What areas have high speed internet (either through cable or dsl) available?

I'd like a land line, not satelitte.

Thanks!
 

In Jaco This past week I met a man with cable high speed  

I was in Escazu and used 2 local internet cafes, internet speed was adequite for E-mail only, not fast enough to run Video, they told me it was broadband but no where near as fast, as mine here in the states. One cafe was really bad all the computers where whore out, keyboard's used so much that all the letters were barely readable and they are made different than US keyboards, keys laid out differently very confusing. Browser's and Home page where in spanish, no pop up protection, win 98 or 2000. The other was not too bad it was run by columbians, they where using Mozilla Firefox browsers, average price was about .50 cents an hour.

Hola Russ, this is great news!

Question: Relative to the aforementioned power outages where I live at the moment (I know that this is common to CR but not every few days - the owner is vague as to why this happens, seemingly ONLY in our complex).

SO...I have found a fantastic rental in Santa Ana area that promises steady power (if not out for whatever reasons I don't understand) due to a tranformer for the sole house on this huge property...but a main issue remains. The nature of my husband's work requires high-speed access.

The owner of the house told us that presently the only option is RSDI where one has two phone lines but merely 64 Kbps. He did mention this 'study' for DSL and said that this is a possibility for us but he was uncertain of details. How does one go about pursuing this matter? I long to live in this rural setting just a few minutes up the mountain town with a killer view.

Any ideas would be deeply appreciated - muchos gracias.

Breaking News....

ICE officially began marketing 72,000 lines on Monday, June 13th, 2005.  Get 'em while their hot (and available).

Hi Fred,

Thanks for the compliment(s)!

In theory you should now be able to get high speed Internet access via DSL from within 3 - 4.5 kilometers of any telephone exchange in Costa Rica. The connection is asymetrical so the upload speed would be slower than the download speed, which can run from 64 kpbs to 4096 kpbs.  The upload speed can be from 32 - 512 kpbs, but will always be from 1/2 to 1/8 of the download speed.

I am not a hardware person, but as a practical matter you might also contract cable Internet as a backup.  I ran into the owner of a local Internet café and he has had trouble getting the DSL going, so is going to leave the cable service as a backup.  

Your best bet would be to look at a rental in the most developed parts of the Central Valley, depending on your ideal home it could be downtown, Escazú, Santa Ana, San Pedro or Curridabat. We don't have any realtors specializing in short term rentals in this area, so you are kind of on your own there.

If you are wanting to be at the beach, there is a good chance that Flamingo or Tamarindo could meet your needs.  Contact Gerald at ABC Real Estate Beach Rentals Tamarindo for an update on the current availability of broadband, you might be pleasantly surprised.  Another possibility is Flamingo where a lot of Americans live - contact Larry at Beach Rentals Flamingo for short term rentals and the current status of broadband there.  

Good luck

Hi Russ,

Great website.  The information and posts are thoroughly appreciated!  

Any idea on hi-speed internet in these areas:
 -  Quepos
 -  Playa Samara
 -  Playa Carrillo

I too need hi-speed for my job, but really want to be by the beach!  Tamarindo is just a little too dry during parts of the year.  If you would know who I can contact in these area (for rentals too) that would be GREATLY appreciated!  Have a great day!

adios,
Donna

Donna,

I was just at the beach in Esterillos (south of Jacó) and talking to the guy that owns THE Internet cafe there.  He is an expert but he has to use dial up.  He was telling me the only other option would be satellite.  Once you have the equipment here (maybe a $2000 investment) you can try to find a service provider from Canada or the U.S.  The monthly fee would run $80 or so, but they have to be willing to overlook the fact that you are in Costa Rica and technically it is illegal for them to provide the service.  

Evidently some of these companies exist.    

So apparently Samara and Carillo would be out of range of the advanced service, but you may have some luck in Quepos.  We don't have any offices there so you would be on your own too.