# Very slow broadband Speed with Movistar/Telefonika in Mijas Costa - anything I can do



## spanishbookseller

Hi... I posted a while ago about getting decent broadband in Mijas Costa, thanks for all the info and it just made sense in the end to go with Movistar landline and broadband.

Took 2 weeks to get it installed but all went ok... Problem is, we are getting speeds of less than 1meg to 1.3meg at best and upload of around 0.25meg. We were told it should be around 6meg download rate.

We are located just around the corner from the Lidl in Mijas Costa on the el Lagerajo Urbanization...

Anyone got any advice or had any luck getting the speed improved. I have tried all the obvious household things to do...

Thanks, Rich


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## whitenoiz

What is your contracted rate with Telefonica / Movistar; the details should appear on your bill.
Download speeds are always the first to suffer when the lines become saturated or oversubscribed. Looking at your upload speed of 250Kbps I would suggest your contracted ADSL rate is 3Mbps.
Movistar recently moved the goalposts regarding upload and download speeds and essentially any download above 512Kbps is considered acceptable.
If 6Mbps is available in your area you need to apply for an upgrade to this service; you should not be charged for the upgrade. We are on a 6Mbps service and our speeds vary a hell of a lot with the time of day. During slack period the best we can hope for is around 4.5Mbps download and 550Kbps uploads. Uploads remain constant at around 550, downloads can drop to around 1Mbps but there is little point in complaining since they moved the goalposts, under the terms of the contract 1Mbps is considered acceptable.

wn


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## vnbenny88

Is there no Telitec around there? or Mapfre, they are both good (not amazing) internet providers


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## Lolito

Orange and Movistar could only offer us 1mg as we live (apparently) in the middle of nowhere. However, we found a company, private that could give us all we wanted, now we have 6mg and it is quite cheap. They specialise in rural areas, mountains, etc, not sure if I can recommend them here, so I better not, just in case.


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## xabiaxica

Lolito said:


> Orange and Movistar could only offer us 1mg as we live (apparently) in the middle of nowhere. However, we found a company, private that could give us all we wanted, now we have 6mg and it is quite cheap. They specialise in rural areas, mountains, etc, not sure if I can recommend them here, so I better not, just in case.


recommend away - recommendations from regulars are always welcome


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## Lolito

Our company is called OPTLC but not sure if they work on your area. They use satelite antennaes in rural areas, our whole village is WiFi.


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## whitenoiz

> our whole village is WiFi


And therein lies the story.

For any address that is served via a landline ultimately the limiting factor is T'fonica / Movistars infrastructure. 

Always beware of companies offering high speed ADSL because with the exception of Jazztel in a few major city environments, they all lease bandwidth from T'fonica so no matter how good they may be over their own cabling, as soon as it interfaces with T'fonica's infrastructure, that infrastructure becomes a major limitation. The O.P. makes it quite clear that her broadband is via landline.

And just to clarify further lolito suggests that satellite antennas are used in his location and then goes on to say that the whole village is on WiFi... 

Satellite and WiFi are two entirely different systems. Wifi uses microwave antennas and repeaters and is entirely ground based. Satellite Internet uses Satellite dishes and is space based.

The problem with both WiFi and Satellite internet is that heavy users are penalised by what the companies refer to as a Fair Usage Policy; they limit access severely in the event that a predetermined level of traffic is exceeded in any 28 day period. T'fonica / Movistar ADSL is not limited in any way other than its physical attributes when heavily subscribed.


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## Lolito

Sorry, I don´t know the technicalities of all of this, the man the came to fix the wifi antenna at our house, said that there is another BIG antenna in the tallest building in the village (which is only 3 floors!) to get signals.

Well, in 9 months we have been here, we have not been cut off once and we use 3 laptops, 1 tablet and 3 mobiles phones with the wifi thing. I don´t know where the wifi comes from, I thought it might be via satellite, not sure, all I know they are not using any major companies or things like that. 

I not big on this things, I just learnt how to turn on the tablet the other day!


