PrimeTel ADSL

 

PrimeTel is a relatively new player in the telecommunications sector of Cyprus. It is currently the main competitor of the semi-state owned CYTA.

PrimeTel platform coverage

Primetel has partnered with Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) to create a fiber optic network that is currently utilized by their ADSL2+ platform. At the moment the PrimeTel platform coverage is limited to the urban centers and a few suburban areas. To find out whether your establishment is covered by PrimeTel you need to fill this form external or call them (Tel: 133).

PrimeTel "triple play" services and ISPs

Unlike the i-choice platform where the user subscribes to the platform, to the ISP, to Digital TV and for a phone line separately, in the case of the PrimeTel platform all of the above services are bought and paid to the ISP with a single monthly bill. Also, unlike i-choice, this platform does not limit the ISP to specific speeds. PrimeTel has its own ISP but other independent ISPs utilize the Primetel platform as well.

PrimeTel ISP

The table below lists the ADSL packages offered by PrimeTel. The costs indicated below are all inclusive and include the rental of the phone line(s), the fee for the PrimeTel platform as well as the fee for the ISP. Prices do not include VAT.

PrimeTel packages overview
Package Name Max Speed Down/Up Static IPs Telephone Numbers Installation Fee Monthly Fee
PrimeADSL2+ Basic 750Kbps / 256Kbps no 1 €68.34 €42.63
PrimeADSL2+ 1Mbps 1Mbps / 256Kbps no 1 €68.34 €52.88
PrimeADSL2+ 2Mbps 2Mbps / 512Kbps no 1 €68.34 €68.26
PrimeADSL2+ 4Mbps 4Mbps / 512Kbps no 1 €68.34 €89
PrimeOffice Basic 1Ìbps / 256Kbps 1 2 €85.43 €59.80
PrimeOffice 2Mbps 2Mbps / 512Kbps 1 2 €85.43 €85.43
PrimeBusiness Basic 1Mbps/ 512Kbps 8 2 €153.77 €128.15
PrimeBusiness 2Mbps 2Mbps/ 512Kbps 8 2 €153.77 €239.21
PrimeBusiness 4Mbps 4Mbps/ 512Kbps 8 2 €153.77 €384.44

To the above packages you can add the basic package of PrimeTV for an additional €17.09 per month. The PrimeWiFi Upgrade costs €68.26 one off. PrimeBusiness packages with more telephone numbers are offered at an additional cost.

Other Internet Service Providers offering Internet connectivity over the PrimeTel platform

The costs indicated below include the rental of the phone line, the fee for the PrimeTel platform as well as the fee for the ISP. A price comparison of a few of the most popular products for home users is done here. Click on the name of an ISP to see more details as well as read and write reviews about them. Prices do not include VAT.

ISP name 750Kbps / 256Kbps 1Mbps / 256Kbps 2Mbps / 384Kbps 2Mbps / 512Kbps 8Mbps / 512Kbps PrimeTV
Netway - - €51.09 - €256.12 €17.09
Spidernet €40.92 €47.76 - €102.43(with IP) - €13.67
Logosnet - €48.70 - €71.75 - €13.65

Installation Fee €68.34

PrimeTV (Digital TV)

A Digital TV option which includes most local and several international channels as well as a few games is available on the PrimeTel platform. Video on Demand and Premium Channels are also available at extra cost. If you would like the package that includes PrimeTV then the Installation Fee would be €85.43 instead of €68.34.

PrimeTel Costs

To obtain the PrimeTel service a pre-requisite is to have at your premises a fixed phone line provided by PrimeTel. The cost of telephone connection with PrimeTel is €87.14 (once off). If you already have a phone line with CYTA then you can change to PrimeTel without an additional cost. With the PrimeTel platform you will pay one all inclusive subscription fee which includes the rental of the phone line, the fee for the PrimeTel platform, the cost for the ISP and the cost for the Digital TV.

Cost scenarios:

  1. You have no phone line. You want 1Mbit ADSL. The ISP of your choice is PrimeTel.
    • Once off cost: €87.14 for the phone line installation, €68.34 for ADSL installation. Total: €155.48.
    • Monthly cost: €52.88 (all paid to PrimeTel in one bill)
  2. You already have a phone line with CYTA. You want 3.5Mbps ADSL. The ISP of your choice is Netway.
    • Once off cost: €68.34 for the PrimeTel ADSL installation. (you also need to change carrier from CYTA to PrimeTel which is free of charge)
    • Monthly cost: €95.51 (all paid to Netway in one bill)
  3. You already have a phone line with CYTA. You want 750Kbit ADSL. The ISP of your choice is PrimeTel. You want a PrimeTel Digital TV subscription
    • Once off cost: €85.43 for the ADSL and Digital TV Installation. (you also need to change carrier from CYTA to PrimeTel which is free of charge)
    • Monthly cost: €61.34 (all paid to PrimeTel in one bill)

Pros and Cons of the PrimeTel platform

Pros:

  • Higher speeds available
  • One bill to pay
  • Slightly cheaper than i-choice
  • Good support

Cons:

  • A yearly contract with PrimeTel and a €42,72 deposit required
  • Not very wide coverage
  • If you already have a CYTA phone line you will need to switch to PrimeTel which can take a couple of weeks

PrimeTel User Reviews

If you have tried the broadband services of PrimeTel please write a review about your positive and/or negative experiences.

