[ginty]

Hi everyone! Happy New Year!
Please, please, please can anyone help me with a broadband connection query? I have a Netgear DG834G Wireless Router Modem which I brought with me from England to Calabria. (No jokes please re Calabria not being able to connect with the world yet), haha. I'm now subscribed to Telecom Italia "Alice Flat" broadband and it's REALLY, REALLY slow! Almost impossible to download anything! I'm wondering if my modem isn't set up properly (the setup wizard doesn't seem to want to work)! Do any of you experts out there, who are connected to the internet via Telecom Italia (Alice), have any idea what the IP address, DNS server and all that other confusing important information is? I can manually type them in to configure my modem (if I know what they are)! My italian is practically non-existant so I can't really contact them by email to request the details. Do you think it's simpler just to buy e.g. a new Alice Gate modem here in Italy? Looking forward to receiving any advice!

[chris120]

I am certainly no expert; i therefor hesitate to give you any advice but i can tell you what i know.
I also use Alice Flat which currently gives me (in theory) 2 Mega, Alice say that all Alice Flat clients will be upgraded from 2 to 7 Mega, free of charge, over the coming months. You can run a speed test from the following web site:-
http://www.auditmypc.com/
From this i actually get 1,627 Kbps in down load (ie a bit less than my theoretical 2 Mega) and 385 Kbps in upload.
This site also gives some other useful trouble shooting information.
Are you sure you have Alice Flat ? (costs about EU19.95/month). There is also Alice Free which only has a (theoretical) download speed of 640 Kbps
If you do the speed test then print the results you should be able to explain your problem to the experts by phoning 187 (with some basic Italian). Have you tried asking to be transferred to an operator that speaks English?

[ginty]

Originally Posted by chris120 I am certainly no expert; i therefor hesitate to give you any advice but i can tell you what i know. I also use Alice Flat which currently gives me (in theory) 2 Mega, Alice say that all Alice Flat clients will be upgraded from 2 to 7 Mega, free of charge, over the coming months. You can run a speed test from the following web site:- http://www.auditmypc.com/ From this i actually get 1,627 Kbps in down load (ie a bit less than my theoretical 2 Mega) and 385 Kbps in upload. This site also gives some other useful trouble shooting information. Are you sure you have Alice Flat ? (costs about EU19.95/month). There is also Alice Free which only has a (theoretical) download speed of 640 Kbps If you do the speed test then print the results you should be able to explain your problem to the experts by phoning 187 (with some basic Italian). Have you tried asking to be transferred to an operator that speaks English?

Hi Chris
Yes, I'm on Alice Flat at Eu 19.95/month. I've already done a speed test on one site and my download speed was 106 Kbps and upload was 54 Kbps - rubbish eh? I don't understand why it's so slow. When you first subscribed with Telecom Italia, did they send you any details or give you instructions or anything about setting up your connection? Do you rent your modem monthly from them or did you buy your own?

[Lotaresco]

Originally Posted by ginty Hi Chris Yes, I'm on Alice Flat at Eu 19.95/month. I've already done a speed test on one site and my download speed was 106 Kbps and upload was 54 Kbps - rubbish eh? I don't understand why it's so slow. When you first subscribed with Telecom Italia, did they send you any details or give you instructions or anything about setting up your connection? Do you rent your modem monthly from them or did you buy your own?

It sounds as if you have 1Mb/s ADSL, is that the deal you signed up for? I suspect that your download rate is 106KB/s, not 106Kb/s. Telcos tend to quote rates in bps (bits per second) which gives a nice large number. However users want numbers reported as bytes per second Bps. Given the vagaries of overhead, 10bps approximates 1Bps, hence a 1Mbps connection maxes out around 100KB/s. In the UK I find an 8Mbps connection manages 700-750MBps and I live virtually on top of the exchange. In Italy I live so far from the exchange that I can't even get ADSL.

[Domenico]

Hi
My name is Domenico. Im a new member in this forum.
I live in Calabria. In this moment there are problems with connection in many places in Calabria. I have problem in my office too while i have not problems at home. where do you live?.When did you subscribe "alice flat"? Alice flat is an old contract. Look better.

[duffer]

Well I got a letter through the post today from Telecom saying very soon they will be upgrading me to the 7 mega service.

I've been on the 4 mega service for over 3 years now paying EUR 37 per month! During which time they introduced a cheaper service for EUR 20 per month with download speeds of 2 mega. Between 2 and 4 there would be no difference for me but when I tried to change they said I would have to cancel my existing and re-apply. Meaning activation fees and break in service of between 2 to 4 weeks.

At least now their commitment to their customers seems to have improved and they are trying to fend off competition from cheaper rivals!

[ginty]

Originally Posted by Lotaresco It sounds as if you have 1Mb/s ADSL, is that the deal you signed up for? I suspect that your download rate is 106KB/s, not 106Kb/s. Telcos tend to quote rates in bps (bits per second) which gives a nice large number. However users want numbers reported as bytes per second Bps. Given the vagaries of overhead, 10bps approximates 1Bps, hence a 1Mbps connection maxes out around 100KB/s. In the UK I find an 8Mbps connection manages 700-750MBps and I live virtually on top of the exchange. In Italy I live so far from the exchange that I can't even get ADSL.

