Internet in Greece
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ADSL appeared commercially in Greece in 2003, and is currently the main broadband standard that exists in the country alongside 3G mobile broadband (HSPA) and the very expensive Satellite Internet access. In the last months of 2007 HSPA/GPRS mobile broadband access has also come down to prices that come closer to fixed access (ADSL) and is becoming more and more popular with business and also residential users.
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[edit] OTE ADSL (bitstream access)
The Greek incumbent telecoms operator, OTE, which was not the first operator to launch ADSL services in the country, has been accused of deliberately stalling ADSL deployment since 2001, in order to continue charging users with high per-minute dial-up charges for as long as possible (flat-rate dial-up connections do not exist in Greece). OTE has also been criticized for artificially limiting the number of packets passing per second through an ADSL line (probably unjustly, since ATM DSLAMs limit packets when they are congested, and no packet limitation appears in ΟΤΕ's brand new IP DSLAMs or in ones with enough bandwidth), thus making VoIP services over its broadband network unusable and unreliable.
Typical download/upload speeds available over OTE's network are 1024/256, 2048/256, 4096/256 and 8192/384 kbit/s and 24/1 Mbit/s. The three later speeds were added in May 2007 and December 2007 (24/1Mbps), and are available to selected areas (Greater Athens, Greater Thessaloníki and other major cities, mainly perfecture capitals), even though 4 Mbit/s do not require ADSL2+ infrastructure in order to work properly.
Customers can either subscribe only for OTE's ADSL access service and then buy an ADSL subscription from an ISP separately, or choose their preferred ISP and buy both services bundled (OTE bitstream wholesale, known as A.RY.S.). The second option is much cheaper, but the first one offers the freedom of changing an ISP whenever one likes (even every 2 months, while a bundled package has usually a 6 or 12 months' minimum contract length).
OTE also offers its bundled service under the Conn-x brandname. Also under the "Conn-x talk" brandname, OTE offers unlimited calls to national OTE fixed phone destinations with 14,90€/month extra to the conn-x fee for 24/7 unlimited calls or 6,50€/month extra to the conn-x fee for 20:00-08:00 nights and weekends. A major disadvantage of the Conn-x talk plans compared to private companies' offers is that they offer unlimited calls only to OTE fixed subscribers and not to private companies' subscribers.
Because OTE was the former state monopoly, it has been assigned the manipulation and maintenance of the local loop. OTE has been accused of the fact that they deliberately delay the preparation of the LLU when someone asks for a transition to an alternative provider, in order to misguide the customer and lead them to believe that it is the alternative provider's fault. They have also been accused that they may intentionally lower the quality of the loop connection, when moving to an alternate ISP, in order to increase the Attenuation level of the line and therefore lower the line's bandwidth capabilities. Because of these, the Greek Independent Authority of Communications (EETT) has issued a ruling (known as the RUO 2007) that states that OTE must finish any needed work for the preparation of the loop within a fixed number of days.
In late February 2008, OTE was accused of applying traffic shaping to the packets moving through its network, thus rendering Peer to Peer functionality and other services unreliable. The issue is currently under examination by the ADSLGR forum.
In late May 2008, OTE announced an All-in-One package that combines ADSL access and local, national and mobile calls, however they are only free inside their own Network.
[edit] Local Loop Unbundling
Faster data rates and lower prices can be found thanks to Local Loop Unbundling (LLU). The main providers of LLU services are:
- Vivodi Telecom, a private company utilizing LLU since 2003, partly covers Athens and Thessaloníki with its network at the moment, despite the fact that in the past it used to cover some more other cities (such as Patra, Herakleion, Veroia rtc). The customers in those cities were left without service. Vivodi offers triple play services based on ADSL2+, with speeds up to 20 Mbit/s, VoIP telephony and digital television.
- Tellas, a subsidiary Wind Hellas, offers ADSL through its LLU network in districts of Athens, Thessaloniki, Larissa and Crete with speeds up to 12/1 Mbit/s. Tellas, which was the first one to provide free national calls through their network, had been severely criticized for taking advantage of the 12-month contracts in order to keep their prices high and uncompetitive. Under pressure, Tellas moved from 4/0,5 to 12/1 services in November 2007, but the service is apparently still unstable, as many of the clients complain about problems related to the faster connection and/or to the router. As of March 2008, Tellas offers unlimited phone calls to 38 countries and also 60 minutes of calls to Greek cellular networks. In May 2008, Tellas upgraded their downstream speed to 24 Mbit/s.