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## whitenoiz

lolito...That wasn't intended as a dig... Horses for courses, before I retired I used to be a radio engineer

Lots of people get suckered by the ADSL / Broadband companies into signing up for a package that promises the world and delivers not a hell of a lot.

btw... Wifey has one of those 3G / WiFi Kindle e-book readerthingy from Amazon... I haven't a clue how to drive that! And as for Facebook....its all g(r)eek to me. And that despite the sig link!


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## AR57

*Dear 400% difference*



whitenoiz said:


> What is your contracted rate with Telefonica / Movistar; the details should appear on your bill.
> Download speeds are always the first to suffer when the lines become saturated or oversubscribed. Looking at your upload speed of 250Kbps I would suggest your contracted ADSL rate is 3Mbps.
> Movistar recently moved the goalposts regarding upload and download speeds and essentially any download above 512Kbps is considered acceptable.
> If 6Mbps is available in your area you need to apply for an upgrade to this service; you should not be charged for the upgrade. We are on a 6Mbps service and our speeds vary a hell of a lot with the time of day. During slack period the best we can hope for is around 4.5Mbps download and 550Kbps uploads. Uploads remain constant at around 550, downloads can drop to around 1Mbps but there is little point in complaining since they moved the goalposts, under the terms of the contract 1Mbps is considered acceptable.
> 
> wn


Could somebody please try to explain the >400% permanent difference between checking the Movistar broadband speed with their own tool ("Test de Velocidad" on Movistar site) and checking it with standard tool (eg broadbandspeedchecker)
Movistar always show their speed 4 time faster than the external tool...
Thank you


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## whitenoiz

Just ran consecutive tests against Telefonica and broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk and got results back which were pretty similar 3.9Mbps /548Kbps (Telefonica) and 4Mbps / 549Kbps (broadbandspeedchecker) which considering the time of day is about right. 

Incidentally Movistar's speed test is a 3rd party test station so it too should be considered as an external tool.

Suggest you try using Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test against telefonica and see what result you get. 
I ran a check with speedtest.net immediately after the two previous comparative checks and got 4.2Mbps / 548Kbps


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## wiggytheone

Also you can help your computer with a good search engine like Google Chrome which can also incorporate Ad Block


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## xabiaxica

I've always used speedtest.net to test my speeds - but for some reason recently, although I can connect to the site, when I try to do a test nothing happens

nada, res, ezer ez, nenio, nichts, rien, ничего

it doesn't even 'ping'

any ideas, anyone?


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## AR57

*strange*

Hello Whitenoiz,
Thank you very much for doing these tests and writing back.
Really amazing results. I just tried to run the two tests again (actually 4 times, alternating between them, twice on one laptop and twice on another) and the results were:
Broadbandspeedchecker: 1.03Mb/0.595Mb, 0.438Mb/0.554Mb, 1.07Mb/0.546Mb, 0.469Mb/0.592Mb
sicra.rima-tde: 5.5Mb/616Kb, 5.6Mb/685Kb, 5.6Mb/671Kb, 8.5Mb/670Kb 
then I ran speedtest once and got 8.5Mb/0.67Mb
So I assume that something with broadbandspeedchecker is wrong?, although it sounds very strange. Is it only in my location?
I started this "investigation" because the speed and response time I'm receiving got worse in the last couple of weeks.
I keep reset-ing the router, in low usage times.
Thank you


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## whitenoiz

AR57...
The only possible reason for the differentials that you have noted is the location of the servers which perform the test. sicra-rima, I believe, runs checks against a server in Madrid, Speedtest by default picks the closest server to your location although as you may have noticed you as the user have the option of selecting which server to use. For us the nearest Speedtest servers are located in Madrid or Elda in Murcia. Your nearest servers would appear to be in Barcelona. I think the clue is in the location of the broadbandspeedchecker server,,, almost certainly it is in the UK and just like railway lines, the distance involved can involve many switching junctions. when I first started my investigation a couple of years ago I found that the signal for UK based websites and servers was being routed to from my computer to Ronda, and thence via Seville, Madrid (with no less than 4 junctions involved), Paris, and even Copenhagen before finally arriving in London where several more junctions can exist; so it's not a fixed route; the ISP sorts out the most practical and the least-in- use-at the time, route. Every junction encountered en route adds a little more attenuation and the travel time and hence the speed is effectively reduced.
Your contract with Movistar / Telefonica is almost certainly a for a max of 10Mbps / 820Kbps. The fact that you are seeing consistent upload speeds of around 670 Kbps seems to indicate that there is not a hell of a lot wrong with the line itself a 20% degradation is almost guaranteed by the nature of the transmission system via very thin copper wire. There is also the point that you will probably get slightly lower speeds from the laptop if you are using a WiFi router and the laptop is connected using this facility.
Do you know where your nearest Centro de Distibucion (Automated switching centre) is?
Heres a link to a Spanish based ADSL system checker;
ADSLNet - Cobertura ADSL, Noticias ADSL VDSL2 FTTH, Foros ADSL

