Hello and welcome EasyExpat.com! Is internet access widely available in the Netherlands? Are there any restrictions? How can you set-up service at home? What speeds are available? What companies are the major providers and what do you recommend? What kind of offers should you look for? What is the basic price per month? Are there free Wifi access points in the Netherlands? Is the Internet available at Internet cafes, libraries, or other shops? Thank you in advance for your answers and opinions.
Hello. We've just set up our home internet service here in the Netherlands. We went in and met with both Vodafone and KPN about mobile and home internet service. We ended up going with KPN, but both seemed to be comparable. They asked us for our address and were able to look up the highest available service at our address. The only issue was that we needed a Dutch bank account to set up our service. Once we had a bank account they scheduled us for an installment appointment in about a week. Our dutch is very limited at this point so by going into the store we were able to speak to someone whose English was excellent. (Even the woman who said her English was not great spoke better English then I speak Dutch and we would have been just fine. I just have more trouble over the phone then in person.) Hope this helps.
Thanks for sharing your experience. So according to your feedback the correct process is Find a home address -> then open a bank account -> then get Internet service. Correct? You can share also you experience on opening a bank account here and finding an accommodation there. You will find also plenty of other discussions we have open for expats to share their experience. Feel free to browse the Netherlands forum. See you soon
Setting up an internet connection is quite a hassle if you don't speak Dutch. Here's an extensive guide to setting up internet, fully in English. Not for every provider you need a Dutch bank account. At some internet service providers (for example Ziggo) it is possible to request an invoice to pay every month from a foreign bank account. You have to call/email them for this service however: it's not something they communicate on their website.