- Wind Hellas currently offers Shared LLU (OTE line rental still required) and fixed telephony services with carrier preselect through its subsidiary Tellas and is expected to launch full LLU double and later triple play services under its brandname in the first quarter of 2008, eventually also renaming Tellas into Wind.
- Hellas On Line, owned by the Greek-Russian network equipment manufacturer Intracom, offers up to 24/1 Mbit/s ADSL2+ connections in districts of Athens, Thessaloniki and Larissa. In the past HOL has been accused of actively using traffic shaping in order to grind its P2P traffic to a near standstill. This was attributed to HOL's low overall bandwidth-to-user ratio at that time. HOL has signed an agreement with Vodafone, according to which it is Vodafone's partner for broadband services in Greece.
- Forthnet, the largest privately-owned ISP in Greece, launched its based on LLU offers in early 2007, and is supposed to have covered about 50% of the Greek population by year end; however, the coverage wizard on its website has been accused of being inaccurate in its predictions since Forthnet often postpones availability in a telephone exchange from deadline to deadline. It currently covers districts of large cities and offers speeds up to 24/1 Mbit/s, however very few people are able to reach the 24 Mbit/s speed due to the nature of the ADSL2+ Network. It is also accused of using traffic shaping, making P2P applications hard or impossible to use.
- On Telecoms, a totally new entrant in the Greek telecoms market set up by Greek and Italian managers and entrepreneurs amongst which some of the founders of FASTWEB in Italy. On Telecoms launched its services in January 2007, using LLU as its last-mile medium. On Telecoms offers speeds up to 16/0,5 Mbit/s (As of 1/9/2007) . On Telecoms had been criticized for its policy against privacy; the router offered provided limited capabilities and many P2P programs could hardly/not work properly. However the company has provided its customers with a new firmware which has resolved those problems.
- Net One, a new company which started offering 10/1 Mbit/s double play services in April 2007, now offering services up to 24/1 Mbit/s. NetOne had been very stable and functional, however their VoIP services are generally less popular than the traditional PSTN services offered by most other providers because the majority of users are not familiar with VoIP setup and/or they do not realize that even PSTN services are actually VoIP with a PSTN last mile conversion, and thus, they are as reliable and functional as VoIP native. In March 2008 Net One incorporated Algonet. Lately however, Net One gained more popularity due to the low prices and high advertisement, and they presumably ended up with more customers that they could cope with, resulting in poor technical support, dubious services and generic network instability. Net One's embarrassing position was again proven in May 2008, when the company lowered the MTU value, in a try to limit the network congestion.
- Vodafone started offering ADSL full LLU access (up to 24/1) in October 2007 as a reseller of HOL's LLU infrastructure.
- Smaller companies also offer LLU services, but with limited coverage and uncompetitive prices.
[edit] Main Internet Providers (ISPs) through OTE's bitstream network
- Otenet, OTE's affiliate ISP.
- Forthnet (see above)
- Vivodi Telecom (see above)
- Hellas On Line (see above)
- Tellas (see above)
- Altec Telecoms
- There are also other companies, such as Teledome, Lannet, Algonet, but very few people prefer them.
[edit] Mobile Broadband Access
Mobile Broadband offers are available from all three national mobile phone operators Cosmote, Vodafone Greece and Wind Hellas. Speeds for all three providers are up to 3.2 Mbit/s download (HSDPA) and 384 kbit/s upload.
[edit] Satellite Broadband
Satellite services for remote areas are offered through the Hellas Sat satellite under the "Hellas Sat Net" brandname, OTE as one of the owners of Hellas Sat offers Hellas Sat Net service through its own distribution channels (website, shops etc.) The subscription packages either include a one-year commitment that is automatically renewed as unlimited time service after one year, or as a six-month limited subsciption for "seasonal business" (as described on the oteshop website) that is not automatically renewed and must be re-applied for every time the user wants to activate it for six months.
The equipment costs 1783,81€ and this amount together with the first month of subscription must be paid before activation, the equipment is installed by Hellas Sat accredited engineers and it includes a Satnet S3020 DVB - RCS VSAT Terminal (Advantech) satellite modem and a 0,96 m Antenna (satellite dish with transmitter receiver).
Hellas Sat Net connections are also used to interconnect public administration offices and schools in remote areas (mostly remote islands of the Aegean Sea) to the national administration network Syzefxis and to the internet.
This service is mainly focused to businesses in remote areas (hotels, campings, piscicultures, mines, aeolian-hydroelectric plants etc.), banks (for ATM interconnection) and other businesses with special needs in remote mountainous areas or islands.
[edit] See also
- Mobile Internet access worldwide for details on 3G coverage in Greece
[edit] External links
- www.adslgr.com - An independent review site for broadband in Greece
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