Internet in Greece

Internet access in Greece has traditionally relied on PSTN/ISDN modem dial-up until 2003, when ADSL was commercially launched in Greece by incumbent operator [http://www.ote.gr OTE] and is currently the main broadband standard that coexists with 3G mobile broadband (HSPA) and a more expensive Satellite Internet access. Mobile broadband has been heavily marketed during 2008 by [http://www.vodafone.gr Vodafone] , [http://www.cosmote.gr Cosmote] and [http://www.wind.com.gr Wind] , leading in a surge in mobile Internet usage in Greece, primarily with mobile professionals and young users.

OTE ADSL

Typical download/upload speeds available over OTE's network are 1024/256, 2048/256, 4096/256 and 8192/384 kbit/s and 24/1 Mbit/s. The three later speeds were added in May 2007 and December 2007 (24/1Mbit/s), and are available to selected areas (Greater Athens, Greater Thessaloníki and other major cities, mainly perfecture capitals), even though 4 Mbit/s do not require ADSL2+ infrastructure in order to work properly.

Customers can either subscribe only for OTE's ADSL access service and then buy an ADSL subscription from an ISP separately, or choose their preferred ISP and buy both services bundled (OTE bitstream wholesale, known as A.RY.S.). The second option is much cheaper, but the first one offers the freedom of changing an ISP whenever one likes (even every 2 months, while a bundled package has usually a 6 or 12 months' minimum contract length).

OTE also offers its bundled service under the Conn-x brandname. Also under the "Conn-x talk" brandname, OTE offers unlimited calls to national OTE fixed phone destinations with 14,90€/month extra to the conn-x fee for 24/7 unlimited calls or 6,50€/month extra to the conn-x fee for 20:00-08:00 nights and weekends. A major disadvantage of the Conn-x talk plans compared to private companies' offers is that they offer unlimited calls only to OTE fixed subscribers and not to private companies' subscribers.

In late May 2008, OTE announced an All-in-One package that combines ADSL access and local, national and mobile calls.

Controversy between OTE and new ISPs

OTE -not being the first operator to launch ADSL in the country - has been accused of deliberately stalling ADSL deployment since 2001 in order to continue making profit from its PSTN and ISDN services.

OTE has been assigned the manipulation and maintenance of the local loop. Although not backed by evidence, OTE has been accused of stalling and even barring the disengagement of the local loop from its own switching centre when an existing customer chose an alternative provider. OTE has also been accused of lowering the quality of the local loop when handing the line over to an alternative provider. Because of these allegations, the Greek Independent Authority of Communications ( [http://www.eett.gr/EETT EETT] ) has issued a ruling (known as the RUO 2007) that states that OTE must complete any needed work for the preparation of the loop within a fixed number of days.

However, OTE has claimed that the overwhelming demand for alternative ISPs has burdened them far beyond they could cope, themselves blaming OTE for their own operational problems.

OTE has also been criticized for artificially limiting the number of packet throughput of ADSL lines, thus making VoIP services over its broadband network unusable and unreliable.

In late February 2008, OTE was accused of applying traffic shaping to the packets moving through its network, thus rendering peer-to-peer functionality and other services unreliable. The issue is currently under examination by the [http://www.adslgr.com ADSLGR] forum.

Local Loop Unbundling

A variety of new entrants have appeared after the liberalisation of the market and LLU. These operators typically offer higher speed services and cheaper prices compared to OTE, but their customer support is in most cases inferior to that of the Greek incumbent.

New ADSL ISPs typically offer flat-rate nationwide voice services, ADSL access (up to 24Mbit/s) and value added services (including VoIP and IPTV), all of which are new to the Greek market. As such, Greek press reports that OTE has lost [http://www.enet.gr/online/online_text/c=112,id=13495968 nearly 500,000 households] to new entrants and customers continue to switch from OTE to LLU ISPs at increasing rates.

* Vivodi Telecom, a private company utilizing LLU since 2003, partly covers Athens and Thessaloníki with its network at the moment, despite the fact that in the past it used to cover some more other cities (such as Patra, Herakleion, Veroia rtc). The customers in those cities were left without service. Vivodi offers triple play services based on ADSL2+, with speeds up to 20 Mbit/s, VoIP telephony and digital television.
* [http://www.tellas.gr Tellas] , a subsidiary Wind Hellas, offers ADSL through its LLU network in districts of Athens, Thessaloniki, Larissa and Crete with speeds up to 12/1 Mbit/s. Tellas, which was the first one to provide free national calls through their network, had been severely criticized for taking advantage of the 12-month contracts in order to keep their prices high and uncompetitive. Under pressure, Tellas moved from 4/0,5 to 12/1 services in November 2007, but the service is apparently still unstable, as many of the clients complain about problems related to the faster connection and/or to the router. As of March 2008, Tellas offers unlimited phone calls to 38 countries and also 60 minutes of calls to Greek cellular networks. In May 2008, Tellas upgraded their downstream speed to 24 Mbit/s.

