Greece GPRS?

[beorma_kate]

Hi

This has been a really useful thread as I'm about to become a liveaboard in Greece and will be living on a boat, firstly in Lefkas (Nidri) then cruising around Greece for a couple of years. I want to be able to access the internet via a laptop, either from the quayside or from my boat which will be moored in harbours or at anchor near to shore.

I know absolutely nothing about using wifi or a mobile to access the internet and I've tried to follow this thread as it all seems to be what I'm looking for. Will the suggestions that you've been making about plugging into a laptop via a mobile and using a WIND pre-pay SIM card work for me?

Any hints/tips massively appreciated.

Can I also ask (though I know this is slightly off topic), would I need a top notch laptop to get decent speeds? I've been told that I need a Centrino processor, preferably at least 2 Ghz in order to get the best from wifi but they are very expensive. Do I really need this?

Many thanks for any help.

Kate

[caliston]

A WIND SIM will probably work OK... if you have a Bluetooth phone you might want to put it up high (on the mast?) to get better signal. I haven't any experience of using data at sea, but voice calls seem to have enough signal on ferry boats most of the way Patras-Kefallonia so it might be feasible. You may have better signal if you moor in a town. If you're in a remote bay it might be best to moor further away from the shore since the transmitters are often on tops of the mountains and you ideally want line-of-sight to the tall mountains. If you're doing this a lot you could buy a second cheap Bluetooth phone and mount it (with a charger cable) on top of the mast all the time.

The speed is pretty much unrelated to your computer. For GPRS in theory a computer made after about 1995 is going to be fast enough. For 3G maybe 1998-9 or so. If you buy a computer today even the cheapest bottom-of-the-line computers should have no trouble.

Centrino is a brand which basically means wifi+low power processor. Low power's handy if you're often going to be using your computer without a mains connection, as you get more battery life. But wifi is wifi: for the net it'll work just the same on a fast computer than a slow one. Especially in Greece where there aren't too many public wifi hotspots, even if you have a wifi connection it'll most likely be running at a tiny fraction of the 54Mbit/s claimed and so your computer speed isn't an issue.

It depends whether you think you'll be working a lot away from a power point, or whether you might be (say) running from the boat batteries/engine all the time. If the latter, any laptop with wireless will do (and even those that don't, it'll cost about £20 to add). If the former, look for a laptop the advertises the most hours on battery (often they quote another figure with an expensive auxiliary battery - ignore that. Don't believe that you'll actually get these figures, but they're a useful comparison). These tend to be more expensive, but if you don't need a fast laptop you could look for an older model reconditioned/secondhand. Fit a new battery if you buy this way, though, as batteries wear out through use.

If you are running from boat power rather than mains power, it might still be worth looking for a low power laptop as I don't know how big your boat will be - you don't want to drain the batteries for navigation lights!

[gmmour]

Hello!

All companies have very good coverage in the sea with both GSM and GPRS! Almost all the teritorial waters are covered! Friends who go sailing in the Aegean call me with no problems...

As for data, since you're staying long and mobile will me your main means for accessing the internet, provided that the WIND Plus non-stop solution works only for basic web browsing and chat, you might want to consider the greek providers' data card solutions with various offers. WIND ofers Data Card Non-Stop with a 20GB/month fair usage policy.

Cosmote currently offers unlimited data until September and I do think that after this offer they will re-adjust their tariffs to at least match the WIND ones, same for Vodafone, they offer unlimited data on their Vodafone Data Card programs until September and are expected to re-adjust prices after that, or even extend the offer!

Cosmote claims to have currently covered 80% of the population with 3G and does have the most extensive 3G network in Greece with optimistic unofficial statements by company insiders that they will try to have a complete (!) 3G network overlay by the end of the year!

Cosmote has by far the best 3G coverage in rural Greece (outside the main cities of Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Larissa etc.) so it might suit you better for mobile internet, if your needs exceed typical low-speed browsing that you can easily do with WIND's GPRS and their inexpensive Plus non-stop offer (3,49€/month compared to more than 20-50€ month for data-card plans).

Cosmote's extensive 3G network though is said to be lacking the necessary backbone, thus the 3G network is "virtual" in some places, meaning that although you have 3G speeds from your mobile to the base station, the speed is limited on the station's connection to the company's network, thus you get slow 2G-like speeds...
WIND on the other side has overlaid its network with EDGE since 2004 but has never offered it to its customers for unknown reasons, it is not known if they're ever going to offer it after all...

Look at the providers' sites for their data-card offers to see if there is one to suit your needs. All sites are available both in English and Greek, so you won't have problems finding your way around. It's www.cosmote.gr, www.vodafone.gr and www.wind.com.gr (not www.wind.gr since some clever guy has taken the domain name before WIND rebranded)!

Notice though that in the last months, mobile data prices are going down due to renewed competition between the companies so prices are expected to fall in the coming months...


