Ok you internet savvy junkies. How would one get internet service if cablemas and telmex is NOT an option? If you have prices, throw those out as well. I'm hearing about Iusacell providing a BAM internet connection but have also heard that the price is ridiculous. Do you know what the price is actually? Is there anything else? Help a sister out por fa.
Liz - You might check out Internet Cancun: http://www.cancun.com.mx/internet/inalambrico.html No idea if they are a viable option or not.
Yeah I found that online but I hate that it doesn't give any information. It's not in timbucktoo though so it might be worth a drive by to preguntar. Thanks Apparently with Iusacell its about 688 pesos a month including IVA and if you can get the promotion the BAM card either comes free or you have to pay from about $2,000 pesos up to about $3,000 depending on what your computer will take. FUN. NOT. I hate to say it but it sounds like Iusacell is a better deal. WTF? Check out these prices: Plan Residencial .- Le permitirá navegar y manejar sus cuentas de correo por lo menos 8 veces más rápido que cualquier servicio telefónico, y la conexión está limitada al servicio de internet para una sola computadora, está restringido el uso de un ruteador o servidor, así como también no cuenta con IP Válida. El usuario solo podrá darle uso a la conectividad como cliente de internet y no como servidor, entrando a un pull compartido de ancho de banda. Instalación Residencial desde $1,998.00 + IVA Renta mensual desde $800.00 + IVA Plan Empresarial .- Para empresas que requieran la conectividad para 2 o más máquinas y de un ancho de banda capaz de manejar una gran cantidad de información. Este medio le da una gran flexibilidad de crecimiento en sus necesidades de conectividad sin nuevas instalaciones, ya que el incremento del ancho de banda que se requiera (temporal o permanentemente hasta un E1*) se controla directamente por nuestro sistema. El cliente contara con una dirección IP fija, lo cual permite el mapeo de esa dirección a nombres de dominio para ser usado en servidores de WEB, correo electrónico, etc. Instalación Empresarial desde $3,998.00 + IVA Renta Mensual desde $1,500.00 + IVA *Renta mensual de acuerdo al ancho de banda contratado * Previa reservación y sujeto a disponibilidad.
I used the Iusacell plug in card twice recently for a few days at a time when I was struggling with my connection. It's OK as a back up, but I wouldn't rely on it as my main connection. Fortunately, a friend lent it me free of charge. The speed varied, at best you'd get 256Kb - which would always tend to be at night. At worst 2kb/sec during the day which is unusable. 40Kb seemed to be about the average during the day, which is still slower than dial up. It also disconnected every 5 mins which meant you had to restart it. Depends how heavy you use the internet and what you use it for but it certainly wouldn't work for me full time.
Yeah. The cellphone based "broadband" services here are a joke, especially if you compare them to South Korea. One option might be wireless from radio mast on top of the Hong Kong restaurant near Sam's Club. Run by the son of the owner of the restaurant. I think he uses non-Telmex data connection to the USA too, so it's quite fast.
A friend of mine just told me about an option where they install a microwave satellite (not sure if it's really called that) for $2,000 pesos and then it's $400 pesos per month. When I have more details I'll post. It stresses me out that cablemas and telmex don't lay their lines during construction of new developments. Wouldn't they make more money if they did so? Oh well. I guess that just makes TOO much sense.
Satellite based internet has HUGE lag times. There's a noticeable delay (70,000km round trip Mexico->sat->USA) from when you request a webpage before it starts to arrive, and if you're gaming or doing telnet sessions FORGEDDABOUDIT. (or VOIP too!)
Oh, and Telmex aren't legally required to provide telephone service to anywhere until there are a certain number of people i the area demanding it. Can't remember the exact figure. It's probably due to the HUGE number of private residential areas constructed all over the place that end up with 5 houses being built and 100's of empty lots around them that slowly fill up over decades. I remember there's countless number of them in Guadalajara - you can see them all in Google Earth. Some of them are complete empty and have been that way for years. Bilt in the middle of nowhere with not even power cables available. There a few here in Cancun too. The smart thing wold be for the developers to put decent size ducts in place, so the telco and cable co's could quickly blow cables through them when the areas become commercially viable. But as you know, the smart thing isn't what gets done, usually.
Or secure (SSL) web pages. During the years before DSL came down to the south end of the ZH, I had a Hughs dish on the roof. It wasn't too bad for normal surfing, but the 22000 mile trip in each direction really does put an end to gaming and you can only manage VoIP if you use miltary discipline ("over and out"). Also forget uploading photos, etc. The assymetrical speeds really stand out. In the old days, you only had satellite down and you used dialup to send stuff. That's changed, but the speeds haven't. Where it really sucks is in SSL authentication, so if you do any sort of secure transactions, it's just not going to work. I did my banking over a dialup, which was far quicker than the dish. Also, beware of 802.xx schemes. Some of my neighbors and I tried Playa Wireless. This involved an antenna on the roof looking over the Lagoon to their tower on Tulum. It took Profeco 3 months to wring the 600 dollar refund out of them. It never worked. There is a Motorola system transmitting from a tower near the airport, It works. The setup and equipment fee approaches the GDP of some small countries as does the monthly service charge.
>This involved an antenna on the roof looking over the Lagoon to their tower >on Tulum. Ah. Over-water signal path. Betya they forgot to factor in tides, and the requirement for diversity antenna systems.
