# Internet in Cyprus?



## Aroura (May 29, 2012)

Hi I'm trying to plan a move to Cyprus for around February 2013 time (roughly, could be earlier or a bit later depending on finances and my impatience lol)
I will be moving over with 2 children and will be working for myself as I do here in the UK, my work however relies on a fast and reliable internet speed.
So my question is; 

How easy is it to set up the internet (once I have found somewhere to rent) and how long does it usually take for the switch on/activation of it and how reliable and fast is it? (I have read that normal internet is slow but you can get faster internet at a higher cost?)

I'm just trying to work out how long I could be out of work for once I have moved over and waiting for the internet (my means of work) to be ready to use! 

Thank you in advance for any replies 

peace and love Aroura


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## kimonas (Jul 19, 2008)

Aroura said:


> Hi I'm trying to plan a move to Cyprus for around February 2013 time (roughly, could be earlier or a bit later depending on finances and my impatience lol)
> I will be moving over with 2 children and will be working for myself as I do here in the UK, my work however relies on a fast and reliable internet speed.
> So my question is;
> 
> ...


Below is a cut and paste repost from my contribution to the thread about running your own internet based business from Cyprus in case you haven't seen it. the cable networks are very limited to a few areas in Nicosia and Limassol in the commercial districts and are (as far as I understand) expensive...Satellite cable provision is now almost island wide but only available to corporate customers and sponsors - but things are moving quickly so the information might be out of date. I work within the HE sector which experiences almost daily outages and down time - very frustrating - we also get unnanounced outages for hours at a time owing to CYTA maintenance work. It is very frsutrating...

Cyprus is in an interesting place geographically speaking when it comes to the internet/www. Mainland Europe, West Asia / Middle East and North Africa are all connected together by the backbone lines that flow onto and over the island of Cyprus.
There is some very expensive and complicated routing equipment that has been put on the island by third-parties, and it connects three continents together.
However, Cyprus itself shares very little of this network capacity. This is because CYTA is a hangover from the 1960s British GPO that ran the networks, and in most places on the island CYTA still employ the same 1960s switchgear that was left in place by the British. It is running well over capacity already, and this is set to continue whilst they insist on keeping the price of telecommunications low and receive minimal investment from the central government pot.
Basically low central taxation = poor and unreliable network infrastructure.
Hence, although Cyprus is a strategically important technical resource for the rest of the world, it gets very little benefit from this as it cannot pay to access the resource.
The chances of success for your potential internet based business therefore will depend on where you base yourself. If for example you’re based near the coast, when it is windy, the telegraph lines fall over, and the Internet is cut off. This again is a hangover from the very old and minimally robust network engineering on the island which in the main part consists of ADSL over twisted-pair phone line). The upload and download speeds are therefore not usually balanced, and (where I am) limited to 2Mb/sec download, and 256kb/sec upload.
Also note that you will never actually see the quoted speed or capacity from these lines (you may get half of these numbers on a good day) because of the following:
a) the distance from the exchange causes signal attenuation meaning that data packets are noisy/corrupt by the time they have reached servers and
must be re-requested, and
b) the massive level of contention on the CYTA lines (how much you have to fight your neighbours to get your packet of data to the front of the queue before theirs).
These technical issues may be why the island isn’t overly flooded with internet based entrepreneurs. Just a few thoughts…

Since the above posting, the Mari disaster (a massive explosion on the military base next to the island's main power plant which destroyed it) has put the electricity supply in doubt too which has led to serious power outages and disruptions - sometimes planned but often not. Occasionally too there are unexpected power surges that have destroyed/corrupted a large number of applicances in some locations including PCs. 

As with most aspects of relocation, planning ahead is absolutely vital. Most internet businesses have not been overly affected but your emphasis was on high speed and reliability, both of which I doubt could be guaranteed at this time (that is without a fairly hefty financial outlay on provider and safety/backup systems).


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## Aroura (May 29, 2012)

Thanks for that  much appreciated.

I read somewhere (on a different website) that in some parts of Cyprus they have fibre optic cable now? And can get fast internet now, but only in certain areas (I would move to where ever I could get the most reliable internet should it be enough to work with)... 
But it just seems like a lot of conflicting and confusing information out there... some people say you can get fast speeds but yes sometimes it is down for a while, while others say that you can't get fast speeds anywhere and it is always down (for the most part) but yet plenty of Cypriots and expats seem to be online  lol 
I also read that you can pay for the fast internet but it is 3 times more expensive than the regular internet... I wouldn't mind paying the extra if it was fast enough (say like fast enough for skype calls etc... which is what the majority of my consult business consists of, hence why I the fast speed is needed) 
I suppose this is something I can try to find out first hand for myself upon my next visit (October) among many other things I have to try to find/set up... If it turns out that is really to slow to be able to continue my work there then I guess it will mean the end of my Cyprus dream as I can't move without a means to earn money once over there, but for now I shall keep and open and optimistic mind... I will cross that bridge if/when I come to it! 

Aroura.


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## Guest (May 30, 2012)

One thing I have never understood and that is the need of spped. Everyone want "fast" Internet. I have been in the Internet business since before WWW was something normal people new about. I have worked with modem speed without problem. 

What business on internet need more then 8 Mb dsl line? The problem in Cyprus is moore the cutoffs and the high latency, but this mostly affect online gaming.

For Skype its enough, but of course can the high latency give eco.

