C is now better.

At least Olivenet have nearby offices (my error - I went to Fueng, not Torremolinos, as it was on my way to Calahonda) if they go off the boil, but it would take a year for me to recommend them based on experience. Amusingly, someone in my radius has named their wifi "Vomistar". I doubt if it's you, but it shows you're not alone.

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Re: Internet/ISP recommendations for Benalmadena/costa del sol area?

Postby Benal Pirate » Mon Jul 15, 2019 11:28 am

I have used Orange for 15mths. V expensive but very reliable connection.

jonathon
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Re: Internet/ISP recommendations for Benalmadena/costa del sol area?

Postby jonathon » Mon Jul 22, 2019 12:49 pm

We had movistar, but changed to Olivenet a couple of months ago. It's a lot better, cheaper and faster.
It did go down once, I tweeted them and it was fixed within the hour

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Re: Internet/ISP recommendations for Benalmadena/costa del sol area?

Postby Tom W » Tue Jul 23, 2019 8:24 am

Based on the mention here I contacted Olivenet having been told by several other outfits that fibre was not available in Montealto. Got a reply right away to check exact location and told that if we got permission from community admin they could install it for us. Paperwork all done within 48 hours and been told within 4 weeks we'll be up and running. So I'm very impressed so far!

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Re: Internet/ISP recommendations for Benalmadena/costa del sol area?

Postby 1bassleft » Thu Jul 25, 2019 12:53 am

I've had a lot of contact with Olivenet now. Always 'Elena' and, while it might not be 'Elena' every time in reality, it is definitely a human responding each time; I am very alive to algobot "Angela here, how can I help?" and sarcasm is above their algorithms "thanks for the suggestion about where I can put the contract, I'll mention it to my team".

Of the 15-20 working days allowed, 10 have passed and I just enquired if there's any news, so I could arrange a flight to the UK soon. Elena replied that I could let her know when I'm returning to Spain, which was a (self inflicted) disaster for me as my current ISP is so bad. I politely but panicky replied that I much prefer to set up before I leave and I got a same-day reply confirming a date and time next week. Obviously can't comment yet on the stability and speed of the fibre, but I like their style (and €20/month price) up to this point.

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Re: Internet/ISP recommendations for Benalmadena/costa del sol area?

Postby 1bassleft » Thu Aug 01, 2019 3:45 pm

Yesterday, the fibre cable was run into my place at 09:30 exactly as promised and, similarly, the router at 4pm today. Up and running with Olivenet (goodbye CSC/Excom, I won't miss you) and, in terms of communication with the Fuengirola office and by email, and efficiency of installation, I can only recommend them highly. I will update after some weeks on the quality of the ISP.

Tom W
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Re: Internet/ISP recommendations for Benalmadena/costa del sol area?

Postby Tom W » Thu Aug 15, 2019 6:56 pm

Well no such luck for us. After the initial joy we were then told that we had to get 13 owners up the street from us to give permission for a cable to be added to the existing wires going over their properties. Printed out letters, added post paid return envelopes and became a postman. Unfortunetly with 1 house the owner passed away with no heirs. No idea what happens here if someone dies intestate apart from thinking how that must be a really sad situtation!
On a happier note, 1 neighbour could tell me he has Avatel and is only 100m away. I'm presuming here it's not a case of the cabling being put in(up) and any company just connects to it like with BT Openreach in UK.

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Re: Internet/ISP recommendations for Benalmadena/costa del sol area?

Postby qe2ex » Thu Aug 15, 2019 9:55 pm

1bassleft wrote:Yesterday, the fibre cable was run into my place at 09:30 exactly as promised and, similarly, the router at 4pm today. Up and running with Olivenet (goodbye CSC/Excom, I won't miss you) and, in terms of communication with the Fuengirola office and by email, and efficiency of installation, I can only recommend them highly. I will update after some weeks on the quality of the ISP.
Hola, how is it so far?

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Re: Internet/ISP recommendations for Benalmadena/costa del sol area?

Postby 1bassleft » Fri Aug 16, 2019 2:52 am

I've flown back to UK for a fortnight so I'll have more experience from next week onwards. Based on a handful of days use before I left, two or three devices surfing etc (we're not power users) no problem. Nice to watch TV again without setting the lowest resolution possible. Sometimes a bit of buffering, but not more than a second and not more than once or maybe twice in an evening. The previous 10Mbit/s supply could make some programmes unwatchable (and I remember the World Cup, people in the bar on the corner were cheering a goal 7 minutes before we got to watch it, which was a bit of a spoiler).
I did notice, around 7am the day before we left, that my Lenovo was almost continuously disconnecting and reconnecting for an hour or so. Not enough to disrupt my sad ebay searching addiction (and boring people on a forum, my other hobby) but it would've driven a multiplayer gaming fan nuts. I'll keep an eye out to see if that's more than an isolated incident.
A small puzzler (something to investigate) - I noticed that clickbait assumed that I was in Czechia and I did a ping test which defaulted to a Czech server. When I reset it to Seville (nearest available), the up and download times nearly halved - maybe some costcutting routing?

TomW - the good news is that Avatel have some very competitive packages; I would have perused their website further if I hadn't been outside their coverage.

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Re: Internet/ISP recommendations for Benalmadena/costa del sol area?

Postby 1bassleft » Fri Aug 23, 2019 9:01 pm

Quick update on Olivenet. Very solid and fast enough for my uses. We did get some issues watching UKTV so I switched to tethering from my Simyo data allowance which made things worse. It turns out that Smarty DNS was the problem, not Olivenet, but it served to demo that it was more capable than my 4G mobile. Once again, though - I had a look for a seller of a slightly obscure item (not ebay or Amazon fodder) and, once again, suppliers in Prague were top of the search.

qe2ex
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Re: Internet/ISP recommendations for Benalmadena/costa del sol area?

Postby qe2ex » Thu Sep 05, 2019 10:44 pm

Thanks, that's good to hear. I plan to order from them based on the recommendations here.


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