Cyprus-Forum.com

[ethnet]

I have just returned from Cyprus as we have been looking at the internet connection. The feed back we have had is that it is slow, and non existent for rural areas.
We supply broadband internet via satellite and a VOIP telephone service. The internet is always on 24 hours a day for a fixed monthly fee.
I would be interested in peoples comments and interests. And how you find dial back in Cyprus, and is this a service people want all over Cyprus
Thanks.

[Judge Mental]

How much for the satellite broadband?

[ethnet]

Hi If you send me your e-mail address I will send you pricing [email protected]

[brother]

Why do you not just post the prices on the forum here for all to see.

[Judge Mental]

Its €89 a month for 512k (max) and 1gB a month download - OUCH -

[brother]

Thanks

[devil]

It angers me that CYTA, in this day and age, do not offer broadband island-wide. I frequently have 200 Mb downloads for beta testing video software and I have to ask friends to help, as CYTA have not scheduled this village for ADSL for 2005, even though an optic cable passes through the village. I appllied for ADSL 3½ years ago

When I see that BT are offering 40 Mbit/s ADSL to 99% of the UK by the end of next year and that CYTA offer 1-10 Mbit/s for a small fraction of the area of this island, I understand why this is still officially classified as a developing nation.

Note with satellite use, you have the choice of two possibilities:
a) download only: in this case you must have your modem connection (e.g. Cytanet DUN) on for connecting and for uploading (e.g., sending e-mails), so the cost is usually more than doubled over the original DUN connection.
b) asymmetric downloading and uploading, without a DUN connection, but it costs an arm and a leg.(plus over £1,000 in capital cost for the equipment).

[Judge Mental]

I suppose the only answer is to get as many people as possible to register for ADSL to increase the pressure on CYTA to upgrade the exchanges - that's what we did in the UK as BT would not upgrade an exchange till they had a certain number of people waiting on that exchange....so loads of people embarked on campaigns in their neighbourhood to get people to register, and it worked....if people hadn't registered BT would not have rolled out to the extent it has.

[erolz]

When I see that BT are offering 40 Mbit/s ADSL to 99% of the UK by the end of next year and that CYTA offer 1-10 Mbit/s for a small fraction of the area of this island, I understand why this is still officially classified as a developing nation.

BT do not currently offer (retail or wholesale) any ADSL variant over 8mbs (which is actually the limit of the ADSL variant of DSL, which was used for BT's first round of DSLAMs (the boxes that go into the local exchange to allow for DSL service). It is true that BT have plans to move to newer variants of DSL (like ADSL2) and they do resell business services over Bulldogs DSLAMS (which use variants with higher capabilites than ADSL) but these exist in only a handful of areas. Also the figure of 99% coverage is somewhat misleading. They talk of 99% of people being on a DSL enabled exchange, but not everyone connected to a DSL enabled exchange can actualy get DSL service, depending on the 'quality' of copper wire used. Undoubtedly the situation in the UK is better than South Cyprus but it's hardly 'world leading' or even 'EU leading' currently. For world leading examples you need to look at places like HK and Japan and South Korea. In HK there is a company offering for example rediental 100mbs symetrical connections for around US $35 per month with plans to move to gigabyte ethernet mid 2005. In EU terms places like Holland and Italy have 10mbs sysmetrical services (admitedly in limited areas).

I suppose the only answer is to get as many people as possible to register for ADSL to increase the pressure on CYTA to upgrade the exchanges - that's what we did in the UK as BT would not upgrade an exchange till they had a certain number of people waiting on that exchange....so loads of people embarked on campaigns in their neighbourhood to get people to register, and it worked....if people hadn't registered BT would not have rolled out to the extent it has.

Actualy the 'pre registration' scheme was pretty much a 'stunt' from BT in the UK. They (BT) set up and ran the scheme (which has now been abandoned) so that they could both collect 'market information' and delay the threat from 'community based' groups building their own networks as an alternative to BT's. Whenever a rural area started to talk about building it's own alternative BT would simply set a 'trigger level' for the exchange as a way of undermining the effort. Which brings me to my next point. There is an alternative to simply 'waiting for your telco' to decide to provide service to your area. New affordable technologies (like wifi) are making it possible for local communites to build their own BB (Broadband) networks and there are literaly hundreds of such projects currently operating or in the planning stages in the UK. Such competition is probably the best way of 'encouraging' your telco to consider 'speeding up' it's own role out plans.

For anyone interested in such a 'community network' approach I would suggest having a look at www.abcampaign.org as a starting point. I would also be more than happy to offer any help to anyone considering such a move in their local area.

For info I have been 'lobbying' in the UK on issues related to BB and internet access for about 7 years now and am a memeber of the UK's BSG (Broadband stakeholders group www.broadbanduk.org) and am one of the founders of ABC (access to broadband campaign).