The OV (Public Transport) card is now the standard way to access public-transport throughout the Netherlands, and by next year, will be the only way that you can pay for domestic travel.
The card works on both the trains and the buses, however be aware that if you fail to check-out at the end of your journey you will be charged €4 on the bus or tram, and €20 on the train, so it can be an expensive mistake to make. There is a way to claim this back from the www.ov.nl site, however I have never tried it, and suspect it may be difficult.
You should also note that before you can use your card to pay for train travel it must have a minimum of €20 credit on it and you have to go the ticket office at certain stations and they will enable the card.
If you are a heavy user of the card it is a good idea to go to the OV Chipcard site (http://www.ov-chipkaart.nl/) and order an auto-loading card with your photo on it. You start by ordering the forms and then you can upload a digital (passport-type) photo for use on the card. The card is linked to your NL bank account and payments are taken automatically every month, so you never have to worry about having insufficient credit.
Sunday, 31 July 2011
Saturday, 16 July 2011
Ziggo digital TV
If you have a second TV in your house or apartment and want to be able use digital TV it is possible to go directly to shops such as Mediamarkt and buy your own decoder from as little as €70. They will then register the smartcard etc, for you (costs approx €30) and hey presto. The point is that this is far cheaper than going directly to Ziggo.
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Digital TV
Most homes in The Netherlands receive their TV, Internet, and telephone via a single fibre connection provided by companies such as Ziggo and UPC. The selection and quality can vary widely, however they are all pushing their customers to convert from analogue TV to digital (similar to UK Freeview). The advantage is more choice and an EPG. The disadvantage is the extra cost and the need to have a digi-box for every TV.
You may also have to negotiate with your landord over the costs. The alternative is to see the number of channels and quality reducing every week!
You may also have to negotiate with your landord over the costs. The alternative is to see the number of channels and quality reducing every week!
Monday, 11 July 2011
Watching UK TV
I have recently installed OpenVPN from http://vpnuk.info/ on both Fedora Linux and Windows-7/64 and it works really well, far better than any proxy solution such as FoxyProxy. I can now use BBC iPlayer, Channel4-OD, Seesaw, etc.
The performance is most excellent although it can slow a little during peak periods.
The performance is most excellent although it can slow a little during peak periods.
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
PrePay Mobile phones
Hopefully I can warn at least one person about what is becoming a massive and expensive problem!
Smart phones running Operating Systems such as Android will constantly poll services such as" My Location" or "Gtalk" and each connection can cost up to 50 cents, even when you have no mail etc. This is also a massive problem with "assisted GPS" apps such has Google-maps, and data roaming.
All this means that a phone can eat 50 Euro of credit in a day without you making a single call or sending a text. There are some free applications in the Android Marketplace that will kill some of these apps, however every time you upgrade Android, or power cycle your phone, you need to remember that everything is disabled. Another useful way to prevent this is connect to your WiFi and all your data will then go through the Internet rather than 3g, which obviously only works whilst you are at home, and also greatly reduces your battery life.
There are some good SIM-only deals for services such as BEN and Simpel, however you must carefully check that data is included, and that your phone is unlocked.
Smart phones running Operating Systems such as Android will constantly poll services such as" My Location" or "Gtalk" and each connection can cost up to 50 cents, even when you have no mail etc. This is also a massive problem with "assisted GPS" apps such has Google-maps, and data roaming.
All this means that a phone can eat 50 Euro of credit in a day without you making a single call or sending a text. There are some free applications in the Android Marketplace that will kill some of these apps, however every time you upgrade Android, or power cycle your phone, you need to remember that everything is disabled. Another useful way to prevent this is connect to your WiFi and all your data will then go through the Internet rather than 3g, which obviously only works whilst you are at home, and also greatly reduces your battery life.
There are some good SIM-only deals for services such as BEN and Simpel, however you must carefully check that data is included, and that your phone is unlocked.
Parking in The Netherlands
If ever you park in a Dutch town you may notice a blue line on or around the space. Be aware that this means that parking is limited to two hours and you must display a cardboard clock behind your windscreen, indicating the time at which you arrived.
Some towns/councils can be very relaxed about this and only check every now and again, whereas others such as Amsterdam will police it vigorously and you can get a large fine, or even have your car towed.
Some towns/councils can be very relaxed about this and only check every now and again, whereas others such as Amsterdam will police it vigorously and you can get a large fine, or even have your car towed.
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