I am sure some of you have been following Adam Curry’s moved from Belgium to Britain and the trouble he has had in getting a broadband connection. I too have had to live for several months on less than perfect dial-up connections overseas.
Local laws, sign up rules always cause headaches. I remember renting an apartment for several months versus staying in a hotel in the middle east. When I went to get broadband with the government controlled telephone company I nearly had to sign my life away then wait 3 weeks for them to come to the flat check the connection hook up the router etc and then make a simple call to have the line plugged into the correct plug at the substation. I told the technicians why they did not allow the consumer to do that. They said it was part of the $$$.$$ process. As they where subcontractors and my nearly $200.00 sign up fee went to them to hook up the consumer.
I guess I call this protectionism, but once I was hooked up I was good to go. But I have been in some countries that unless your a legal resident and not a visitor their is absolutely no way your getting broadband without a sponsor.
Here is some advice, when planning on renting a flat in a foreign country demand from the landlord before you sign the lease that he get adsl installed before your move in date. I know use this tactic and it works well.
If anyone is in Britain that has some major connections to BT please give Adam a hand. [Adam Curry Needs help with Bandwidth]