Algarve - Quinta do Lago - Blackberry and ADSL Access

There are three 3G operators broadband operators in Portugal, all of whom offer blackberry service.

www.vodafone.pt
www.tmn.pt
www.optimus.pt

Vodafone is probably your best option in terms of service and coverage.. However, you will need to make sure your existing Blackberry is unlocked so that it can take a Vodafone Portugal/TMN/Optimus SIM.

See this link:

http://forums.crackberry.com/f34/how-can-i-use-italian-blackberry-portugal-14060/

As regards, ADSL, I am based in the Western Algarve but to the best of my knowledge there is only one landline operator providing ADSL access into the Almancil/QDL area. This is PT. This would make their SAPO brand the cheapest ADSL access.

See:

http://www.telecom.pt/InternetResource/PTSite/UK/

http://adsl.sapo.pt

Alternatively, depending on the volume of traffic you use, you may find that 3G Broadband HSPDA dongle modem access over the mobile phone network to be an alternative.

The three operators above offer these options. Note Optimus offers such a service under the Kanguru brand.

Phone and Internet - Rural Areas - Algarve

Services like Meo are currently usually only available in large towns where there are suitably equipped exchanges.

For example here in Lagos, the main exchange in town is equipped but the one covering Meia Praia where I live is not!

Most telecoms contracts in Portugal are for a minimum period of a year with the exception of Pay As you Go services for both mobile phones and low-speed mobile broadband offered by the three mobile operators TMN, Vodafone and Optimus/Kanguru.

You mention that you moving to the Odemira Area. Be warned! Unless you are within 5km of an equipped exchange you will be unable to get any reasonable quality broadband Internet over the landline. Worse still, if the phone lines are overhead as most are in rural areas be prepared for sign degradation and modem burn out if there is lightening around.

Finally, you should be aware that broadband over the mobile network will only work in places where there is line of site to a 3G equipped mobile phone mast. In the Odemira area with its hills, it is quite likely, from experience, this will not be an option. The only way to test it is to get someone with the necessary kit to test it before you buy. Do not buy without testing as the shops will say anything to make a sale.

You may find you will be tied to a PT landline, which is the only real landline option in rural areas and a slow dial-up Internet connection.

I know nothing about mobile broadband

Question from Oman:

I know nothing about mobile broadband, so this may be a daft question! Does it work over normal mobile phone networks, 3G (whatever and wherever that is) or wifi - such as internet cafes etc??

Answer:

Not a daft question! Yes, mobile broadband operates over the mobile phone network but only where the system supports what is called a 3G service. It is not wifi which only usually works in a small radius.

Essentially, you have a modem which plugs into your laptop, (usually via a usb port), and you plug a normal mobile phone sim card into the modem and away you go.

You can use it anywhere there is 3G coverage over the mobile phone network.

This may mean, however, that service can be patchy.

In South Africa, I understand coverage is restricted to the main population belts even though there is mobile phone coverage nationally.

Here in Portugal, we have about 95% coverage, the main constraint being that people in places, such as steep valleys, where there is no "line of sight" coverage, cannot get reception.

In Oman, Oman mobile offer the C 120 modem with the following specs:

- 3.5G 7.2 Mbps Downlink Ready
- Plug and play (No installation CD required)
- Quad Band
- Support Windows and MAC Operating Systems

They say there is national coverage but me suspects that in some of the mountains down south near Salalah this may encounter the same problems I mentioned above.

Nawras also offer mobile broadband here:

http://www.nawras.om/nawras_promotions_overview.shtml

However, their coverage is not as great as claimed by Oman Mobile.

Ubuntu 8.0.4 (Hardy) - Broadcom Wifi Problem.

I run 64 bit Ubuntu on an Acer Aspire 4310 with Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01) wifi onboard.

I had hellish trouble getting it to work under Ubuntu 7.10 but finally did.

Last Friday I upgraded the machine to Ubuntu 8.0.4 (Hardy). All went well except once again the Broadcom wifi refused to connect to my wifi network with WPA. The network manager applet accessible on the top menu bar shows that my local wifi network is there. However, it does not connect automatically. When I click on the wifi network, the applet pops up asking me for the network key. I enter this and set it to TKIP.

