maverik

If you live in CE, Digi does not have good coverage, I was told. Myself I have Enjoy Meo Portugal ( see above).

Loco

I agree about Digi and can confirm the 4g signal is good enough in all the areas of Costa Esuri I have happend to test recently but for some people 100GB won't be enough.

Around half of the people I have recently advised around the area ( residents/non residents/those that are visiting and renting out) they turned out to be using far more than this and thus needed unlimited data.

In general for those only requiring up to 15 days unlimited internet/data coverage to watch/stream loads of HD stuff on CE I would recommend MEO's prepay Enjoy offer at 14.99 € despite the speed restrictions coming in April.

For others the post pay Digi Todo offer is probably better. 25 € gives you a month of unlimited data/local/international calls.

Best
Loco

Loco

Whoever told you Digi does not have "good" coverage on CE doesn't understand how it works.

The coverage is exactly the same coverage as Movistar.

Is Movistars/Digi coverage on CE " good" ? It depends on the defenition of " good" and exactly where on CE it is tested.

Is MEO's coverage on CE " good" ? Same.

From recent tests either would work fine for the majority of users.


Best
Loco

MikeJ

Me too! We will be over for Easter - hope we can sink a beer or two
MikeJ & Linda

bob_bob

100GB is not enough these days, streaming HD from the likes of netflix chews through about 3GB and hour so around 30 hours viewing time. Even SD broadcasts use @1GB an hour. Lot of families these days are eating up 1TB a month

Jon-Bxl

To summarise

Totally agree, as mentioned earlier only unlimited internet can work for me personally... ..

Also mentioned ' primary requirement 2' - we need 2 HD streams simultaneously with no buffering.

The discussion started by Maverik was excellent as we have an option which is cheaper than priinet for most 2nd residences by using 4g instead (even those - like me - that have the 'switch off deal' )... With potentially 5g coming - is also interesing

But what stops it being a 'no-brainer' (for me at the moment) is the bandwidth thing with 2hd streams. I need to test the 4g model in this particular scenario, as its a primary requirement. Really hoping it works. Ill be bringing my router...



Jon

Loco

Jon,

​​​​​​All things being equal it is a no brainer.

4G theoretically can easily handle 2 X 1080 HD streams.

​​​​​​4G+ theoretically can handle far more. Most of CE has 4G+ coverage.

Both can theoretically easily handle 2 X 4k streams

In practice around most of CE Movistar and thus Digi have strong enough signals nearly all the time for streaming 2 X 4K most of the time.

In my experience exact location on CE matters as does the kit and the placement of the kit. For example moving a router just 10 cm increased reception by over 25% and in another case a move of 100cm stopped all buffering the owner had been experiencing.

Additionally the kit matters as well...... a dedicated router is nearly always better than a mobile in my experience as they have stronger antenna.


I presume your router you are bringing is a 4G one ? It will need to be rated as LTE Cat Six to get 4G+.

The same applies to your phone if you intend using it as the router.

​
Best
Loco

Jon-Bxl

Hi Loco
Thanks again for this information. As you know I usually follow your advice. But to mix metaphors, "the proof is in the pudding ... and the tea leaves look good! "

I just need to test it from our specific location: ​​​​​​Re my router, I used it years ago, with 4G pre-Priinet and had reasonable results - though not perfect. I even bought a special booster antenna, that I think plugged into the dongle. But gave it away. I moved it all over to get the best signal. Obviously things have improved so I really hope this will work.


I'll check if my router is 4G+ I hadn't thought about that, thanks, ( no chance that I have kept the manual!!!) but have no problems buying a new one, it will quickly pay for itself, when priinet switch to a fixed monthly payment 12 months a year.

Though I hope to hang on till 5g comes, and then buy a new one. Pay as you go, PAYG, unlimited internet with good bandwidth, and stable 24/7 is the way forward for us.

Any ideas when we can reasonably expect 5g at a reasonable price, please?

Whilst this looks good for us, in our situation, I dont know if this works for everyone. I recall posts where people complained that eg having kids at home all using smartphones/tablets soon maxxed out the bandwidth. They would probably need fibre..... (I suppose).

​​​​​​FInally.. Do you know what speed restrictions MEO will do in April please?

The offer from Digi Todo at 25€ unlimited sounds great, Ill check that out also... Assuming its PAYG of course ...

Jon

Loco

Thanks for your kind comments. Start worrying when I suggest you use baked bean cans to receive a signal 50km away !

The meo speed restriction coming in is 40Mbps.

Again well fast enough for 2 X 1080 HD simultaneous streams.

The Digi deal is post pay. Not a problem as it is easily cancelled. To date I know someone who has cancelled it and restarted it twice now with no problems.

As for 5G price the current trend is for the majority of companies not to currently charge anymore more.

In part this is because the companies know even in " full coverage " areas 5g in parts is often unavailable or reception is weak. Its due to the technical limitations of 5 g. This will not get better anytime soon and could even get worse in the short term.

