Greece stunned by ADSL charges
Shocking
Posted in Telecoms, 11th April 2003 21:03 GMT
Increase your knowledge of the latest threats to your busines
Spare a thought for Net users in Greece. First the Government banned (temporarily) all computer games. Now, they've finally found out that they're about to get ADSL after waiting two years or so for incumbent telco, OTE, to complete its trial.
That's a bloody good reason for a party, no?
Unfortunately not.
Reg readers in Greece have written to say that the cost of the service is so high it's likely few people will be able to afford it.
Upfront charges start at around €130 (£90) with the monthly subscription for a 384kbps service running in at €55 (£38) a month. A 512kbps service costs €101 (£70).
Snag is, these prices are just for the copper wires and exclude sales tax. They also exclude any ISP services and their charges.
ISPs have yet to say how much they're going to add on, but early estimates suggest that the entry level 384kbps service could cost as much as €150 (£102) a month. And this in a country, where the average gross salary is a little over 80 per cent of the EU average, according to the European Commission.
Net users in Greece are stunned by the cost and are getting ready to voice their protest.
One reader told us: "First the law that forbid all arcade games since our government couldn't tell an illegal betting machine from asteroids and now … THIS!!!" ®
Related Stories
See what The Register's experts have to say on application security


The future of SaaS and IT infrastructure management
Essential archive requirements for eDiscovery
Image spam: the threat returns
The shortcut guide to managing certificate lifecycles

Win a Samsung C6625!
Is your cameraphone an oxymoron?
Windows 7, Bing and security: Mr Ballmer regrets
Sign up, sign up for The Register IT security newsletter