Cyprus Broadband Forum

If you have tried the i-choice platform by CYTA 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 this service.

Please post reviews about i-choice only, and not about any ISP (e.g. Cytanet) or another service. However feel free to compare i-choice with similar products of other companies.

Please note that i-choice is an ADSL platform only. If you experienced Internet connectivity problems they might be due to your Internet Service Provider and not due to i-choice.

Don't forget to cast your vote with your rating for i-choice.

Difficult to write a report on i-choice, I've used them with two different ISPs and had opposite experiences which suggests that problems lie with the ISP rather than i-choice itself.

With Netrunner slow downloads, numerous service interuptions, with Netway no problems.

If you need the assistance of the helpdesk, make sure you've got a comfortable chair and a drink. Turn on the TV to pass the time as well.

even thow i have cyta,i will not recomend it today,CytaNet technicians are fast ,telephone support some times they delay but dont forget they are the biggest internet company with lot of customers,the reason i am not recomend them is their speeds they offer 1024download with only 128upload with the same money you can buy much faster dsl packages.

The greatest advantage of i-choice is that they have very good coverage. So, if you, like me, live in a village, it's probably your only choice for broadband.

Cons:

The i-choice network has one of the most weird designs I've ever seen. A tracert reveals that, in order to reach your ISP, your packets need to pass through a PPPoE tunnel, 4 routers, and 3 subnets. Obviously, this increases latency and makes the network prone to errors. And of course there's that unnecessary web site you have to visit every time you loose your connection.

Their equipment is also not of a very good standard. The modems are very inexpensive models and notorious for surrendering the spirit after a couple of years of operation (this seems to be changing a bit nowadays, with the new speedtouch models they're now installing). The "MiVision" IPTV device is even worse: Made by a company called aminet, it's definitely an entry level model that takes about 1 minute to boot and is so underpowered it needs a second or two to respond to simple remote control commands.

Connection speed is probably i-choice's biggest problem, as they only offer up to 1 Mbps (1024/256) for home users. Recently, they announced a 2 Mbps option, and I've been told that they've "secretly" began accepting applications for it. But this is still a far cry from the 8-10 Mbps offered by the competition.

Pros:

Despite the weirdness of its design and its initial problems, the i-choice network seems to be very stable nowadays. I can't remember the last time they had a global outage, but I'm sure it was at least a couple of years ago. This is to be expected, as the network is almost 10 years old now and Cyta seems to be doing a pretty good job maintaining it.

Also, MiVision, their IPTV, is actually pretty good: The picture is crytal clear with no dropouts (for me at least). And the programming, with a bunch of premium channels, all of Cyprus' sports and football events, and movies on demand, is not bad at all.

The Bottom Line:

If you live in a rural area and i-choice is the only way to go, go for it. The service is decent if a little slow. But if you're in a town, you'd probably do better with PrimeTel or Cablenet. They offer better speed and you'll have much less trouble with their equipment.

A Hint:

Someone has complained about problems with i-choice and certain ISPs. This is usually not a problem with the ISP but with the configuration of the i-choice modem. If you're using i-choice with an ISP other than CytaNet, and you are connecting to the modem directly (i.e. you don't have a router), you need to manually set your DNS settings to those of your ISP. For example, if you're using Netway, your preferred DNS server must be 81.21.45.34, with 81.21.45.35 as your alternative.

I-choice Current Equipment:

Modem: http://www.thomson-broadband.co.uk/products/Details.asp?ProductID=511
IPTV Device: http://www.thomson-broadband.co.uk/products/Details.asp?ProductID=511

telephathic could you explain in detail how can someone connect directly to the modem?? i have ichoice and provider netway. Also i've read the reviews here about cablenet..can someone tell me how fast it is in kbps, like with ichoice and netway i have right now, when Im downloading from internet it usually goes between 80-120 kbps, when im using a p2p program it depends, usually my download speed is around 10-20 kbps, the problem is my upload speed, its really slow, when im uploading something the maximum is 12-15 kbps and in p2p program is even worse..is cablenet speeds better than the ones I got? thanks

cytanet and i-choice i have send them emails asking when the update will happen
and they send me an email saying that they will cut of my Internet connection and take me to court if i don't stop sending them emails about the upgrade they said it will happen
at the start of 2008

 

i think cytanet and i-choice are the worst Internet service providers in Cyprus

PS don't go with cytanet and i-choice

 

i give them 0 to 10

a big fat 0

je emeis sto dikastirio mazi sou man, na se ipostiriksoume

se efxaristo file

2008?

