End of EU roaming is bad news for us this summer

The EU has abolished roaming mobile phone charges between countries. So you can use your phone in another EU country as if you were at home. Hurrah! Bad news for us down here in Spain. Why? A worse and more expensive service, basically. Because with an estimated 23 million EU tourists coming here in July alone, there are very real fears that the infrastructure will collapse. The number of phones connected to the network is Continue reading End of EU roaming is bad news for us this summer

Movistar fusion class action suit

Movistar is currently the target of a class action suit by Spanish consumer organisations after a rather nasty marketing error. See, Movistar launched a new combined phone / adsl / whatever package called Fusion a few years, with the fanfare of it being one low price for ever. So when they went and jacked up the price last year, people complained – quite correctly – that they’d been signed up on the promise of the Continue reading Movistar fusion class action suit

Movistar cuts fibre optic rollout after being told to share

I wrote recently about fibre optic internet (offering speeds 33x faster than standard ADSL) being available in this area early next year. Well, a spanner has been thrown into the works after Spanish competition watchdog the CNMC ordered Movistar to share its new fibre optic network with other operators in large cities. In response Movistar says that the fibre optic network will not be profitable in some parts of Spain and has cancelled around 35% Continue reading Movistar cuts fibre optic rollout after being told to share

Exclusive: Fibre optic internet to homes arriving soon in the Levante

I tabled a question to Movistar (the old Teléfonica company) about when we as domestic users will be able to sign up to the new fibre optic internet service they’re installing in the Levante. Their answer: They will start connecting domestic users here in the first quarter of 2015. Prices will be (aprox) 29.95€ a month (plus line rental) and speeds will be 100 Mb down and 10Mb up. By way of comparision, the standard Continue reading Exclusive: Fibre optic internet to homes arriving soon in the Levante

A possible tip on how to get faster internet out of your Telefonica ADSL

A few months ago, I noticed on the bill that Telefonica had upped my ADSL from 3Mbs to 10Mbs, for free. Nice, but it wasn’t any faster. I checked with the rep, who confirmed that as the switchboards around here are slowly being upgraded, they’re giving you faster broadband for the same price, as and when it’s available. He said it would probably kick in at some point, and just to wait. I then forgot Continue reading A possible tip on how to get faster internet out of your Telefonica ADSL

Movistar to bring ultra high speed internet to Andalusia

Just in time for the big expat telly switch off! Movistar has announced plans to spend some 500 million euros bringing high speed data connections to Andalusia, starting very soon. The company plans to invest some 200 million in developing new high-speed fibre and 4G networks in the southern Spanish region of Andalucia. The operator has also pledged to invest a further 300 million in network maintenance and new equipment. The whole operation will see Continue reading Movistar to bring ultra high speed internet to Andalusia

No more “locked” mobile phones from Movistar

After a campaign by consumer organisation FACUA, Movistar has announced it will end its policy of “locking” mobile phones to its own network. So if you have a Movistar phone, they will now give you, for free and over the phone, the code to “unlock” it and use it on any network. Vodafone, Orange and Yoigo are so far refusing to do this, despite the campaign, but Facua continues to pressurise, and has also lodged complaints Continue reading No more “locked” mobile phones from Movistar

Telefonica falls down on Firefox

Despite spending over 440 million euros on R&D last year, and a further 37 million on their webpages, both www.telefonicaonline.com and www.movistar.es fall down when being viewed in Firefox or non IE browsers. In fact, they don´t pigging work when you start using the advanced functions. Broken interfaces and unusable buttons because of badly scripted webpages. I tried to send them a complaint, but, of course, their complaints form doesn´t work in Firefox. Eventually found Continue reading Telefonica falls down on Firefox