Asking to cancel wins a cheaper Vodafone deal, prices creep up before Black Friday, and Porto's IPO has its own A&E
Vodafone offered a renewal at €48.50 a month. Redditors advise asking to cancel: that is when cheaper offers come
A Reddit user's contract with Vodafone runs out in a month. The operator has offered to renew it for €48.50 a month: 1000/400 Mbps internet with a new router, two phone numbers with unlimited calls, 120 channels and two streaming services. Until now they have paid €46, but without phones and with one streaming service. They say there are no other operators in their area, and asked whether this is a fair price.
The replies said it can be done for less. One person pays Vodafone €25.19 for the same package, but with 170 channels and three streaming services, plus two numbers taken separately at €5 each — €35.19 in total. Another pays €26 for the same package without phones. The main advice is to ask to cancel the contract: the call is then put through to the customer retention department, where the offers are better. The operator does not need to know there are no other providers nearby: one person cited DIGI offers at €35 and haggled their way to €40.60 for the same package with three unlimited numbers. People also suggest comparing what NOS and MEO offer new customers, and checking the Portuguese forum Zwame, where people post the terms they got on renewal.
“If you have NOS and/or MEO in your area, it'll be easier to haggle. Have you asked to cancel the contract yet? If not, do it to get through to the retention department — that's where they give the best offers. I pay €26 for the same package as yours, just without the phones.”
Translated from Portugueser/telecomunicacoes_pt07.11.2026
“They don't need to know you have no cheap operators. You say you've got offers from DIGI and others for €35 — and you look up their prices on their websites; in some places they don't even have coverage. That's how I got €40.60 for the same thing they're offering you, and with three unlimited numbers.”
Translated from Portugueser/telecomunicacoes_pt06.11.2026
It is also worth checking whether any of the budget operators reach your home: Woo (from NOS), Amigo (from Vodafone), Uzo or DIGI. One person thought they had none of them, and it turned out they had Woo. For 1 Gbps and two unlimited numbers, Amigo charges €30.99 without TV and Uzo €34.90 with TV. The same package from DIGI, people in the thread worked out, would come to about €31.
“Do you really have no cheap operator at all? I thought so too, and it turned out I had WOO, though not the other one or DIGI.”
Translated from Portugueser/telecomunicacoes_pt06.11.2026
Redditors notice prices rising before Black Friday and advise noting the price of the model you want in advance
Black Friday, on 27 November, is less than three weeks away, and Reddit is already discussing Worten's discounts. One person is choosing an LG G6 TV and is puzzled: the 77-inch model is reasonably priced, while the 65-inch is clearly overpriced. They were told that the 77-inch is selling at close to its lowest price ever, and the 65-inch is ‘priced in preparation for −50% on Black Friday’.
“50% off products whose price was first doubled...”
Translated from Portugueser/portugal07.11.2026
People shared their own examples. One has been tracking the prices of LG G6 and Samsung S95H TVs for a month and a half, and in all that time they have not changed. Another says a laptop at Darty cost them €580 in September, and now it is in the Black Friday promotion for €620. A third points out that in October the 55-inch LG G6 cost €1,219 in a ‘VAT-free’ promotion at Radio Popular.
“In September a laptop at Darty cost me €580, and now it's in the Black Friday promotion for €620.”
Translated from Portugueser/portugal06.11.2026
The advice in the thread is to pick one or two models, screenshot the price before the sale and watch for the moment when buying is genuinely worth it. Compare with prices in other shops (El Corte Inglés, the manufacturer's own website), not with the crossed-out figure on the price tag.
“Pick one or two TVs that suit you, take a screenshot of the price outside Black Friday, and then watch for when buying is genuinely worth it.”
Translated from Portugueser/portugal06.11.2026
Patients of Porto's IPO cancer institute are advised to go to its own 24-hour unit, not ordinary A&E, if they get worse
A Reddit user's mother is being treated at the IPO cancer institute in Porto: after two operations, she was found to have metastases, and her next appointment is still several weeks away. She has got worse, and they asked where to turn and whether to try a private clinic.
IPO patients who get worse are advised to go not to a general A&E but to SANP, the institute's own emergency unit.
According to the institute's website, SANP is open around the clock to IPO patients whose acute condition is caused by their illness or by the treatment itself. The IPO also has telephone triage: you can call and ask whether to go to the institute or to your local hospital. A person who has been treated at the IPO for more than 15 years writes that they call their doctor first, and if they can't get through, they go to SANP.
“Unfortunately, the skin group's appointments at the IPO are once a week, and they're chaotic and completely overloaded. But the IPO has an emergency service — a sort of internal A&E for people treated there. It's called SANP, and since she got worse so quickly, it's better to be seen there than at the general A&E of your local hospital.”
Translated from Portugueser/portugal06.11.2026
“I've been treated at the IPO in Porto for more than 15 years. Whatever happens with your mum, contact her doctor, and if you can't reach them straight away, go to SANP. I take medication every day, have tests every month, and I won't even take a paracetamol without asking my doctor.”
Translated from Portugueser/portugal07.11.2026
Other stories are grimmer. One person writes that the waits at the IPO proved too long for their father, and their mother was later treated at São João hospital, where things moved faster. Another advises calling 112, the single emergency number, straight away if the condition is serious, and saying the patient has cancer: in their experience, the state health line SNS 24 is no help here. Someone suggested the private CUF clinic, but was told there is no point starting all over again there when the IPO already knows the patient.
