# An early Christmas present ...



## MacManiac (Jan 25, 2012)

Just tested my internet speed this morning and find that the promised increase from Cyta (which a little birdie told me would happen on 1st December) from 4 Mb to 8 Mb has taken place. Well pleased


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## gasman1065 (Mar 23, 2011)

Great news 😀


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

They did this a few years ago and I assumed it was a way to please customers with an apparent improvement while maintaining revenue. It costs them nothing of course to just change speed limit parameters as the lines are capable of much higher speeds yet.

Primetel followed and I hope they do so again although I have no problems with our 8Mb connection which is quite sufficient for my needs.

Hopefully it will influence the non-wired suppliers whose prices seem to me to be very high and whose service continuity seems worse.

Pete


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## madcow (Jan 10, 2010)

Woo hoo thanks Mac for the heads up . Mine has gone up from 6 to 10 .

Now what am I going to do with all that extra speed ?


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## Hudswell (May 14, 2010)

Now this is the kind of incentive that competition encourages...roll on the privatisation of CYTA...I would be very surprised not to see Primetel follow suit in the near future. Many can be seduced by the "Glitter" of faster internet speed...but it does cost (but free is very nice thank you ). To be honest...unless you are a massive on line gamer about 6Mbs is sufficient for most households.....moving up to super fast broadband is really only for the "Professionals"...of course that will change when they figure out how to deliver true HD and the next must have service over the Internet economically. "WISP" or a Wireless Internet Service Provider is growing in popularity..but it will never be as reliable as a piece of wire...and is subject to a whole raft of additional issues...Line of Sight and distance limitations being just two of them. A useful and easy to understand explanation of what Internet Speed really means:
What is Internet Speed - How Does Bandwidth Work

Check out the link on Latency in the link above...it explains all tha buffering palava when those big sports events are being broadcast.


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## Baywatch (Mar 30, 2014)

Hudswell said:


> Now this is the kind of incentive that competition encourages...roll on the privatisation of CYTA...I would be very surprised not to see Primetel follow suit in the near future. Many can be seduced by the "Glitter" of faster internet speed...but it does cost (but free is very nice thank you ). To be honest...unless you are a massive on line gamer about 6Mbs is sufficient for most households.....moving up to super fast broadband is really only for the "Professionals"...of course that will change when they figure out how to deliver true HD and the next must have service over the Internet economically. "WISP" or a Wireless Internet Service Provider is growing in popularity..but it will never be as reliable as a piece of wire...and is subject to a whole raft of additional issues...Line of Sight and distance limitations being just two of them. A useful and easy to understand explanation of what Internet Speed really means:
> What is Internet Speed - How Does Bandwidth Work
> 
> Check out the link on Latency in the link above...it explains all tha buffering palava when those big sports events are being broadcast.


I have a WISP because I cant get lines from Cyta without paying 2900 € for the missing 500 m.
We have 10 down 2 up and fixed IP. I pay 40 euro per month. It is very stable, only power-cuts take it down. There is about 300 customer in the network.

I looked at the providers statistics the other day and he have customers that use 150 Gb per day, mostly for tv. Still no buffer or other problems. But he is a local Pissouri provider. He also have a vpn in the system so all customers can watch UK tv without own VPN or unblocker


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## Hudswell (May 14, 2010)

A WISP is of course an excellent way of providing broadband to areas where fixed telecoms do not exist but my preference would always be for a "cable" provision...WISPs are extremely good for filling the gaps but again are very susceptible to terrain, distance and weather...of course the closer you are to the provider (from a Radio Path perspective) the more reliable your service will be...those on the cusp will certainly have problems.


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## Baywatch (Mar 30, 2014)

Hudswell said:


> A WISP is of course an excellent way of providing broadband to areas where fixed telecoms do not exist but my preference would always be for a "cable" provision...WISPs are extremely good for filling the gaps but again are very susceptible to terrain, distance and weather...of course the closer you are to the provider (from a Radio Path perspective) the more reliable your service will be...those on the cusp will certainly have problems.