Its all in Spanish of course but if you select Herriamentas then Cobertura and insert the details asked for you can establish the distance to your switching centre and the degree of attenuation applied to the signal between leaving your router and reaching the switching centre. It will also give you a guide as to the maximum theoretical capability of the line... All sorts of goodies on this site to play with without disrupting or interfering with our internet.

Just don't be swayed by any of the ads on the site offering better than 10Mbps; over Telefonicas infrastructure on whom all 3rd party ISPs depend its impossible. Companies like Jazztel and 'BT Spain' do have some limited private infrastructure in the major cities but as soon as they encounter Movistar's wiring it immediately gets bogged down like trains going into Waterloo... it may have 22 platforms but there are only four sets of running rails between Clapham and Waterloo so its a pinch point. Simple truth is that Telefonica are too busy making money to consider any worthwhile capital expenditure outside of Madrid and Barcelona... 
Hope this helps some... basically ignore any results you are getting using broadbandspeedchecker... its too far away and too much inetrference!

Have fun...

wn


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## AR57

*Thank you*

Thank you very much for making this clear. Now I understand (with my limited technology abilities, this servers situation.
I ran the program you addressed and the list starts with "Belgida" which, I note on the map, is not too far from here. And all speeds are available here in Ontinyent.
All the best.
Merry Christmas and Happy new year, wn.
ar


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## Linda Murphy

Just joined this forum as having speed problems with Movistar. I live rural between Mijas and Fuengirola and could not get ADSL until 2007 but it was only 500 kbps, very slow but at least it was ADSL. A couple of years later it went up to 1meg, at least that was on my bill. Then last year I noticed my bill saying up to 6meg. I did a speed test and was getting approx 1.5meg. So moving in the right direction. I was paying more than other people for the same service so phoned Movistar in December and they said they would change me to up to 10meg and I would be paying less. 13 euros less a month. Excellent so I thought until I noticed since then my speed has gone down to 800kbps download and 190 kbps. I even get a warning on the speed test saying my speed is too low. I phoned Movistar who basically said hard luck, that was the best I could get and that I never had 1.5meg. Now I do know what I was getting and what I am getting now, but really do not know where to turn next. Any advice much appreciate. I even get cut off on Skype so really fed up.


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## whitenoiz

Linda... Who are you using to measure your download and upload speeds?


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## whitenoiz

Linda...

Also... check your last phone bill; on the left hand side under Resumen por Servicio, Servicio, 'Internet+Llamadas' there is a statement Movistar ADSL hasta x Mb where x is your contracted speed.

For a 10Mb Download service you should be getting an upload speed of around 840Kbs; the fact that both are showing much lower speeds than this suggests that either you are a long way from the nearest switching centre or that Movistar have a problem in your area. 
Does your nearest neighbour have ADSL from Movistar? Perhaps you could run a Movistar speed test from their address...

Let me know OK...
wn


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## Linda Murphy

On my last bill it says up to 10mg. We live rural ish so don't really know if any neighbours have Movistar but on checking my wireless local network, there does not seem to be anyone else. The bit I do not understand is I was up to 1.5 and now they have dropped me down again and now deny it.


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## whitenoiz

Linda... what speedtest are you using?


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## Linda Murphy

testdevelocidad
speedtest.movistar
speedtest.net

and others, but all the same result


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## whitenoiz

Linda... speedtest.movistar... is this the same as Test de Velocidad ADSL | Particulares | Movistar?