I have managed to connect a couple of times on Saturday but since then nothing. The applet justs shows two grey balls trying to connect. (See image below. Click to enlarge.)



The mouse tip shows the following comment:

"Waiting for Network Key for the wireless network"

I have tried to follow the instructions from various posts including trying to install the new Broadcom driver ... to no avail.

My configuration is:

uname: Linux cgkhmobile 2.6.24-21-server #1 SMP Mon Aug 25 17:28:54 UTC 2008 x86_64 GNU/Linux

lshw -C network:

*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: NetLink BCM5787M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 02
serial: 00:16:d3:e4:15:75
size: 100MB/s
capacity: 1GB/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm vpd msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=tg3 driverversion=3.86 duplex=full firmware=5787m-v3.23 ip=192.168.1.4 latency=0 link=yes module=tg3 multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100MB/s
*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
logical name: eth1
version: 01
serial: 00:1c:26:78:b3:0f
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ndiswrapper+bcmwl5 driverversion=1.52+Broadcom,10/12/2006, 4.100. latency=0 link=no module=ndiswrapper multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11g

lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5787M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01)
0a:06.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): O2 Micro, Inc. Firewire (IEEE 1394) (rev 02)
0a:06.2 SD Host controller: O2 Micro, Inc. Integrated MMC/SD Controller (rev 02)
0a:06.3 Mass storage controller: O2 Micro, Inc. Integrated MS/xD Controller (rev 01)

ndiswrapper -l
bcmwl5 : driver installed
device (14E4:4311) present (alternate driver: ssb)
netathrxusb : driver installed
smcusbt : driver installed


I would appreciate all and any comments on how to resolve this.

Latest:

I have now found that Hardy has a gui called wpa_gui which allows editing and monitoring of wpa_supplicant.conf. Currently, the gui is not recognising any wifi network adapter or card.

I am exploring this and will post any success here.

I found out that there was no wpa_supplicant.conf file on the system.

Following various posts on the web I created one as follows:

ap_scan=1
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant

network={
ssid="enter your ssid"
scan_ssid=0
proto=WPA
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
psk="enter you password"
pairwise=TKIP
group=TKIP
}

Rebooted. The machine did not automatically find the network but when I clicked on wireless networks in the Network Manager, (via the icon on the panel), it automatically found the network, and asked for the wpa key. Once I had entered it, the bottom green ball turned green and then the second one and I was online.

Not ideal but does for now.

Will keep updating this post when relevant.

Prepaid Mobile Broadband - Portugal

Vodafone Portugal (as well as TMN - www.tmn.pt and www.kanguru.pt ) have in the past week launched a new pre-paid rechargeable mobile broadband service which will be useful for persons who only spend a few months of the year in Portugal or who have an unblocked HSPDA modem.

The vodafone product is called: Vita Net

Detail (in Portuguese) can be found

http://www.vodafone.pt/main/Particulares/BandaLargaMovel/Tarifarios/vita_net.htm

I have published a machine translated version of this page at the bottom of this article. For "loading" read charge.

In summary, the service works as follows:

i) You buy a modem and the first charge of € 10.00 from vodafone. The current cheapest pack if you do not already have a modem is € 54.90.

If you have an unblocked or existing Vodafone Portugal (note must be Vodafone Portugal)modem you can just purchase the starter pack for € 14.90.

The terms of usage as as follows:

1) The first charge of € 10.00 is valid for ten days and for up to 300MB of data over the ten day period.
2) One can then charge up further periods of 5 days and 150MB data validity for € 5.00 per throw.
3) One must charge the account at least once every 120 days to keep it active.
4) Payment can be made in cash at any Vodafone shop or any shop that recharges mobile phones.
5) As this is a pre-paid system you do not need to have a contribuente number to acquire it. This makes it ideal for those making regular but short visits to Portugal or for thos who have unblocked HSPDA modems.
6) VERY IMPORTANT - This package does not allow use of VOIP phone services such as SKYPE!
7) Data transmission speed rated at up to 512 Kbps.