I would prefer a wired one every day of the year but it is not worth almost 3000 € in my book.

We have NO problems with whatever weather as long as it does not cut the power and the providers network with many base stations make it always close. Another positive thing is that if I need 10 or more upload speed for something, its just a phone-call away


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## wizard4 (Feb 3, 2013)

Very interesting, firstly Macmaniac you still banging your head on that computer!!!!!!!!!!! anyway in the uk non cabled area's still have low speed's mine is between 2mb and 4mb, especially in rural area's. Does that mean that BT are holding back on bandwith? I also understood that even with cable that as more users use it, speed starts to decrease?

Cheers

Ray


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## Baywatch (Mar 30, 2014)

wizard4 said:


> Very interesting, firstly Macmaniac you still banging your head on that computer!!!!!!!!!!! anyway in the uk non cabled area's still have low speed's mine is between 2mb and 4mb, especially in rural area's. Does that mean that BT are holding back on bandwith? I also understood that even with cable that as more users use it, speed starts to decrease?
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Ray


The wireless provider we have is capable of selling 60 Mbit down in his network, but then it depends how much he has from his provider, in our case a 200 Mbit fiber. If his customers manage to fill up the 200 Mbit, then it will be slower, but it has never happend with us. It is the same scenario with a wired provider


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## wizard4 (Feb 3, 2013)

Ok thanks Anders for clarifying that for me.

Best Wishes

Ray


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## Hudswell (May 14, 2010)

Read the link I put on Ray, it explains it in very simple terms, and the issue of contention...it really depends how the connection is made to your property...copper is effective fibre is better...BT has probably one on the Most modern networks in the world, BT Infinity is cutting edge...but as always it is the final bit that counts...from you to the box.....and Anders I am sure your provision is fine and I certainly would not pay that much for a wired connection either...luckily I didn't have to.....all I am pointing out are the constraints that are applicable to a WISP which may or not effect your particular system.


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## MacManiac (Jan 25, 2012)

Well I'm glad this thread turned out not to be controversial ...


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## Baywatch (Mar 30, 2014)

Hudswell said:


> Read the link I put on Ray, it explains it in very simple terms, and the issue of contention...it really depends how the connection is made to your property...copper is effective fibre is better...BT has probably one on the Most modern networks in the world, BT Infinity is cutting edge...but as always it is the final bit that counts...from you to the box.....and Anders I am sure your provision is fine and I certainly would not pay that much for a wired connection either...luckily I didn't have to.....all I am pointing out are the constraints that are applicable to a WISP which may or not effect your particular system.


I understand what you mean. and agree. But wireless can be aver good option if you cant get wire. Or if it bad wire. And remember the distance between the D-slam and the end-customer in a copper system will also have heavy influence on the speed and quality


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## wizard4 (Feb 3, 2013)

My connection is through telephone wire, then into the wireless hub, if I connect a lan cable from the hub it gives me more speed, currently BT have stated they have no plans to upgrade us to fibre optic. So none of us have access to BT Infinity.
My current upload speed is 0.75kb how does that compare with your systems.

Cheers

Ray


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## Hudswell (May 14, 2010)

That sounds about average Ray...oh and it's Mbs not Kbs....


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

wizard4 said:


> My connection is through telephone wire, then into the wireless hub, if I connect a lan cable from the hub it gives me more speed, currently BT have stated they have no plans to upgrade us to fibre optic. So none of us have access to BT Infinity.
> My current upload speed is 0.75kb how does that compare with your systems.
> 
> Cheers
> ...


Measured just now with Speedtest:

Download: 7.65Mbps
Upload: 0.71 Mbps
Ping: 35ms

Pete


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## Baywatch (Mar 30, 2014)

wizard4 said:


> My connection is through telephone wire, then into the wireless hub, if I connect a lan cable from the hub it gives me more speed, currently BT have stated they have no plans to upgrade us to fibre optic. So none of us have access to BT Infinity.
> My current upload speed is 0.75kb how does that compare with your systems.
> 
> Cheers
> ...


