Bedrock

Archive for the ‘spain’ Category

After a quiet June, mid-July Maureen and I headed to Chicago and on to Minocqua, safe in the knowledge that we have friends visiting back in Galera and looking after the kitties.

First stop Malaga for a one-night stopover then onto Chicago via Dublin. The wine (right) was at a so-called Irish bar in Malaga 🙂

The Air Lingus flight to Dublin was easy enough but I can´t say the same for the onward flight to Chicago with legroom clearly meant for short people.

Once we got to Chicago we found that while hot it was a welcome relief from the endless sweltering in Spain. A relaxing few days with my sister in law then the three of us drove up to Minocqua.

Here are a few photos, I will put the lot on a publically visible library once back home, along with some drone and phone video. Watch for updates.

For now, we have spent a lot of time on one lake or another. A great way to spend the hot summer days.

I thought I had this covered, buying a travel screen and mouse for the phone here at Wallmart Minocqua, but the keyboard is letting me down so I will keep this short for now…

A friend of mine here in Galera just pointed out that I’ve been a bit remiss in updating this site – my Facebook pages and the tech blog are updated a lot – so – time to catch up in here.

Let’s see, since the last post in here – Maureen and had a nice trip to (of all places) Benedorm – a great tribute band at the Palace – then we spent 2 months over Christmas in the UK (mostly in the rain). It was never meant to be that way but between both of us having both eyes fixed (cataract operations) and the inherrent delays, made worse by having the flu meant we spent far more time over there than we planned.

Just before leaving Spain we discovered a great Chinese store near the Thader shopping centre in Murcia – something for absolutely everyone – dwarfs our local Chinese stores..

Here’s a picture taken before heading off to the UK of our then fairly new Bengal cat – then known as Lilly – because neither we nor the vet checked to see if he had bits.

I spent much of the UK Christmas on eBay – including selling my “old” DJI Mini 2 drone and buying the Mini 4 Pro – a major upgrade – I’m so glad I did that.

While in the UK we worked on building our set of Cobra glasses as you see here… I love Cobra..

Of course we also stopped to watch the first Starship Mechazillla landing – a phenomenal, momentous event – sadly things have gone downhill a little since then – possibly because Musk has taken his eye off the ball?

I also bought a new mini-PC for the UK – a marvellous piece of work for the price – maybe £250.. it replaces the old huge tower I’ve had for years over there and is faster, much smaller and generally a good move.

While in the UK we visited the superb Hancock Museum in Newcastle.

Back to Spain in February to discover the village now has 5G mobile signals – and now an updated picture of BILLY as he’s now known as he is starting to settle in nicely..

A trip to Cartagena with friends – the weather was great – more than it has been here in Galera until June…

You can’t see it but there’s a submarine just behind the folks above – and since then we’ve been to Guardamar, Rojales and several other place including a very brief look into Albox wherein we popped into one of the Indian restaurants there – not bad – see photo below…

– and now of course in June we’re enjoying the weather here in Galera. Sadly we recently lost my best cat-friend Simba but other than that all’s well.

Pool time now it’s hot…

Meanwhile, if I ever recommend a mobile phone service provider again, feel free to remind me – they are all an insult to used-car salesmen. For over 2 years now I’ve been using DigiMobil here in Galera, never needing support and hence never realising how shockingly bad they are. Very early in 2025, Galera went 5G and for maybe 3 months we were able to get tremendous, high speed mobile signals (we are line of sight to the mast) – no problems. Then, sometime early May, around the time of the national power outage. possibly before, it all went wrong with frequent dropouts.

Many users would not notice as they use their phones intermittently, travelling around in an area with regular dead spots – or using the 5G in a router (not many) to feed TV watching. What most non-tech-savvy users don’t understand is that given fast data, TV boxes will often buffer for minutes in the absence of a signal as will many Apps like YouTube – but for those of us relying on router-based 4G/5G for real-time communications and data transfer – frequent dropouts are a disaster – and what do Digi do about it? ZILCH. I’ve sent umpteen emails with proof of my claims that the signal is dropping frequently. I’m collecting ping data and have sent it to them. Then they come up with this “we only guarantee the service with phones”… so I went out and bought a phone to use as a router and what difference did it make? Zilch. Next time you hear the word “guarantee”, remember you heard it here first… I see Starlink in my future.

And that’s about it for now, we’re off to Granada soon and Maureen is off to the UK mid-month while I cat-babysit and sunbathe…

Just a brief entry… I may be wrong but I don’t remember such continuous August heat – indeed It was just as hot in most of July here in Galera (we escaped to the UK late July – early August but I’m told that while we were away, it was as hot as it has been since) – all gets a bit monotonous after a while – so it was interesting tonight to see a LITTLE bit of rain tonight.

Nothing like Northeast England rain mind you – it was still 30c -in fact really pleasant for sitting outside. I’ve been hiding away a lot working on my tech blog – and Maureen’s been doing a lot of reading. At least in our cave it is possible to shelter from the extremes, albeit I’ve been using my office air conditioner more than usual recently.

Update Late November 2024: I’ve been writing a lot elsewhere and not doing a good enough job of keeping this blog up to date – accordingly – after a VERY hot summer, Southern Spain has had some horrendous flooding – thankfully we’ve avoided most of that in the hills above Galera and continue to have nice weather WHEN THE SUN IS OUT, but I should stress it’s starting to get quite cold in the shade. Been keeping up with Spacex’s latest failure and hoping that Starship flight 7 will be much more successful. Maureen and I continue to enjoy the area and fairly regular trips to the coast.