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## whitenoiz

Try this... on the back of your router where all the plugs are there should be a hole possibly marked RESET. Open out a paperclip and with the router still switched on insert the end into the hole. There is a little push switch hiding behind the hole... Push the switch and hold it depressed for more than ten seconds. The lights on the router will all flash or even extinguish altogether. Release the switch and let the router reset and re-boot. This may take a couple of minutes.

When the router has reset is back on line, try running the movistar speedtest again. Please report the results...

wn


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## Linda Murphy

No I don't think it is. I have just tried that link but it won't do the test.


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## whitenoiz

Ok... Strange though because I just checked the link and it works ok for me. What browser are you using? IE or Firefox? Do you have Java installed on your computer? If so is it enabled?


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## Linda Murphy

I am using Internet Explorer. I have reset the router and nothing has really changed. Speeds as before. 900 instead of 850 that is all. Just tried the link again and it just says cargando datos and won't move on. Not sure about Java, how do I check.


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## Linda Murphy

Java is enabled


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## whitenoiz

yes... the mere fact that you can get to the Cargando Datos page is proof of that. However the fact that the system wont get past that point does indicate a problem with the line rather than your computer. 
OK having got that out of the way... are you connecting to the router by cable or Wifi?
Just as a matter of interest at the moment the net here is running very slowly but thats more a case of local saturation or oversubscribing! ie too many users in this area...


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## Linda Murphy

connected by cable


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## whitenoiz

I have only one other possible answer but for that I will need your landline phone number... I'm not going to call you, and I cant do anything that will affect the phone line; I have a small program on my computer with ADSL diagnostics that might be able to come up with the reasons why the performance is so poor. *Do not post your phone number here though... send it to me by pm.* Worth a try... 

Also, rather than trying to call telefonica for ADSL assistance which is always very hit and miss, try sending an email to the following address. it can be in English or Spanish, either way you will not get a reply before Monday. Tell them about the ongoing slow speeds and ask for a technician to check out the line between your home and the nearest Centro de Distribucion.

[email protected]


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## Linda Murphy

Thanks. Maybe your diagnostic test might produce something. That would be good. I feel when I eventually reach Movistar they will use the excuse about the distance between my home and Centro de Distribution. This is not the problem as last year up to mid December I was getting sometimes 1.6mg. It changed when they altered my tariff in December from up to 6mg to up to 10mg. It reduced my bill by 13 euros but if anything I should have got a higher speed not a lower one. They virtually are calling me a liar by saying I never had that speed, but I definitely did as this time last year I was having a problem as in the afternoons everything was working very slowly. My speed in the mornings I had high speeds of approix 1.5mg and in the afternoon when everything was going wrong it was dropping to .400 kbps. I eventually discovered that my router had been hacked into and I managed to block the hacker after about a month or so. But in that month I was checking my speed all the time so I know for certain what I was getting.


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## whitenoiz

To be honest 1.5Mb on a 6mb service is to my mind actually p*ss poor so I'm not really surprised that performance in the afternoon fell to around 400Kbs. At this time of day everyone and his uncle throughout Europe is online and the USA is also online as well. My wife and I used to conduct some internet business and the only time we got what we referred to acceptable speeds were between 10pm and 9am. Not for nothing is www known as the world wide wait...
We got to the point were we couldn't upload to databases or upload to photobucket or even send email attachments. Telefonicas infrastructure is bursting at the seams, its crap, they know it and are doing nothing about it outside the major conurbations.
its pointless too contacting other ADSL providers like Jazztel or BTSpain because they simply lease bandwidth on the Telefonica infrastructure and as a result everyone suffers.


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## samfg

Linda Murphy said:


> This is not the problem as last year up to mid December I was getting sometimes 1.6mg. It changed when they altered my tariff in December from up to 6mg to up to 10mg. It reduced my bill by 13 euros but if anything I should have got a higher speed not a lower one.


I doubt there's nothing you can do about it.  It's probable that the maximum speed in your area is around 2 Mb and unless Movistar/Telefonica makes major changes on their network in Mijas area you won't be able to get any faster connection. At least with an ADSL connection.