It is interesting to see the different ways countries see on this. Sweden has a program where the state pay for the black fiber, and this is then open for all providers to use and the end customer are free to choose. The plan is that 2020 95% of all households will have access to 100/100 Mbit. And I am sure it will be so. 95% will not use it but they have the possibility


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## wizard4 (Feb 3, 2013)

That's interesting Anders, costs do vary here, BT owns the network, but other providers are available, what I don't like is the fact that I can pay the same amount as someone on faster cable through BT and a lot of deals with other providers are tied into cable so that someone like myself can't take advantage of these lower prices, BT's response to the cost of slow speeds and those on high speed being the same is due to them providing broadband at point of entry. just checked up load speed 0.34 Mbps download was 5Mbps.

Cheers


Ray


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## David_&_Letitia (Jul 8, 2012)

wizard4 said:


> My connection is through telephone wire, then into the wireless hub, if I connect a lan cable from the hub it gives me more speed, currently BT have stated they have no plans to upgrade us to fibre optic. So none of us have access to BT Infinity.
> My current upload speed is 0.75kb how does that compare with your systems.
> 
> Cheers
> ...


I'm a little miffed. I pay for 6Mbps and did a speed test last night and again this morning. 

Results:

Download: 3.5Mbps
Upload: 0.69Mbps

Tested with Speedof.Me

Perhaps the difference is going to Argaka!


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## MacManiac (Jan 25, 2012)

David_&_Letitia said:


> I'm a little miffed. I pay for 6Mbps and did a speed test last night and again this morning.
> 
> Results:
> 
> ...


David,

I assure you I am not siphoning off your supply. I hadn't come across your Speedof.Me before so I thought I'd try them this morning.

Download: 8.75 Mb
Upload: 0.82 Mb

The interesting thing is that it was a London connection, not a Cyprus one. When I use Speedtest it normally connects to Limassol.

It very much sounds as if they have not upgraded your line yet, which is surprising. All good things come to those who wait, I am told. lane:


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## Hudswell (May 14, 2010)

That's actually pretty rubbish David....did you check from your IPad of Mac? You should really check from your Mac especially with all the wifi tech you have going on!!


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## zach21uk (Jun 26, 2014)

I use a WISP in Marathounda. Pay for 10, usually test at 9.8 but the last few days I have been getting 10.8 which is above what I pay for. Can't complain.

I recently looked into switching to MTN Broadband in a Box which runs on their 3G / 4G network - over 3G it can go upto 12 megabits for 29/month and 4G upto 40 megabits for 45/month. What you can get depends on the coverage in your area. 

Ultimatly the reason I did not switch was because they have a 100gb fair usage policy after which the speed drops to under 2 megabits which is pretty terrible! On a GOOD month I use about 400-500gb / month and on a bad month as much as 1200gb. Recently downloaded CODBO3 and FO4 from Steam which totaled 100gb between them. Hard to imagine being capped after a days download from Steam. 

Got to stick with my WISP I guess.


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## David_&_Letitia (Jul 8, 2012)

MacManiac said:


> David,
> 
> I assure you I am not siphoning off your supply. I hadn't come across your Speedof.Me before so I thought I'd try them this morning.
> 
> ...


I'm not sure of these things, Martin - as you know, I tend to turn things on and thank my lucky stars when they work without understanding how they work. I didn't notice the London connection. Does it make any particular difference?


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## David_&_Letitia (Jul 8, 2012)

Hudswell said:


> That's actually pretty rubbish David....did you check from your IPad of Mac? You should really check from your Mac especially with all the wifi tech you have going on!!


Ive just done the speed test again on the Mac:

Download: 4.29Mbps
Upload: 0.81Mbps

On the Mac it's:

Download: 3.42Mbps
Upload: 0.57Mbps

At the time of testing, I obviously had my Mac running, and Letitia is on her Mac in the Craft Room which is connected via a Powerline adaptor to the router. I clearly also had my iPad running. The other possible reasons for wi-fi use is our respective iPhones, a Blacberry Tablet and Letitia's iPad - none of which was in actual use at the time of the test.

