Hi all,

After having spent three amazing holidays in Nerja, M?laga, and after I’ve met the great and kind English and Dutch society there in combination with the weather and scenery, I decided to rent a house for a longer period of time.

Now, 4 months later, I am in utter ecstasy and try to spend every free day I have in Spain.

Thusfar, I’ve managed myself with a pre-paid USB stick with a simcard. However, besides the fact that I am a big gamer, I also study communications and graphics design. I also have a small freelance business headed in that area of expertise. Needless to say, I deem a solid and proper internet connection mandatory.

I currently enjoy an 120Mbps connection at home, and I quickly came to learn that this is not obtainable in Spain, unless you possess both Bill Gates’ and Steve Job’s bank accounts. Quite frankly I do not have that privilege. Nevertheless, I would really appreciate at least an ADSL connection speed.

Now here’s the clinch, I do not have an ADSL line in my apartment. I’ve seen a cable outlet in one of the walls, though it has no signal and I have but poor/basic television with a dish that came with the apartment as I got it.

Now, to cut to the chase;

I want a proper internet connection. Proper enough so at least two computers can simultaneously use the internet intensively (5Mbps minimum).
I also want (digital?) television with the both the basic Spanish channels and the Dutch channels. BBC is also preferred.

Are these demands realistic? And can it be obtained at a realistic price?

I’ve managed to find out that Orange offers quite a service for reasonable prices, but an ADSL connection is required. Would that mean I’d need to purchase a landline connection at Telefonic?? If I am to believe everything in this forum and on this website, I’d be on thin ice if I did that. Also, how much would that cost me?

My Spanish is practically zero and even though I’ve ran several sites (Movistar, Orange, Ono) through the Google Translator, I would appreciate some insight, tips or help with this matter.

I couldn’t find any cable internet providers, nor was I able to figure out which provider offers which tv channels. Would cable be a better solution in my case? And television wise, I think that satellite is the best option for that right? Are there any other providers besides Canal+ and GOL who are worth mentioning?

I wouldn’t want to ask anyone to do all the searching and dirty work for me, but because my Spanish is so minimalistic, some pointers in the right directions would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

WebGremlin

You NEED a Telephonica line installed. Then you can get your internet, more than likely 1-6MEG options.

If you can get a dish big enough to give you reliable signal, I would go with Freesat.
Google Satandpcguy and inspect his Forum for options, and so forth.

DSB.

Thanks DealerDSB for your input.

Due to my insomnia I’ve spent the whole night digging up more information and wanted to share my findings on this forum:

Concerning TV:
I can only speak for the Dutch TV, but I assume that respectively this works for most countries (at least within Europe).

It is illegal to broadcast Dutch Commercial Television (RTL, SBS, NET5, Veronica, etc) in foreign counties, due to broadcasting rights etc. Only the Public Broadcasting Channels (Nederland 1, 2 and 3) are allowed.

Luckily I found a solution. Canal Digital is a company operating in the Netherlands, and as the only (big) operator in the Netherlands, it offers a broad scale of satellite TV. I think that Sky is the British equivalent.

It is with them where I can get my precious TV, with all the channels I have at home as well. The trick is to apply to Canal Digitaal with a Dutch address (because they’re not allowed to offer their services in foreign countries due to broadcasting rights). But obviously you can still take your satellite dish and decoder to anywhere in Europe. I’d recommend a local specialist to set up the dish for you in Spain, so you are sure that you have the best possible connection with the satellites Astra 1, 2 and/or 3.

This way you’ll receive your native television broadcastings (plus any of the extra channel packages you might have bought) from Canal Digitaal (or your native equivalent) in Spain.

The only downside though, is that the dish and a Canal Digitaal-certified decoder are quite expensive. Think about 150 to 200 euro. On a contrary, the monthly fee is quite reasonable. EDIT: I found out that decoders, dishes and smartcard can be found cheap on auction websites such as Ebay or the Dutch Marktplaats. I just bought my decoder for 35? and my smartcard for 40?.