If your review is based on past experiences please include the time period you have been using PrimeTel.

Please post reviews about PrimeTel only, and not about any other ISP or service. However feel free to compare PrimeTel with other companies offering similar products.

Don't forget to cast your vote with your rating for PrimeTel.

 

User Rating: 3.33 out of 5 after 6 votes

Write a Review

Review Page: [1] 2

Reviewer: inuser

May 14 2007 12:07PM

I have been connected to Primetel for a couple of months now and the service looks fine. I have to restart the modem every now and then but other than that all is fine. The internet speed is great, the channels are ok, I am not using the phone so much. for 25 pounds a month I think its a bargain.

I paid 50 cyp for installation myself but chose the 12 monthly payments of 4.16 cyp per month.

I had mivision in the past and all the wiring had been in place (I had to pay my electrician back then). I guess not including the wiring of your house is a common practice among all broadband providers. I wished they would wire all my house , I have 2 floors and 4 rooms with computers but i guess thats not possible.

1

Reviewer: airy

October 03 2007 11:21AM

I have been using Primetel services for some months.  At the begining I was using Primetel as ISP but had lot of Interruptions in service and freezes on TV.  I was desperate with poor phone support and I have to visit their office in Nicosia to get their attention to the problem.  Unfortunately they couldnt find where is the problem.

After that I moved to SpiderNet and I can say SpiderNet/Primetel combination is great.  Combine the great services of telephone network/tv from primetel with the proffesional internet support from spidernet.

2

Reviewer: untelepathic

January 20 2008 04:16PM

We installed PrimeTel/Netway at work about six months ago.

Pros:

In contrast to i-choice, the decisions of PrimeTel's network technicians seem to make sense. The modem they installed is made by Allied Telesis, a company known as a manufacturer of enterprise grade products. You connect to the network by establishing a PPPoE tunnel between your router and the modem, using a supplied username and password. That's all you need to do to get online - the whole process is simple and hassle free.

Service is also pretty good. We have had a couple of outages that lasted between 15 and 30 minutes, but I guess this is to be expected from a relatively "young" company trying to expand its network.

Speed is OK, though sometimes delivery of a packet might be delayed for some reason. This can make a web page appear "stuck" for several seconds from time to time. However, this seems to be a problem with Netway, not PrimeTel, since I'm having the same issue with i-choice at home.

Cons:

It took almost three weeks for them to come and install the modem. When asked about the delay, they blamed Cyta taking too much time transferring control of the phone line to them. Of course I can't say whether this is true or not.

My biggest "complain" to PrimeTel has to do with their prices. I understand that they have no competition over 2 Mbps but, still, 273.21 euro per month is way too much for an Internet connection, even if it is 8 Mbps.

The Bottom Line:

Though the network of PrimeTel is still not as stable as that of i-choice, it's stable enough. Equipment is much better, as is their network's speed and quality of service. Recommended.

Links:

Their modem (I think): http://www.alliedtelesis.com/products/detail.aspx?pid=256&lid=4 external

3

Reviewer: constantinosavgoustides

March 12 2008 06:33PM

Guys I have to admit I am very happy to find a means to express my frustration with Primetel. I was a their customer for 14 months approximately.
During these 14 months they had to come to my house 3 times to tweak my modem to finally get it to download Primetv as it should. Before they fixed it, the image used to get stuck all the time, and I had to be changing channels to get it to work.
That my friends, was not the problem itself. The problem with primetel was their support. I was calling them for 2 months on that last time to get them to come and fix the tv signal. Finally when I met with one of their representatives at the state fair, I threatened to sue, and they came and fixed it the next day.

So anyway I became a Primetel customer as soon as they started offering their services around May 2006 so some trouble at the begining was expected.
What I didn't expect was 1 year later, when i was going to move apartment the fiasco that they put me through.

I had asked them to move the service to the new apartment. They said it would take two weeks. After THREE weeks they came over finally to install it at the new apartment. Then for the next FOUR weeks they were trying to get it to actually work, telling me every 3 days that in 3 days, it will work, in 3 days it will work , in 3 days it will work. Every time it DIDN'T work, they blaimed it on Cyta. After THREE weeks of waiting for them to move the service, and FOUR weeks after that to actually get it to work, I had to terminate the contract. (7 weeks for a phone line was unacceptable) I actually lost hundreds of pounds in the process.

