Originally Posted by John & Kath (Post 10565099)

The arrival of the "crisis" coincided eithe slide into administration of the infrastructure and major housing developer Fadesa and the bankruptcy of other housing developers so the take up of ownership and occupation has been slow. Although the ducts run everywhere more than half only contrain the draw cord. The one mast on our side of the ridge is for Iberbanda and Vodafone so competition that great spur is sadly missing. Some houses can get Telefonica/Movistar landline if they have spare ways in the street boxes, others have line of sight so get the Iberbanda service so far very reliable but very expensive for more than about 1 meg, lastly the mobile service is patchy 4G reqires a contract depending on which provider you sign up with and most can be drowned out by the Portuguese signal from three masts that line the ridge across the river. That has caused a notorious incident of a girl from Ayamonte being charged €10,000 for one bill. All of these options suite full timers but are not economically viable for holiday apartments so the take up is patchy and relates to what you can get depending on your location.

The current discussion revolves around the need for alternatives if and when we might loose Freesat/Sky next July/August at least, when it seems we will need at least 2meg to use one of the Internet solutions at reasonable cost. At the moment that seems to be only those people who can get Telefonica land line BB and they would be full timers since cost is a barrier to those who just holiday here.

Originally Posted by MikeJ (Post 10565299)

Thanks John for your excellent summary.
Our Intercommunity (ME) has tabled a suggestion, with indicative costs, for WiFi throughout the community (yes I know that there is a very long way between the cup and the lip still) but it shows that there is some demand - which will only get bigger if and when we start losing satellite. Could this be a topic for the EUC - the intercommunity presidents are voting members. If each intercommunity and the plot/villa owners got together - with perhaps some strong lobbying by CERA - maybe the EUC could be in a strong position to invite tenders (including Wimax) to provide high speed broadband coverage for CE. Maybe they could site a repeater transmitter at the top of the urbanisation somewhere?

Originally Posted by Jon-Bxl (Post 10565345)

Great idea. But we would need CERA to drive it, EUC have no interest in CE! It would take forever just to get it on a agenda in the so called 'annual meetings'.

Jon

Originally Posted by MikeJ (Post 10565299)

Thanks John for your excellent summary.
Our Intercommunity (ME) has tabled a suggestion, with indicative costs, for WiFi throughout the community (yes I know that there is a very long way between the cup and the lip still) but it shows that there is some demand - which will only get bigger if and when we start losing satellite. Could this be a topic for the EUC - the intercommunity presidents are voting members. If each intercommunity and the plot/villa owners got together - with perhaps some strong lobbying by CERA - maybe the EUC could be in a strong position to invite tenders (including Wimax) to provide high speed broadband coverage for CE. Maybe they could site a repeater transmitter at the top of the urbanisation somewhere?

Originally Posted by MikeJ (Post 10565365)

I belive the next 'annual' meeting should be in March sometime

Originally Posted by MikeJ (Post 10565299)

Maybe they could site a repeater transmitter at the top of the urbanisation somewhere?

Originally Posted by John & Kath (Post 10565551)

The Intercommunity presidents may be voting members but not one of them has a vote since all intercommunities have outstanding debtors and it only needs one to disqualify the vote. In fact except for the President the only legimate voter is the Fadesa representation of 2 persons. This does not mean that Fadesa is up to date with all their payments just that somewhere among their various separate company holdings one or more has paid the fee.

This was a topic that the CERA committee have looked at and indeed talked to Movistar about but it all went nowhere.

Such a difference from UK where all the remote towns and village are fighting with the support of their district and county councils for a share of the national and European budgets to bring Super Fast Broadband to their village, smaller of course than Esuri. Indeed it was reported last week that one remote village in Lancashire have actually laid 40 km of fiber optic cable themselves including digging for the ducts to do just that.

Originally Posted by The Guy (Post 10558097)

Well I can get 2F UK beam on my 80cm dish yet that map says I need a 2m+ for the signals - so dont take that map as anything but "experimental" as it says at the top. I think it was ceated before the satellite was tested and positioned - so not really accurate.

There have been NO official maps from SES AStra about the UK beams reach into Spain as the official maps only show the projected signals strengths up to about mid france.

Key word - projected.

Actual signals and footprints usually differ from those published - so nothing can realy be gained by predicting the receptrion of a satellite that is still in its hanger, 6 months away from launch, that still has to be launched, positioned at a test location, tested, repositioned, and then starts to transmit.

In fact most "official" maps are generally wrong for "fringe" recption areas, and they only really need to be accurate for their intended market. The offical maps for 2D were wrong / inaccurate - as in theory yu needed a 3m+ dish for 2Ds Uk beam in the CDS - but you got lucky and your 1.25m worked fine. Also, there is no reason for SES Astra to show UK beam reception in "non market" areas.

This is a map for the 2F UK Beam using actual reception reports:
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid...9153,39.506836
where you can see that the Barca area is in a black spot, but between Valencia and Alicante there is a signal hot spot - not in any official or predicted or experimental maps!


See the map linked abovebased on reception reports for 2Fs UK beam.


I dont know how wise it is to compare reception in Spain of the 2E uk beam with the 2Fs Uk beam...no-one will actually know until it is operational.
Even a minute dent in the reflector can cause a huge move in the footprint.
And perhaps they can use the data from the 2F reception reports to fine tune 2E - its not scheduled to be launched until June so plenty of "tinkering time" available based on what they have learnt from 2F.


They have used 4m dishes in Greece and Cyprus to get the old 2D signals....so they do exisit and are available if people want to get their UK TV.
See http://skycyprus.com/index.php?pr=SK...sh_Photos&=SID for pixs of what they have had to use - that are now almost useless with the new satelites!

Originally Posted by William932 (Post 10574219)

I use www.vietexpat.TV

You can go to that link and get a free 2 day trial.

It's a great service. You can even stream TV straight to your mobile device. PLus 7 days on demand viewing which is really handy if you are in an awkward time zone.

Theres more information at their facebook page. Just go to FB and search vietexpat.TV

Originally Posted by William932 (Post 10574219)

I use www.vietexpat.TV

You can go to that link and get a free 2 day trial.

It's a great service. You can even stream TV straight to your mobile device. PLus 7 days on demand viewing which is really handy if you are in an awkward time zone.

Theres more information at their facebook page. Just go to FB and search vietexpat.TV

Originally Posted by MikeJ (Post 10574767)

The snag is that Ayamonte is in the SW corner of Andulucia and not in Far East Asia.
We have variable to poor internet connection in some urbs so worldwide internet options are not really appropriate :banghead:- :sarcasm:but thanks for the tip

Originally Posted by Mitzyboy (Post 10575109)

I think William was spamming, he is no more

Originally Posted by duffer (Post 10575351)

Spammed us in the Italy forum too.