Internet in Estremadura (Leiria - Tomar)

Hi there

Details follow, but broadly speaking, the picture is positive if you're in any kind of settlement, one way or another - but experiences vary hugely, partly based on networks (and people often don't like to shop around, so can get locked in...=

Firstly - for clarity, because terminology can be different - there are two main options:

1 - Broadband, generally referred to here as fibra, redes de alta velocidade, ADSL

You can check pretty accurate details of coverage, using a property's postcode, on the sites of the three providers, Vodafone, MEO and NOS (NOWO exists in some areas, too).  They may need you to put in a phone number, which is a little annoying...  There is also this map, which shows the main hubs:

https://www.kredito.pt/blog/mapa-de-cobertura-de-fibra-2021/

and it seems broadly right.

In simple terms, fibre broadband tends to cover the centres of communities, and may not cover outlying villages, suburbs, and almost certaintly won't touch remote properties.  Whilst some people moan about being prepared to pay €xx per month, the costs of expanding coverage are not justifiable by the income from 1 or 2 people, so the rapid expansion is likely still to focus on cities, towns and villages, not remote settlements.

Where you do have fibre, speeds are mostly dictated by the package you choose, which will itself vary by coverage.  We've found, for example, that Vodafone is very consistent in providing what it says, starting at 100 Mbps and going up to 1 Gbps and beyond

However, the next bit may help.

2 - Mobile data, often unhelpfully called "banda larga", accessed using hotspots

This is the usual solution here, if you're not on broadband.  Some rural communities have excellent data coverage (note that this is not always the same as mobile coverage, you can have better data than voice...) with speeds in excess of 30 Mbps which is great for Netflix, home working (even for companies with special software), etc.

Your friend for this is here:

https://anacom.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=ad3f71dbb09541518f436aa828feb28e

It's maintained by the Communications Regulator, and its traffic light system is helpful.  It's helped people we know, as you can pretty much tell exactly where is good, bad or indifferent.

Vodafone has just recently started doing a €15 for 15 days for unlimited data on their Hotspot (which costs around €45-50, sometimes with some data/days thrown in).  If you have a good signal, this is very competitive.

Oh this is fantastic! Thank you so much for the information.

The map showing data coverage in particular is really helpful.

My main worry was that the towns and cities might well have fibre but then outside of them there would be sparse data coverage. That doesn't look to be the case around Leiria & Tomar.

Thanks again

I live in Alcobaça which is a similar sized town to Tomar and we have good fibre optic internet (over 100mbps) with Nos. However I live in the actual town ans know people who live in the surrounding villages who have mixed coverage. If you're planning to live in a village I'd ask the neighbours there to get a better idea.

Thank you Pam. Thats interesting to know. Its starting to become clear that fibre only exists in towns/cities and outside of them its going to be more likely 4G data, Vodaphone in particular seem to have decent data coverage almost the entire way from Leiria to Tomar and beyond.

Its potentially going to be a bit of a gamble when we are renting almost blind for the first year but hopefully we can get enough information about the internet access in the area before we commit to renting.

Thanks again!