I agree that it's pretty rubbish as I'm paying for 6Mbps. However, I will also say that when watching NTV via Kodi on the Mac, I get no buffering at all - even though Letitia and I are usually both simultaneously using our iPads. The only time when I get buffering nowadays is when either of us are updating our iOS.


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## Baywatch (Mar 30, 2014)

zach21uk said:


> I use a WISP in Marathounda. Pay for 10, usually test at 9.8 but the last few days I have been getting 10.8 which is above what I pay for. Can't complain.
> 
> I recently looked into switching to MTN Broadband in a Box which runs on their 3G / 4G network - over 3G it can go upto 12 megabits for 29/month and 4G upto 40 megabits for 45/month. What you can get depends on the coverage in your area.
> 
> ...


We also looked at 4G broadband but the cap made it impossible so I am glad we have the WISP we have.

However, some months ago someone told me that Cyta was by law forced to provide you with wires. But when we asked it turned out that they now provide a mobile Internet for same cost as wired internet. But in Pissouri that meant bad 3G so that was not an option. Now Pissouri will have 4G from 1 of January so we have an option if the local wisp go down


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## zach21uk (Jun 26, 2014)

Is Cyta going to have the same stupid cap as MTN do you know? On 3G in my area I can get 12 megabits, sometimes as much as 12.8 megabits. On 4G, I have had varying test results but the lowest has been 16 megabits and the highest was 27 megabits.

With the kind of work that I do, faster download/upload speed means an increase in my overall efficiency as I have to wait less for large files to upload/download to/from my clients, so I am always looking for ways to get a speed boost.


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## Baywatch (Mar 30, 2014)

zach21uk said:


> Is Cyta going to have the same stupid cap as MTN do you know? On 3G in my area I can get 12 megabits, sometimes as much as 12.8 megabits. On 4G, I have had varying test results but the lowest has been 16 megabits and the highest was 27 megabits.
> 
> With the kind of work that I do, faster download/upload speed means an increase in my overall efficiency as I have to wait less for large files to upload/download to/from my clients, so I am always looking for ways to get a speed boost.


Cyta will have the same according to their headoffice


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## zach21uk (Jun 26, 2014)

Well all I have to say to that is "ugh". In this world of terabytes and petabytes, 100gb is pitifully low, especially when you consider:

1) An average game download from Steam these days is 20gb+ with many games over 40gb.
2) Streaming in full HD from Netflix uses 3gb / hour - if you watch TV for just 2 hours per day, then that is 180gb / month
3) Steaming in 4K Ultra HD from Netflix uses 7gb / hour (https://help.netflix.com/en/node/87), so if you watch that for just 2 hours per day, then you're looking at 420gb / month _(but good luck streaming 4K if you have less than 16 megabits as 7gb / hour means you need the ability to download at 1.99 megaBYTES per second. 16 megaBITS would give you a theoretical download speed of 2 megaBYTES per second)._

Then by the time you factor in things like work, casual Facebook usage, casual Instragram usage, casual download of apps onto your phone.............

100gb is just nothing these days


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## Baywatch (Mar 30, 2014)

zach21uk said:


> Well all I have to say to that is "ugh". In this world of terabytes and petabytes, 100gb is pitifully low, especially when you consider:
> 
> 1) An average game download from Steam these days is 20gb+ with many games over 40gb.
> 2) Streaming in full HD from Netflix uses 3gb / hour - if you watch TV for just 2 hours per day, then that is 180gb / month
> ...


I dont think the mobile internet is meant to be used for that. But in future caps will be lifted. Remember loads of places don't even have decent 3G, Pissouri is one of them. I run my phone on GSM only, otherwise it does not work properly


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## zach21uk (Jun 26, 2014)

For anyone interested, I have recently become aware of a WISP called Cosmos Wireless who claim to be able to offer speeds of upto 100 megabits wirelessly. 

I have spoken with them about getting their service at my house in Marathounda and while they are not covering my area now, they have told me that service will be available in my area in about 2 weeks as they have already purchased space in my area to install their equipment and are in the process of doing so. 