My guess, and it is just a guess is I haven't tested your exact location, is your 4G router will be just fine for your needs with either a Digi or Meo SIM.

Best
Loco

P.S. The baked beans cans actually work extremely well

Jon-Bxl

I love beans! So much so that I can take 'mega-bites' of them

The lowered speed is no problem as Priinet rarely hit half that speed.

A good sign that I have enough 'margin' if our location is not ideal....

Jon

Jon-Bxl

Update... We ate at the 'Bordello' in Monte Francisco yesterday . Just across the river to CE of course. I asked for their internet WiFi password. They have both 4G and 5G. I got great speeds on 4G around 80Mb/s.. and an amazing 200MB/s on 5G. (I was pleasantly surprised that my phone could connect to 5G).

I dont know which Telco they use but this is a good sign! Even with a 75% reduction in service for the 4G service it still is faster than the current non fibre offering... And as mentioned previously, cheaper with PAYG+ Unlimited download for non permanent residents.

Ive been looking at routers and searching on " 4G Mifi routers with SIM slot unlocked" I hope this is the right search. After, one can filter on specifics like e.g CAT 6 etc.

The same search on 5G shows some expensive kit!

If I am right, a dongle is not needed with this kit and one can just put the SIM into the router. Is this correct please?

However since my dongle worked with the old router, Im hoping there is no elaborate setting up needed once I get my new MEO SIM... . Ive lost all the docs, and have no idea how I did it before! Is this correct, please?

If not about 3-4 months monthly payment will pay for a new router. If they work as I think. Still worth it.

Any further advice on these points would be appreciated and we then have a potential solution/option to the points in this thread - for all to consider

Jon

SanNico

I'm a little confused. I'm guessing they have a single router connected to a fixed line with 2 wifi networks; one was 2.4Ghz and the other 5Ghz. These are just the wifi frequencies in which case you were connecting using wifi, meaning your phone may not have 5G connectivity.

For the router, CAT 6 is only useful if your input is over 100Mbps and you're plugging directly to the router or using hard wired extenders or MESH. Either way I would go for it as when the speeds increase you can take full advantage of the bandwidth. Just make sure you don't pull an old network cable from your man drawer and spend the next 3 weeks wondering why you're restricted to 100Mbps. Yes, speaking from experience.

Jon-Bxl

Thanks SanNico.

I thought that as well but we have both 2.4 and 5 ghz at home and it automatically says so. Weird that the 2 options are either "4G" or "5G"... And when I saw the huge speed difference, I just guessed that it was actually a 'real' 5G.

Hmmm but my phone worked 😕 I just Googled how, and found out that my phone doesn't support 5G so actually its normal wifi.

Im not so techie. If I have to buy a new Mifi router with an unlocked SIM card slot, will that be sufficient to be up and running, please .... Negating the need for the dongle. ??

And do you think that the dongle which worked fine with my router will still do so with a new SIM with no new set up (I'm hoping that the original setup is 'memorised'). ???

Thanks for any advice, it will help many others looking to move.... Jon

David and Margaret

I am most impressed by the knowledge and suggestions freely provided on the forum. As a non tech person I am hoping somebody/s can point me in the right direction as my own efforts have proved unsuccessful. We are long time Priinet subscribers recently converted to the fibre option with good results but as non residents take on board cost implications of a standing monthly contract. We purchased a LG smart tv with the aim of watching some English programmes in the evening by connecting over the internet. I tried over several days with the help line at express vpn but eventually their “ no problem solution “ was not possible . I also looked at Nord vpn but they didn’t support the Priinet Huawei router which had instructions not to change any settings . My confusion is I see discussions on streaming tv programmes etc so what are the alternatives to a relatively costly satellite system. Many thanks in advance and for your patience.

SanNico

I'm out of touch with the dongles and the 5G versions seem to cost a pretty penny. Depending on your requirement this could be a compromise, giving wifi only up to 10 devices:
TP-Link M7000 Mobile Wi-Fi Router 4G LTE | PcComponentes.com 4G only but if you're using someone like Digi then the speeds are the same as 5G anyway. If you need something wired, you could just add one of these to give you a network port, just bear in mind they split the bandwidth.: TP-Link N300 Tl-WA850RE - Repetidor Extensor de Red WiFi (2.4 GHz, 300 Mbps, Puerto Ethernet, Modo Ap y Extensor, Antenas Internas), Blanco : Amazon.es: Informática

For the VPN/TV, hopefully someone has a better answer. I've never managed to get a VPN working directly on the TV or router using an iPhone and a Samsung TV. I use NordVPN on a tablet plugged in to the TV and have tried NordVPN on the phone with screen mirroring to the TV. The latter works but is not as clear as the tablet option.
As you're using ExpressVPN, just check that you can connect to BBC iPlayer from your laptop. I tried it a few years ago and it was hit and miss as BBC kept blocking their servers, but I've heard some really good reviews about them since.

A little trick for F1 fans. If you VPN to Luxembourg you can watch it for free on RTL. If you want commentary just use an English radio site.