And there is always the possibility to use 3G as backup

There is cable net on some locations on the island, here is the link

Cablenet Communication Systems Ltd


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## Aroura (May 29, 2012)

Thanks! To be honest if you can get 8mb that will be more than enough for me, I've just heard and read some people complaining about not even getting 1mb and pages taking forever to load. 
I'm not an expert with the whole technology thing (far from it, I just know what I need to know for what I have to do lol).
What are the "cut offs" like? Are they pretty regular throughout the day or just now and then? If it's just now and then, then I'm sure I'd be able to work around it seen as my work would be flexible anyway as it is now... 
I'm not a gamer or anything lol internet/laptop for me is just used for work and communicating with friends... I don't think I even get 8mb where I am now! I think it's 6 at the most (I'm in a newish area lol).
I'l take a look at the link now thanks... Don't suppose you know roughly how long a company takes to switch everything on for you do you? Here in the UK when I signed up to SKY internet it took about 4 weeks for them to do whatever they had to do at their end before it was usable... Which 4 weeks is okay, it's not major, I'l be coming with enough savings as well as bringing my work with me lol think I'm just a tad OCD with my lists for prep lol 

thanks again


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

We very rarely lose our internet connection and we have 2 computers and our television running from it most of the day.


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## leesa13 (Jul 7, 2009)

Aroura said:


> Don't suppose you know roughly how long a company takes to switch everything on for you do you? Here in the UK when I signed up to SKY internet it took about 4 weeks for them to do whatever they had to do at their end before it was usable... Which 4 weeks is okay, it's not major, I'l be coming with enough savings as well as bringing my work with me lol think I'm just a tad OCD with my lists for prep lol
> 
> thanks again


Hi
I'm with Primetel and when I signed up recently for my internet and landline, they told me it usually takes 15 working days to install everything but the Easter holidays were during my 15 working days so it took around 20. Never had any problems with my connection and it seems just as fast as I got in the UK. Occassionally (I've had 2 in 2 months) they send me an email saying the service won't be available during a certain time on a certain date as they are doing some work but so far it's always been done early morning such as 5am-6am so it's never affected me. Hope that helps..
Lisa


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## Aroura (May 29, 2012)

Ah thanks guys, that's great! Doesn't sound like I will have much of a problem in that case then!  And that's good that let you know in advance when they're working on it, but if it's that time of day I doubt it would affect me either lol I'm only just waking up usually at that time 
15-20days is also quicker than what I got here! lol 
This was going to be the biggest hurdle for me, being the main source of my income having the internet, so it sounds like I shouldn't really have a problem  

cheers again.

Aroura


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## Pam n Dave (Jun 11, 2007)

My internet took a week to install and the speed is fine for me overall. Skype with video can be a bit flaky.

The main issue for me is the service drop out, I crawled out of bed the last couple of days to find no service and a couple of weeks ago I lost the service on three out of four days. It's not out all day and after a phone call it can be back again within half an hour or so.

It always happens when there is something important to sort out and can be really frustrating. Weekends can be difficult as the phones are not answered and an answer phone has to be used.


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## mikehump3 (Aug 28, 2012)

I am sure the reach of Cablenet improves daily. Just a shame that Cablenet do not show a map of its current coverage. One of my secondary considerations for dwelling location is cable access.


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

I wonder how much speed you really need? Primetel is in the process of doubling the speed for their customers which means the starting point on their service will be 8Mb. This speed upgrade seems to occur every couple of years.

Some people complain about regular service failures but I think this is more to do with local aged cabling problems. We had a disappointing 4 days outage a while back which was due to some stupidity by Primetel which affected some customers rather than a physical breakdown.

As far as any new phone line cabling is concerned, you will find it is always underground with compulsory inspection chambers every 80m or so. There are no more overhead cables installed. This requirement can affect the installation time severely if there is no existing access point.

Pete


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## Guest (Aug 30, 2012)

There is also the wireless option. At least around Paphos. What I have heard the speed and stability is very good compared to DSL and also available for many rural properties
This is the link to one of the companies, the biggest I think

Welcome to CyprusInternet.com.cy - Wireless Broadband Internet connections throughout Paphos, Peyia, Polemi & Polis Cyprus.

Anders


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

Vegaanders said:


> There is also the wireless option. At least around Paphos. What I have heard the speed and stability is very good compared to DSL and also available for many rural properties
> This is the link to one of the companies, the biggest I think
> 
> Welcome to CyprusInternet.com.cy - Wireless Broadband Internet connections throughout Paphos, Peyia, Polemi & Polis Cyprus.
> ...


Those that I know who have these systems seem to be very happy with them. Holitec is the other, probably better known supplier.

However these systems do rely on line of sight to be able to beam the signals from point to point so they can be very dependant on geography. If there is a hill in the way they may not be able to install. Only by allowing the companies inspection of the location are they able to verify they can supply.

Prices for these services are high. There is an installation fee and the monthly fees are kept competitive with CYTA. As Primetel is doubling its speed and I anticipate CYTA will follow, these systems will then be much more expensive unless they make equivalent upgrades or price reductions.

Nevertheless they are a viable option.

Pete


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## Guest (Aug 30, 2012)

PeteandSylv said:


> Those that I know who have these systems seem to be very happy with them. Holitec is the other, probably better known supplier.
> 
> However these systems do rely on line of sight to be able to beam the signals from point to point so they can be very dependant on geography. If there is a hill in the way they may not be able to install. Only by allowing the companies inspection of the location are they able to verify they can supply.
> 
> ...


This company today offer 10 Mbit downspeed and 2 upload and will soon offer 30 Mbit. So I think they will stay ahead of DSL which has its tech limit at 16 Mbit and only very close to the phonestation. 

But the price is ofc a problem. But for rural customers that cant get DSL its a much cheaper and faster option then the Mobile Broadband option

Anders


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