High Speed Internet Availability

[lostINamerica]

What areas have high speed internet (either through cable or dsl) available?

I'd like a land line, not satelitte.

Thanks!
 

[Russ]

Good News!
 
ICE has really stepped up their efforts lately and now you can get high speed Internet in a very wide range of areas.  Your options:

DSL and Cable
Most areas of the Central Valley and many other areas have DSL or Cable Access.  The cable providers haven't done a very good job of giving clients cable-like speeds in a lot of high demand areas, but these areas will be the first with DSL.  ICE is implementing DSL this year, they have 28,000 lines available now to people on a waiting list and will have 100,000 lines later in the year.  This is called Internet Avanzado. This is available in areas that are within a 5 kilometer radius of a telephone exchange with the DSL equipment.

ISDN
This is another option if you are in a rural area, since you only have to be 8km from the exchange with the DSL equipment.  I have this service on my quinta outside of San José and it's great.  I connect at 128 Kbps, and can download a file at 12 kpbs.  DSL can be faster, but this is pretty fast and it's available almost nationwide right now.

In order to get these services, you just have to tell ICE which phone you want to connect from and they will study which service you can get.  They call DSL "Internet Avanzado" or DSL and the ISDN service they call RDSI.  

[Jay]

In Jaco This past week I met a man with cable high speed  

[Russ]

Good News!

This week the Comptroller finally gave the go ahead for DSL equipment.  
The main exchanges were already purchased, but the delay was in the equipment that the end user needs.  

That means that the project will finally be able to go ahead and that DSL lines should be available nationwide ..... shortly  

This is great news for most people in the Central Valley.  Outlying areas will have check on a cases by case basis for coverage.  

[Snake Eyes]

I was in Escazu and used 2 local internet cafes, internet speed was adequite for E-mail only, not fast enough to run Video, they told me it was broadband but no where near as fast, as mine here in the states. One cafe was really bad all the computers where whore out, keyboard's used so much that all the letters were barely readable and they are made different than US keyboards, keys laid out differently very confusing. Browser's and Home page where in spanish, no pop up protection, win 98 or 2000. The other was not too bad it was run by columbians, they where using Mozilla Firefox browsers, average price was about .50 cents an hour.

[músico]

I live in Santa Ana in a gated community where each casa shares DSL from the oficina - 256 Kbps. Problemo is that we often have a power outage so we have sourced a great location in Santa Ana on the old road to Ezcazu. Just bring your laptop and a few colones or US dollars to enjoy food and drink. Wireless and Hardwire Cable Internet For Customer's Free Use • Rock n Roll Pollo

 

[músico]

Good News!

This week the Comptroller finally gave the go ahead for DSL equipment... 

This is great news for most people in the Central Valley.  Outlying areas will have check on a cases by case basis for coverage.

Hola Russ, this is great news!

Question: Relative to the aforementioned power outages where I live at the moment (I know that this is common to CR but not every few days - the owner is vague as to why this happens, seemingly ONLY in our complex).

SO...I have found a fantastic rental in Santa Ana area that promises steady power (if not out for whatever reasons I don't understand) due to a tranformer for the sole house on this huge property...but a main issue remains. The nature of my husband's work requires high-speed access.

The owner of the house told us that presently the only option is RSDI where one has two phone lines but merely 64 Kbps. He did mention this 'study' for DSL and said that this is a possibility for us but he was uncertain of details. How does one go about pursuing this matter? I long to live in this rural setting just a few minutes up the mountain town with a killer view.

Any ideas would be deeply appreciated - muchos gracias.

[Russ]

I have the RDSI service and you can set it for 64 kpbs fixed, 128 kpbs fixed or 64/128 on demand.  I find the service to be very reliable, the drawback is that you pay for your connection time on the phone bill.  I work online most of the day and my phone bill is normally under $100 (70-80) including everything.  

As to the power at your current location, it doesn't make sense that your Internet service would go out, since it has to be coming in on the phone line.  They aren't necessarily both out at the same time. So they should get a UPS (battery back-up) in the office to maintain the equipment's power while the main power is out.  

The DSL service is still on hold, but theoretically later this year it will come into effect and ICE will be able to buy the equipment.  I heard that in some areas you can get it now, but you have to buy your own router (under $200) from an authorized provider.  To solicit a study the owner of the phone line has to fill out a form.  The ICE help line is 115.  Or you can go to www.grupoice.com  ADSL info (spanish)
Also you are supposed to be able to ask for a study in any ICE suboffice.  

[Russ]

Breaking News....

