# Internet Providers



## Mattskii (Oct 28, 2009)

I have had a search through all the internet related threads on the forum, but they are quite old now. So, as things technical always change so quickly I thought I would ask afresh! 

I am moving into a house in the Castanheira de Pera area. There is a wire attached for the telephone but I am assuming after being empty so long no line is currently attached. I would like to get the fastest internet I can get. 

How do I find out who services the area, and what my options are? I don't really want a home phone line if I don't have to have one, but if it is a requirement for the broadband then I will do that. 

I went there today to check the mobile coverage, it is not great. Jumps between E and 3G so it isn't going to be fast if I share that on a home network!!! 

Thanks!


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

If you go to the MEO phone shop in FdV (through the cobbled high street, turn left and it's on the roundabout at the end of that road) thay'll be able to tell you what connection type they can give you and it'll probably be DSL or fibre optic. 

If it's DSL, the speed will probably be somewhere between 6 Mbps and 18 Mbps and if they can give you fibre optic, it'll be considerably faster...... our F/O is currently giving us 73.81 Mbps. 

Next fastest will probably be the Bentley Walker Tooway and you'll find details of that online.


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## Mattskii (Oct 28, 2009)

Thanks matey! I spotted that shop last time we drove through. Will pop in and check it out. Thanks. A decent DSL line would probably do us. Don't think there will be any fibre in my area!


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

The main towns of FdV and CdP have F/O and they're slowly creeping out from there and we got it about 8 or 9 months ago so you might be lucky but if not, you'll almost certainly get DSL. 

There now appears to be two ladies work in the shop and whilst one speaks pretty good English, the other one not so much but give it a go and see how you get on.


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## Mattskii (Oct 28, 2009)

Thanks Travelling-man, We are quite close to CdP so yeah, might be OK. Will have to check the costs. My wife and I have phones on the Meo network, so a deal to cover all the devices in one might be the best option. Much as I hate bills! lol but there are some essentials, and being online is one of them these days!


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## grammymissy (Jun 21, 2009)

We are house hunting in Chãos, São Simão, Alverangel and Serra in December. Can anyone tell me about Internet speeds and mobile phone reception in those areas? Thank you!


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## noserhodes (Sep 13, 2011)

We enquired at our local MEO shop for fibre optic as we were using a dongle and sometimes had problems with the signal. They came out to check our location and confirmed we could have it installed. After a frustrating wait of about 2 months and a couple of angry phone calls the engineer came out and did an excellent installation job. We got a good deal paying 19.99 euros for six months then 26.99 euros which gives us fibre optic with landline telephone, free calls to other MEO users and free international calls (check countries included though - UK is free) from 9 pm to 9 am everyday. The installation and landline was free of charge. Overall very satisfied with the fibre optic.


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## Mattskii (Oct 28, 2009)

noserhodes said:


> We enquired at our local MEO shop for fibre optic as we were using a dongle and sometimes had problems with the signal. They came out to check our location and confirmed we could have it installed. After a frustrating wait of about 2 months and a couple of angry phone calls the engineer came out and did an excellent installation job. We got a good deal paying 19.99 euros for six months then 26.99 euros which gives us fibre optic with landline telephone, free calls to other MEO users and free international calls (check countries included though - UK is free) from 9 pm to 9 am everyday. The installation and landline was free of charge. Overall very satisfied with the fibre optic.


Wow, excellent service is excellent! lol A bit expensive though. How does the price compare to ADSL? I guess you have to have a phone line for that too?


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

You'll find all their various packages at meo.pt or in the brochures they have at the shop in FdV


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Pricey not compared to UK actually cheap

Meo is PT just their new branding and anything to do with PT/Meo is about your location and what is available at that location plus some honest staff that tell you you can have a internet/telephone package not that you have to buy TV as well


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## grammymissy (Jun 21, 2009)

Here in Rural Pennsylvania USA, we pay $79.99 US dollar a month for landline and DSL Internet, DISH satellite for basic package is $79.99 per month, so i pay approx. $160 us per month, MEO sounds like a great deal to me😃.


