Broadband

[Davy]

Hi Everybody
Looking at moving out to Calabria, probably Scalea, late this year. I do a lot of articles for both UK and US publishers so I need decent broadband access both for sending and receiving copy and for a lot of research. What's the situation on English language ISPs in Calabria. Il mio Italiano non es bene!
Cheers
Davy

[Dermot Brophy]

Hello, Davy.

My broadband solution works quite well for me in San Nicola. I have a portable USB "dongle" modem from the service provider 3. As 3 has a presence in the area, it works quite well. I have used it for ordinary emails, and also for sending copy to a newspaper in Ireland. The file sizes would not be huge - Word docs of about 1000 - 1500 words, very rarely including photos.

In all honesty, it is not without the odd drop-out, but by and large it works for me.

I'm sure other providers have similar services - Vodaphone, is there, as well as the indigenous ones like TIM, Wind etc.

There is also a pretty good "electronic office" service in Scalea itself.

Best of luck

Dermot

[melanie1]

Hi,

If you are living in the centre of Scalea then you will get broadband easily and fast, if you are on the outskirts then you will need a portable thingy.

We have had both when we lived there. If you need a portable thingy try the 3 shop in Scalea, but it is worth seeing if you can get a stong signal in your place first before signing up to the contract.

Hope this helps

Mel

[falcon]

Hello,

To be honest considering what you will be doing, you should really get a good connection from Telecom Italia. As Lynn says, if you are in the centre you will get a decent connection but where I am in Poggio Fiorito on the outskirts, it was not reliable except for the high varying bills so had to get rid of in the end.
I now rely on the 3 Broadband with dongle . The signal is very strong where I am however as has been said, drop outs are more common than normal in the UK. It seems as if the dongle here is very popular and at peak times especially, I have been down to 100b/s which is just about old dial-up rate. For what its worth HSDPA connections (7.2Mb/s) are also available here so if you go that way, make sure you get the latest dongles like the E169 from 3Italia. Please remember that whatever the capacity of the equipment, there is no guarantee that you will get anywhere near those speeds. 1-2Mb/s if lucky is what you will get.

I would still strongly recommend a wired connection however as it can become quite frustrating if the connection is slow. E-mail is fine for most part but any decent size file can be slow. Vodaphone do a free broadband connection if you have one of their contracts and a home phone. Also Tiscali also used to do a connections but not sure if they are still going.