I am travelling to Faro in Portugal tomorrow. I am looking to sign up
with an Internet Service Provider in Portugal which I can use with my
Apple Mac laptop with 56 k modem.

My requirements are:
- That I can sign up for the service online (or over the phone if they
speak English)
- That the service has 56k connections in Faro or thereabouts
- That I can use my regular Internet software to dialup... no enormous
cumbersome downloads
- That the charges are sensible... in other words something like 30
Euros (£20 GBP) for a month's access with no further charges. Or
perhaps some telephone charges, but very low. I wouldn't like to pay
more than a cent or two extra per minute on telephone charges.

Please don't say "sign up with AOL" or any of that stuff, because with
that kind of service I'm bound to come up against big fees..  plus
their software takes over the whole computer.

I'm hoping you'll be able to direct me towards the exact webpage on a
site where I can sign up now, or else an English- speaking phone line
or some way of signing up by e-mail.

Thanks for your time - please make your recommendation ASAP!

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Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 02 Aug 2002 23:00 PDT

Hi
Would you be interested in one of these free internet connections? You
just get charged for the time you use online. On their webpage you
would have to sign up and I saw that you can setup the connection by
yourself because they give you the phone number, and the 2 DNS
numbers.You also get a webmail account.
Price €0,114 for the first 60 seconds; 
Price per minute after the first minute: €0,020 normal and €0,0095
economic;
Normal: daytime from 9h-21h. 
Período Económico: the rest of the time.

---

Clarification of Question by horseradish-ga on 02 Aug 2002 23:47 PDT

Thanks for your response. I'm specifically looking for one where I pay
a flat fee and then get unlimited calls. But if there is nothing like
that in Portugal then I suppose I would go for the option you
describe.

---

Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 02 Aug 2002 23:51 PDT

I saw one that you apy the month and you also have to pay phone charges.

---

Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 03 Aug 2002 00:01 PDT

Hi
Would you be interested in this?

- 56k connection
- 50 mb e-mail
- €15,21 a month, tax included

You would also have to pay extra phone charges:

First minute : € 0,08
Normal : 9h – 18h – € 0,02 / minute
Economic : 18h - 9h – € 0,01 / minute
Weekends and Holidays : 0h – 24h - € 0,01 / minute

---

Clarification of Question by horseradish-ga on 03 Aug 2002 01:35 PDT

Bobbie

For some reason I can't reply to you but I can add this clarification.
Yes, the second option is of interest to me.

Can you help get me signed up to the service right away... and can you
provide me with assurance that those prices are going to be accurate
for Faro where I'll be situated...?

thanks.

ps we're leaving in about an hour so if you're around it would be good
to finalise this now!

Hi Horseradish,

Thank you for your question.

I searched for flat rate connections as you requested, and I’m
including 2 more Dial-up ISP´s that I mentioned in my clarification.

Portugal Telecom has a webpage about their flat rate connections, but
I don’t think it works anymore. They say the flat-rate connections  
will  be launched in December 2000, and that you can pre-apply for it.
The prices aren’t in euros either.
http://www.telecom.pt/flatrate/

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Oninet Premium
http://premium.oninet.pt/
- 56k connection
- 50 mb e-mail
- €15,21 a month, tax included

You would also have to pay extra phone charges:

First minute : € 0,08
Normal : 9h – 18h – € 0,02 / minute
Economic : 18h - 9h – € 0,01 / minute
Weekends and Holidays : 0h – 24h - € 0,01 / minute


Register online
http://registopremium.oninet.pt/

Scroll down to the bottom right side of the page and press “continuar”

Then you’ll see the agreement and if you accept, press “aceito”

Then they’re offering you voice service, (I´m not sure what that is,
but they charge extra) so just press “nao”

Fill out email registration:
Primeiro Nome = First Name
Último Nome = Last Name
E-mail – write your e-mail name
Nif = Password ( only numbers)
Then press “Criar”


Signup: Fill out form and press “seguinte” 


-------------------------------------------------------------------

Sapo Livre
http://livre.sapo.pt/

This is a free internet connection. You are only charged for the time
you spend online. In addition you receive a webmail account.