Concerning internet:
Now, this is seems to be a maze. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but here’s how I understand it:

You NEED to have a landline. The only way to obtain this is via Telefonic?. One-time setup fee is 39?, and the cost to maintain this line is 13,97? per month.
Now if you want broadband with that, Telefonic? is insanely expensive. The one-time setup fee then becomes 49? euros, and you have to pay for both the landline rental and broadband connection. So that’s 13,97? a month for the landline, and broadband is 41,90? a month. The first year is 26,90? a month. So that’s 40,87? per month for the first year, and 55,87? per month for the second year. And this is only 10MB ADSL connection! (source: http://www.telefonicainenglish.com)

Cheaper and faster alternatives are possible. But you still need to obtain the landline via Telefonic? and pay the 39? setup fee. After that you can switch providers. Now here’s my confusion: Once I switched providers (I’m considering Orange, as it’s about half the price and twice the speed), do I still need to pay Telefonic? for the line rental?

And if I understand correctly, I can only have ADSL with a landline? Thus I’ll have a phone as well?

How am I doing? Please correct me or expand my info.

//WebGremlin

Landline / NET

1. Do NOT go with “telephonicaenglish” [ Read other Threads around the Expat Forums ]
2. IMO it’s not worth “switching” ISP’s because you WILL still be on the same CARRIER line
    Their claims may not meet the bit test…

6MEG lines I’ve seen pull 500kb + easy
Even still, if you are going to stream, torrent, and so on, I’d suggest a nice 3MEG.
Simply from a price perspective..

Sat TV

Again, goto satpcguy for expert data & proven track records.
In my case I can support a 2.4MTR Dish so I get Freesat straight from the UK, in the CB.
So I’m not involved in rebroadcasting, therefore not illegal.

DSB.

Thanks again BealerDSB (And my apologies for spelling your name wrong in my last post).

Satandpcguy seems to be mainly dedicated to UK television. And besides BBC, I don’t need/want that. Thankfully the Dutch have always had the BBC channels in their offers.

Also, the Canal Digitaal thing I explained in an earlier post is not illegal, please don’t get me wrong on that. They actually offer it as one of their services.

And about internet, even though I will still be on the same carrier line, it seems like a good offer. Telefonic? itself offers 10MB, and Orange offers 20. Obviously I will not be surprised if the actual speed is indeed a lot lower than 20, but regardless, Orange is almost half the price than what you pay at Telefonic? (excluding line rental). Also, Orange’s contract is only 12 months, whereas from my understanding Telefonic? is 24 months.

That’s how I interpret it at the moment. What provider and offer would you suggest, then?

Over here Internet Speed is a lottery.

Telefonica claim to have 3, 6, and 10mb connections but you are unlikely to achieve those speeds unless you are in the centre of town next to the exchange.
As a rule of thumb if there is a bank nearby then you should be able to achieve a fast, for Spain anyway, connection.

You may think that Telefonica is expensive for Broadband but down here you don’t have a lot of choice. You cannot compare Northern Europe and Spain on prices for telephony, Internet, etc.

The first thing you need is a Telefonica line anyway and if you did change to another adsl providor I’d be surprised if the speed increased. I’m afraid it’s a case of “better the devil you know”.

Neil

http://www.soltecspain.com

Alright, so Telefonic? it is, but avoid Telefonicainenglish. My appartment is about 500 meters (547yd) from the nearest bank.

I’ll try to see if I can get any of my aquantainces in Spain to help me pick the right contract etc with Telefonic?.

Hi,

Using any TV viewing card (Sky Uk, CanalDigital etc) outside its intended country will be against the terms and conditions of the contract you agreed to when ordering that card. But, as you say, you use an addess in that country and register the card there, then you take the card where you want to, as long as the TV operators do not find out about the card then they cannot do anything.

The only “illegal” thing relating to this is the sortof fraud aspect, where you have agreed in the contract to use a card at an specific address, but you intend to use it else where….