The reason the connection speed has dropped is because Movistar is trying to deliver more speed than the network can handle and this causes connections to become more unstable and slower than they used to be. 

A similar thing happened in Calahonda few years back when Movistar wanted to "update" all 1 Mb and 3 Mb connections to a faster ones. The network couldn't handle the traffic and afterwards there were lots of angry Movistar customers.

Now Movistar has been marketing "hasta 10Mb"-connections and unfortunately people presume they will get a fast 10Mb connection. The word "hasta" is the trick as "hasta 10Mb" can be anything from 1 Mb to a 10 Mb line. And this they surely know (and tell you) when you call Movistar customer service and complain about the reduced speed.

If one lives in a rural area where the connection speed is around 1-3 megas, there's no way Movistar or any other ADSL provider will deliver more than that. Even if they would promise it.

Sam


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## whitenoiz

It's also true that since marketing this 'hasta 10Mb' service, they moved the goalposts regarding what they consider to be an acceptable level of service. When one carries out a speedtest using the movistar servers any speed above 512Kb download is stated to be 'Velocidad Correcta'
As I said before


> Telefonicas infrastructure is bursting at the seams, its crap, they know it and are doing nothing about it outside the major conurbations.


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## Linda Murphy

I agree that it is to do with this new Movistar Fusion up to 10mg that they are now offering that is causing the problem, as the system is overloaded. I was with a friend last night who is not rural and lives a lot nearer the exchange than me in an urbanisation. In December Movistar offered to change him to up to 10mg, he was getting 3mg. He was delighted and accepted this offer. Since then his speed has gone down to 1mg and when he phoned to complain they said that he was never getting 3mg and it was bad luck. He is absolutely furious as he works from home and it has made working very difficult. I am going to send an email today to Movistar to see what they say if they reply, basically all I want is my old speed of 1.6mg back, which would be an improvement than the 800kbps that I am getting right now. 

Also up to Friday when I phoned 1004 it was very easy to reach an English speaking person as the operator immediately said "if you want to be dealt with in English press 1". Well this message disappeared and now it is Spanish and it took 4 attempts on Friday to get anyone at all.


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## Linda Murphy

Just composing my email to Movistar and realised I have two email addresses. Does anyone know which is the best.

[email protected]
[email protected]

Thanks


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## whitenoiz

Either will do they both finish up in the same office and I think, on the same desk! I have used both in the past.


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## redshoes

whitenoiz said:


> What is your contracted rate with Telefonica / Movistar; the details should appear on your bill.
> Download speeds are always the first to suffer when the lines become saturated or oversubscribed. Looking at your upload speed of 250Kbps I would suggest your contracted ADSL rate is 3Mbps.
> Movistar recently moved the goalposts regarding upload and download speeds and essentially any download above 512Kbps is considered acceptable.
> If 6Mbps is available in your area you need to apply for an upgrade to this service; you should not be charged for the upgrade. We are on a 6Mbps service and our speeds vary a hell of a lot with the time of day. During slack period the best we can hope for is around 4.5Mbps download and 550Kbps uploads. Uploads remain constant at around 550, downloads can drop to around 1Mbps but there is little point in complaining since they moved the goalposts, under the terms of the contract 1Mbps is considered acceptable.
> 
> wn


Which company offers the absolutely best internet service when it comes to download speeds? Are there any companies in spain that provide internet service with fiber/cables?