“Instead of SNS 24, it's better to call 112 directly, say the patient has cancer and ask for urgent medical help, even if an appointment is already booked. If it weren't for that, my mum probably wouldn't be alive today.”
Translated from Portugueser/portugal06.11.2026
“Are you mad? You have an appointment at the IPO this month, where they already know her well, and you want to start all over again at a private clinic? Hold on to what you have at the IPO.”
Translated from Portugueser/portugal07.11.2026
ActivoBank refused an account ‘for commercial reasons’. Redditors advise checking your credit record at the Bank of Portugal
A Reddit user applied online for an ActivoBank account, and a few days later received a letter saying they did not meet the bank's requirements. On the phone, they were told only that the reason was ‘commercial’.
The replies point out that a bank is not obliged to take on a customer and need not give a reason for refusing. They list what usually gets in the way: an expired or incomplete document, discrepancies in the address or NIF tax number, debts and late payments at other banks, money of unclear origin, gambling at casinos and bookmakers, transfers from sanctioned countries (Russia is among those named in the thread), and crypto exchanges without identity checks. Someone noticed that an earlier post by the same user mentioned an ‘unresolved matter’ with Bankinter.
“Have you had transactions with bookmakers or casinos, sellers from countries under sanctions (Venezuela, Iran, Russia, etc.), investment platforms or crypto without identity checks, or quick transfers of large sums? All of that triggers fraud signals that can stop an account being opened.”
Translated from Portugueser/literaciafinanceira07.11.2026
The first thing people advise is to request the Bank of Portugal's credit liabilities map (mapa de responsabilidades de crédito): it shows all your loans and late payments, and you can get it free by logging in with your Portal das Finanças tax portal password. One person recalls that they could not open an account until they paid off a €30 car loan debt. People also advise asking the bank to explain the refusal in writing and, if there is no answer, complaining to the Bank of Portugal.
“Look at your credit liabilities map on the Bank of Portugal website. I was once refused an account too, until a €30 car loan debt was paid off.”
Translated from Portugueser/literaciafinanceira06.11.2026
“The bank doesn't have to take you on as a customer, but you can demand an explanation. First write to them and ask them to explain specifically why opening an account is ‘impossible’.”
Translated from Portugueser/literaciafinanceira06.11.2026
Withdraw cash from a Monobank euro card at Multibanco: press Não when asked about conversion, but the limit is €200 a time
In a Ukrainian chat, someone asked where in Portugal they could withdraw cash from a Monobank euro card for a low fee.
People recommend Multibanco cash machines: it is a shared network, and almost every bank has one of these machines. If the machine asks whether to convert the amount, press Não, and you pay only your own bank's fee, if it charges one. But Multibanco dispenses no more than €200 at a time, and contactless does not work there. You can withdraw several times in a row if your Monobank limit allows, although one person writes that, with a Portuguese card, the same machine would not give them €200 a second time in a row.
“Withdraw at Multibanco machines, and when they ask about conversion, press Não — then the only fee will be Monobank's, if you have one.”
Translated from Ukrainiankit_pt08.11.2026
Euronet cash machines have no such limit and usually accept contactless cards, but they charge their own withdrawal fee — a fixed one, according to one person in the chat.
“Multibanco machines, but NFC never works there and there's a €200 limit, though the only fee is your bank's. Euronet machines seem to have a fixed withdrawal fee, but no such limit, and NFC usually works.”
Translated from Ukrainiankit_pt08.11.2026
The Algarve's resort towns empty out in winter. Locals on Reddit say the shutters there stay closed almost all year round
A foreigner on Reddit asked people living in the Algarve how they feel about outsiders owning holiday homes there: in Spain and Italy, locals are angry about it because they cannot afford the rents.
Most replies were about something else: empty flats. A resident of Lagos writes that from their window they can see buildings where the shutters are closed almost all year round, and many of the flats belong to Portuguese people from Lisbon and Porto who come for two or three weekends a year and do not let them out. Another is sure that most of the short-term housing in the Algarve belongs to the Portuguese themselves. Albufeira, Vilamoura, Carvoeiro, Armação de Pêra and Manta Rota are described as towns built for holiday lets: out of season, people write, there is no life there at all.
“I look out of my window in Lagos, where I live and contribute to the local economy all year round: in most of the flats I can see, the shutters are down. Almost always. And I know for a fact that many belong to Portuguese people who live in Lisbon and Porto and come here two or three weekends a year. Most aren't even let out. They just stand empty for more than 350 days a year.”
r/algarve05.11.2026
“Vilamoura, Carvoeiro, Armação de Pêra, Manta Rota and others are wall-to-wall developments for short-term lets. In the low season there's no life there, nothing happens.”
r/algarve05.11.2026
In winter, residents say, the Algarve becomes a ‘ghost town’: there is almost no permanent work, and young people leave to study in Lisbon and do not come back.
“In winter the Algarve is a ghost town, and I feel sorry for any young person for whom it's home: there's no industry and no real work here. The most capable people from the Algarve leave to study in Lisbon and don't come back.”
r/algarve05.11.2026