As I understand it, the main BBC channels (ie BBC1,2,3,4) are available on Dutch cable systems (they are closed and controlled systems for that specific audience). I do not think they are on the dutch satellite systems, otherwise all the brits would be having canaldigitaal subscriptions instead of 1.8m dishes!! However, BBC Entertainment (used to be BBC Prime) channel is a seperate channel and is specifically designed for international markets, and this is offered on various countries satellite TV packages. It is not trhe same as BBC1,2,3,4, but offers “the best of BBC programmes”, nosport, no moves, just Eastenders and endless repeats of Keeping Up Appearances!

CanalDigitaal channels are on two satellites Astra 1 at 19 east and Astra 3 at 23 east. A 80cm or 1m dish will be fine for this (bigger will help you when it rains, bt an 80 does the job whetre I am). You can even get, from canaldigitaal or from sat shops in Holland, a special monoblock LNB that has the two LNBs at the correct angle for these two satellites, as opposed to having two seperate LNBs and a seperate swicth unit, the monoblock has it all built in.

Hope this helps

Thanks for the input Satandpcguy!

I’d like to say again that Canal Digitaal actually OFFERS this service for the Dutch outside the county. They have a special bundle of channels that they call the ‘Recreation Package’. This includes most Dutch channels and a few extras. The promote this as a ‘holiday bundle’, but it has a limitation: You can only enjoy the full service from March to September. From September to March one can only watch the Dutch Public Broadcastings, and obviously the Free to View channels on the Astra satellites.

Next to that, I did some more digging and I also checked the FAQ for their ‘normal’ contracts. Quoted and translated it reads the following:

Am I able to receive Canal Digitaal in foreign countries?
The reception area of the ASTRA satellites covers almost every part of West-Europe. So technically it is no problem to receive Canal Digitaal in foreign countries. Due to copyright reasons Canal Digitaal’s satellite signals are encrypted.

Make sure you Smartcard is registered to a Dutch address, and payments can only be done via a Dutch bank account. Costumer Service is not offered outside the Netherlands.”

So I don’t expect that to be a problem.

However, you are right about the BBC Channels, I had not realized that Canal Digitaal does not offer those. Either way, Astra 2 offers the BBC channels right? I’ve got a Triple Sat, so I should be able to receive all 3 satellite signals simultaneously, am I correct?

//WebGremlin

WebGremlin - 03 March 2011 02:29 AM

However, you are right about the BBC Channels, I had not realized that Canal Digitaal does not offer those. Either way, Astra 2 offers the BBC channels right? I’ve got a Triple Sat, so I should be able to receive all 3 satellite signals simultaneously, am I correct?

Ues, but the UK TV satellite may require a bigger dish, like anything from a 1.25m upwards….

So my Triple Sat would not function properly? Canal Digitaal advertises that with the Triple Sat I can receive all 3 satellite signals, but the dish is only 45cm big.

WebGremlin - 03 March 2011 04:04 AM

So my Triple Sat would not function properly? Canal Digitaal advertises that with the Triple Sat I can receive all 3 satellite signals, but the dish is only 45cm big.

It will work in Holland, which is closer to where the UK TV satelites are focused and where the Triple sat is designed to be used, so their advertising is correct, but you will not get BBC ITV and many other UK TV channels on that sized dish in Spain, the signal is too weak. Spain is farther south that Holland, and farther away from where the UK TV signals are focused. It may pick up a few UK hcannels, nothing major (maybe BBC News and Sky News and a few “slapper on sofa” channels, but not a lot else. To get the Astra 2d channels (BBC and ITV) you will need a much bigger dish. In some areas even of Spain even 2.4m dishes dont get all UK TV channels 24/7 from Astra 2d…

Alright, thanks for the heads up! I’ll cancel my order for the Triple Sat then. BBC isn’t worth purchasing such a big dish, so I’ll stick to my DUO LNB dish then.

This is exactly what I meant with the topic’s title. Thank you Satandpcguy and the rest for your invaluable information! Much appreciated.

My conclusion:
Order Canal Digitaal on my Dutch address, take the decoder to my house in Spain. And purchase standard ADSL internet from Telefonic? (may God be with me on that one).