How easy (or hard) is it to find out if fibre optic is available at a property? Thanks in advance.

If the current owner or estate agents cannot inform you (reliably) the best way is to find the local shop Meo/Vodafone/other and ask if that zone where the house is, has fibre accessible as yet. The network is spreading all the time so local knowledge is best. As I understand it MEO (Altice) provides the fibre network for all the providers ... and if there is fibre nearby, though not as yet connected to a particular property, then the provider will get it established for you as part of the installation you contract for. If it is not already available in the Zone nearby, don't hold your breath ... but again local info will be best as to the likelihood or not of it getting put in that area.

you could try on here ... https://www.meo.pt/servicos/casa/cob...de%20contacto.

Thanks for your replies. I've saved this so I can check.

Which area are you in?

Your local Junta da Freguesia may also have info on this.

The sales people at the internet firms have it on google maps.

....... and they never lie, eh?

To balance that coin somewhat

Meo shop staff told me that fibre would arrive at my address in 4 months, lo and behold it happened on time and we had fibre installed in two weeks after they fitted a new pole that was required.

I almost ate my hat...

Slightly off topic but can anyone recommend a VPN service provider that they are using or have used in the past, thanks.

I used to use express vpn when I was travelling a lot in China but then the great bamboo firewall clamped down and it wouldn’t work very well so I cancelled my annual subscription. In PT I’ve used Nord vpn, who I think are much cheaper than EVPN and found them to be reliable. I would suggest that you test them with just a one-month subscription and if all ok maybe sign up for a year, which will be much cheaper. Last time I looked they were offering two-year deals and at a quite good discount. Just curious, why do you need one in PT? I only used one to be able to connect to my HK tv network to watch live golf. Since then I discovered IPTV and I can watch all sorts of stuff now for just 70 euro per year.

I've been using Nord for the last year or so, no problems at all, works really well,

Keep Solid VPN Unlimited have a lifetime offer which is incredible value. https://stacksocial.com/sales/vpn-un...e-subscription

It has plenty of servers and generally it's service has been good. For connection security it is good and plenty of servers worldwide but for overcoming geo-blocking it is only average.

Thank you for the replies.

sportpix I am thinking of getting IPTV but, as far as I know, it is illegal so I would think it is better to at least try and hide your trails via a VPN. Also same goes for torrents. Eg. In Spain it is not illegal to download copyright material for personal use as long as you do not resell for a profit. However there are teams of lawyers on the case and they are starting to attempt to prosecute normal users for downloading certain films so I would prefer to view IPTV through a VPN. I am not sure how the Portuguese authorities are planning to stop piracy but I would imagine they are doing something?

I agree, NordVpn is very stable and good value with multiple simultaneous users.

​​​​​​Ju st one point though, be careful at renewal time (generally) Many companies dont value customer loyalty. So any auto renewal can be more expensive than the special deals one gets for new. If it turns out that they are asking more then cancel the auto renewal - often the price will just drop as you get closer to the end, if not just take out a new contract.

Jon