Fiber vs 5G as primary uplink in Valencia, my year of data
the 300 upload on fiber is the real winner for me. i do a lot of cloud backups and raw video work near the city of arts and sciences. i tried 5G for a month and the jitter killed my meetings. are you seeing any lag when you have multiple devices connected to that vodafone router? i found it struggled once i added the smart tv and my partner's laptop into the mix.
it definitely hits a wall once you have more than three devices. i keep my workstation on the ethernet port of the 5G router and it helps, but wifi congestion in ruzafa is a nightmare regardless of the tech you use.
thanks for sharing the data. i am moving to valencia in october and was stressing about the setup time. i might just stick with a 5G sim for the first month while i shop around for a permanent flat. did you need a NIE to get the vodafone plan or did they take a passport? most of these shops are a pain without the residency card.
valencia is weird with 5g because the thick walls in some of those old apartments just eat the signal. i tried relying on a gl.inet router with a sim card for a while but the jitter ruined my ssh sessions. if you are doing actual dev work you need the physical line. thanks for sharing the data.
finally someone says it. i spent two months in ruzafa trying to survive on a 5g hotspot because the owner said the building was too old for fiber. the lag during zoom calls was unbearable during the afternoon rush. switched to orange fiber as soon as i moved and it is a world of difference. definitely worth the installation hassle.
did you have to pay the exit fee for the 5g contract? i am stuck in a similar spot in cabanyal and scared of the fine.
it's funny you mention the 3 week wait for movistar. i got lucky with digi in valencia and they were at my place in 48 hours. they use the movistar lines but their customer service is way better for expats. for 25 euros a month for 1gbps it makes the 5g look expensive. did you look into the smaller providers or just the big guys? i feel like orange and vodafone are the worst for overcharging.
i second the digi recommendation. the price to performance ratio is insane compared to what i was paying in the us or even in london. best choice for nomads on a budget.
digi is great but they aren't available in every building yet. some of the older estates in ruzafa are still locked into old orange infrastructure. i had to pay the premium just because my landlord wouldn't let them drill a new hole in the facade.
honestly i have had the opposite experience. i am near the university and my 5g speeds actually beat the low end fiber packages. maybe it is just my specific spot but i have been remote for a year without a single dropout. do you think the congestion in the center is what killed your first pass?
it is almost certainly the density. ruzafa and el carmen are basically dead zones for 5g stability once the tourists start flooding the cells at night.
i am near the beach and 5g is a coin toss. some days it is 300mbps and others it won't even load slack images. fiber is just safer for peace of mind.
which 5G router did you buy? i tried a cheap t-link one in cabanyal and the signal was terrible because of the thick stone walls in these old buildings. i had to put it on the balcony just to get a stable signal for zoom calls. i eventually gave up and got fiber because the heat in summer was making my router throttle. i would be careful recommending 5G as a primary for anyone living in a ground floor exterior unit.
i actually had the opposite experience. my 5G in ruzafa was super inconsistent during fallas. i guess the crowds put too much strain on the cell towers and my data basically stopped working for a week. fiber was the only reason i didn't lose my job during the festivals. if you plan on being here in march you absolutely need a wired connection or you will be hunting for a coworking space every day.
fallas changes everything. you can't even get a text message through in some parts of the center. 5G is definitely not a primary connection if you rely on internet during the big holidays.
honestly the biggest issue with fiber in valencia is the permanencia contracts. people always forget that if you leave before 12 months you get slapped with a 150 euro fine. for nomads only staying 6 months, your 5G suggestion is the only way to go unless you can find a no-contract reseller like o2. plus the orange installation guys are famous for showing up whenever they feel like it.
what provider were you using for the 5g test? i found that moving from movistar to digi made a massive difference in latency even on the same towers. but i agree that for 2026 standards with high res video calls you really want that symmetrical fiber speed. nothing beats a wired connection into a real router.
be careful with those unlimited 5G plans. check your fine print for fair usage policies. vodafone is known for throttling your speed after you hit 500gb or 1tb in a month. if you are doing heavy file transfers as you said, you might hit that ceiling faster than you think. it works until it doesn't and then you are stuck with 2mbps for the rest of the billing cycle. i prefer the peace of mind of fiber.
i am moving to valencia in early 2026 so this is perfect timing. was there a specific agency or tech that helped you get the fiber installed faster? sometimes the wait times for the technicians are the biggest hurdle for movers.
this matches what i saw in the local discord last year. people always underestimate how much the city infrastructure varies block by block. even if your neighborhood has 5g you might be behind a stone wall that blocks everything. i appreciate you taking the time to write this out. it saves a lot of trial and error for newcomers.