Internet in Spain

This articles is about Internet in Spain.

ADSL arrived in Spain in 1999.

Fixed lines

The main ISPs are:

• movistar - Former state telecom monopoly
• Vodafone - ADSL and VoIP provider
• Orange - Formerly Wanadoo, the Internet branch of Uni2
• Ya.com - Started by Jazztel, bought by Deutsche Telekom later sold to Orange.
• Jazztel - The first ISP to provide ADSL2+ throughout the country.
• Ono - Spain's first cable Internet/telephone and TV provider.

The most common speed in Spain is 10 Mbit/s as it is the default offer from movistar, the main broadband supplier in the country. Clients of other DSL companies usually have higher speeds sold as "Máxima velocidad" (maximum speed) or "Hasta 20 megas" (up to 20 Mbit/s); in those offers the speed of the connexion depends of the quality of the line (length of the wire, attenuation, noise) as those speeds are just at the limit of the ADSL2+ technology. Jazztel gets better results with its "Hasta 30 megas" (up to 30 Mbit/s) because that connection works with VDSL. In opposition to those unguaranteed offers, Ono, the main cable provider, sells its connections as "x megas reales" (x true Mbps).

The highest speeds can be obtained from Ono with 50 Mbit/s and 100 Mbit/s through coaxial cable with DOCSIS 3.0 and in some areas, symmetric 100 Mbit/s with FTTH.

In some rural areas, wireless technologies (WIMAX, LMDS, Satellite, HSDPA, ...) are used to provide wired-like services, the main provider of these services is Iberbanda (a Telefónica subsidiary like movistar).

Some facts

• Virtually all wired connections are unmetered.
• Almost every single broadband line comes with free calls to landlines within Spain.
• Some offers include limited calls to mobile phones.
• movistar, Ono and Jazztel offer traditional landlines while Vodafone, Orange and Ya.com offer VoIP landlines (their routers usually reinject the voice to the client previous installation).
• movistar, Ono and Orange are the main providers offering TV packages with their broadband.

Mobile lines

There are three 2G (GSM) networks, four 3G (UMTS, HDSPA, HSUPA, etc...) networks and LTE networks are being deployed. Nearly the 100% of Spain is covered by at least UMTS.

The main providers are:

• movistar - Former state telecom monopoly
• Vodafone
• Orange - Formerly Wanadoo, the internet branch of Uni2.
• Yoigo - movistar network for GSM and in areas without own network.
• Simyo - Orange network.
• Pepephone - Vodafone network.

The use of those networks for Internet is very important due to the high penetration of smartphones and Internet on the phone in Spain. People usually use flat rates for Internet with limits depending on the price, once that limit is overpassed, the speed falls from ~7 Mbit/s to ~128 kbit/s (depending on the provider) or the client pays for the extra amount of data downloaded.

The use of USB devices for computers to connect to these networks is also common and some fixed broadband providers offer them for free or at low cost for use on holidays.