(edit title) Telia's mobile internet Coverage and data usage Options

[HannahSwain]

So I decided to move to Sweden. I have a job waiting for me and it looks like I've even managed to find an apartment on the outskirts of Stockholm. All is good, except for one thing: this apartment doesn't have internet and it's a six month contract.

I've been advised to look into Telia's mobile internet (mobil broadband). I see that there are maximum speeds and data limits.

Does anyone have any experience using these? Are the speeds quoted actually reached in most places? What kind of data bundle do you end up needing, using a laptop? (I realize that I'll probably have to let go of my love of Spotify for a while).

Does anybody know if an actual normal internet connection from Telia is a year or a month contract?

Any information is appreciated!

[BritVik]

If your Swedish is any good, the URL below will put you right. You can look at the nykund, or new customer for info.
In the main, Telia is now on 4G with high figures quoted, but lower in reality, depending on where you are related to their mast. The figures are for reception outdoors, and depending on where you are to live, you can consult the coverage map which, when you zoom in on your location will tell you whether you will get 3G or 4G. Speeds vary from 2 - 10 MB/s but not being a Spotify merchant I cannot answer for that one.

http://www.telia.se/privat/mobilt-bredband...nnemang/nykund/

http://www.telia.se/privat/mobilt-bredband/meromtackning/

[byke]

Wasn't 4g suspended the other day due to technical problems?

[Johno]

Not quite clear whether you are in Sweden yet and have a PN. Since Britvk found useful links (success where I found Telia site either froze my browser or the links didn't work), just note the first 2 modems are payg and the better ones are "Usb-modem ingår vid 18 månaders bindning". Answering your contract question. The other pages with conditions, FAQs I couldn't get to.

[BritVik]

Wasn't 4g suspended the other day due to technical problems?

Down on the 4th, back on the 7th - and they said they knew not why it went out. But they must have done/found something to get it back again. Weird. Now the 'ups and downs' are lower, so maybe whatever caused the problem is still lurking in the wings.

[byke]

I often use Telia, and must say their service sucks.
When using a hard wired 100mb fiber line, I often get huge fluctuations in speeds and data pulsing. According to 1 Telia technician I spoke to, Telia is over subscribed and pays a minimum rate for data lines line outside of Sweden which has led numerous times for 3rd party suppliers to limit data going to Sweden. And allows Telia to tell its customers that any data or servers from outside of Sweden has nothing to do with them (which is a joke)

I have also found that contacting Telia results in sweet FA.
You may aswell just ignore the problems until it fixes itself.
And while it's not too common for Telia to go down completely, it is common for severe crippling of services to continue for weeks on end until they get around to fixing it.

And as for customer support .... LOL - I kid you not when I say that waiting close to an hour for such has not been uncommon.

But the icing on the cake, is the fact that they often outsource their lines to other Internet suppliers.
Meaning that even if you have the chance to use another provider you could find you are stuck with the the same issues regardless.

[Gordy]

For the last few years 3 (tre.se) and Telenor have been voted the best for mobile broadband.

I don't think any of the companies will give you a contract until you have been here more than 8 months as you will have no credit history for them to check (but no harm in you asking them, things may have changed)

That probably means you will be stuck with PAYG and the last time I checked Telia's PAYG prices and data caps were just silly, better to check 3 or Telenor.

I use 3 myself and am happy with the service, I just use a phone sim and use my phone as a hotspot you get free internet for a month when you top up for 200kr, otherwise it is 299kr per month on a PAYG mobile broadband sim.

[byke]

I think telenor still outsource their Internet to Telia, which means you can still expect the same problems.

[HannahSwain]

Just for the record, as an EU citizen with the permission to stay already in my pocket, I'm thinking getting a PN shouldn't be hard - at least from everything I've been hearing. But that's a whole different discussion and under control for the moment.

Thanks for all the feedback on the Telia network (and Telenor). It looks like it's going to be a painful situation no matter how I look at it.

Does anyone have any experience with the actual mobile internet (via a usb dongle) and the amount of data used? One friend has already told me that he had a 10GB data package but due to spotty service, he almost never managed to use all of it.

[BritVik]

The attached file will give an idea of Telia's 4G broadband, as tested via Bredbandskollen.se through March and April. Their adverts said "Now you get super speed - up to 40MB/s." Well, maybe someone somewhere has achieved this, but these figures relate to my home, about 1,2km from their Sjöris mast, and the times I did the test are shown also. In all fairness I must say that my house is just behind a very low hill, and were I to go down the road about 50m I could see the mast. But reception is nonetheless somewhat erratic, and not wholly due to the time of day. But then - I have no choice, and with the mast belonging to Telia, no other ISP could give me better figures I am sure. A disadvantage of living rurally I fear.
Anyway - these are definite facts, for my locality, so make of them what you will.

[Gordy]

Do you have an external antenna Britvik?

You could try something like this yagi antenna which will pull in a stronger signal for you and may help things.

If you do, let us know how you get on as I am considering to go with 4G from Telenor when I move house later in the year.

[BritVik]

To be honest, I wouldn't know how to 'wire' such an antenna in. My modem is Telias, an LTE-4G USB, (dongle type), connected by cable - for convenience sake so that it is located up in a window opening - to a dorado 4G WiFi router, and nowhere on either item is there any means of connecting such an external antenna. The idea sounds very good, but the application would appear to be non-existent. So on that score I doubt I shall be going down that road. But thanks for the idea at least. Maybe someone else, or even you yourself, will know a bit more than this very ancient Brit.

[Gordy]

I had a look on the Telia website and I assume you have a ZTE MF820D dongle as that is the only one listed for 4G, doing a bit of Googling this doesn't have an external antenna socket.

There is another type of antenna that can be used with dongles which don't have a connector where the connector simply wraps around the dongle, you can see what I mean here it's a good bit more expensive and I honestly can't say how much of an improvement it will give you, but it might be worth a punt or at least google around to see if you can find something similar that is not as expensive.

[byke]

I am not sure that a god reception even gives a good internet service.

I have a telenor account, on my iPhone 4S and even with full bars in central Stockholm I experience great delays in pages opening and sporadic general trafic overall. Again, if you use a company like Telenor (who I believe outsource their net trafic to Telia and Telia lines) you still run large risks of poor service, irrespective of network interference.

[Bender B Rodriquez]

The number of bars only tell how close to a base station you are. If the base station is under-dimensioned the traffic will be slow anyway.

Telenor, Telia and Tele2 all have their own GSM networks, but they also roam each others networks.
For UMTS, Telia and Tele2 are building a joint network while Telenor and HI3G have a separate one.