My work involves supporting customers from my home over the internet in the form of email support and supporting my company's forums. You see my company sells a specialized software and I had to be doing support almost every night for our customers at the time. Every night I spent without internet, I lost money from overtime. In that 1 month of waiting for them to fix the problem, I lost around 500 Cyprus pounds worth of overtime.

When Primetel called me to try and convince me to stay with them, they said : "how about you dont' pay for that 1 month ?" . Now to me that was stupid because to me it was implied that I wouldn't have to pay for one one month since it their service that wasn't working for that 1 month and not my fault. They was their great proposal to keep me to stay with them. I suggested to them that if they want to keep me as a customer that they would have to do better than that. They didn't, so I terminated my contract with them.

Please have in mind that I called them 23 times within the period of 1 month enquiring about my issue. (I have names too if anyone wants to hear them) In the 23 times I called, they would always say something like " we are looking into it right now sir, I will call you back within a few minutes with an answer" . They called me back exactly ZERO times. The only time they called me was to stop me from terminating the contract with that ridiculous offer of 1 month (which their service wasn't working during the month anyway!)

After I went to their offices to paid off my balance, I asked for my deposit back, they wouldn't give it to me. So I had to pay them less than what I owed them because they wouldn't give me back the deposit. I paid them exactly 25 pounds less (although to be precise I should have I should have paid them 28.75 less because they made me pay vat for the deposit if I remember correctly!)

The "deposit/guarantee" fee at the begining of a primetel contract is supposed to be incase you terminate your contract before the end of 1 year. I terminated it after 14 months. For the next 5 months they were calling me every 3-4 weeks, asking for that 25 pounds deposit. They were claiming that I still owe them that money.

Bottom line is that I am still expecting them to sue me for those 25 pounds (thats how CHEAP they are), so I can sue them for all that money I lost during their ridiculous customer support period.

Now about their packages. At the moment they have a very very tempting package. It is the cheapest on the market and if I wasn't so bitter with their unacceptable customer support, I would consider it. Too bad that their support is so bad because their internet service (if you don't have the tv) was excellent. The speed was great and I never even had to restart the modem. So bottom line is if you think you are lucky enough to never have a problem and need their customer support department, AND you only need internet from them not TV, then go ahead and put Primetel. Good luck with that but don't say I didn't warn you...

C

4

Reviewer: georget

March 15 2008 07:44PM

Is it true that there is a download limit in Primetel service?

5

Reviewer: andreas

March 28 2008 12:14AM

from what i see yes. I 'm trying to find the passwords for AT-iMG634 in order to forward the ports but i can't find anything. Can anyone help;

6

Reviewer: briancy

April 15 2008 11:04AM

I WAS TILL YESTERDAY SUBSRIBER OF PRIMETEL.THE MAIN RESON I STOP IS BECAUSE THEY DONT THINK THEIR SUBSCRIBERS THEY THINK ONLY HOW TO GET NEW CLIENTS FOR THEM.THEY DONT SEE WHAT ME LIKE A CLIENT WANT AND NEED. I WAS FACING SOMEPROBLEMS WITH THEIR PHONE AND TV BUT ONE OTHER REASON I STOP IT IS BECAUSE ONE OTHER PROVIDER COVER ME NOW CABLENET WICH THEY OFFER AMAZING INTERNET SPEEDS WHICH U CANT COMPARE IT.ALSO PRIMETEL WORKS WITH CYTA SO IS ONE WHOLE IN THE WATER AS WE SAID IN CYPRUS.

7

Reviewer: jagman

July 17 2008 04:22PM

My girlfriend and I were customers of Primetel when they first arrived in Limassol, we lasted 2 months. Their internet was acceptable, and the TV was slightly better than greek TV but their service levels were atrocious. They just didnt want to know about any problems.

We went on holiday for 2 weeks, and when we came back there was a massive phone bill (Well £80, but thats not the point) on the itemised billing it clearly showed that people had been calling all over the world even though our house was empty and I never connected a telephone to the socket as I just wanted Internet.

Primtel did not want to know. Eventually, I went to their head office in Limassol, paid by bill, handed all the equipment back and cancelled the contract. Since then at periods of every 3 months, WITHOUT FAIL, I get a phone call from their offices in Nicosia, demmanding their equipment back and payment for the last 2 years!! Even though every time they have rung me I explain that I left that address 2 years ago and handed all their crappy equipment back to them.

The last phone call was yesterday, and I actually lost my rag with the girl, because he grasp of english was such that she couldnt understand that I had no equipment to hand back. She says "hand it back", I say "I Have already, 2 years ago", She says "oh, well when do you think you can hand it back in then?" OMG!!!

So be warned, Primetel are a bunch of cowboys and not only do they mess you around as a customer, they mess you around as an EX customer even more

8

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