| Computer buffs will be pleased to know Internet services
are available throughout Costa Rica. Costa Rica has Central
America's highest Internet connection rate, with 20 of 1,000
citizens regularly going online. The country is second in
Internet use in Latin America, surpassed only by Chile. At
the beginning 2004, Costa Rica had more than 100,000 Internet
accounts. It is predicted that soon one-quarter of the country's
population will be frequent users of the Internet.
In Costa Rica, Internet users have several ways of connecting
to the national network; by cable modem provided by local
cable companies in connection with RACSA (Radiográfica
Costarricense); ADSL and RDSI provided by the Instituto
Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) , the telephone company
and parent of RACSA; or by dialup provided by RACSA. Unfortunately,
the vast majority of Internet users are limited to the slow
dial-up system. Most people complain that it is very slow,
difficult to get connected at times and they often get disconnected
while online.
To get connected to Internet, just go to the Radiográfica
offices and open a RACSAPAC account. Recently, using the Internet
became less expensive and the hours more flexible.
Rates for home Internet users are $10 to $15 per month. The
new $15 unlimited-hours rate does not include the basic telephone
rate of $0.55 per hour online. The extra charge will be added
to the Internet client's telephone. For further information
about these services, call 287-0321 or 287-0087; Fax: (506)
223-1609, or e-mail: tarifas@sol. racsa.co.cr.
ICE now offers that ADSL broadband Internet. Broadband Internet
will eventually enable homes, schools and businesses to connect
to the Internet at high speeds at a fraction of the current
cost without using regular telephone lines. The monthly cost
of this service ranges from $16 for 128-kbps connection with
a download speed of 512-kbps, $19 for a 256-kbps connection
with a download speed of 2,048-kbps and $25 for a 512-Kbps
connection with a download speed of 2,048 kbps. A connection
speed of 1,024 with a download speed of 512-kbps costs $38
and 2,048-kbps with a download speed of 768 will run $169.
In addition to the ADSL service, ICE also offers a RDSI that
comes with two independent phone lines and a greater speed
than the regular dial- up service. To find out whether these
services are available in your area or to sign up, call 115
or see http://www.grupoice.com for more details.
Internet service cable TV hookup is also available in Costa
Rica through a couple of cable TV companies. This service
is faster than regular dial-up service. Cable Tica (210-1450)
and Amnet (2102929) now offer two-way high-speed cable modem
Internet service in some areas, mainly the Central Valley.
The monthly cost ranges between $40 and $80 depending on the
speed of the connection you choose. At present, this service
is available in San José, Heredia, Santa Ana and some
of the surrounding suburbs. I live in Heredia and am very
happy with the service Amnet provides.
You can also get high-speed satellite Internet service from
several companies. The installation cost is about $2,600 and
the monthly charge is about $125. In rural areas where there
is no broadband Internet, DSL or cable, this may be the way
to go. Call 290-0689 for more information.
Internet users can now make long distance telephone calls
using Vonage. They offer an all-inclusive phone service that
can bypass the Costa Rican phone system. You can use your
existing high-speed Internet connection (broadband) instead
of standard phone lines. You will also need a U.S. address
to use this system. We know many people who use Vonage from
here and are very satisfied. To find out more about their
services see http://www.vonage.com.
Many private Internet companies offer private services such
as hosting and Web design.
ICE plans to offer an international Internet phone service
by the end of 2006.
For an hourly fee, you may send and receive mail and surf
the Web at any of the many local Internet cafés.
Internet café prices can range from anywhere
from 200 colones ($0.40) to 470 colones ($0.90)
per hour in the San José area to as much as 2.000 colones
(US $3.90) at the beach.
Here is our friend Charles Mill's experience at a local Internet
café: On my first two trips I used the Internet
café. They are available almost everywhere. In
Heredia you trip over them all the time. They are fast and
very reasonable. The main issue that bothered me was that
in some cafés the keyboards were dirty. You
can find Internet café's for 150 to 500 colones
($0.30 to $1) or more per hour. Last year I was in Branson,
Missouri and an Internet café was charging $6
per hour. In New York it can cost $12 per hour.
Many hotels now offer free Internet service to their clients,
and some of them even have Hot Spots now if you are traveling
with your laptop.
The Radiográfica office, in downtown San José,
has computers you can use to surf the Web. They even have
printers so you can download and print out information from
the Web. The central post office in downtown San José
offers several computers with Internet and email connection
for about $1.50 per hour. Costa Rica's postal services hopes
to have nearly 150 post offices branches online over the next
few years.
You can pay bills online form here. There is no need to have
the paper bill present; you only need to know the last day
due and the appropriate account number and name for your bill
so you can pay them on time online. IMHO at the Banco Nacional
de Costa Rica has the easiest, most complete and best online
bill pay here in Costa Rica.
You can have an electronic colón and U.S. dollar
account on the same page and move funds from one to the other
as needed. To pay private parties (such as your landlord)
or companies not listed, you need to have their account number
and account name, but you can transfer money to them online
also within the same bank. They have promised interbank payments
coming soon.
As for the U.S. side of online banking, you can use NetBank
(http://www. netbank.com) and pay virtually anyone in the
United States either through e-bills, if they are offered,
or send them an electronically generated bank check directly.
With a PayPal account, you can pay anyone that has an e-mail
address anywhere in the world, with some political exceptions.
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