Reliable alternative to Movistar internet?

[TrickyFox]

To be honest I would be quite happy with the speeds you are getting. OK, it's not what is advertised but it is a lot faster than what we get and a lot cheaper.

[DavidP]

Just been connected with DiGi by movie star technicos.
Only 72 hours but so far brilliant
One week from application to fitting we are well impressed and the price seems too good to be true.
All communication in English which was another surprise. 


Another topic:- anybody else responded to the Madrid embassy questionnaire (ref El Pais)

[Ducks]

Dear costumer,

We see you have your PC connected by Wi-Fi. Please connect with an Ethernet cable. To verify the real speed you receive the speed test has to be done with an Ethernet cable.

In case you are connected by Wi-Fi we inform you that on 2.4GHz network you will receive maximum 100Mbps. If you want faster internet you must connect to 5G network, this one allows you more than 100Mbps.

From me 15:41

Why then are you advertising 300Mbps?? This has to be illegal under European law.

From me 15:50

further to my previous email,  there is no mention of limits or 2.4 GHz {which I have no idea what that is} or in your advertising or contract. 

Just in case someone hasn't said it already— the 2.4GHz is in reference to the wifi signal produced by the router, and its capabilities (I assume they provided the device). Different routers have different physical speed limits for the wireless signal (there are also limits based on the length and quality of the cable you use when not using wifi). That said, it's a bit ridiculous of them to demand a wired connection for testing when many people these days either don't have a PC with port for a wired connection, or even any PC at all!

Is there any chance the issue is in your home? Is it possible that the drop in speed you experienced is due to wifi congestion in your area (other people using internet near you), or was the router maybe moved to an area of the home experiencing blocking/shielding of the signal? Water pipes I find to be the absolute worst for this, as well as concrete walls. 

As for the router itself, it is possible that your router produces both a 2.4GHz signal, and also a 5GHz one— either at the same time, or you have to manually switch from one to the other. I'm just basing this on the comment of "If you want faster internet you must connect to 5G network" which suggests to me their router is also capable of this. Maybe have a Google around for your router model, and see if you can find instructions on how to enable the 5GHz option for it if there is one? However, I will caution that a 5GHz signal tends to be "weaker" than the older 2.4GHz one, with less penetration capabilities, so what you gain in speed you might lose in coverage for parts of the home further from the router. 

Let me know if you have any other issues; I'd hate to see you have to pay the callout fee if they decide blame you for the problem!

[Johnrgby]

Tanks Ducks, late on Friday I got a very apologetic email from Avatel explaining how the system works, and as you correctly show there are two options, one of which is apparently aback up in case the %G one goes down, which I sort of understood, but the original email totally confused me, however, the email said that on Saturday morning we wio=ukd be without the internet for about an hour while they did some testing, and sure enough at 7:45 it went down but came back at 08:20, and we know have wifi speeds between 80 and 110 Mbps, more than sufficient for our needs.

[Ducks]

Tanks Ducks, late on Friday I got a very apologetic email from Avatel explaining how the system works, and as you correctly show there are two options, one of which is apparently aback up in case the %G one goes down, which I sort of understood, but the original email totally confused me, however, the email said that on Saturday morning we wio=ukd be without the internet for about an hour while they did some testing, and sure enough at 7:45 it went down but came back at 08:20, and we know have wifi speeds between 80 and 110 Mbps, more than sufficient for our needs.

Glad to hear it has been taken care of!

For a very over-simplified explanation in case anyone is interested: basically if you think of 2.4 vs 5Ghz, it's like AM vs FM radio. They are similar, but different types of broadcast. 

The information coming to your device via the wifi is parceled up into little envelopes or "packets" by the router, and sent by radio to your to your device. The type of broadcast determines how many packets can be sent and how fast— think of a fat pipe versus a skinny one. The skinny pipe goes further, but the fat pipe can carry more water per second. The router can use both pipes at once, or only one. 5Ghz (fat pipe) is faster but cannot go as far; 2.4GHz (skinny pipe) is slower but can travel further without losing the wireless "fidelity" that makes up the "fi" part of "wifi"— if the distance is very far, some of those packets get lost in transmission, so the signal slows as they get re-sent. It's a balancing act between speed and distance (from router to device) to know which one will be better for use in your home.

It's also possible they needed to install some updates to the software inside the router and that's why they shut your service down, or maybe needed to make some changes on their end. Either way, happy to know your problem has been solved!

[Zapparocks]

Bear in mind that 5ghz (gigahertz) and 5G (generation) are two very different things and that 5G can operate on various frequencies from the usual cellular range right up to, I believe 50ghz

2.4ghz and 5ghz are simply different frequencies and as frequencies rise the wavelengths shorten and can carry many more channels but also find it harder to pass through solids, even water. Most people are aware that even leaves can block the much higher satellite frequencies and so require line of sight. So if you have a very large home, especially old dense rock homes then keep your 2.4ghz router 

Cables aren't usually an issue in my experience except for inferior quality, such as cheap China shop sat cable which I've tried in the past and had massive drop offs at relatively short lengths, whereas the norm is usually around 20m but even then if properly fitted (no kinks for example) can tolerate much longer before it's catastrophic failure which happens quickly when the signal gets swamped by noise, think of it like someone's voice dropping to a whisper while a train passes. At that point is where you start to hear pops and clicks or blocky tv breakup.

In that case it's either a passive inline amp if satellite since the cable is already powered or powered amp with tv to attempt to negate the cable completely but only after trying to improve the antenna, larger, higher gain or bigger dish and this can apply to routers too, even with a homemade fix such as a large tin can transmitter and receiver with the protection simply cut away to the appropriate short length which you can google by wavelength. Outer braiding goes to the can or dish and the internal core sticking out away from the outer wire without touching, sounds complicated, it's not.