# internet options?



## noserhodes (Sep 13, 2011)

hi all what would be the best option regarding internet connection?
bearing in mind we will be quite remote in the central region are we best to get a landline connection or is it possible to get a dongle for on the move mobile connection? any one have knowledge of this and possible costs/
much appreciated everyone thanks


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Without an exact location, it's impossible to give an answer, PT, Sapo will depend on whether you have a line installed to property, equally whether PT would charge you for poles, sometimes they, sometimes not, the Sapo speed & quality of internet connection will depend on where you are in relation to the "central" distribution. Costs tel appx, €10pm, internet €20pm.
Wireless dongle again depends where you are in relation to "mast" and whether mast has 3G, if it doesn't it's a waste of time. costs dongle, depending on offers, appox €20pm depending offers or download packages you go for.
Three main suppliers, all have home telephone + internet packages all have internet service locator, but you can't take it for gospel, if internet is important then it must be checked at location. 
PT Comunicações
Vodafone Portugal ? telemóveis, internet, televisão
OPTIMUS


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

I'm in central PRT no and using a dongle and it's about as much use as a one legged man at an arse kicking party. Slow, expensive and lacking the ability to stay online for more than 10 minutes at a time.

You might like to consider one of the satellite companies such as Bentley Walker...... which is what we'll be doing as soon as we can find and buy the right property.......


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

It's all about location satellite not cheap though


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

Much cheaper here in PRT than most other places I've seen....... check the tooway options on the Bentley Walker site.... I actually think they're quite reasonable.


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

Just had a look at the Bentley Walker site and it looks very appealing


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

I did look at Tooway and quite impressed, certainly gives another option if your in a bad reception area landline or wireless.
How much does atmospherics play though, you lose TV here with bad weather even with a 1.5+ dish.


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

canoeman said:


> I did look at Tooway and quite impressed, certainly gives another option if your in a bad reception area landline or wireless.
> How much does atmospherics play though, you lose TV here with bad weather even with a 1.5+ dish.


We've been rather lucky with our TV reception but not so with our internet connection through PT/SAPO!! 
We are at the end of a line and suffer accordingly.
Despite being much nearer to Rio Maior (6km)we are linked to the Caldas da Rainha (18km)exchange with a half way station at A Dos Francos.(8km) 
Our speed is sooooo slow sometimes we many as well have dial up!!


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Same problem, different area, when I looked at sat option it was just too expensive and I wouldn't like to swop again without being able to test and make certain I was getting an improved service.
The investment is quite considerable when you tot it all up, and £71 delivery ridiculous plus cheapest package of £25pm


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

canoeman said:


> Same problem, different area, when I looked at sat option it was just too expensive and I wouldn't like to swop again without being able to test and make certain I was getting an improved service.
> The investment is quite considerable when you tot it all up, and £71 delivery ridiculous plus cheapest package of £25pm



Still thinking of TOOWAY as an option. They have dropped their delivery price anad it is now £31.99.
Wondering if anyone has decided to go down this route yet??


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## jerryceltner (May 15, 2012)

Hi Siobhan,
I was so peeed off with Sapo that I took the TooWay route and had it installed and working on the 29th December 2011. I live in a little village about 8km from Tomar. I am a happy bunny with download speeds of 10mbps and upload speeds of just under 2mbps. It does what it says on the tin. You get a UK IP address and can stream I player if you want to. I did a diagnostics test on BBC i player and averaged over 10mbps streaming. It went down once since the install for 2 hours and the company called me to tell me I was back on line. Sorry it went down also in torrential rain for less than 5 minutes. I run 5 computers here as all the family have their own on a wireless router. I bought mine direct from TooWay in the UK and had an English guy named Colin to fit it. We have excellent signal strength. Love it what else can I say. It is cheaper to buy in euros and you have this option. If you want any more info PM me.


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

*YEAHHHHHHHH!!! Sapo DITCHED*

After much agonising and bad tempers we have had TOOWAY installed....

From lest that half a meg we are now getting these fantastic results..... CONSTANT!!!


BYE BYE SAPO and ZON


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## jerryceltner (May 15, 2012)

siobhanwf said:


> After much agonising and bad tempers we have had TOOWAY installed....
> 
> From lest that half a meg we are now getting these fantastic results..... CONSTANT!!!
> 
> ...


It looks like you took up the 6mbps option and that's what you are getting. I have the 10mbps option and that's what I am getting.

You can now use BBC iplayer as you have an english IP and a lot more.

I'm sure I didn't mislead you in any way because it is brilliant.

Now you have got your new toy take the wife out for a celebration meal....lol

People are crazy not to go for this it's just the up front costs that are a put off but all the stress saved is money well spent.:clap2:


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

jerryceltner said:


> It looks like you took up the 6mbps option and that's what you are getting. I have the 10mbps option and that's what I am getting.
> 
> You can now use BBC iplayer as you have an english IP and a lot more.
> 
> ...



So pleased I went for it Jerry. Took up the TOOWAY10 option.
But still happy with the speed.
OMG ANYTHING extra was better than what I was getting with sapo. I reckon that dialup was faster!!
When I think the amount of time I have spent on the phone to Sapo in the past 5.5 years and the time hanging around waiting for a engineer to arrive!!!!!! Plus the frustration of not being able to get access!
Skype quality is brilliant which is another bonus!!!!!

