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In Belgium you can still send a telegram.
So no idea where this idea comes from that it isn't available anywhere anymore. If Belgium has it and even has International AND Intercontinental prices, there must be at least two other countries that have it.

First of all the cookies is only a single part of the recommendations the EU wants Belgium to implement, so insinuating that Belgium is getting fined about cookies is false. And as a Belgian citizen I applaud the EU involvement because there are to much conflicts of interests on our political level.

Let me inform you about my country. In Belgium we have a duopoly. Belgacom (Belgian symbol) on federal level and Telenet (Flemish symbol but ironically property of the American company Liberty) which was formed to break up the monopoly of Belgacom on Flemish level.

Both companies have a lot of politicians on the payroll, in the board of directors/as 'consultants', etc And because on each level it is a symbol and the current language difficulties that dominates our politician landscape, politician turn a blind eye for the fact that those companies have a very negative impact on our region and country. When our national bank warns in a study for the negative impact of those two companies, it just gets ignored. We have a saying "who's bread you eat, who's word you speak... "

We have very high prices in comparison with our neighbors, Telenet does deep packet inspecting slowing down torrents by day for example, we have unlimited download which is a joke, they created hw monopolies, they buy companies that because of their open character of very competitive plans (like unlimited mobile plans that doesn't cost a house) to kill them or for example just go for their main supplier. They buy licenses for example 4G just to do nothing with it, just to be sure that no foreign competition would arrive. Etc

For example of one the influence they have on laws or on our politicians. We have an in-depended organisation that "tries" to regulate the telecom word on local level, BIPT. Last week they voted a new law that states that when BIPT makes changes or gives fines, the government can revoke those fines or turn back changes. So what is the point ?

Really I've read a lot of bickering about the EU and there may be a lot not right, but hey I'm happy that on some cases something like the EU exists.

And when the Flemish (I'm flemish btw) right wing party the N-VA will come in power, it will be worse because of the big love for the "flemish" symbol Telenet. Although Telenet is as flemish as a big mac these days.

And you pay what for phone/tv/internet?

Well I personally don't do TV, but if I check the Belgacom website, then I see I can get decent (capped) ADSL, a TV subscription and a mobile phone subscription for 58.50 Euros/month.

-- Pete.

You missed out on EDPnet. You pay about 35 euros, I pay 29.90 euros and 6,85 euros for my telephone line (which I use receive only). I pay 2 euros more, but I also get 2Mbps down and 256kbps upstream extra and half the surcharge for extra bw (25 cents per Gb). This has a max cap at 60Gb/month though.

Well, you might find that extremely limited (and it is) but it isn't so strange for me. In Belgium the major ISPs (Belgacom, Telenet) allow about 10Gb quota per month, with 5 euro per 5Gb for extra quota. This is expensive! Downloading a movie or even a linux distribution DVD costs you several euros on bandwidth alone.
Minor ISPs use this a nice way into the market. (For example, mine allows me 20Gb default with a 0.25 euro cents per Gb over that upto 60Gb per month).
Offcourse, all limits are openly advertised...

FYI: The biggest telecomoperator from Belgium recently started to make publicity for this system.
It looks to be very easy in use.

*grin* Nice one... :)

Belgium is doing pretty well actually for technology...people don't usually realise that Belgium is a world leader in ADSL technology.

From internal news at Belgacom:

Not only does Belgium have the highest number of subscribers (in relation to the size of its population), but 90% of the population can now get connected - this is unique in Europe.

All switching centres in Belgium are ADSL enabled - and the first one was enabled in 1998. Not too shabby I think... :)

-- Pete.

Meanwhile over in Belgium:

The national boradcasting company (VRT) is working together with the largest telecom operator (Belgacom) on a Video-On-Demand platform.

They are using 2Mbit SDSL connections (yes - that's 2 Mbit UP and 2 Mbit DOWN! ;-) to stream the media into the tester's homes.
And the SDSL connections will also be available for home use too!

According to what I've heard, all tests are going very well, and it should get commercial in january or february.

Plenty fast too - I sometimes get 300kbps downloads.

I can't see why you Yanks can't get your act together.

Plenty fast too - I sometimes get 300kbps downloads.

I can't see why you Yanks can't get your act together.