Prices
http://livre.sapo.pt/tarifario2.html

Sign up here:
http://netbi.sapo.pt/access/create_mgr.html?rs=http://acesso.sapo.pt/

Set up connection:
Internet access phone number: 67 1715 000
Servers Primary DNS 194.65.3.20 
Servers secondary DNS 194.65.5.2 
News server  news.telepac.pt 
IRC server   telepac.ptnet.org 
Proxy No

E-mail setup for POP3 
Outgoing Mail server (SMTP): mx.sapo.pt
Incoming Mail Server (POP3): pop.sapo.pt
http://livre.sapo.pt/faqs.html


Price per second after the first minute; 
Initial price €0,114 for first 60 seconds; 
Price after the first minute: 
€0,020 normal 
€0,0095 economic 
Normal: Monday – Friday 9h-21h. 
Economic: Nights, weekends and holidays.
Prices
http://livre.sapo.pt/tarifario.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Search Criteria:
Internet  access Portugal

I hope you find this information useful. Have a great trip!

Best regards, 
Bobbie7-ga

P.S. If you have any questions, I´ll be online to help out.

---

Request for Answer Clarification by horseradish-ga on 03 Aug 2002 03:13 PDT

Hi

I'm having big problems signing up with both of those because they
request so much personal information - eg addresses, telephone numbers
of the outgoing phone lines - that I simply do not have.

would you be able/ willing to guide me through this or find a way to
actually get signed up to one of these companies?

---

Clarification of Answer by bobbie7-ga on 03 Aug 2002 08:32 PDT

Hi
I just registed in Sapo Livre. The registration process was very fast.
You only have to fill in the forms where the space is marked with this
*
I will write out the details and post them in 10 minutes.

---

Clarification of Answer by bobbie7-ga on 03 Aug 2002 08:56 PDT

Sapo Livre is my choice for you. They don’t require a large amount of
information from you to register.
http://netbi.sapo.pt/access/create_mgr.html?rs=http://acesso.sapo.pt/
On this page just fill in the following: 

*Nome Próprio: = First Name
*Apelido(s): = Last Name
*Data de Nascimento:  = Date Of Birth  (Day Month Year)  
*Sexo:    Masculino  Feminino  = Male Female
Scroll down  and press “seguinte”

New Page
Password Recovery    
*Pergunta Secreta: = Secret Question
*Resposta Secreta: = Secret Answer    
*Confirmação da Resposta:   Confirm Secret Answer
press “seguinte” (next)

New Page
Choose an e-mail address:
Sugestões: = Suggestions 
Scroll down the drop down box where it says sugestoes.
Choose an email account.
Then where it says Password pretendida, write your password.
It must contain between 6 and 20 letters or numbers     
Press seguinte.
Congratulations your account in Sapo is activated!!!
Print out that page.
It contains all revelant information for your connection.
User name 
Password
Email
Internet access phone number
The 2 DNS numbers for your connection
and, Sapo Livre contact info

Good Luck
Bobbie

Bobbie7 has written a very complete answer.  I just thought I would
add this resource, in case others are looking for ISPs around the
world.  Since the answer provided by Bobbie7 provides the desired
solution, I have not researched these ISPs further.

Here were the ISPs listed for Portugal with 56K dial-up access:
http://www.EUnet.pt/
http://www.expernet.pt/
http://www.netway.pt/
http://www.sonet.pt/
http://home.telepac.pt/
http://www.vianetworks.pt/
http://www.vpm.com/  
(Note: English makes vpm.com easy to read, but, the fees are not
favorable)


Portugal (351) ISPs
http://thelist.internet.com/countrycode/351/

USA, Canada, and International ISP Lookup
http://thelist.internet.com/

Using Google's translation tool can help one find their bearings
://www.google.com/language_tools