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## whitenoiz

It depends entirely on where you are and how much internet traffic you require and how much you are prepared to pay for it. Quite honestly Telefonica/ Movistar have the ADSL market pretty well sewn up.
Fibre optic and cable services are available but are limited to certain major conurbations; obviously Madrid and Barcelona are well served but in most other areas you would have to talk to the providers about availability. Telefonica/ Movistar, Jazztel and Ono all advertise Fibre-optic services but you would have to be very specific when talking to them about the precise location where the service is required. Remember also that every chain has a weak link; in this case the service is only good to the extent of the fibre installation; if at any time your downloads / uploads encounter the normal Telefonica owned copper wire transmission infrastructure speeds will be limited by the capabilities of that infrastructure.
Fibre-optic installations at the moment in Spain are probably good for about 50Mb around but the struggling, heavily oversubscribed copper wire infrastructure will struggle to maintain around 10Mb maximum. 
I believe also that such Fibreoptic installations, just as with WiFi and Satellite systems normally carry a Fair Usage Policy, once you have used your monthly allocation your speeds are throttled back to around 512Kbs or even 256Kbs... at which point one has to ask whether its such a good deal after all.
Don't be fooled or taken in by phoney advertising regarding available speeds form Telefonica and their main rivals... all advertise ADSL at up to 10 or even 20 or 30Mb... The operative words here are 'up to'. if you sign up to a 10Mb contract and only get say 1Mb the supplier is under no liability to do anything about it... after all 1Mb falls within the up to 10Mb ceiling. Also don't be taken in by the same advertisers claims to be 'better than Telefonica'... they cant be... since they lease bandwidth from Telefonica and use the same infrastructure.


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## RichTUK

whitenoiz said:


> Don't be fooled or taken in by phoney advertising regarding available speeds form Telefonica and their main rivals... all advertise ADSL at up to 10 or even 20 or 30Mb... The operative words here are 'up to'. if you sign up to a 10Mb contract and only get say 1Mb the supplier is under no liability to do anything about it... after all 1Mb falls within the up to 10Mb ceiling. Also don't be taken in by the same advertisers claims to be 'better than Telefonica'... they cant be... since they lease bandwidth from Telefonica and use the same infrastructure.


We are on ADSL with Ono with a 12mb connection and it's been great, I have never noticed the connection getting throttled and we use the internet alot in this house.



Also I know what you mean when you say they can't be better than Telefonica, theoretically at least, but they can be better despite using the same copper wires as Telefonica and they can use different network management such as throttling less or not purposely lowering the performance of the connection all the time.


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## Linda Murphy

I am so jealous of your speed. I may have to move to Majorca. Does Ono cover the rest of Spain.


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## RichTUK

I'm in Alicante, it was just the server used for the test that was in Majorca.


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## Linda Murphy

Thanks, will investigate to see if they cover Costa Del Sol. Will they speak English???? Despite going to school for 3 years, my Spanish is appalling.


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## RichTUK

Linda Murphy said:


> Thanks, will investigate to see if they cover Costa Del Sol. Will they speak English???? Despite going to school for 3 years, my Spanish is appalling.


Not sure, my girlfriend set it up online.


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## whitenoiz

*richtuk* Sheesh! Wish we could get even halfway to that kind of result. Right now I'm seeing about 2Mb down and 550Kb up and that's as good as its going to get! And once the Yanks come online from 2pm our time it will definitely fall off!


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## Linda Murphy

Checked it all out and Ono don't cover our area. Email sent to Telefonica and had a reply saying they have passed details of my "malfunction" to the technicians, so let see. Probably the last I will hear.


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## whitenoiz

Linda Murphy said:


> Checked it all out and Ono don't cover our area. Email sent to Telefonica and had a reply saying they have passed details of my "malfunction" to the technicians, so let see. Probably the last I will hear.


At least you have got past the operators on 1004. Normally the next thing to happen is either a home visit or a call from the engineers appointed locally to deal with problem solving. In the Malaga area as in Granada, its probably a company called 'Itete' Some of their guys are very, very, good, some not so good.

Good Luck


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## Linda Murphy

After my email to head office an engineer turned up yesterday. I told him about my recorded answerphone message disappearing from 1004 and he told me it never existed. I really don't think I imagined this!!!!!
Next my internet speed..... he told me I imagined that I was getting 1.5mb last year as it never happened. He showed me on his laptop connected to my router that I was only allowed 1mb. He called me a liar at which point my husband came in and blew a very small fuse and told him in no uncertain terms we were not liars and that Movistar had therefore lowered our speed a couple of months ago.
We got nowhere fast and he then said I should change to Movistar 3G but I would be limited to 5gb per month. Most amusing.
I have today sent a long email to the head office again complaining about this engineers visit.


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