For example, the cheapest DC offer right now is offered to university students only and it offers unlimited (20GB/month fair usage) access from 20:00-08:00 everyday and a mere 70MB/month from 08:00-20:00.
This is a quite new offer introduced only two weeks ago, so it is expected that the student offer will be matched by the other companies too and that similar inexpensive unlimited programs (maybe with time restrictions like the afternoon program mentioned above) are expected also for the non-academic community!

[beorma_kate]

Cheers Caliston and gmmour - you have saved me plenty of money I reckon!

Thanks for your straightforward explanations. Really useful.

Cheers! Katie

[gmmour]

Wind mobile TV is no longer free, if you open the links I provided above, you will be charged the wind mobile TV fees for the channel or the program you are viewing!
Wind plus non-stop, however, continues to provide unlimited internet browsing with ?3,49 a month, as described above!
A new info I got is how to view you tube and streaming videos in general, surpassing the gwap proxy server's 1MB limitation:
You have to use the Netscape browser and select continuous streaming, through the settings panel. This will force the program to download the streaming you tube videos continuously in small parts as the video plays. These parts are smaller than 1MB even for big videos and so you'll be able to watch the entire streaming video through wind plus non-stop without problems with the 1MB limitation!

[gmmour]

Here's an update on the new WIND GR tarrifs for its mobile broadband (HSPA 3,6 Mbps) offer. The product is calles WIND ADSM (a marketing name to show that the prices are comparable to fixed ADSL)...

The new prices for postpaid subscriptions are:

Wind offer monthly charge
ΑDSM Basic (1 MB) 3,5 €
ADSM 300 MB 17 €
ADSM 5 GB 32 €
ADSM Non-Stop (30 GB) 49 €
Student pack* (33 GB) 30 € 3 GΒ from 08:00 to 20:00, 30 GB from 20:00 to 08:00

*The WIND student pack is offered to greek university students, it offers interconnection with the Hellenic Academic Network and provides an IP address from inside the student's university LAN for free access to international online libraries that have agreements with the student's university and can only be accessed from a valid university IP. Since it is funded from the Ministry of Education applications must be first filled online through the greek student internet portal www.diodos.edu.gr and then be printed and brought to a WIND store for product purchase. A one-year contract and free HSPA modem (USB, PCMCIA or PCI-Express) must be purchased with the student plan.

A user can either subscribe to these programs with an unlimited time contract (can be cancelled at any time after the first month), or sign a one-year contract and get an HSPA modem for free (either a 3.6Mbps Huawei E220 USB modem, a 1.8Mbps PCMCIA card or a 3.6Mbps PCI-Express card). A wireless WiFi HSPA router (1.8Mbps) is available with a subsidized price for one-year contracts.
http://www.wind.com.gr/pages.fds?langID=2&pageID=1442

There are also two prepaid packs available to WIND F2G prepaid subscribers:
ADSM Non-stop 2 which offers 2 days unlimited access for 10 Euro
and ADSM Non-stop 7 which offers 7 days unlimited access for 30 Euro
(There is a cap of 1GB per day for ADSM Non-stop 2 and 7)
These prepaid offers can be activated on any F2G prepaid SIM by sending an SMS with the words "NS 2" or "NS 7" to 3553 and having 10 or 30 Euro respectively on your account balance.
http://www.wind.com.gr/pages.fds?pageID=1443&langID=2


PS: The Wind plus non-stop offer described in this forum with unlimited HSPA access and a 1MB per downloaded file limitation is still available for 3,49 Euro per month and remains the best offer in the greek market!

Here are the offers of vodafone.gr and cosmote.gr respecitvely. (Cosmote covers almost all of Greece with 3GSM and most cities with HSPA, Vodafone covers most of the cities with HSPA while Wind also covers most of the greek cities and has HSPA coverage enabled all over its 3G network). Only wind offers an updated map with its 3G coverage on www.wind.com.gr
All three offer HSPA @ 3.6 Mbps. Cosmote has announced that they will be upgrading to 7.2Mbps HSDPA and HSUPA for incresed upload speeds beginning from big cities soon. Vodafone and Wind are expected to follow. The Huawei E220 USB HSPA modems offered by all three are said to be able to be upgraded to support download speeds up to 7.2Mbps and increased upload speeds with HSUPA with a simple firmware update so if you go for a free modem, get the USB one which is future-proof.

Vodafone offer monthly charge
VMC 1 MB 6 €
VMC 25 MB 19 €
VMC 80 MB 29 €
VMC 5 GB 39€ student*: 29 Euro
VMC 20 GB 99 €

*The Vodafone Student VMC is the same product as VMC 5GB. It does not offer an academic IP address and can be directly purchased at any vodafone shop with a valid student ID card (no need for application through the www.diodos.edu.gr student internet portal)

Cosmote offer monthly charge /monthly charge for Cosmote postpaid subscribers*
CDP Basic (1 MB) 3,5 €
CDP 200 MB 15 € /13€
CDP 5 GB 34,5 € /29,5 €
CDP 20 GB 60 € /50€

*To benefit of the reduced price the user must also have an active postpaid voice subscription with cosmote.
These reduced price data products for existing Cosmote voice customers are offered either on a stand-alone SIM (with optional free modem with one-year contract) or on the existing subscriber's SIM (for his voice postpaid subscription) without subsidized HSPA modem (ideal for those who want to tether their laptop to their HSPA phone). In any case, customers will receive their data plan charge on their existing cosmote bill.