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## grammymissy (Jun 21, 2009)

I just ran a speed test, 3.61 Mbps, so MEO DSL would even work, if we could not get fiber optic.


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

To give you an example of how speeds and available packages vary dependent on exact location: Our fibre optic connection gives us something like 75 - 100 Mbps and my friend who lives just 5 Km down the road can only get 0.33 Mbps from his brand new DSL connection and they can't offer him fibre optic.


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## grammymissy (Jun 21, 2009)

Ouch, .33 would not work. Going to have to ask the Internet speed question when viewing houses. Thanks for the information!


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

grammymissy said:


> Ouch, .33 would not work. Going to have to ask the Internet speed question when viewing houses. Thanks for the information!


Quite honestly, asking the question might not get you a straight answer from the seller and the shops can't tell you simply because they don't know. - Asking a neighbour might tell you but don't bet on it.....

What area are you looking at?


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## grammymissy (Jun 21, 2009)

We are looking in Sáo Sãmoa, chãos, serra, alvangel so far. We have booked a house hunting trip for December.


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

I can't find that on the map but you might like to try to find other ex pats who live in the area but are not involved in the house sale and ask them for local info on the subject. 

If all else fails, the Bentley Walker Tooway system is pretty reliable and fairly reasonably priced.


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## grammymissy (Jun 21, 2009)

We will have to find out about the Bentley walker tooway satelite service, just in case, Thank you!


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## Maggy Crawford (Sep 18, 2010)

The young woman in the MEO shop in F de V is the most miserable and unhelpful shop assistant I have ever met. Despite my reasonable Portuguese she made no effort to assist when I asked her about different telephone tariffs and wanted to buy a new battery for my mobile which she said she did not have. She merely threw a leaflet with the PT number 16200 at me. Don't bother with the MEO shop.


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

Maggy

That'd be the one eyes like a frog and a miserable look on her face. 

We came across her (again) today and I agree completely but there is another lady in there sometimes who speaks English and is fairly helpful....... and FWIW, will be there tomorrow. 

In fairness to the girl, although she seems unhelpful, I think it's largely a language thing and once she got the google translator up, and I jollied her along a bit, she did become a lot more friendly....... albeit not much more helpful!


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## Maggy Crawford (Sep 18, 2010)

Thanks for the tip but I don't think I am going to bother.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

grammissy if you can get the telephone number of any property your interested in you can find out what's available at the specific address, post code will also get you information but not as accurate in both cases afraid you can't take it as gospel if a v.good internet connection is a must for you then make it part of negotiation/promissory note

As TM says you can have a F/O connection yet a close neighbour might not, our ADSL via PT/Meo is terrible where to far from closest exchange so until F/O is an option we have a good fixed wireless internet & home phone from NOS again because of location we can't get a full 4G but still far superior to ADSL available

If your thinking along lines of Sat internet check you have a clear access to the right satellite


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

Just as a FYI, a friend of mine had a DSL and phone connection made last week with MEO and they promised something in the region of 6-12 Mbps and it actually delivered 280 Kbps so I spent 80 minutes on the phone to them today and they first refused to cancel the contract but I persisted and told them he was within the cooling off period and their choice was to cancel the contract and give us a more efficient service or he would just cancel the standing order and they could go whistle......... eventually, they offered him a dongle service for the same price as the adsl service which in turn was about €10 pm lower than the usual cost of the dongle service.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

The difference between a dongle service and a fixed wireless internet service is data, Dongle data pm allowance is limited by the overseeing body ANACOM if you exceed your monthly date allowance then your speed is throttled.
A fixed wireless internet service is not capped, and within fair usage clauses is unlimited, if Meo could offer a Dongle then they can also offer a fixed service + home telephone by wireless, to me this is just another instance of Meo's appalling service when F/O not available, and I would be checking what Nos or Vodafone could offer


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## W800 (Jun 21, 2014)

We have just bought a house in Cha de Alvares about 16km from Pedrogao Grande does anyone know if fibre optic is available in that village? If so would we still go to the Meo shop FdV or would they not cover that area?





noserhodes said:


> We enquired at our local MEO shop for fibre optic as we were using a dongle and sometimes had problems with the signal. They came out to check our location and confirmed we could have it installed. After a frustrating wait of about 2 months and a couple of angry phone calls the engineer came out and did an excellent installation job. We got a good deal paying 19.99 euros for six months then 26.99 euros which gives us fibre optic with landline telephone, free calls to other MEO users and free international calls (check countries included though - UK is free) from 9 pm to 9 am everyday. The installation and landline was free of charge. Overall very satisfied with the fibre optic.


