Hi, just rented a place and hope to be around for a couple of years so look forward to trying to meet up with as many of you as possible. However, in meantime, just so that we can get the basics sorted could anybody advise best internet provider? Also mobile phone for local and international (UK) calls. Will check out all other threads for info on doctors, dentists etc but anybody has info on the above I would be really grateful. Thanks. Lesley

There was quite a long thread about this some time back (you could try searching the forum) and there are a number of options. If you plan to get a land line then obviously a Spanish ISP will be the choice - the line will probably be supplied by Telefonica who can also provide broadband ISP (although BT actually an have operation in Spain).
If you are going wireless then some opinion has it that Portuguese providers actually have better signal strength in CE. Personally, I have a payg 3G dongle from TMN (lots of TMN shops around including VRSA and Tavira commercial centre) which cost 39 euros and gives 1 hour broadband for 1 euro. You can top-up in lots of outlets in Portugal and online

It all depends where you are on CE not all areas are yet wired for landline wifi and telefonica are there usual unhelpful selves about the problem. The alternative via vodaphone mobile does not work on their Spainish network however you can get a good signal from vodaphone Portugal and that dongle works fine for posting on here and emails. Movistar seems the best all round signal for mobile but can't comment on cost since I have not tried anybdy else and only use payg.

For broadband and telephone there is an alternative to telefonica - which seems to have some tie in with BT Spain

"Iberbanda uses a wireless communicaton technology which permits the transmission of data and voice without the necessity of a conventional telephone line.
To receive Iberbanda Wireless Internet and Phone Services, a small dish is erected on the outside of your property. The installation is similar to Digital Satellite TV in the UK, although with much smaller equipment. To be able to install an Iberbanda system there needs to be a direct line of sight to one of the Iberbanda antennas from the receiving dish"

Note: I have no connection with this organisation - I just found this on google.

Their coverage spreadsheet claims 100% coverage for Urb Costa Esuri (line5551 on the coverage spreadsheet) see http://www.internet4spain.com/?gclid...FWf-2AodFR9g2g

Actually I might post this on the useful info page as it may be of interest to many.

Welcome to town :-)

We use telefonica for BroadBand... Skype for International calls , Vodafone for mobile....

Doctors - the health centre.... Dentists... theres plenty to choose here or in Portugal, some are good some are bad....

New dentist in town by the Galp Garage...

Enjoy it!

P.S Do you want a lovely 3 yr old Boy cat, all injections and certificates... he is really chilled and he needs a loving home....?

Hi Lesley

I recently was asked and emailed a friend and forum member about internet access via a dongle... heres what I wrote (below)

This works for us brilliantly as even though we spend a few months a year in CE, we are not permanent residents. This is an excellent product/price performance for our usage. We are NOT huge users of broadband and dont really download/upload much. We email surf and skype for the most part... maybe check out BBC world for the news.

But we also have free sat TV that gets us all the BBC/ITV some French channels and news from Sky/BBC/CNN/CNBC.

You may find it better to pay for a 24/7 broadband depending on your usage.

Good luck and welcome here - hope to meet up sometime.

Jon

PS Thanks to Alaneve for the initial recommendation on this forum

You can get a Vodaphone dongle from Spain or a TMN dongle from Portugal. Both Pay as you go. An excellent product. We went for the latter. As someone recommended it on the forum. I guess if we needed access from elsewhere in Spain - Vodaphone is good. But we just need access from CE. Friends have the Spanish dongle, and its a bit more technical and user friendly giving you e.g the amount left in your account at any time - but they had some problems. BUT this is a standard product, it should work fine too.

The TMN gave us no problems - you plug it in and it auto downloads the s/w the 1st time - but give yourself some time - the first time its long. Put aside an hour to read and get it right. After that plug it in put in your password and quickly connected. We buy refills of 10 euros in newspaper shops in portugal very easy - you get a personalised card - just show that and you pay. Next time you log on you get a thank you message saying you have paid 10E and e.g if the previous balance was eg 4.23E - you now have 14.23E. That stays valid for 6 months so we never lose any outstanding credit. Just like a PAYG mobile... you can also do it at ATM's but we never figured how.

When you have less than 3E you get a message - and 3 hours is a lot - 10E = 10hrs = 1E per hour. For us this lasts a long time as we dont keep it on all the time, and Ive found it amazing how long 10 hours is. We are so often in Portugal that its zero hassle getting reloads. Also as Im sure you know, many programs allow you to download your email - log off (saving money) compose your replies and the log back in and send them. With no phone, Skype is good for us, though we dont use video.

Im not sure where the vodaphone Spain shop is - but I think it may be in the plaza. TMN - go to VRSA. Walk into the square, river at your back, go straight up the pedestrian bit with the Square on your left. At the end there is a little road, look 20 yards to the left and you see the TMN shop. 49E for the dongle, including 10hours.

(Eds Note MikeJ says its now 39Euro - even better)

But it only had 1Euro credit - not 10.

You can also get Portuguese Vodafone dongles in the commercial centre in Tavira - same price as TMN - but somebody on the forum had previously recommended TMN which is why I went for it.

Hi Lesley & Steve

Glad you found the forum......& hope the info provided has been helpful!
& more importantly found a solution.....

best wishes

Thanks... 39+10 is the same.... we have great optoins here PAYG dongles...... TMN, V-phone etc.

I wish we had the same deal in other countries eg Italy France Belgium - I dont think we have it in the UK..... A simple PAYG - without all the hassle would be great!

Good for Spain/Portugal!!

Jon