Internet in Greece

Internet access in Greece relied on PSTN/ISDN modem dial-up until 2003, when ADSL was commercially launched in Greece by incumbent operator OTE. ADSL is currently the main broadband standard. Greece also has 3G mobile broadband (HSPA) and a more expensive Satellite Internet access. Mobile broadband was heavily marketed during 2008 by Vodafone, Cosmote and Wind, leading to 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 2048/256, 4096/256, 8192/384 kbit/s and 24/1 Mbit/s. The last three speeds were added in May 2007 and December 2007 (24/1Mbit/s) and are available in selected areas (Greater Athens, Greater Thessaloníki and other major cities, mainly prefecture capitals), even though 4 Mbit/s do not require ADSL2+ infrastructure in order to work properly.

Customers can either subscribe only to 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 offers the freedom to change ISP whenever one likes (even every 2 months, while a bundled package has usually a 6 or 12 months' minimum contract length).

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

    * Vivodi Telecom, a private company utilizing LLU since 2003, partly covers Athens and Thessaloníki with its network at the moment. In the past it covered additional 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.

    * 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 to provide free national calls through their network, was 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.

    * 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 was 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.

In April 2009, On Telecoms joined forces with NetOne and Algonet.

    * 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 Algonet and these two joined with On Telecoms in April 2009.

    * 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.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/

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