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## grammymissy (Jun 21, 2009)

Thanks Canoeman and Traveling man for information. Internet of at least a strength to skype and facetime is needed to stay in touch with family and friends in US and UK. I currently get a little over 3 Mbps, and it works okay, of course fiber optics would be great, but not necessary. I will take advice to get phone numbers to check internet for houses we are viewing to buy. Thanks again!


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## Mattskii (Oct 28, 2009)

I spoke to the guy in the Meo shop in Pombal a couple of days ago. He was very polite and helpful, and his English was very good. 

He has raised a case for me with customer support as they charged me €29.99 for my mobile internet but neglected to top up my phone with data. So I have paid the money but got nothing from them in return. 

He told me that for my area I should expect 4 to 6 MBPS which is not much better than 3G/HSDPA. There is no 4G signal at my place. Not sure how I will go forward. Paying for a phone line I don't really want any way to get the ADSL which is no faster than my mobile seems like unnecessary extra expense. I think he said it was going to be something like €34 per month for that service too. The problem is that until you have it installed there in no knowing what you are going to get. 

My other problem is that I don't have an address. My road has no name and my house has no number! My address is My Name, Moita, Post code, Portugal. How very problematic!


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Sometimes it's just not about pure speed because the mobile internet is subject to data usage exceed your allowance in any month your speed *will* be throttled

No address not unusual but getting rarer, we only received an official road name & number last year. I would suggest you double check at your Junta


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

Speak to your local Camara about the address problem because they are in the throes of naming/renaming roads and numbering/renumbering houses......... and would you believe they're numbering the houses by the distance between the house and the nearest/larger road. 

Our house is numbered 102, is the only house in the road and is 102 metres from the junction!

How's that for bloody silly! LOL


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## Maggy Crawford (Sep 18, 2010)

The distance is measured very carefully from the road sign. It makes a lot of sense. If a new house is built the number will be calculated in the same way so you won't have a number followed by "A" as you sometimes get in UK.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Where number 400 on a road with 4 properties on, fine measured from National road at bottom but no one uses for access because 1st 200mtrs is very old calcada according to my calculations it must also be a straight line measurment


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

I wonder how it works where two houses are opposite each other or two houses at the two different ends of the road are the same distance from their respictive nearest junctions?

To me, it's an open invitation to confusion and the traditional way would have been a whole lot more logical and considerably more user friendly.

Truth be told, it's probably some faceless EU fidiotic bureaucrat that landed us with such a silly system!


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## Mattskii (Oct 28, 2009)

travelling-man said:


> Speak to your local Camara about the address problem because they are in the throes of naming/renaming roads and numbering/renumbering houses......... and would you believe they're numbering the houses by the distance between the house and the nearest/larger road.
> 
> Our house is numbered 102, is the only house in the road and is 102 metres from the junction!
> 
> How's that for bloody silly! LOL


I like that, I think it is a great idea. It solves many problems. EG adding houses mid street! It also give visitors an idea of where you are - If looking for number 37 you know you will be close to the junction. Very practical.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Providing you tell them which road & junction applies


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## ghall (Nov 2, 2014)

You can find informations on this internet providers:
Cabosivao.pt (good cable internet and really ship, not so good Tv quality)
meo.pt - Televisão, Internet, Telefone e Telemóve(They're the best on tv, their ADLS is really bad, only hire it if you have fibre on your adress)
nos.pt Há mais em NOS - NOS- The most complete service in my oppinion, good internet, cable or fibre, (cable will go to 360GB), and good TV service.
Vodafone has really the best service for the best price, but is still only present on the big cities, you can try to call them and see if they are at Castanheira, good luck


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