Hey I AM THE WIFE....does that mean I have to take him indoors out to dinner instead


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## jerryceltner (May 15, 2012)

Speedtest does not give you a true speed on testing. I found that out.

Try BBC iplayer tester it gives 4 tests 3 of which are streaming and seem to be accurate.
This is the link BBC iPlayer - Check your connection speed. The first flies off the radar and can go up to 25mbps and drops right back but the other 3 will give you an average.

The other one is Namesco BroadbandMax ADSL Broadband Bandwidth speedtest | Test your ADSL Broadband connection speed which Tooway recommend.

I think you would get a better picture from these as the normal speed testers put the latency into their calculations which gives a inaccurate result.

Give it a go,

Jerry


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

WOW just used the Namesco one and got this result 
10943 kbps download and 1432 for upload


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

Thanks for all your help Jerry. It was really good to chat to someone before I made the BIG leap.


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## jerryceltner (May 15, 2012)

Happy to help.

Take care now and know that you are now a speed freak. There are only a few of us and are unique.

Jerry


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

siobhanwf said:


> After much agonising and bad tempers we have had TOOWAY installed....
> 
> From lest that half a meg we are now getting these fantastic results..... CONSTANT!!!
> 
> ...


Siobahn

Can I ask where you bought the dish and kit etc and for how much? - Feel free to PM the answer if you prefer


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Soimeone else found Sapo pitfalls just search Tooway rather than Brent Walker


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

travelling-man said:


> Siobahn
> 
> Can I ask where you bought the dish and kit etc and for how much? - Feel free to PM the answer if you prefer




TOOWAYDIRECT.COM


Will send you the contact details via PM


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

Thanks very much..... we tried the SAPO/PT option as it was easy to arrange but so far it hasn't lived up to it's promises..... spped isn't too bad but the connection drops off and on like a darn yo-yo!


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## jerryceltner (May 15, 2012)

I wrote the following earlier on this thread and am repeating it.

I was so peeed off with Sapo that I took the TooWay route and had it installed and working on the 29th December 2011. I live in a little village about 8km from Tomar. I am a happy bunny with download speeds of 10mbps and upload speeds of just under 2mbps. It does what it says on the tin. You get a UK IP address and can stream I player if you want to. I did a diagnostics test on BBC i player and averaged over 10mbps streaming. It went down once since the install for 2 hours and the company called me to tell me I was back on line. Sorry it went down also in torrential rain for less than 5 minutes. I run 5 computers here as all the family have their own on a wireless router. I bought mine direct from TooWay in the UK and had an English guy named Colin to fit it. We have excellent signal strength. Love it what else can I say. It is cheaper to buy in euros and you have this option. If you want any more info PM me


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

travelling-man said:


> Thanks very much..... we tried the SAPO/PT option as it was easy to arrange but so far it hasn't lived up to it's promises..... spped isn't too bad but the connection drops off and on like a darn yo-yo!



Have sent you the contact details. Let me know how you get on. 
I have just run a speed test and this is what I am getting with no breaks in service!!!


Average Download Speed: 9317 kbps (1164.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Average Upload Speed: 1908 kbps (238.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Average Latency (Round Trip Time): 664 ms
Jitter: 33 ms
Packet Loss: 3%

Wednesday the 6th of June, 2012 13:50


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

travelling-man said:


> Thanks very much..... we tried the SAPO/PT option as it was easy to arrange but so far it hasn't lived up to it's promises..... spped isn't too bad but the connection drops off and on like a darn yo-yo!


If you do decide to go down the Tooway route, presume you'll keep PT landline, but you'll need to break your contract with Sapo that you'll have signed for probably an 18 month period.

I know a pain but you should keep a diary and record of lost service and speed, to prove why your canceling contract.

Sapo will only accept there own speed test so use Teste de Velocidade Banda Larga

and don't forget they charge for all calls to Sapo on 16209


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

Thanks..... I called them yesterday and things have improved a fair bit....... at least the connection doesn't drop off several times an hour now.

They also told me the (brand new) router was faulty and are sending me a new one and I have my doubts about that but time will tell.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Yes that always seems to be the case, I've now had 7 routers, I don't believe any of them had been faulty, and much more to do with line distance from hub, what does seem to make a difference in the filter used at your end to separate phone & ADSL


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

I'll try changing the router etc but am not prepared to play around much..... if I can't get a decent connection fairly quickly, I'll just go to Bentley Walker Tooway and scrap the one we have. 

As for the contract, It's not a train smash to me if we lose both the landline and the net and thye can fight me from there. LOL!


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Oh they will, unless you can prove your not getting service you contracted for, or it makes an expensive number? of months paying both Sapo & Tooway


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

travelling-man said:


> Thanks..... I called them yesterday and things have improved a fair bit....... at least the connection doesn't drop off several times an hour now.
> 
> They also told me the (brand new) router was faulty and are sending me a new one and I have my doubts about that but time will tell.




Ahhh now that was their solution with me. I think it is the new "excuse"!!
I also had a brand new router. They installed another one saying my one was at fault....NO DIFFERENCE!!


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