Hi Lotaresco
I'm not sure what we signed up for! I'll try and check the contract - difficult with my limited italian! We subscribed 3 months ago at a price of Eu 19.95 per month. I've just downloaded Apple iTunes & Quicktime update - a file of 61.27 MB and it took 1.5 HRS! Surely, that can't be right, can it? Would you expect it to take that long, if I signed up for 1 Mb/s?

[ginty]

Originally Posted by Domenico Hi My name is Domenico. Im a new member in this forum. I live in Calabria. In this moment there are problems with connection in many places in Calabria. I have problem in my office too while i have not problems at home. where do you live?.When did you subscribe "alice flat"? Alice flat is an old contract. Look better.

Hi Domenico
I live near Lamezia and I subscribed 3 months ago. I had 8 Mb/s in England, so it really does seem slow! Oh well, I really must learn to be patient!

[Domenico]

you should have alice 4 MB. go to http://beta.speedtest.net/. and after put online the score pls

[ginty]

Originally Posted by Domenico you should have alice 4 MB. go to http://beta.speedtest.net/. and after put online the score pls

Hi Domenico
Just done the speed test again and its still the same! 106 kbps download and 54 kbps upload
Rubbish eh?

[TestaRossa]

Ginty I have the 20mg service which now costs €24.95/mth including wi-fi modem and AliceTV! Sounds like a lot of people out there - Duffer - are being taken to the cleaners very thoroughly by Alice - must be why I can get the premium service at such a low rate!!

I rent my wi-fi modem and Alice box for about €2.00/month. I'm surprised they didn't automatically supply you with one!

I don't know my actual speeds but i-tunes took minutes to download.

As for trying to speak to an English speaking operator, hah! I actually get the reverse treatment we Brits "used" to use abroad - speak slowly and loudly and my Italian will obviously improve - sometimes works !

Ginty, if it isn't too much of a pain I would have a look on the telecom website www.187.it it might have some useful info on there - if you input your phone number, codice fiscale etc. it will even bring up the info about your current plan. HTH

[Domenico]

Alice 20 MB is active only in some area in Calabria. In Many roads in Reggio Calabria dont have alice 20 mb. If i can know where do you live i can say you which line is active. Your connection is rubbish!!!!. Call the phone number 187 !!!!!!

[duffer]

Originally Posted by TestaRossa Ginty I have the 20mg service which now costs €24.95/mth including wi-fi modem and AliceTV! Sounds like a lot of people out there - Duffer - are being taken to the cleaners very thoroughly by Alice - must be why I can get the premium service at such a low rate!! I rent my wi-fi modem and Alice box for about €2.00/month. I'm surprised they didn't automatically supply you with one! I don't know my actual speeds but i-tunes took minutes to download. As for trying to speak to an English speaking operator, hah! I actually get the reverse treatment we Brits "used" to use abroad - speak slowly and loudly and my Italian will obviously improve - sometimes works ! Ginty, if it isn't too much of a pain I would have a look on the telecom website www.187.it it might have some useful info on there - if you input your phone number, codice fiscale etc. it will even bring up the info about your current plan. HTH

Yes Testarossa, I've been subsidising your connection all this time! At least let me share your bandwidth! ;-)

[Ninabena]

Hi all,

I have the 20mg service for €24.95/mth including wi-fi modem!
Last week Telecom called us to tell us that they would come by to install Sky-Italia....we do NOT want SKY ITALIA.

After a verbal struggle on the phone (luckily the lady spoke english...I think...); they just told us that they would come by on that-and-that day at so-and-so time...
Is it really included in the €24.95/mth? Or will be just getting stitched up with a monthly/yearly fee in addition to the 24.95 euros per month afterwards?

In addition to that; Does any one know what the best telecom-flat-rate is to get? And...what is really a flat rate? Just landlines within Italy in the evenings and weekend (details please if possible) .

[chris120]

A few possible answers to some of the Qs raised above.
I have Alice Flat 2 Mega for 19.95 per month and it gets me unlimited access at all times, it works well and has failed on only 1 or 2 occasions in 3 years.
It started out lower than 2 Mega and has been upgraded, without any additional charge, since.
I have been told, on the phone, that there will now be another free upgrade to 7 Mega - i have also seen this advertised.
TI called me to offer me the 20 Mega home TV service for an extra 3 EU to make 22.95 per month, this includes all the RAI and mediaset channels, a few others like BBC world, but not Sky. If you want to add Sky there is an extra charge.
Regarding the slow speeds being experienced is someone" robbing" your bandwidth? i.e. do you have an unprotected Wi-Fi system that some friendly neighbor is taping in to ?
One extra thing, if you like to listen to BBC radio but don't want to fire up and sit near the PC then i just bought a LOGIK internet radio off eBay. Works just like a transistor radio but picks up radio channels streamed via your Wi-Fi router. No computer needed, just the router on. It picks up around 6,000 channels but my wife has ours permanently tuned to BBC radio 4