*Wind Hellas currently offers Shared LLU (OTE line rental still required) and fixed telephony services with carrier preselect through its subsidiary Tellas and is expected to launch full LLU double and later triple play services under its brandname in the first quarter of 2008, eventually also renaming Tellas into Wind.
* [http://www.hol.gr Hellas On Line] , owned by the Greek-Russian network equipment manufacturer Intracom, offers up to 24/1 Mbit/s ADSL2+ connections in districts of Athens, Thessaloniki and Larissa. In the past HOL has been accused of actively using traffic shaping in order to grind its P2P traffic to a near standstill. This was attributed to HOL's low overall bandwidth-to-user ratio at that time. HOL has signed an agreement with Vodafone, according to which it is Vodafone's partner for broadband services in Greece.

* Forthnet, the largest privately-owned ISP in Greece, launched its based on LLU offers in early 2007, and is supposed to have covered about 50% of the Greek population by year end; however, the coverage wizard on its website has been accused of being inaccurate in its predictions since Forthnet often postpones availability in a telephone exchange from deadline to deadline. It currently covers districts of large cities and offers speeds up to 24/1 Mbit/s, however very few people are able to reach the 24 Mbit/s speed due to the nature of the ADSL2+ Network. It is also accused of using traffic shaping, making P2P applications hard or impossible to use.

* On Telecoms, a totally new entrant in the Greek telecoms market set up by Greek and Italian managers and entrepreneurs amongst which some of the founders of FASTWEB in Italy. On Telecoms launched its services in January 2007, using LLU as its last-mile medium. On Telecoms offers speeds up to 16/0,5 Mbit/s (As of 1/9/2007) . On Telecoms had been criticized for its policy against privacy; the router offered provided limited capabilities and many P2P programs could hardly/not work properly. However the company has provided its customers with a new firmware which has resolved those problems.
* [http://www.netone.gr Net One] , a new company which started offering 10/1 Mbit/s double play services in April 2007, now offering services up to 24/1 Mbit/s. NetOne had been very stable and functional, however their VoIP services are generally less popular than the traditional PSTN services offered by most other providers because the majority of users are not familiar with VoIP setup and/or they do not realize that even PSTN services are actually VoIP with a PSTN last mile conversion, and thus, they are as reliable and functional as VoIP native. In March 2008 Net One incorporated [http://www.algonet.gr Algonet] . Lately however, Net One gained more popularity due to the low prices and high advertisement, and they presumably ended up with more customers that they could cope with, resulting in poor technical support, dubious services and generic network instability. Net One's embarrassing position was again proven in May 2008, when the company lowered the MTU value, in a try to limit the network congestion. The MTU was eventually back to acceptable values in June 2008, but the company apparently suffers from a high load and poor department organization, having at least 4 months to send bills to their customers.

* Vodafone started offering ADSL full LLU access (up to 24/1) in October 2007 as a reseller of HOL's LLU infrastructure.

* Smaller companies also offer LLU services, but with limited coverage and uncompetitive prices.

Main Internet Providers (ISPs) through OTE's bitstream network

* Otenet, OTE's affiliate ISP.
* Forthnet (see above)
* Vivodi Telecom (see above)
* Hellas On Line (see above)
* Tellas (see above)
* [http://www.altectelecoms.gr Altec Telecoms]
* There are also other companies, such as Teledome, Lannet, Algonet, but very few people prefer them.

Mobile Broadband Access

Mobile Broadband offers are available from all three national mobile phone operators Cosmote, Vodafone Greece and Wind Hellas. Speeds for all three providers are up to 3.2 Mbit/s download (HSDPA) and 384 kbit/s upload.

atellite Broadband

Satellite services for remote areas are offered through the Hellas Sat satellite under the "Hellas Sat Net" brandname, OTE as one of the owners of Hellas Sat offers Hellas Sat Net service through its own distribution channels (website, shops etc.)The subscription packages either include a one-year commitment that is automatically renewed as unlimited time service after one year, or as a six-month limited subscription for "seasonal business" (as described on the oteshop website) that is not automatically renewed and must be re-applied for every time the user wants to activate it for six months.

The equipment costs 399,00€ and this amount together with the first month of subscription must be paid before activation, the equipment is installed by Hellas Sat accredited engineers and it includes a Satnet S3020 DVB - RCS VSAT Terminal (Advantech) satellite modem and a 0,96 m Antenna (satellite dish with transmitter receiver).

Hellas Sat Net connections are also used to interconnect public administration offices and schools in remote areas (mostly remote islands of the Aegean Sea) to the national administration network Syzefxis and to the internet.

This service is focused both to residential users and businesses with unlimited internet access packages starting at 39,99€/month.

External links

* [http://www.adslgr.com www.adslgr.com] - An independent review site for broadband in Greece