2018

the problem is,the company's thief s of Cyprus,that they take our money for lines like 1 mbit and 2mbit,with unelectable services,and they overcharge us for them,wen the rest of the world is talking for 50mps speeds,and very low costs ,(like about 50 euro ,for tel,and internet.)dont forget also that we are sharing are lines also with others with ratios 1/10- 1/20,but we pay them a single users.the stupid technical support and of"corse,especially in weekends,and late at night.
i hope someone starts the complains to they eec,and maybe they will be fines against the company's,and maybe they will start working professionally.
i come from a country that had 24mbit lines,with cost 37 euro,included vat,included all telephone calls for free in the country.
its a big shame ,that Cyprus was one of the first country's that had adsl on the planet,and now,its the second before the last of country's. >:(

I am so glad I have found this forum, somewhere to vent my anger at the pathetic excuse for a telecomms provider such as i-choice.

This is a lengthy post - summed up NEVER USE THESE MORONIC, GREEDY COWBOYS!!!! THEY ARE USELESS!!!!!

I will begin this post as I begin every complaint phone-call I make to this infernal waste of space of a DSL provider.

I am, as my title says, an English squaddie (soldier) I work in the field of Telecommunications and specifically Information technology. I mention this every time I complain in an attempt to notify the i-choice 'technician' on the end of the help line that I do not require to follow the rudimentary checks printed on the laminated idiot sheet that these, so called, experts are using in order to locate and diagnose my fault.

I have been stuck with this piece of **** provider since arriving on the island 18 months ago and to start with the 1 Meg service was impeccable, never a dropped packet and never a problem with congestion or Tx/Rx problems....

However....last year the service began to falter, speeds dropping at peak times and lasting for up to one to two hours. This would not be a problem for the average internet surfer as the normal web appeared to be flowing along nicely. For a techno-geek like myself it was a major drama; as a father of 3 young children I use the internet to stream  cartoons from various sites worldwide and of course the lack of internet bandwidth produced many problems. This lasted for 30 days, during which time I phoned daily and emailed over 15 times to i-choice and Cyta's netrunner contacts to complain about the fault. Eventually they appeared to fix the fault.

I was never provided with any form of compensation for the loss of services during these times...even though I requested it.

Spin forward to September 3rd 2009 and voila the fault comes back with a vengence. for the last 3 months from 2pm to 11pm every weekday and 10am to 11pm on weekends I (and the entire Episkopi Community) receive download speeds less than 56kbps. That's worse than dial up FFS!!! So I start my complain campaign again, emails and phone-calls and for the continuing 70+ days we have still not seen any repair or compensation. The greedy *******s continue to take my €50 a month to provide me with broadband when I am not in the house but at work.

The morons on the helpdesk actually proved they have a tier level system of stupidity passing me from pillar to post while having to bear 20 minutes of the same god forsaken piece of **** cypriot song. I could sing the ******* thing I've listened to it that much. Only to then laugh and cut me off or give me the same old "we know about de fault and we send technicians in 2 weeks" routine...

3 months and still no fix.....

So why don't I cancel them? Because i-choice is the only option being out in the sticks.

Over subscription.....
Bandwidth throttling.....
Archaic infrastructure.....
Incompetent technicians......

Plain and simple

Cyta/i-choice are COWBOYS!!!!

I really don't get it, I'm surprised at the level of vitriol that is heaped on Cyta.

I'm running a 2 meg home package and manage to do a substantial amount of torrent downloading as well as getting BBC/ITV iPlayer running fine through it. I play DDO with no real issues as well as the usual browsing etc.

Download speeds are usually up to 230k/sec which is OK for this package.

The odd disconnects are most likely down to having the upload set too high whilst seeding - my fault, not Cyta's.

Support is certainly no worse than anything you'd get in the UK, at least it's local and certainly not some call centre in India. Explaining the problem effectively can also help you get to the right person and solve the issue.

I support 2-way VSAT connections for a living. Lots of times we get people complaining of slow connections. In 90% of cases it's down to P2P, Viruses, bad configuration or simply too many users connected to an unsuitable package.

It's so easy to point the finger at the provider. A friend was complaining of a slow connection and had put it down to Cyta. When I checked it out, their daughter was running Bitorrent and was seeding everything she'd ever downloaded in over a year. Funny how things speeded up the second I killed Bitorrent.

In any connection, if you're hammering the upload, it will slow things down to a crawl. This is especially the case with multi-threaded processes like all the flavors of P2P.

1. AN I SINDESI ITAN PIO ARGI ITAN NA PIENNE PISINI!
2. AN GIA KATHE DIAKOPI TIS SINDESIS EDIOUSAN MAS PISW 1 EURO EN THA EPREPE NA TOUS PLIRONOUME.

Maybe you are of the few lucky ones but from my experience, and in general(by asking others) the connection is really bad. No torrent downloading just trying to download a web-page and it's so annoying it's slow I feel like I own a 56k modem.