The DSL service is still on hold, but theoretically later this year it will come into effect and ICE will be able to buy the equipment. I heard that in some areas you can get it now, but you have to buy your own router (under $200) from an authorized provider. To solicit a study the owner of the phone line has to fill out a form. The ICE help line is 115. Or you can go to www.grupoice.com ADSL info (spanish)

ICE officially began marketing 72,000 lines on Monday, June 13th, 2005.  Get 'em while their hot (and available).

[Fredr]

Hello Russ

Just the man and topic I was looking for  

My wife Margie and myself are looking to escape the harsh winter of Colorado and would love to spend 3-4 months in Costa Rica. My profession is webmaster/partner of a large and busy internet site and I can do my work anywhere in the world as long as I have electricity and a very reliable, mission critical high speed internet connection. We also would bring along a ton of compact computer/networking equipment.

Other than that we are simple folks, love the Latino lifestyle, food, dance and music. Under the right circumstances, we're ready to lease a small 3 bedroom, furnished home and get the paperwork started.

Thanks for this great and good looking forum!

Fred

[Russ]

Hi Fred,

Thanks for the compliment(s)!

In theory you should now be able to get high speed Internet access via DSL from within 3 - 4.5 kilometers of any telephone exchange in Costa Rica. The connection is asymetrical so the upload speed would be slower than the download speed, which can run from 64 kpbs to 4096 kpbs.  The upload speed can be from 32 - 512 kpbs, but will always be from 1/2 to 1/8 of the download speed.

I am not a hardware person, but as a practical matter you might also contract cable Internet as a backup.  I ran into the owner of a local Internet café and he has had trouble getting the DSL going, so is going to leave the cable service as a backup.  

Your best bet would be to look at a rental in the most developed parts of the Central Valley, depending on your ideal home it could be downtown, Escazú, Santa Ana, San Pedro or Curridabat. We don't have any realtors specializing in short term rentals in this area, so you are kind of on your own there.

If you are wanting to be at the beach, there is a good chance that Flamingo or Tamarindo could meet your needs.  Contact Gerald at ABC Real Estate Beach Rentals Tamarindo for an update on the current availability of broadband, you might be pleasantly surprised.  Another possibility is Flamingo where a lot of Americans live - contact Larry at Beach Rentals Flamingo for short term rentals and the current status of broadband there.  

Good luck

[Fredr]

Thanks for the quick response. Probably not beach, we prefer the lower humidity of the higher grounds. That leaves  Central Valley, (I assume that is San Jose?) and Escazú, Santa Ana, San Pedro or Curridabat. Which one of those areas would you consider the lowest humidity? Thanks again - and if you do run into someone, please give them my email.

Fred

 

[Donna]

Hi Russ,

Great website.  The information and posts are thoroughly appreciated!  

Any idea on hi-speed internet in these areas:
 -  Quepos
 -  Playa Samara
 -  Playa Carrillo

I too need hi-speed for my job, but really want to be by the beach!  Tamarindo is just a little too dry during parts of the year.  If you would know who I can contact in these area (for rentals too) that would be GREATLY appreciated!  Have a great day!

adios,
Donna

[Russ]

Fred,

Definitely Santa Ana is the driest, the lower parts of Escazú are pretty dry as well. There are some modern office parks in both areas that should be able to supply your needs. Also the San Pedro area is the capital of Costa Rica's sportsbook industry, so the infrastructure would be in place too.  

[Russ]

Donna,

I was just at the beach in Esterillos (south of Jacó) and talking to the guy that owns THE Internet cafe there.  He is an expert but he has to use dial up.  He was telling me the only other option would be satellite.  Once you have the equipment here (maybe a $2000 investment) you can try to find a service provider from Canada or the U.S.  The monthly fee would run $80 or so, but they have to be willing to overlook the fact that you are in Costa Rica and technically it is illegal for them to provide the service.  

Evidently some of these companies exist.    

So apparently Samara and Carillo would be out of range of the advanced service, but you may have some luck in Quepos.  We don't have any offices there so you would be on your own too.  

[Russ]

I had a nice email from Mike asking about broadband in Quepos, so I guess it's time for an Internet Broadband Update 

Like Donna, I'm looking for high-speed access in a beach area.  You mentioned that she might have some luck in Quepos.  How would one go about finding out if there was access in Quepos? Should I just call RACSA or CableTica or something?

It almost seems like if there were enough high-speed beach people, they could go in on a satellite dish or something and set up a little high-tech enclave.  I know I'd be interested.  Just out of curiosity, have you had many more inquiries about high speed in coastal areas?  If there is already a group out there, I'd jump on the opportunity.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide, and I really appreciate you maintaining the site.  It's nice to find some actual concrete data on the
topic.

