3G & Wi-Fi Internet in Greece

Internet access whilst travelling in Greece has improved dramatically.

Returning from a recent trip with ‘Peter Sommer Travels’ to the eastern Aegean. I made a point of researching cheap and effective ways of maintaining reliable Internet access whilst on the move. In my previous post

g3 Mobile Internet Access with Wind. I’d researched an effective pay-as-you-go method of using Mobile broadband in Greece.

There were some down sides namely the initial cost of buying a ‘Wind’ mobile broadband stick at €90 however its frequently recommended by their staff to use an unlocked broadband stick and use their pay-as-you-go cards that can be found in most shops.

In reality if you don’t have an unlocked mobile broadband stick the cost of the ‘Wind’ stick is not only expensive it’s not always easy to get hold of outside Athens. Walking into their local shop in Vathi (Capital of Samos Island) I was informed that it would have to be ordered from Athens and would take a couple of days.

Currently ‘Wind’ is the only pay-as-you-go mobile broadband service in Greece without a contract. Walking three doors down to the Vodafone.gr shop around the corner I was offered the same service with a €66 charge for the stick with a 2 year contract. At the ‘Prova Café Bar’ yards away from both shops, they have Wi-Fi Internet access for €2.50 per hour (Using a Wi-Fi code) there are no banks of computers out the back as you’re expected to bring your own. Looking around I could see I was not alone using my Laptop.

Returning to Pythagorea by taxi €14 my driver was a fountain of knowledge, every Modern Greek is a techno geek apparently. The government in Greece are implementing public Wi-Fi hotspots in every town; the local government on the island need only implement this free Wi-Fi program. According to the taxi driver, ‘Connex’ are the current service provider for the nationwide scheme and the default Wi-Fi code to log on is 1234567890-123 or 4 I never got the opportunity to test this myself so I’d welcome any input from others.

During my trip visiting the Islands of Samos, Patmos, Leros, Kos and eventually Bodrum on the Turkish coast. I was able to pick up 4 -5 Wi-Fi signals from our Gullet within every harbour. Many were labelled with a bars name that could be found with ease. It’s only a matter of selecting a bar paying the €2.50 minimum charge and reading your emails at leisure.

Finding myself without full-time Internet access left me with time to explore and reduce my tendency to surf. I found myself considerably reassured that there was reliable Internet access on the move as long as I had my own Laptop. The down side is the reliable Wi-Fi access is only available where you find competing bars for your service.

3G does have its advantages with its much broader internet coverage than Wi-Fi hotspots so a combined use of both services will provide maximum possible coverage in Greece.