Hi Sue,

Can you send the office an email to prodromi(at)holitec.eu

We need to know where in Cyprus you are, so we can sort out a site survey.

Regards,

Digby

Unfortunately,  wi-max is not available in Cyprus yet - no licenses available. However, there are free wifi connections available at bars etc.

Turbolad,

Any update on how your connection is working? how are the speeds holding up etc?

Digby

Hi Jojo,

I can help with one of the WISP's mentioned. Firstly, only one of the WISP's mentioned is licensed (see cyprus internet statistics 2008 note ²). Our network allows all protocols (P2P/Torrents/VOIP etc), but we do reserve the right to slow these to preserve the contention ratios (however, at present these are not slowed and some of our customers have downloaded over 60Gb in a month) and there are no monthly download limits. You will be able to get TV later this year, we have the authorisation here, but are waiting for the UK providers. You can use a slingbox, or other means of streaming TV. The installation cost has remained the same for 3 years, and a percentage of the subscription and installation costs are paid to the regulator, which unlicensed companies do not have to do. Also, bear in mind that unlicensed companies can be closed down, it happened to Paphos Broadband a few years ago. We also reinvest heavily in the systems, hence why we are the largest WISP in Cyprus, covering more areas every few months and our installation cost does include a returnable €256 deposit.

Digby

I think that there are two main ISP's Hellas Sat and Hughes that provide two-way coverage here. With Hughes they have the dreaded FAP (fair access policy) and slow the connection if the usuage limits are exceeded. Hellas Sat claim to not do this, however the service seems to be greatly shared, and reports of slowing to 128k for a 1mb connection are not unusual. With Hughes, 3-4 users would need the office 1000 service at least, which from memory is about €200 per month. Hellas Sat do not recommend sharing the connection.

Personally, I would not use satellite if there was any other option available, but it depends on your location of course.

My friends at CYTA do not like the satellite option, plus there are limits to the data downloads. One Way satellite is not anything like broadband, it's ok if you are desperate. A fixed cable/landline link is still the best option and will always be the cheapest. I do not agree that wireless is not widely adopted yet, perhaps true for Cyprus as a whole, but for the Paphos area (including Polis) it is widely used. Where you have no option of a landline, it is by far the best solution, and the cost will be around 1/2 to 1/3 of a satellite link.

Digby

There are also wide area wireless networks available in Tala, but there are only two licensed providers, Citycell and Holitec.  I am not sure that Citycell cover Tala, but we do.

There are two service levels available at present 1MB/128k and 2Mb/256k

Efrem is correct in that Satellite is slow and expensive - a 512/128 with Hughes is about €89 per month.

Regards

Digby

They have over 2000 customers as far as I am aware.

Even we have more than 300!