When we first moved to Belgium, I was told that we would have to wait five weeks to have our internet installed by Telenet or Belgacom. This was simply not an option, especially as I was not working at the time. So we settled on Clearwire, because they used a wireless modem that would work instantly and that we could easily take with us when we moved. However, this has meant that for the past year we have had to put up with speeds of:
Our 12 month contract expired in January, so it was time to search for a faster internet providor. Strangely enough, the cheapest option turned out to be Belgacom, as they were offering an introductory 10 euro/month deal with a free modem. Now we have a much faster connection – a tv show from iTunes now takes 3 minutes to download, rather than 3 hours.
This has been a welcome improvement.
Related posts:
Entries (RSS)
Yay for fast internet! Ours runs out in a couple of months and I’m hungrily eyeing the internet/cable tv/phone deal that Ben’s spotted. I long to be able to watch the BBC again.
We have Telenet.
Clearwire looks pretty dodgy. I went to their website to figure out if they were satellite or some type of municipal wireless (the latter, turns out), and if they were related to the municipal wireless I helped install on the roof of our school building (no), and apparently they’re pretending OFDM is a security standard, and that the fact that they’re using licensed frequencies makes eavesdropping harder. I hope that’s just an idiot copywriter, and not their full security policy. Next time I’m in Leuven I’m going listen in on their “licensed frequencies” and see if I can make sense of any traffic.
I use Telenet as well. People like to complain about prices and download limits, but the main ISPs are pretty solid most of the time, especially if you’re used to North America. There are some smaller resellers for Telenet and Belgacom who offer unlimited monthly download or lower prices, but they have a tendency to get shut down for not paying their bills or tax fraud or things like that.
Mobistar is not bad: they had a good deal on in September so I get fast internet and never use up all my allowance for the month (I don’t download films though, only music, sometimes). The only problem I have with Mobistar is that you have to use a separate provider for television (although I think you can get a landline phone). So I get bills from two service providers per month, which is annoying and probably more expensive than just getting a package from Belgacom.
I was very tempted by Clearwire cause I was working a lot from home to start with, but I stuck it out for the 2-ish weeks it took them to come and install my Mobistar connection (spending an awful lot of time in wifi cafes) and I’m very glad that I did!