"Dear all, Just being a simple Internet user and due recent deterioration and inaction of Qwerty services as internet provider+TV, many thanks to advise , basis your expertise or experience, which Internet provider you may recommend being reliable and able to act quickly when transmission or access problems arise.
Herve" >"stream" works great for us. I have to agree. Stream is probably the best solution and its available in large parts of the city. I have used various providers in the past years. While some of the smaller providers offer faster speeds than stream for less money, they charge you for traffic and depending on what you do, you may end up with a huge bill. Especially if you use filesharing or Internet TV. Stream is usually setup within a week (one of these wonders in Russia) and pretty easy to configure. Unfortunately all instructions are only in Russian, but they send someone (for extra $) to do that for you. Currently they offer a 6 MBps downstream (loading) with 1MBps upstream (sending) for about $3o/month with unlimited traffic. They also offer cheaper packages for about $10-20/month, but I feel the 6 MBps package is the best value. You can check availability on their site and make an order, but you'll have to sign some docs at their office at one point. You also need to know who registered the phone connection in your apartment. They accept foreign passports, even if you are not the owner of the apartment or the person who registered the phone (landline). The best, you can pay for your service on many ATM's throughout the city, just as NTV or for your cellphone. As an alternative you can check your wireless connections. Maybe you have a Golden Wi-Fi hotspot in your neighborhood. That would be 500 Rub/month for unlimited traffic, but its much slower than Stream. You can buy the card at many kiosks or in the phone shops. Be careful when you sign up, don't choose the 100 Rub/per hour plan. The sign-up page is initially in Russian, but they have an English version of the page (upper right) and cabinet. Golden Wi-Fi is available in many locations throughout the city. In fact it is the largest Wi-Fi network worldwide (they claim). You can use the internet on any Golden Wi-Fi hotspot in the city, which is good when you are on meetings somewhere. Usually hotspots are close to metro stations. The problem is the connection. The hotspots are strong in sending signals and you may pick one up, but your Wireless card is not strong enough to send its signal back. Besides, you often have service outages (usually, when you really need it) and often the hotspots are slow and seem not to accept anymore connections (since too many people are logged in). Still its serves me as a backup connection. You cab sign-up online, but you'll have to go out and buy a card. They accept Golden Wi-Fi cards and ROL Internet cards. Hope that helped a bit and gave you some insights. Chris _______________________________________________ Expat mailing list [email protected] http://www.lists.ru/mailman/listinfo/expat http://www.expat.ru/forum/