All companies offer either an unlimited time contract or a one-year contract with free HSPA modem, all three of them offer a selection between USB, PCMCIA or PCI-Express modems.

The Vodafone and Wind products are offered only on a separate SIM and cannot be combined on the existing voice postpaid SIM.

For visitors in Greece the Wind prepaid packs for 2 or 7 days and the unlimited time contracts from all three providers for visits of one month or more are coming to complement the existing unbeatable offer of wind plus non-stop described on this thread! Non-EU citizens might have problems to sign an (unlimited or one-year) contract though and wind plus non-stop and the two prepaid WIND ADSM packs might be the only available solution for them.

Have fun in Greece and don't forget to bring your laptops and HSPA phones or modems! The competition has brought prices amazingly down in the past few months! Vodafone is expected to lower its prices after the Wind ADSM products have brough 30GB down to 50 Euro and 5GB down to 32 Euro!

[real_goose]

While I stay in the family cottage in Zemeno, I have no internet access so WIND Plus appears to be my best option. Zemeno is closer to Distomo than Arachova, so it appears that HSDPA is not available based on the map. GPRS is still much better than nothing which is what I have now.

I do own an unlocked Sierra 875 data card that supports European frequencies. Assuming I set up the proxy as if I was tethering to phone, will it work with Plus? (If not I need to consider a new phone.)

I also own a Sony Erikson t68 that was software upgraded to a t68i. But the 'upgrade' has given me problems and I can't be sure it will really work as a modem even if I do buy the proper cable. My laptop has no bluetooth so I need a cable.

Is there a website that explains tethering for someone who has no experience?

I suppose the ideal phone would be inexpensive, support GPRS, easy to find data cables and modem software for Windows XP. It should also have Java and the ability to use a browser. Is there any other criteria I should consider?

[real_goose]

I just got back from holidays in Greece and enjoyed great new ways to access the Internet. My sister-in-law now has Net One which gave me wireless access in her Athens apartment. I followed the direction in this thread and with some improvising I had great success using Wind to access the web. GPRS speed is a little painful, but much better than no connection at all.

The local kiosk where I buy newspapers was out of Wind SIMs so I went to the nearby Wind store to buy a SIM and recharge card. It turned out to be one of the most complicated €8 transaction I can remember. If I had known, I would've tried other kiosks. Also, the recharge card can not be used until the SIM is activated by making at least 1 billable call. Calling customer support for €.12 is a cheap way to get activated.

I do not understand why I could not get Firefox or Thunderbird to work through a proxy when Internet Explorer V6 worked fine. Moving from page to page sometimes led to IE hanging. I had to close it frequently. Quite few websites could not be loaded at all. For example, www.prepaidgsm.net was OK, but www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/ led to attempts to “download the file” because the page was not recognized as a web page. I downloaded Opera and discovered that all my problem pages could be viewed by letting Opera fix it by reparsing as HTML.

I used my Sierra 875 card for access. Mine is a Cingular branded card commonly available unlocked on eBay for about $100. The WIND Connection Manager software could never find my card, so I used the Sierra 3G Watcher software. It was easy to create a profile for WIND N0N-Stop since all I had to specify was username, password, and access point name. The same Sierra software allows me to send and receive SMS messages at the same time I'm connected to the Internet.

Finally we have a way to browse the web and read email even while in mountains with no phone line available. Thanks to all for documenting this process.

[DaveRo]

Is anyone using, or know somebody who is using, Wind plus non-stop with a Nokia N810 (or N800) internet tablet?

This is a Linux (Maemo) based tablet (not a phone) with a Mozilla Gecko browser called MicroB. There might be two problems using this:
- there doesn't appear to be any way of manually setting an http proxy
- the html-mangling, mentioned in this thread, and MicroB

For the proxy, it may not be a problem. The N810 connects via bluetooth to my N70 phone. I'm not sure whether this is 'tethering' or not - the 2 Nokias may just set the proxy automatically - the N810 supports PAC.

So before I start interrogating the Nokia tablet forums, or hacking into the Linux configs, I thought I'd just ask if anyone is already using and N800 or an N810 and whether it works with Wind non-stop.

[gmmour]

I don't know anybody who has the Internet Tablet, but since you're "tethering" through a phone, I don't think it will be a problem... The phone handles the proxy but still (as my experience with tethering to a PC shows) you might have to do some settings on the browser too and that might me the tricky part...

I suggest you ask Nokia people about that, you won't really find a lot of Greek users with the N810 and using wind plus... Most of them are using it with a mobile and with a laptop...