Greece stunned by ADSL charges

[Richard Craneum]

Greece stunned by ADSL charges
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 11/04/2003 at 15:45 GMT

Spare a thought for Net users in Greece. First the Government banned (temporarily) all computer games. Now, they've finally found out that they're about to get ADSL after waiting two years or so for incumbent telco, OTE, to complete its trial.

That's a bloody good reason for a party, no?

Unfortunately not.

Reg readers in Greece have written to say that the cost of the service is so high it's likely few people will be able to afford it.

Upfront charges start at around €130 (£90) with the monthly subscription for a 384kbps service running in at €55 (£38) a month. A 512kbps service costs €101 (£70).

Snag is, these prices are just for the copper wires and exclude sales tax. They also exclude any ISP services and their charges.

ISPs have yet to say how much they're going to add on, but early estimates suggest that the entry level 384kbps service could cost as much as €150 (£102) a month. And this in a country, where the average gross salary is a little over 80 per cent of the EU average, according to the European Commission.

Net users in Greece are stunned by the cost and are getting ready to voice their protest.

One reader told us: "First the law that forbid all arcade games since our government couldn't tell an illegal betting machine from asteroids and now … THIS!!!" ®

Related Stories
Greece lifts computer games ban

Link...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/22/30220.html

[grumpy]

Looks like Sifis Samos will be on 56k for a while yet :( Beware of Greeks bearing ADSL [img]tongue.gif[/img] I use the national Telco here in OZ, and pay A$80 for 512/256 with 1 Gig cap..there are a few cheaper options, but we get lots of freebie stuff :D

[Astute33]

I guess it's probably due to it being a new service. In Singapore, when Broadband is first introduced, it was very expensive and few people could afford it.

If I am not wrong, this should be the case in most places. When more people take up the service and more companies come in to compete for a piece of the pie, the price will slide.

[Shocked Pants]

I concur - I got adsl when it was first launched in the UK and it was costing £50 a month back then. In the 2 years since, the prices have halved as more people are offering the service. Ironically though, I switched to cable cos the adsl service wasn't very reliable......well it was in a way, you could guarantee that you would lose service for 6 hours every week during peaktime!!!

Shocked....

[guni]

The same here, in Spain. Very expensive when launched but now I´m on 256/128 ADSL for 39€ a month (free USB modem, free suscription, web space, email accounts and so on).
A 128/128 service costs about 30€ and It´s cheaper if you sign a 1 or 2 years contract with an ISP.
We´ve many offers now and the service is reliable but it´s becoming worst. The most important ISP got a proxy-cache few months ago and they´re performing changes w/o our permission. I´ll change to cable when possible.

[sifis_samos]

Originally posted by grumpy:
Looks like Sifis Samos will be on 56k for a while yet :( Beware of Greeks bearing ADSL [img]tongue.gif[/img] I use the national Telco here in OZ, and pay A$80 for 512/256 with 1 Gig cap..there are a few cheaper options, but we get lots of freebie stuff :D

Duh...We have a government that knows NOTHING about technology!That is so unfair!...As i read in few magazines in 1 year it is likely that DSL network will be available in all Greece!So i have to be more patient!Since then,i will have to stick to my old trusted Pstn Connection!

[grumpy]

Don't worry buddy, it will be cheap in a little while, we all had high prices to start with :( . I am wondering though with all the islands that Greece has, it may be difficult for a lot of them to get DSL of any sort. How does the telecommunications network work, do most of the islands connect via undersea cables ?

[leson]

You might consider this: DSL via satellite up/downlink. Works everywhere in europe but I think you have to register it in Germany. It costs 92 € / month. http://registrierung.tiscali.de/prod...964e8ecdbaaa1a

[sifis_samos]

Originally posted by leson:
You might consider this: DSL via satellite up/downlink. Works everywhere in europe but I think you have to register it in Germany. It costs 92 € / month. http://registrierung.tiscali.de/produkte/1410_einzelplatztarife. php?PHPSESSID=9aab7833583e8f1d6b964e8ecdbaaa1a

Well we do have satelite internet but it isnt worth it.The charge for a 1GB per month is about 50Euro.So i want a faster internet not only for surfing but mainly for downloading stuff!And secondly,it has a bit low response time,i mean from the time that you click something till network responses.I will wait for DSL..Grumpy yes all islands are conected via undersea optical cables with the centrals in Athens...Once i watched a conference of the national telecomunication counsil and they said that the network is already installed and compatible,just the ISP's must make the move.And ISP's cllaimed that the cost per conection is high because the national telecomunication organisation charges too much!...Only one word remains..Patience!!