Also I have tried Cablenet in my previous apartment and it was excellent!

why everybody blame cyta? do you know why we dont have faster internet? because of primetel and cablenet, shakolas and mr foulis cyta when they brought dsl to cyprus they brought servers of milions of pounds to provide up to 20mb to the price of 16euros but then primetel and cablenet cry to eu and they put in charge a persons to control the competition and because cyta is a goverment company whatever the person who cheque the competinio say they do it. because if cyta was aloud to upgrade there systems mr shakolas and foulis was going to loose there money so now we stuck in this situation cyta has servers in there storage for 4 years now and they are not aloud to use them because primetel and cablenet mustprovide first the 20mb lines so cyta can provide 19mb lines so mr shakolas can have the first hand on competition. SO STOP BLAMING CYTA and blame some fools that they take money on white envelops. cyta try to avoid the person who control the competition by applying to eu court but this cases take long periods even 10 years they won the first court case last year and it was about the hsda on mobile phones thats why now we have high speed internet. thats the true so get used to it to have 4mb internet and when primetel and cable net will be able to provide 20mb internet then cyta will be able to provide 19mb

Δεν γνωρίζω αν όντως η ΑΤΗΚ έχει πραγματοποιήσει η όχι τόσο μεγάλη επένδυση ή κατά πόσον έχει την δυνατότητα να παρέχει τις υπηρεσίες που αναφέρει ο loiziasl  αλλά αυτό που αναφέρει όσων αφορά τον ανταγωνισμό είναι κοινή πρακτική σε όλες τις χώρες του κόσμου.
Η ΑΤΗΚ όπως κάθε κρατική εταιρία έχει ένα υπάρχων δίκτυο σε αρκετά καλή κατάσταση και πολύ ανεπτυγμένο. Αυτό όμως δεν το έκανε με ιδία κεφάλαια αλλά με λεφτά των φορολογουμένων το να περιμένεις από μία ιδιωτική εταιρία να έρθει και να ανταγωνιστή στα ίσια απευθείας την κρατική πού παρεμπιπτόντως ξεκινά με συνδρομητική βάση 100% καθότι μονοπόλιο, είναι αστείο.
Σε όλες τις χώρες δημιουργείτε μία επιτροπή ανταγωνισμού για τις συγκεκριμένες υπηρεσίες όπου απαγορεύει στον κρατικό φορέα να παρέχει υπηρεσίες μεγαλύτερες από τον ανταγωνισμό (υπολόγισε ότι στο αρχικό στάδιο το μόνο δίκτυο είναι αυτό του κρατικού φορέα οπότε και οι ιδιωτική πάροχοι αναγκαστικά περνάνε πάνω από αυτό, φαντάσου να έδινε η ΑΤΗΚ στον καταναλωτή ταχύτητα 20mbit και να άφηνε τον ιδιώτη να περάσει μόνο 10 πάνω από το δίκτυο της) επίσης απαγορεύεται να πουλά στον τελικό χρήστη φτηνότερα από ότι στον ανταγωνισμό (όσο και αν σου φαίνεται αστείο τέτοια φαινόμενα είναι πολύ συνηθισμένα) .
Αυτό να ξέρεις όμως ότι πάυει να ισχύει μετά από μία περίοδο και υπάρχει ελευθεροποίηση του ανταγωνισμού.
Βραχυπρόθεσμα αυτό στον τελικό καταναλωτή, εμάς δηλαδή, φαίνεται πολύ άσχημο αλλά μακροπρόθεσμα μόνο κερδισμένοι μπορούμε να βγούμε. Το κακό είναι ότι ακόμα δεν υπάρχει ανταγωνισμός στην αγορά. Η ύπαρξη μόνο του κρατικού φορέα και ενός ιδιωτικού απλά συνεχίζει την πολιτική του μονοπωλίου.
Τώρα για το κατά πόσον υπάρχουν λόγοι για να κατηγορηθεί η ΑΤΗΚ για τις πολιτικές τις. Είμαι σίγουρος ότι υπάρχουν αρκετοί λόγοι.

CYTA is introducing upgrades as of 1st of January 2011. 512kbps will become 2Mbps, 1 to 3 etc..

pou to ides tuto? gia dekevri itan na ta kamun tora epian genari?

egw potte den exw problimata me to internet mou ... th eonly bad is the huge price 50 euro for 4mbit. klefkoun mas.. alla me oti isp ise stin kypro etsi eni

en kala pou lalei

de ti mou eipan se email

en en eipan pote...

ena arke4oun to dekevri kai ws to telos tou genari ena teliosoun nomizo diladi...