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OTE ADSL (BITSTREAM ACCESS)


The Greek incumbent telecoms operator, OTE , which was not the first operator to launch ADSL services in the country, has been accused of deliberately stalling ADSL deployment since 2001, in order to continue charging users with high per-minute dial-up charges for as long as possible (flat-rate dial-up connections do not exist in Greece). OTE has also been criticized for artificially limiting the number of packets passing per second through an ADSL line, thus making VoIP services over its broadband network unusable and unreliable. This, in conjunction to OTE's high phone rates, is thought to be an effort, however illegal, to protect OTE's dwindling landline market share.

Typical download/upload speeds available over OTE's network are 768/192, 1024/256, 2048/256, 4096/256 and 8192/384 kbit/s. The two later speeds were only added in May 2007, and are available to selected areas (only in Athens, Thessaloníki and few other cities at the moment), even thought 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. 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).

In July 2007, OTE announced a combination package of both Internet Access and unlimited national calls. However, the speeds are lower than other ISPS' (especially the upload, max 384K) , the prices are not competitive, and the unlimited calls are only within OTE's own telephony network (calls to other provider's numbers are charged).


LOCAL LOOP UNBUNDLING


Faster data rates and lower prices can be found thanks to Local Loop Unbundling (LLU). The main providers of LLU services are:

  • Vivodi Telecom , a private company utilizing LLU since 2003, partly covers four (4) major cities (Athens, Thessaloníki, Patra, Herakleion) at the moment, but intends to keep only its activitities in Athens. Vivodi offers triple play services based on ADSL2+, with speeds up to 20 Mbit/s, VoIP telephony and digital television. The company is currently testing Quadruple Play .


  • Tellas , an affiliate of WIND (Italy) , offers ADSL through its LLU network in districts of Athens and Thessaloniki, with speeds up to 4/0,5 Mbit/s. Tellas, which was the first one to provide free national calls through their network, has been now severely criticized for taking advantage of the 12-month contracts in order to keep their prices high and uncompetitive.


  • Hellas On Line , owned by the Greek-Russian network equipment manufacturer Intracom, offers up to 20/1 Mbit/s ADSL2+ connections in Athens. 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.


  • 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. It currently covers districts of the two biggest cities and offers speeds up to 24/0,5 Mbit/s.


  • 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 has been criticized for its policy against privacy; the router offered provides limited capabilities and many P2P programs can hardly/cannot work properly.


  • Net One , a new company which started offering 10/1 Mbit/s services in April 2007.




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)

  • Altec Telecoms , a small but innovative ISP.

  • There are also other companies, such as Teledome, Lannet, Algonet, but very few people prefer them.



VODAFONE RESIDENTIAL OFFERS AND VODAFONE ADSL


In June 2006 Vodafone and Hellas Online announced an agreement according to which the known cellular operator will be reselling HOL's ADSL services to its cellular subscribers.

This agreement includes simple ADSL connections which require an OTE fixed line (see below for prices), but also "Vodafone 3 in 1", a new program, that combines a Vodafone cellular subscription, a "Vodafone for the House" subscription (a fixed phone that works on Vodafone's cellular network) and a Hellas Online ADSL connection (up to 12 Mbit/s). The cost of "Vodafone 3 in 1" is 30 euros plus the cost of the cellular subscription.


COST


The following prices are for unlimited Internet access (without fair usage policies).
There are also packages with limits, but they are often more expensive than the unlimited ones

ADSL subscriptions over an OTE's fixed line (add about 15 €/month for the line)

naked ADSL over full LLU (no OTE line required)

Double Play (no OTE line required)

Triple Play (no OTE line required)

''All above prices include VAT.''


EXTERNAL LINKS


www.adslgr.com - An independent review site for broadband in Greece