I asked them about getting a 40-50 megabit service and they told me it'll be no problem at all.

Once I have actually gotten it installed, I will post again to say how its turned out.

They already covered Paphos, Emba, Konia, and other surrounding areas so I thought I'd post the info now in case anyone wants to explore getting connected with them.


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## Baywatch (Mar 30, 2014)

zach21uk said:


> For anyone interested, I have recently become aware of a WISP called Cosmos Wireless who claim to be able to offer speeds of upto 100 megabits wirelessly.
> 
> I have spoken with them about getting their service at my house in Marathounda and while they are not covering my area now, they have told me that service will be available in my area in about 2 weeks as they have already purchased space in my area to install their equipment and are in the process of doing so.
> 
> ...


Have they told you about the price for that speed? As they are normal priced for other packages.

I have tried to email them but they never answer. They claim that they have an antenna in Pissouri but no one knows about them here. If you google them there is also a lot of bad reviews popping up. But I am still interested in them if they can deliver the speeds they say. And I have a friend in Kouklia that also urgently need higher uploads


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## zach21uk (Jun 26, 2014)

I didn't try emailing - I called them and spoke to a girl who said she would have someone call me back soon. 27 minutes later they called me back. I've seen a couple of reviews online that relate to slow/no replies to communication. If I have a similar experience then I'll let you know.

Regarding price, they were evasive about giving me a price on the spot and claimed it was because their higher speed services are fairly new and thus they are still working out a pricing structure and that he would discuss that with me once their equipment in my area is running.

I admit to being a bit weary about that reply, but then I can also understand that if it is indeed a new service they're offering, they probably are still working out the right price point. I'll wait until I have a follow up call with them in a week or two before judging.

Aside, I spoke with Primetel today and was told that their 40 megabit service (over a phone line) is now available in my area at 65/month. I triple checked this with them as the last time I checked about 9 months ago, they would not cover my area at all. There is not a physical phone line attached to this house which I told them and they said they would be willing to install one. They are sending a surveyor round next week to take a look.


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## Baywatch (Mar 30, 2014)

zach21uk said:


> I didn't try emailing - I called them and spoke to a girl who said she would have someone call me back soon. 27 minutes later they called me back. I've seen a couple of reviews online that relate to slow/no replies to communication. If I have a similar experience then I'll let you know.
> 
> Regarding price, they were evasive about giving me a price on the spot and claimed it was because their higher speed services are fairly new and thus they are still working out a pricing structure and that he would discuss that with me once their equipment in my area is running.
> 
> ...


Primetel would also me interesting, we have them here, but probably they would not be interested to install wires the 500 m that is missing. So we have to wait and see.


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## zach21uk (Jun 26, 2014)

As long as we're able to stream 4K from Netflix and Amazon Prime, then I'll be happy with whichever company we switch too hah.

On 12 megabits, we can't even stream Liz's US channels in Full HD most of the time and in order to watch a 5 minute 4K video from YouTube, we have to let it pre-load for about 5 minutes first (so it loads the first half and then loads the rest as we watch).


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## Baywatch (Mar 30, 2014)

zach21uk said:


> As long as we're able to stream 4K from Netflix and Amazon Prime, then I'll be happy with whichever company we switch too hah.
> 
> On 12 megabits, we can't even stream Liz's US channels in Full HD most of the time and in order to watch a 5 minute 4K video from YouTube, we have to let it pre-load for about 5 minutes first (so it loads the first half and then loads the rest as we watch).


We have 10/2 now after he updated and it is good for what we use it for, TV is no problem at all.
However my fried the wedding photographer need a cosmos solution for his wedding shots he upload to the couples own space. 700 pics per wedding and he say it takes days. He has Cyta with higher upload but it is too slow


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## zach21uk (Jun 26, 2014)

I have the same problem when I am trying to upload large PSDs to my clients (sometimes 200-300mb) and Full HD video from video editing projects (a 1 hour video at full HD can be 8-12gb). I only have 2 megabits upload right now and will be looking to get at least 4 and preferably 8.


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