While Portugal has excellent internet coverage, there are still parts of the country where it isn’t possible to get fibre internet. This is typically in rural parts of the country but, surprisingly, you don’t have to go too rural to find places that don’t have access to fibre: sometimes you only need to be a few kilometres outside of a town (that has fibre) only to find that the fibre-optic cables have not been extended that far.
If this is the case, your main options will be satellite or 4G internet. Unfortunately, a lot of people only find out that they can’t get fibre internet after they rent or buy a property at which point all they can do is get satellite internet and wait for one of the telecoms companies to begin offering fibre in that area.
If you haven’t rented or purchased a property yet, be sure to use the form below so that you can see whether or not you can get fibre at a particular address.
Now, in the unfortunate event that you’re unable to get fibre, your next best option is usually satellite or 4G internet. This is currently available with MEO and NOS: Vodafone doesn’t currently offer 4G home internet.
Fernando Mendes, a Portuguese telecommunications expert, explains exactly what 4G internet is:
“When we talk about satellite or 4G internet, we’re talking about receiving internet via a satellite. This is different to the satellite dishes used for TVs. 4G internet or satellite internet is the same as having a 4G data sim card and putting it in a router with unlimited traffic. Obviously, the speed isn’t as good as fibre, and that’s understandable.
“In terms of speed, most operators will tell you that the speeds go up to 40 Mbps. However, when I tell clients what they can expect, I’m very down to earth and in reality you get an average of 10-15 GBPs. You have to be in a really good location to get more than that on a 4G connection.”
Of course, the big question everyone has is will it be enough?
“You can survive on it,” says Fernando. “You won’t have a problem having one person on it using YouTube and other streaming services but if you start to add more people, it might not be enough. Unfortunately, if you’re in a rural area and there’s no fibre available, that’s unfortunately all that’s available.
And what about Spacex’s Starlink, Elon Musk’s internet project? That is certainly another option and is different to the 4G internet services offered by MEO, NOS, and Vodafone. According to Fernando, who doesn’t work with Starlink, responses have been mixed: some people have reported faster internet than 4G solutions and others have reported worse speeds.
Next Steps
So what happens if a client can only get 4G. Is it a case or simply signing up with MEO or NOS?
“If we look into it and I find that a client only has 4G internet available, what I tell people to do is get a MEO and a NOS data sim card, a PAYG or prepaid sim card that can access the internet, and to top it up with a few Euros. The next step is to run a speed test to see which of the providers offers better speeds.”
To run a speed test, you will need to insert the sim card into your phone and then use a speed testing site such as speedtest.net to see which offers the better signal. Fernando also recommends that you do the speed test at various times of the day. The best speeds are usually in the morning but the worst speeds are going to be in the evening, after dinner. So, if you test it then, you’ll get a good idea of what your worst speeds are. Fernando also points out that bad weather and storms can affect the internet, so try to run your speed test when there isn’t a storm or torrential rain.
“One option that MEO has over NOS is that if a house has thick stone walls, MEO will authorise the technicians to put an exterior router on the outside of the property. This means the sim card is on the outside of the property, meaning it’ll get a better signal, and then they hardwire a cable into the property.
Improving the signal further
Fernando Mendes recommends that if you only have 4G internet, you physically plug an ethernet cable from the router into the computer in order to get the best speeds. That way you’ll get the full speed available.
He also recommends you put the router in the room where you’re going to use the internet most. While some engineers put the router in the middle of the house, such as the hall, most people don’t spend a lot of time there. It usually makes sense to put it in an office, if you work from home, or for most people, in the living room.
If you want to spread the network throughout the property, using a Mesh network or powerlines, can help improve the signal. According to Google, “a mesh network is a group of connectivity devices, such as Wi-Fi routers that act as a single network, so there are multiple sources of connectivity around your house instead of just a single router.”
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