Radiográfica Costarricense S.A., the Internet provider, says it is ready to take signups for its high-speed  WiMax wireless service.

The service is available in an eight kilometer radius of Cerro Abra, including Escazú and Santa Ana. The wireless station on the mountaintop catches the signal and carries it to the company’s servers.

During the rest of the year the company known as RACSA will be installing radio base stations from Alajuela on the west to Tres Rios on the east. The  company is motivated because the one-time monopoly is now in competition with its parent firm, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad and its Acelera services via the phone lines.

The company says that users of the new system just have to install a small antenna on the exterior of their building and a connection to the computer.

Speeds will be from 512 kilobytes per second download and 256 kps upload to 2 megabytes per second download and 1 mps upload. More information is available here: