Internet/TV

Hello Brian.

From what you say about your requirements, I would say that Telecable are the people who will come closest, bearing in mind in particular that you want to be able to 'turn it off' when you're not at the villa.

They have installed fibre-optic cables in some parts of the urbanisation, but by no means all areas.

From what I have heard over the years from quite a number of their customers, their broadband service is not always all that stable, i.e. the download speed 'comes and goes', which means that it is no good for streaming live tv. Some people say that they never get anything even vaguely approaching the download speed they are contracted for. I have also heard that their backup service on occasions has left a lot to be desired. I believe it is sometimes difficult to get a response from them. All that said, I know that some of their customers are very happy with them, more so in the case of those who are lucky enough to have fibre-optic in their location, I believe.

I am with Telefónica Movistar, and my download speed is 8.60 mbps, but the point here is that it is 8.60 mbps 24 hours a day for 365 days of the year. And on extremely rare occasions (only once in my case) that there is a problem, they fix it within a couple of hours. My fault occurred on a Sunday morning and was sorted by lunchtime. I'm not sure that you would be so lucky with Telecable, from what people have told me. But Movistar don't have the option to turn off when you're not here.

I must stress that all the above regarding Telecable is purely hearsay, and you must judge for yourself. Hopefully they will soon come back to you with details of the existing contract and you can then decide what's the best way forward.

In some parts of the urb., 4G signal is available, so maybe a mobile broadband router would work for you, subject to the data allowance being unlimited?

For my part, for television, I bought a 1.9 metre dish and a Sky box and it works well. Expensive to start with, but all free from then on. But then, we do live here all year round!

Geoff.

Have to agree with Geoff,conflicting reports on Telecable.

If you are moving on to a community contact President or administrator for advice or failing that try one or two neighbours for their experiences,most people will be very helpful.