I have verified this information at Vodafone Faro and Vodafone in Faro Airport who stock these units.

I understand that the similar TMN product also includes extra data access through any PT/TMN managed wifi hotspot such as suitably equipped hotels.

No doubt these products will mutate but for now it is a very useful development.

Warning: The information published here is for reference only and could change at any time. I strongly recommend you make sure your computer and location is suitable for use of these products before purchase as i cannot take any liability for any problems that may arise.

NOTE: Prices for modems have increased by an average of € 30.00 in December 2008.

Feel free to email me if you have any further questions or require assistance. To to this scroll down in the right hand panel till you come to the section entitled - My Profile. Click on "Ver o meu perfil completo" and on the top left you will find a button where you can email me.

Click on following image to enlarge:

ADSL VS Mobile 3G - Rural Areas

There is a real problem with adsl/broadband sapo/clix/etc services over phone networks in rural areas in Portugal.

The problem is that as most phone cables in rural areas go overhead via posts and junctions that are susceptible to lightning strikes, it is a bit of a lottery.

I have had one situation in the past year where the fax line at a rural location blew a fuse three times in as many months. If a sapo/clix/etc modem or router has been attached, it would have probably been toast.

I had foreseen this, however, and had installed broadband over the mobile phone network from Vodafone.

For those folk in rural areas who have a good line of sight to a 3G equipped mobile phone mast and who only use internet for basic services such email, browsing the web and the odd skype, the answer is one of the broadband services over the mobile phone network offered by Vodafone/Optimus Kanguru/TMN.

The usb modem dongle just connects to a usb slot on a pc or laptop and away you go.

The rates are not as good as sapo if you are doing massive downloads but not bad for basic use.

Windows XP/Vista Anti Virus Protection How-To

I don't understand many of these comments.

There are two good free anti-virus programmes out there.

avg

http://free.grisoft.com/

avast

http://www.avast.com

These offer free annual renewable licenses for home use.

For home and very small business use they are good, provided the computer in question runs Windows XP or Windows Vista and one has a broadband cable/adsl/Vodafone dongle type internet connection and connects regularly to the internet.

All anti-virus companies have teams working 24/7 and are usually onto writing protection updates very quickly. That is why anti-virus programmes are always wanting to update. So when you connect to the internet let the anti-virus programme update fully first before opening email programmes like outlook express.

However, and this is a big however, there are some nasties that are not called viruses but trojans. These tend to infect machines through downloads or clicking on links in badly protected browsers such as old versions of Internet Explorer.

To improve security Windows XP or Vista, one should always make sure that in addition to a good anti-virus programme, one should have the latest Browser installed, (e.g. Internet Explorer 7 or 8, Firefox 3 or Opera 9.6) and also Windows Defender which is a free anti-trojan programme from Microsoft. Make sure all the settings are set to block pop-ups etc.

Also make sure that you firewall is correctly configured.

Also, try to move away from using email programmes such as Outlook Express. If you have a gmail account and broadband, you have practically as much flexibility as the aforementioned programmes. You access the account through your browser and best of all Gmail usually catches the bulk of nasties in emails on google's computers before they get to your machine.

Don't download stuff you don't know where it came from. (e.g. Bittorrent etc.) Don't click on links in webpages you don't trust. Don't use other peoples cds/dvds/digital camera chips without scanning them with your virus progamme first.

Apple and Linux users are generally exempt from the above comments, except as regards firewalls.

I have about 10 machines operating with the above configuration and there is rarely a problem with them.

....The operators also know that they will incur my wrath if there is a hint of misbehaving ::))))))

Script for Fixing SQL infested MSSQL Databases

The following link was very useful for fixing a nasty infestation of sql injected scripts on an old asp/mssql website.


http://weblogs.asp.net/ryangaraygay/archive/2008/05/25/recent-sql-injection-attacks-on-asp-sites.aspx

Annoying Footbal Ad

The following annoying football ad appeared on Expat Focus forums on 6th June 2008. (Click on it to enlarge)