Watched the PENGUIN series on TV – quite impressive makeup. Meanwhile our 4G broadband provider DIGI has dropped their prices again (25 euros, then 20, now 15 for completely unlimited use), sadly still no joy on 5G in Galera and coverage in nearby Huescar remains somewhat spotty. I note that back in the UK, prices continue to go UP – how not to attact long-term customers.

Please note: Items prefixed SALE: are not commercial – private items placed here only because Facebook is UTTERLY USELESS.

Unless I know you personally, cash only, buyer collects from Galera 18840, Spain – no couriers.

€85 + post or collect from our village.

This versatile, powerful yet simple to use GL-iNET 4G router can be used several ways.

Firstly as a 4G router – it can provide Ethernet and WIFi outputs – far more than a simple MiFi unit yet not much bigger.

Spitz initial setup – wirelessly –  turn on – leave on for a minute or two – hold in the tiny reset button for 10 seconds until the indicator is flashing quickly.   Within another couple of minutes you should have 2 new WiFi access points on your phone. Default WiFi password is goodlife. Ensure your phone is using the first access point – then in settings on your phone – go to 192.168.8.1 and access the control panel. Select ENGLISH and NEXT.

Create a new admin password – I use Pass123 for testing only (and temporarily untick “prevent weak password”.

Background and reference

Elsewhere in here I’ve gone into detail about our struggle here in Galera (Granada, Spain) with broadband, starting with the takeover of “Habland” broadband company who then became “Excom”, renegged on promises of fibre to the extremes of our village, denied that for years that they had always offered a variable rate for dish broadband users etc…. it’s a long sordid story fully detailed here. After much well-documented research I decided to move completely over to 4G+ for our broadband – again detailed in the link above – so here’s an important update:

I originally tried various companies for 4G+ mobile – with 5G being spotty or unavailable in our area. 4G+ can manage speeds of maybe 150Mbps/sec download depending on signal strength and with a strong signal makes for viable broadband at a cost well below that of Starlink (even at the greatly reduced “de-prioritised” price in Spain – way below UK price) and available in those areas where fibre seems impossible. Starlink incidentally now offer as little as €29 a month for the supposedly “de-prioritised” service – but that price cleverly excludes a tax and is in fact nearer €38 + equipment purchase/rental – as of the latest version that DOES include eithernet connectors. Personally I still think Starlink have some way to go with their deals as coastal broadband providers regularly charge less than 25 Euros a month but I’m speaking from a non-business perspective.

4G+ Choices

The 4G companies over time I tried include Simyo, Hits (virtual operators) and MANY others – most of which offer “unlimited” 4G+ at the top end but who in reality have fair use policies meaning “unlimited” is not unlimited i.e. they are lying pond-scum with their true service hidden in the small print just like UK providers. Then I settled on Digi for “broadband” as they offer (almost uniquely) truly unlimited 4G+ data at (previously €25) – now €20 a month + Xenet (who’s “unlimited” offer €21 a month is in fact limited to 300GB) for my phone and as a backup – the tariff I chose for Xenet was €14/month for 140GB/month max (no data carry-over) and the two companies worked well for me and others I’ve advised. Before anyone comments – Movistar and Lycamobile prices are higher.

In February 2024 I moved my mobile over to Digi at €13 for 100GB, (at face value) less data than Xenet, but unlike Xenet, the data can be carried over to the next month if unused – Digi also updated their APP and in the process I lost access – they told me to unregister and re-register with the APP, I did that and in the process gained a free 50GB welcome bonus. Late June 2024, 3 days into the new Digi month I currently have 199GB available on the phone SIM and of course, unlimited on my router SIM.

So, short summary – for me at least, Digi currently offers the best deals – Digi have not only reduced their €25 offering to €20 but also changed their lower offerings, making them more desirable even than Xenet for limited data with the changes shown below:

Finally, Digi also continue to offer an unbeatable bottom-of-range price of €3 for 3GB (no I am not associated in any way with them)

I hope others find this information useful (I only stress that you should check signal levels in your area before adopting 4G+ for broadband). I should say that the deal includes “unlimited” calls and SMS but as I never make “traditional phone calls” and only ever receive SMSs from various companies confirming identity – I can’t really comment on calls or SMS.

Looking at this scene, you could be forgiven for thinking this was autumn or spring… nope – early January up near Guardamar – driving around nearby seaside towns such as Benijofar with our friends Rolly and Sarah.

Below, a spot of breakfast at the American diner in Benijofar… for reference, I didn’t have the “Buster”…

I pan to revisit Benijofar as soon a possible – early February, weather permitting. It is so easy to take for granted the winter weather on the east coast of Spain but I’m currently back in the frozen wastes of the Northeast of England – and trust me it is cold and generally wet and windy here.

And anyway, if you have a car and are travelling down south from Alicante airport, the area is a no-brainer and far more interesting than the motorway route unless you’re in a mad rush.

I plan to get one of those American Diner milkshakes asap… having just been to Burger King whose milkshakes are fairly dire – and having also recently tried to get a shake from various McDonalds without success (for many years a favourite with me – I’d get just the shake – today, the machines are invariably out of order), what do we have to lose 🙂