Finding good internet in a third world wonderland
Living on Lake Atitlan is and has been a great enhancement to my life. The culture is fascinating the lake is beautiful, life in general is good here. The biggest challenge now is finding Internet that is good enough to do my work…
I wrote off trying to live in my favorite town here when I am working because they only have satellite internet and the latency of satellite just won’t work for me. So, here I am in Panajechel where the Internet is at least acceptable. There are three games in town if you want internet to your house or business. The local phone company will hook you up for the fastest internet in town within a few weeks if you have a phone line to the house you are in. The local cable company will hook you up to the second fastest internet around a little quicker if you have cable run to the house. Lastly there is a local company mayanet that will set you up with a wireless connection (the slowest option, but usable) anywhere in their range.
I haven’t decided which to go with yet, I think I will likely get the slower wireless because I am not sure which house I will be in next month and the wireless router can be moved to any house/hotel within range. I will keep you posted.
on January 17th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Ok, heres the update. I ended up going with the Cable Internet Company, which is the second fastest Internet in town. So far so good I have around 128K Internet speed upload and download. Sooo… I guess it is possible to work in a third world paradise, now I just have to make myself work.
on March 28th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Hi,
TIGO cellular claims to serve the Lake Atitlan area (based on their coverage map) and offers an unlimited-usage Internet plan for U$35. I am guessing by its not being mentioned here that it is either painfully slow or not available at all.
http://www.tigo.com.gt/cobertura_gsm.php
One area-contact told me that TIGO’s maps claim quite a bit more coverage than exists. Considering the terrain, their claims seemed to require a lot more infrastructure than could be logically supported by their customer-base. He added that he has not heard of TIGO being used for Internet around the lake yet, though I am surprised they would not have a tower that is line-of-sight to Pana.
Another site mentioned fiber-optic in Pana:
http://www.expatexchange.com/expat/index.cfm?frmid=217&forumid=0&dbname=ee&tpcid=3331126&shared=N
(down a couple messages the fiber-optic option is mentioned in a reply)
If this is actually present, 802.11 nets would be quite easy and inexpensive to setup from the fiber-connection with some homemade directional antennas and Wireless Routers. I’m not sure what the Guate rules are regarding broadcast frequencies, wattage, etc, though.
on March 28th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Yea, nobody I know here on Lake Atitlan is using or has mentioned anyone using the tigo cellular connection. Though I know the cell towers are supporting cellular phones all over the lake.
There are fiber-optic lines to a few towns on the lake. The main problem here is the rate at which information flows there could be several other options available here and nobody would know. The people selling the services that exist are not going to tell you.
Guate rules are regarding broadcast frequencies, wattage, etc probably don’t exist, and if they do they are definitely not going to be enforced unless you ask them too and then its unlikely. The cops are all too busy chasing girls and trying to make a buck.
Good luck, on your quest to get connected, feel free to ask more questions…
Peace,
Jopa
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on December 21st, 2008 at 12:04 pm
I’m coming to spend several months in San Marcos and I’m trying to find out whatever I can about internet access.
If there is anybody who may be able to offer current & reliable information I would really appreciate it.
I’ll be renting a house that has a cable line, and am willing to pay what is necessary to have a functional connection with decent speed. Thank you for any advice you can offer!
Alex
on December 22nd, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Hi Alex,
Well, I am the right guy to ask as I went looking for exactly the same thing in 2005 and 2006 in San Marcos. I was also there last winter 2007 but chose to live in Panajechel partly for the solid Internet connection to my rental.
Last winter in san marcos was the same situation as the years before 2 businesses in town with satellite dishes that operate cyber cafe’s, thats it. I had heard that the famous author in town had got Internet across the lake via microwave antennae or something like that but am not sure if it is true or the details.
You can always get hughesnet satellite that is the one functional solution in town. I would recommend bringing your hardware with you as when I priced it they wanted near $1000 to setup through local agents. You can use a southwest US address to get the equipment and then just re-program the dish direction when you get down there it will be much cheaper.
I had rented a room in one of the hotels in town that had a connected cyber cafe and get them to run a wire to my room this was the first ever room with internet access for rent in san marcos, maybe they still have it setup.
Last year I decided to live in panachel in which you can goo to three different companies and ask them to bring it to your house and they will within a few days. I believe this is also true in San Pedro and Santiago.
