Spain - British Expat Forum

I just heard that Telefonica will be increasing speed on the basic adsl service without extra charge to the customer, must be good !

Quotation is from -
http://www.telefonica.es/accionistaseinversores/ing/pdf/040727_doubleadsl-eng.pdf


"27/07/2004
TELEFÓNICA DE ESPAÑA IS TO DOUBLE THE SPEED
OF ADSL LINES WITHOUT CHANGING THE PRICE
• Once authorisation has been received from the Telecommunications Market
Commission (CMT), and in accordance with the schedule established by this
body, the company will begin the process at the end of September and expects
to finalise it before the end of the year.
Telefónica de España's initiative to double the speed of its ADSL service without
modifying the price, proposed to the regulator on June 1, was finally authorised by this
body on July 22. There are currently around 2.1 million ADSL lines in operation.
Now this authorisation has been received, and in accordance with the implementation
schedule specified therein, Telefónica de España will proceed in the last days of September
to increase the speed of all ADSL modalities without changing their price and without the
need for customers to carry out any procedures. The measure will also be applied from that
moment to all new ADSL customers.
Specifically, nominal speeds for downloading information will double compared with
present speeds; this means that the basic ADSL mode will operate at 512 kb/s, at the same
price as currently paid for a 256 kb/s connection. This increase will have no impact on the
other characteristics or additional features of the service for which the customer is paying
(e-mail accounts, antivirus software, maintenance services, etc.)
Telefónica de España will establish a gradual migration plan to the new speeds for current
ADSL customers, which it aims to conclude before the end of the year. This migration
process requires no adjustments to the customer's equipment. "

¡ Que bueno !

Wow!! Does this mean they might have sorted it by the time I arrive inSeptember 2005?

Alan

PS Am I being over optimistic? My friends had a phone line when they bought their place in Torreblanca, until the builder next door severed it, and buried it under a new house. Telefonica have been disinclined ever since to do anything about it.

My experiences with Telefonica are entirely the opposite. When we asked for a new line to be extended about 500 metres down our track, it was done within four days of the request. When I called them to order my ADSL, the whole lot of kit arrived in the mail within a week, and was up and running before dinner ! I have to say that I never had service like that from deal old Telecom, or whatever they are called these days !

I have to say that you have every chance Alan. However, you will have to choose your location though..........

Meseta
Can you tell me where is the best location for internet access?

We're hoping to retire to the costa blanca or costa del sol next year, but still haven't decided on an exact location. Internet access is important to me - I'm a silver surfer!

thanks

Mandt

Well, yes, it IS nice of Telefónica: they did it, however, not out of generosity but rather because Spain remains comparatively one of the most expensive places to get ADSL service in Europe and the competition was hotting up from Jazztel amongst others. Also not ALL the speed is to be increased. The doubling of speed only applies to download; upload remains at the speed it was before, so no improvement in the quality of ones MSN video conversations.

With ref to the question on ADSL access....there is no simple answer. Telefonica are good at installing lines on urbanisations on the Costa Blanca, normally within a few days. If you live in the 'Campo' (like us) two years plus is the average wait and we are currently at 26 months with no hope in sight! We have to use a satellite system for our internet access which is really expensive.
ADSL is more of a technical issue. Basically you need to be within a maximum of around 5km of a digital exchange then Telefonica do not seem to have any trouble providing the service.
So the bottom line is choose a location and ask the agent to find out if ADSL is available in that area. Get a telephone number from a potential neighbour and ask Telefonica to check whether they could have ADSL then you will know for sure!
On the Costa Blanca, which is where we live, there are no problems in Alicante, Campello, Benidorm, Torreiveca, Gran Alicante and all the 'bigger' towns.
By the way its a great part of Spain to live in, or at least we think so.
Cheers
Happyexpat

Thanks for the info.
We are still keeping our options open re location, but have a preference for somewhere in the area between San Miguel, Villa Martin, La Zenia.

I'll keep in mind your advice re potential neighbour's phone numbers and see how we go.

Cheers
Mandt