Mike

Here is the latest availability straight from ICE - they are the ones with DSL lines which are the best.
http://www.grupoice.com/esp/serv/hogar/tele/internet/loc_disponibilidad.htm

The list is by the phone exchange prefix, then you have to be within 4 kilometers of the phone exchange.  Quepos is 777-XXXX So unfortunately it is not covered as yet. However we published an article on the news blog where they have plans to get DSL to Quepos in the second half of 2006.

http://american-european.net/blogs/costa-rica-news/business-and-economy/2006/01/16/dsl-internet-service-not-finding-market/

Another good option is the ISDN service, which is available nationwide.  It extends double from the phone exchange and the equipment was installed last year.  I use this and you get 128 kpbs upload and download.  They have eliminated the charge for connection time, so it is far superior to dial up and not far from DSL. The price is similar to DSL, you pay $16 for the Internet connection(like dial up) and about $9 for the ISDN service.

In some areas, like Tamarindo there is satellite access coupled with Wi-Fi.  In Tamarindo it is offered free as part of a security service and the speed is pretty good.

I found a Canadian company offering satellite service by seaching "satellite Internet Costa Rica" and it ran from $90 to $130 a month, but the dish cost $2500.  Only 3 - 5 users were allowed, so it might be hard to share.

ICE still offers the VSAT service, which connects directly to the backbone.  The price is now $400 per month, but a group like you were talking about could make the price pretty reasonable. It's not clear what the relative speed might be, they guarantee a minimum of 10 kpbs but I understood that VSAT was broadband so that might be the effective transmission rate (like when you have dial up you get 56 kpbs but when you look at the connection you can see that only 2 - 3 kpbs actually go through).

[Stan]

Russ
It is now two years later so do you have any updates on DSL? I am on Playe Bandera, just North of palo Seco.
Thanks
Stan Putra

[Russ]

Hi Stan,

There hasn't been anything new on the news as yet.  I'm sure the ICE employees have been spending more time fighting CAFTA than working on the Internet service.  One thing is clear that in areas where there is a market Internet access should improve dramatically. 

I am not so sure that CAFTA is such a good deal or the right development model for Costa Rica to follow, but in the case of Internet service I will be happy to have some alternative available.  I believe that something similar to the banking scenario will play out with ICE.  In that case the competition from private providers will force ICE to become more agile, so the service will improve regardless of whether people stay with ICE or switch to a new company. 

Anyway, I went to the ICE site to see if there is any news.  The new link for the map of services is:
Broadband Availability Map Costa Rica ICE

They offer a PDF that shows all of the telephone exchanges that have broadband. 

This is the official version.  Off the record I spoke with a technician in my area the other day and he says that they are upgrading the network throughout the country.  They are installing new equipment in the exchanges and sub-exchanges that will allow greater coverage.  For example, in my case I live about 5 km from the telephone exchange and I can only get ISDN service.  It is a big improvement from dial-up, but more bandwidth would be better.  This technician said that once the new equipment was in the nearest cabinet I would be able to go to broadband. 

The technician felt like there has already been a change in philosophy as far as ICE is concerned. In the past they wanted to be certain that there was a market in place before investing, but now they believe that having the services available will create the market. 
Unfortunately for you, I didn't see anything as for availability in Playa Bandera or Palo Seco.  However with all the development in that area, you might expect good news shortly due to all of the above factors. 

[ticomandm]

I was wondering if there are any new broadband offerings in the pacific northwest - i'm specficially interested in the Playa Junquillal / Playa Negra area.  We currently don't have a landline phone (we're way up in the hills and ICE/RACSA want to charge us an arm and a leg to run a phone line) so I'm really wondering if I have any wireless broadband options like a broadband wireless card for my notebook computer or WiMax.

Any info greatly appreciated!

[Russ]

No, I'm afraid satellite would be your best bet.  I understand the modems are about $1500, but that the monthly rate is reasonable, around $100 for a good amount of bandwidth. 

Make sure that the company doesn't limit your usage. One that operates here does and your monthly bill can easily go to $250 or more with extra usage.   

RACSA supposedly has WiMax throughout the Central Valley, but I don't think their reach into outlying areas is on schedule.  Anyone who wants might keep up to date at the link here:

http://www.racsa.co.cr/servicios/residenciales/banda_ancha/wimax/index.html

[nispar]

hi there,
don't really get how to make a new thread, but anyway that hits the issue.
any wireless providers know around the area of sanjuanillo guanacaste? fibreopticcable around two kilometros from our communiotie, we are working on the ice, but so far.. slow progress. in the moment we are connected via antenna to vista al mar (santacruz) and from there to tamarindo.
provider is a company called publinet... we are kind of looking for a better option with higher bandswidth...
anybody aware of more distributors in that area?
thanx nis

[Ivo]

WiFi INternet access Now available in Atenas and surrounding area (July 2009)

http://crwifi.com/

Phone: 2446-5179

info@crwifi.com

Ray charges $60 per month and $350 installation.