Peace,
Jopa
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on December 22nd, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Thanks, Jopa, that’s a great introduction to the internet challenges that await…so not much has changed in the last few years as far as San Marcos goes, eh? That’s frustrating…I had heard about the satellite connection being beamed from the other side of the lake or something, but that sounds far from ideal.
As far as the Hughesnet solution, do you know other people who have done it? I’ve seen the equipment being resold on ebay in the $200 range, and would be willing to do it if you know that it’s functional there…and I’m guessing getting a home satellite into the country wouldn’t cause any trouble at the airport??? Then I guess I’d have to just set it up on the roof and get an account started?
And just to clarify, there really isn’t any solution that involves using the existing telephone line or cable tv line, is that right?
And lastly, and I’m sure this is a much easier topic, do you know what mobile phone service is most reliable in San Marcos? If I have an unlocked phone, can I just buy a local # and SIM card from that company and have uninterrupted service there?
Thanks again for taking the time to walk me through this - I’m really looking forward to being there, but will have a hard time fully enjoying it if I can’t deal with some day to day work that I have to stay on top of via internet.
Alex
on December 24th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Yea as far as satellite, you should call hughesnet and just get answers from sales about the deal they offer if you already have your equipment. They may say they require professional installation which could be hard to get around. In this case you will have to pay them to Install to your home or any home and then just take the equipment with you. It does work there and all you have to do is reconfigure the dish to point right from wherever you are. You can find instructions to do this online.
As far as getting the stuff into the country, if they did find it in your luggage they may want to tax you on it. They rarely look through your stuff on the way in as long as its not visible you should be fine. If they do want to tax you I would claim you are donating it to a school, like http://www.escuelacaracol.org/Home.html or http://www.lacambalacha.org they may let you slide on the tax, If you are worried then you may ask one of these San Marcos schools to write you a note and offer to donate the equipment to them when you part. I know these people from both schools and they are worth the donation and easy to talk to.
As far as existing phone lines I think you could get dialup if you had access to one of the five or so phone lines in San Marcos, it takes a year or more to get a phone line installed if at all. There was cable tv available to some of town as of about two years ago, but last winter they still did not offer Internet. This could happen any year but things move slowly there.
Phones are easy in Guatemala, they are all more or less pay per use and cheap, like $30 with 100 minutes card bundled, It costs hardly anything to call back to the US, but be careful I have bought phones there that would not let me call back to the US. If you are attached to features on your phone you can also get a simm card there and put it in your phone as long as your phone is not proprietary.
Glad to help with any advise, I remember before I got there having the same questions. Lake Atitlan is a beautiful place to spend some time I hope you find a workable solution. Feel free to ask me anything and please do report back if you find any new info.
Jopa
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on January 31st, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Hi
I just got the Tigo internet device for my laptop. I’m in Santa Cruz. If I’m doing POP3 email (not a web browser based like Gmail and Yahoo..though they can be set up as POP) it works fine. However for anything requiring even a minimum of information, it’s painfully slow part of the time to agonizingly slow the rest. When things are really cooking it’s just slow.. but again, fine for email. The signal always shows as being strong. When I tried it out in Pana it was giving me the same speeds as the Maya internet Cafe. In Santa Cruz (actually Paxanax) it shows that I’m connected to an Edge network. I’m betting in Pana I’m on a G3 network. An acquaintance who has the same setup just down the path from me said that they heard Tigo was going to increase power in January. I’m hoping he’s wrong about the power and that they’re going to G3.
Again, it’s excellent for simple email..even the web based email can be told to work in text mode for quicker response.
Peace and
Best of Luck.
Duende
on January 31st, 2009 at 1:12 pm
PS.. I got it for Q600 in Pana which included a months free service. I went to Tigo;s website and they said the device would be gratis if I got service a month at a time (instead of a few hours at a time). I’m new to the Spanish language so I couldn’t tell if they were throwing it in gratis if I did month at a time or if I signed a contract for a years commitment.
on February 11th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Hi Duende,
I’m visiting Lake Atitlan in March and need internet to work right away. I was trying to look into both Telgua’s Claro service and Telefonica’s Speedy service, but they are both telling me that I need to have two months worth of bank statements from a Guatemala bank in order to give me service, and it’s a 2-year contract to boot. What were the requirements for you for what you got?
on February 14th, 2009 at 12:52 am
Hi Chava,
Looks like he has Tigo, try looking on their website which Duende referred to, I have not seen the website, but they should have info there.