Home › Forums › Costa Rica Living Forum › Internet problem with RACSA
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May 23, 2007 at 12:00 am #183789itsbutchMember
Back again for help!
In February I moved to Santa Gertrudis Norte. I am 250 meters off the main street and ICE will not run service for high speed to me until they get a “better cable” – it’s been three months now. So I am using the slow/expensive RACSA dial up.
My question is: Is there a good dial-up program out there. As I said above, I am currently using RACSA Dial-up and it’s costing me 7 cents a minute. My bill last month (included in the phone bill) for just dial-up was $126.00 – that about 1 hrs. use for every day of the month.
Any suggestions will be appreciated!
Thanks, ButchMay 24, 2007 at 10:18 am #183790GringoTicoMemberIn Costa Rica you can legally get internet service from anyone you want, as long as it’s RACSA. Welcome to the Tico state communications monopoly.
If you don’t like it, pray for passage of CAFTA, as well as a finding from the CR Supreme Court that it’s constitutional (it’s not).
Many people in CR have been waiting for over a decade just for a phone line.
May 24, 2007 at 10:46 am #183791ChariotdriverMemberSeems like I remember seeing some directional attennas that would allow you to beam a high speed interent connection from 1 place to another if there in line of site of each other.
Of course you would have to have a willing participant that already has a high sepeed connection.
I’ve seen crude homebuilt anntennas that were made from a a pringles can to show how easy it is. I thought that this would be an option for those that are living in places that will not see highspeed under the normal rate for years to come.
Would the internet service provider consider this illegal?
PhilMay 24, 2007 at 12:17 pm #183792GringoTicoMemberAbsolutely. ICE (of which RACSA is a subsidiary) has the sole constitutional authority to provide any and all electronic communications services in Costa Rica. This has always applied to telephones and cell phones, and has been extended by the courts to internet connections as well. Any private companies involved in this industry in CR are either subcontractors of ICE or RACSA, or are operating illegally.
Of course, there are always ways around this, and attempts are made from time-to-time by individuals and companies to circumvent the law. High profile methods are perennially shut down by ICE, but I’d be surprised if they suspected a Pringles can!
May 24, 2007 at 7:46 pm #183793GreciaBoundMemberThere is a new wireless service starting up in Grecia in mid-July, called @Wireless Intelligence, based on directional antennas that allow you to receive a high speed internet connection by line of site broadcast. You have to have an existing high speed connection. Details have been worked out with ICE, and has backup by RACSA.
From central Grecia, radio antennae will broadcast high-speed internet bandwidth waves in all directions. Subscribers to the service will use small units mounted in their homes to receive and send internet signals regardless of whether or not they have a direct line of sight with central Grecia. The receiver unit plugs into a modem and the modem plugs into your computer or into your home WiFi router. If you have a video security system in or around your home, you will be able to monitor them from anywhere in the world where there is internet access. Monthly service varies from $25 -95 per month, plus $5 rental per month for the receiver and transmitter unit. For more details, call Gene Warneke @ 339-2407May 24, 2007 at 8:25 pm #183794DavidCMurrayParticipantGreciaBound, I don’ unnerstan.
Why must a user of this new service in Grecia have a high speed line if the service is providing some whiz-bang wi-fi signal that’s not line-of-sight dependent? And, if one has an existing high speed connection, what’s the attraction of the wi-fi?
/s/Confused in el Cajon
May 24, 2007 at 9:46 pm #183795GreciaBoundMemberI believe it replaces dial-up and can serve places where cable is not available. I am going to learn more about the wireless broadband service at launch meetings:
Wednesday, May 30th at 2 PM
Saturday, June 2nd at 2 PM.
Location: Second Floor above Amnet, Centro Comercial Don Pepe, 150 meters south of Restaurante Oasis
Gene Warneke 339-2407, Faruk Muhti 817-2817May 29, 2007 at 11:57 am #183796DavidCMurrayParticipantGreciaBound, I’m going to try to make tomorrow’s meeting. I’ll be the old guy with the beard.
May 29, 2007 at 2:44 pm #183797apexitMemberes
The antenna’s work up to 10 miles. Another thing you can do is add an amplifier to the DSL syetem, that will increase your wifi pickup or sign up for satellite dsl.
StanMay 29, 2007 at 2:47 pm #183798apexitMemberGringo Tico
You mentioned that there are legal ways to circumvent Racsa. Do you have any articles or more information? You may email me apexcabletv@yahoo.com
Thanks
Stanley PutraMay 29, 2007 at 3:05 pm #183799GringoTicoMemberSorry Stan, perhaps I didn’t make myself clear. There have been many companies that have tried to work around it, but none legally. In the end they all get shut down by ICE.
Again, simply put, ICE has sole constitutional authority for providing electronic communication services, period. I don’t see how anything could alter this scenario, including passage of CAFTA, short of a constitutional amendment. Don’t hold your breath.
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