werlynne

I need Internet in the Campo near Mijas in Spain. There is a company called Wikiker and I wondered if anyone has used them to give me an idea of what the company is like. They "say" they offer up to 3gb or 6gb speeds on WiMax.
They have told me that the up to 6gb speed is ok for streaming TV but it can be patchy at peak viewing times...
There is also a company called Y Internet but their prices are about double.......
Has anyone used either of them and how do you find their service and support?
Many thanks.

amideislas

Since nobody's answered, I'll offer what I know about wimax in Spain.

We have wimax in the campo, and unlike our previous Telefonica landline, it actually delivers the bandwidth we pay for (7mbps), plus it works in the rain (landline did not).

The good part is that it costs €39 per month (iva included) while the Telefonica landline cost a minimum of €52 per month, not including calls and having to live with it not working in wet weather.

Countryboy1

Pleased and somewhat surprised that you get exactly what you pay for. Is this figure your download speed? I was told by my provider that the figure you pay for includes a download speed and includes your upload speed allocation also, so in fact the total figure contracted for is never the achievable download speed as a portion is for your upload speed.
Is this bull....?

Anna Collins1

Hi, I live in mijas costa and have had wikkiker since February this year.

We started off with 6mg connection but were only getting something like 2.5mg so we dropped down to 3mg and i have just done a speed test (Speedtest.net by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Test) and right now were getting 1.54mg. It's worse at night as more people are obviously on-line and streaming TV through their internet but it is usable for the most part.

Also we download movies, music etc and 3mg has been fine for this.

During the world cup this year as everyone was watching UK TV through their internet, we had awful problems with connection speed and anything we tried to watch on TV would just scramble.

customer service hasn't been good, we would call to speak to a technician, someone in the office would say he'll call you back...most of the time he never did. Resulted in us going to the office in Calahonda to speak to someone directly, the router has since been changed twice.

Y-internet are supposed to be a bit better but as you say more expensive. If you can, use Telefonica and get a fixed connection, we can't get a fast enough speed where we live here but in our previous house it was much much more reliable.

P.s If you come across a company called 'big lan' stay away,also had them and they were worse than wikkiker.

Hope this helps

Lospacoshombre

We are in Fuengirola and use voz plus, they are located on the car park further on from Mijas water park.

I like their system and I have been impressed with iptv, their after sales is very good. If you have a problem they can sort it remotely.

Very watchable and a reliable connection

Regards
Al

amideislas

Yes it's download speed. I can test it any time and it always reads over 8mbs.

I suppose it varies by region, but around here, Telefonica /Movistar is well known as the single worst and most expensive telecom provider available for fixed lines. They are focused on mobile and will not invest in landline infrastructure, and have lost over 60% of the landline business here.

Horlics

I don't live in your area so I can't comment on the specific services.

But, having worked in IT for the last 25 years I can tell you that anything wireless is not as reliable as wired. I would always recommend a wired connection if there is one available.

About the bandwidth you actually receive. There are many factors involved and each link in the chain, so to speak, can have difficulties. For example, the company you use will probably be buying services such as bandwidth and connections to the global internet from other companies. Your supplier may be competing for bandwidth with their supplier's other customers at busy times.

If you can't get first-hand experiences from others, sign up for something on the shortest possible terms.

amideislas

I'm have no doubt that you are technically competent in all things IT.

...however, as a purely practical matter, we had Telefonica land lines for years before being offered viable alternatives, and I can say with absolute confidence that their "wired" service - whether at home, in my office, or in others' offices - was commonly "down" multiple times per week, usually at least an hour or so in each episode, and even longer in wet weather, sometimes days without service.

AND those who suffered those common outages had to wait for at least 24 hours for anyone to show up to fix it (in my case, sometimes 10 days or more), which almost always resulted in some guy coming and simply replacing the router, offering the same explanation "sorry, it's normal" (as though that's an acceptable excuse) and worse, were never eligible for any sort of compensation, despite paying amongst Europe's highest rates for internet services.

To add insult to injury, with Telefonica, it's commonly known that nobody ever receives the bandwidth they pay for - we had the minimum 6Mb contract for years, and never were able to get more than 1Mb download speed (using ANY speed tester). Telefonica's explanation is that there is no bandwidth guarantee - 6Mb is a "maximum" you can achieve on that plan - of course, they will be happy to sell you a 10Mb or even 20Mb plan, but it doesn't change what you actually get. We originally fell for their €75/month 10Mb offer (with TV, which NEVER worked), but never received more than 1Mb... But we had to pay it for a year because we had a "contract".

Thank god now we have alternatives, and I can also say with compete confidence that those problems are a distant memory. The wimax system we have works even in wet weather, and unlike the old Telefonica lines, you actually get the bandwidth you pay for (at least that's what the online speed test programs tell us). And I reckon that helps explain why virtually every house and office here has WIMAX antenna these days. Just in the past couple of years, it's been a major migration away from Telefonica/Movistar.

I admit that it did go down for almost an hour several months back, but even before I realised it, the company immediately sent an advisory to my mobile explaining that something had gone wrong with a transmitter, and that they would have it fixed in an hour or so. That's something Telefonica would NEVER do...

The best thing is that this service is about 25% less expensive than Telefonica's pathetic "equivalent".

I only wish we could have some similar competition for electricity. Unfortuantely, Endesa is still the monopoly...

Anna Collins1

Telefonica does have the monopoly and it is very frustrating BUT in my experience of all the wireless service we have used they still offer the most reliable service simply because it is a wired connection.

Yes it goes down now and then but is still much more reliable and faster than any wireless we have had...everyone has had different experiences and of course there are a lot of factors to consider.

werlynne

Thanks everyone for your comments. We are in the Campo and can't get hard wired internet.
Anna, thanks for the info on Wikiker, I will be using it mostly to download TV programmes and general surfing. I will try the 6mb first like you did and take it from there. It is half the price of Y Internet to use and also half to install so I feel it is worth a punt. I know watching live TV may be slow but I will be satisfied if I can get enough out of it to download a few programmes and some light surfing.
Thanks

Anna Collins1

Im sure it will be fine for what you need, like you we can cope with a few glitches watching tv, we download movies and it is ok even on the 3mb connection. Like you say it is worth a try...

Horlics

Do try different methods of accessing your programs. I download directly from Usenet servers at times, and when I do I get the full bandwidth of my connection. Then I will fire-up iPlayer and suffer lots of delays while buffering, so I will immediately switch to Filmon to watch the same BBC programme and it will stream perfectly without delays. It isn't always about your connection to the Internet - plenty of other variables at play.

The downside is for my wife it's a bit too much hassle. Whereas I'll muck about with it, she'll pick up her Kindle.