Paphos People

Hi Guys

Didn’t want to hijack the dongles and vodaphone thread so opened new one.

Internet provision in Cyprus
We are currently with BT in the UK and have 10GB monthly use @ £15.99 which we find is more than adequate.
When we move over:-
We don’t want a dongle, a dingle or a dangle.
We don’t want to twit or tweet.
We don’t want to download or watch videos / music.
All we want to do on our pc is:-
Receive / send email
Surf the net (on line shopping)
Talk to our grandkids back in Scotland, probably via Skype
Oh and communicate on PP.
We will be bringing our hub / router.

Any suggestions on the best Cyprus package and or Skype alternative appreciated.

Telephone provision in Cyprus
I suspect this is related to the internet provision.
Is Cyta the recommended provider for phone / internet?

TV Provision in Cyprus
We are currently with Sky in the UK but hardly use a ¼ of the available channels. We are big readers and have recently bought new ‘Kindle wi-fi book readers. We can download books from any –free wi-fi areas so don’t need provision in the house.
When we move over:-
We will be buying a 3mtr+ dish.
We only want to watch ‘freeview’ and will be bringing our Sky boxes and a huge collection of DVD’s.

Any suggestions on anything else ‘technical’ we need to do?

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Dave
Moira And Dave

“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

Sorry to blatantly ‘bump’ this post but could really do with some advice.
Have looked at other post but they don’t actually help.

Franky, maybe you are the man for these answers

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Dave
Moira And Dave

“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

Hope Franky doesn't mind me stepping in here !

In Paphos region, for fixed landline i think you are limited to CYTA (€14 per month line rental) + connection (not sure) and quite possibly a large deposit if you don't own a home. So with this landline you can make calls and use a pc modem to get a slow dial up connection to the internet.

Once you have the landline you can then order a 'DSL Access' service from CYTA (click here) which is 1 of 2 parts required to get ADSL broadband here in Paphos. CYTA loan and support (to some extent) a wireless router for this so depending on the one you intend to bring maybe surplus to requirement.

One you have DSL Access active you part 2 of 2 comes into play, you then login to the Cyta DSL portal and have to choose an Internet Service Provider i use Netway (click here), many use Cytanet Netrunner (click here). This is then bought on a month/quarter/year basis, saved as your default connection and only on rare occasion would you need to log back into the CYTA DSL service to either refresh your connection, or if you want, to change your active ISP.

This differs to UK in that both steps are taken care of by the ISP you order from, here you can chop and change the ISP easily as you wish if you encounter issues.

Holitec company (click here) provide an alternative 'wireless broadband' service (not a GPRS or 3G dongle service) to this where you place a dedicated aerial on the outside of your home and a router inside, the signal is wireless between their 'hub' and your home

In terms of which package you would need, there aren't the monthly caps like in the UK, but the maximum achievable speed is much lower, the 512 or maybe 1Mb speed package maybe suitable for you to comfortably use Skype which appears to be the most demanding usage you have in mind. If money is no limit then of course the max you can afford !

There is a firm called Primetel (click here) but i don't think they are covering Paphos yet

For TV, if you are paying for a large dish to be installed and have active SKY cards (either subscription or not) then you will be able to watch some UK TV via the sky network, such as BBC1,2,3,4, ITV1, Ch4, Ch5, BBC News, Sky News ... there are more but i know we spend most of TV time within those channels. Local terrestrial TV is meant to be heading to a MPEG-4 encoded digital platform during 2011 so be aware that even if you want to watch local TV at some point in the future you may well require a dedicated set top box as the UK TV's use a different digital platform

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My opinion; worth price charged.

Hi I use mynet in Emba works for me. http://www.telepassport.com.cy

Holitec was mentioned earlier in this thread, and they are about to start a new '3 in one' service.
Attached is a copy of the e-mail we recieved as existing customers, it may be worth contactin Holitec.



Over the next few weeks, the Paphos system will be undergoing major improvement. On the 14th September, we are moving our broadband provider from Cytanet to Cablenet, connected directly to the Minerva undersea 10Gbps fibre running from Cyprus to southern Italy. We will retain our connection to Cytanet at a lower level so we will no longer be reliant on a single provider.

A NEW SERVICE – LAUNCH OCTOBER

We are proud to announce a completely new triple play service, which includes broadband internet, telephone and TV, initially with 8 channels. The channels will include BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV2, plus 2 others which will be selected according to demand. Due to licensing restrictions, we are currently unable to provide subscription channels such as Sky Sports, or provide a “catch-up” service due to copyright laws.

This service is being launched using the latest Multicast H264 encoding, so should be free from buffering and picture breakup. The signal quality is similar to what you would receive in the UK, but may suffer some degradation during bad weather in the UK, as the signal is received from the UK from our Virgin Media connected data centre.

The package will include a digital HD ready set-top box, plus a SIP telephone with your choice of local UK STD dial code. Call credit may be purchased on-line, or from our offices, and calls are charged at low UK rates.

Subscription to the Triple Play service is €59 per month which includes access to broadband internet, telephone line rental and TV. As normal, you may subscribe to 10 months, and get 2 free, or on a switch on/off basis at €19 per week.

The set-top box and telephone, including set-up and VAT is €249. If you have an existing media PC that is compatible with the system it may be possible for your supplier to configure the PC to receive the TV.

In order to receive the TV you need to be in line of sight of Coral Bay, Zucchini’s, Paphos (near to the CYTA office), or the Prodromi office, with a better than -80 dbm signal strength. Due to technical reasons, the service is not yet available at more remote locations, such as Polemi, Pomos, Giolou, Skouli and St George’s.

We have a limited number of slots available in each area and will need an indication of number of subscribers in order to pre-order the equipment required as there is a 6 week lead time from the manufacturer. If you would like the service please call into one of our offices with a €100 deposit to guarantee your installation slot, plus let us know the STD area code you would like, in order to pre-program the telephone.

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Graham

The best mind-altering drug is truth.

Good post Graham, thanks.
Gary

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So close yet so far away

Thanks for all your posts and help. Will look into it further when I am back in December

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Dave
Moira And Dave

“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

Hi,
Is anyone using the Holitec triple play system that could let me know how efficient it is please? We are at present trying to sort out TV and internet for our apartment and this seems like the best bet for us. However word of mouth helps when making decisions of this type.

Many thanks.

Sue.

If you are bringing a new TV with you from the uk the new Sony Bravias in 37" and 40" are both MPEG4 ready as are some of the cheaper ones from LG and Samsung and Philips, I have not been looking at any Larger TV`S

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Reality is only an illusion that occurs due to the lack of alcohol

Sue....we're about to have the system fitted tomorrow, so hopefully we'll be able to pass comment.

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Graham

The best mind-altering drug is truth.

Graham,

Thanks very much, will look forward to hearing from you.

Sue.