The builder of our urbanization went bankrupt, and different people tell different stories. Some say he and Telefonica - the only phone company in Spain that can give you an actual phone line - fell out because he had built all the houses internally fitted with phone points and Telefonica apparently wanted money for this.
Others say he lay underground cables and that a rock had collapsed, or something, and that is was impossible or ridiculously expensive to navigate round it.
Both explanations seem a bit unlikely, personally I just think Telefonica are incredibly slow.
I remember I got so excited about three years ago when I received a notification from Telefonica to say that because there had been delays in installing a phone line to me, they were going to instal a new line free of charge with free ADSL for six months or so, and a discount on the calls, to make up for the delay.
The only stumbling block was the address. It wasn't mine. In fact it was nonexistant, that is why the Post Office here gave it to me and said they meant it for my house.
As it turns out, it wasn't for me at all. It was for the brand new urbanisation less than half mile away. Hmmm...so they all got linked up right away?
About a year ago I reapplied for a line, and this time they sent me a recorder delivery letter, all the way from Madrid, asking for certain 'new house' permissions from the Town Hall.
This I was happy to get, doubly happy really, because it proved my house was legal, dowsing more rumours saying that the whole urbanization was, in fact, illegal.
Then we waited.
Three weeks later, Telefonica engineers phoned (my partner's mobile) to say that they couldn't give us a phone line because there was no cable connecting us to the local supply.
Oh my, these guys are so clever!
We pointed out that they were 100% correct, but that the nearest pole was maybe 50 metres away and could they possible considering putting up new poles and linking us up?
It must have been January or February this year when I suddenly noticed three new poles had been erected, in a straight line heading towards us, with a pole actually on the estate.
But my neighbours soon quelled my enthusiasm by saying they had been there for months. Haven't I got nice, cheery neighbours?
But as it turned out, they were in fact new.
I had high hopes of seeing them connected by cable within six months but alas that is too fast for Telefonica.
Another neighbour and myself can both vouch for seeing two engineers looking around and apparently measuring up distances etc the other day (it is now late October),but I'd seen them there once before, during the summer, and we are still no further forward.
MEANWHILE, I accidentally learned from another (Spanish) neighbour, that Orange had 3G coverage here. Up till then, I knew of folks who had signed up for a mobile dongle contract but the speeds were painfully slow, and I object on the whole to paying around €39 + IVA (VAT to us from the UK) which is more or less what ALL the companies want if you want online.
Considering in the UK you can get an always on connection for around £10 a month, and the exchange rate between the euro is almost the same, £1 for €1, I don't think many in Britain would be happy to pay £45 a month and people there are better off than they are here.
Roll on a bit of real competition and get these prices down!
My pal in Benidorm has proper phone line ADSL, with unlimited downloads and something like 12Mb speeds. The cost is, I believe, €39 + IVA per month.
We are starting to see competition from the mobile phone market for those with fixed landlines.
Orange can give me a faster access, with unlimited downloads, and TV channels, and free calls to any Spanish landline, for something like €24 a month!
Vodafone and Movistar have similar offers. Teletec give you cheap access and cheap calls to the UK, but the rub is you need a phone line, which we haven't got.
Telefonica, by law, must give you a phone line if you request one, within six months, but they get round that by handing out radio phones which are useless for internet access. From all accounts, they are pretty useless anyway.
I thought I's share my knowledge of the costings and pricing structures of what is currently available in this part of Spain (about 20 miles inland from Benidorm) which may be useful to someone else in a similar position.
- Vodafone - 3GBs a month traffic allowance, €39+IVA a month. Not yet 3G but that could change anytime. Free dongle with contract.
- Movistar - 1GB a month traffic allowance for around €30 a month - the could have a better offer but I found their website difficult to navigate. No 3G at present but could change. Free dongle with contract.
- Euphony - 1GB a month, no contract, €24 a month, €99 set up costs.
- Orange - 5GBs a month traffic allowance, €39+IVA a month. They have 3G coverage here. Free dongle with contract.
From what I can gather, it's not great, it's not fast, the system is frequently down, and those who have already put the money out are not that happy to change at the moment, though I dare say that will alll change when Telefonica finally give us phone lines.
