www.CostaRicaTicas.com

What kind of internet access options are available in SJO and CR in general?

1. Cable?

2. High speed DSL?

3. Satellite?

4. At Home?

5. Public access (hotels & cafes)?

6. Do most of the cafe & hotel business center systems have USB ports? if so 1.1 or 2.0?

7. Do the cafe & hotel business center systems permit download of IM and VOIP software?

Lots of questions for one post. It might be more helpful if you get to the point.

Many of the hotels in S.J. have high speed access available for guests. Most have a some sort of PC or two or three available for guest use in a common area of the hotel. You would have to enquire with hotel as to their line type and speed and what is availble for guests. It varies all over the map.

Many of these PCs have already had one form or another of VIOP software installed. Skype & Yahoo! messenger are common.

More & more hotels & resturants are going wireless. Most hotels advertise the fact. Often you have to walk the streets to see "Free WiFi" scribbled on a sign in front of the resturants & bars.

The range of sophistication of Internet Cafes runs the gamut from Ice Age to 21st Century. I cannot recommend one as I don't use them. I have an amiga that does and I prefer it when she uses the "better" cafe in her area. The PCs have webcams so I get to see her too!

All of the PCs I have seen are running some form of Windows XP. These machines SHOULD have USB ports. I wouldn't count on them being 2.0. Most of the hardware you will find is old no-name stuff.

Downloads? Probably at the hotels. They seem to have fewer controls. In the cafes? Probably less likely. Enquire within...

I don't think that the "general population" has high-speed access at home. Probably most common in the "better" barrios & gringo areas like Escazu, etc. Dial-up is still common for many Ticos.

Satellite and/or Microwave? Mostly only gringos living in the mountains will have this. Perhaps some of the posh resorts. The price puts the service out of reach of most.

What is it that you are really after?

_________________
Women are like beers. I've never had one that I didn't like. Just some that I like more than others! --Western

Yes,
Yes,
Yes,
Yes,
Yes,
Yes,
Yes,
Yes,
Yes,
Yes,
Yes

Any questions?

Costa Rica may be a third world country, but unless you're living in an embargoed country like Cuba or some backwater village in africa, if there's cable, there's internet, if there's phones, there's DSL, if there's Satellite TV, there's Satellite Internet available.

Thank you,

testing a telephony solution for virtual USA phone number access inbound and outbound with USA ring and voice mail with cellular call forwarding in and out.

I don't know if this is what your looking for, but the "MagicJack" works in Costa Rica. I used mine at Sportsmans Lodge, and was able to call back to America, just like I was in Houston. Very useful, if you ask me, for only $20 a year.

More questions?

1. were you using wireless?
2. do you know what the internet connection speed is at Sportsmans?
3. did you use headphones on your system or did you use a land line telephone connected?
4. did you establish your USA telephone number in the USA or in CR?

Thank you,

E - I have connected from the Castillo and Amistad with it.

1 - Yes
2 - No, but the requirements are very low.
3 - Yes and Yes
4 - Got a local number. They only supply USA area code numbers.

_________________
Hit them fast, Hit them hard and NEXT!
A good chica is like a good carpenter - No wood gets wasted!!!

I bought a cheap cordless phone. This time around, I have a very expensive cordless that I can walk nearly 50 yards away from the base station with. I could use headphones if I wanted, btu haven't yet. The access at Sportsmans is pretty slow. There was one night that I was unable to login the their puplic network. Just on a lark, I tried the managemant network, and, to my surprise, it was not password protected. I used it for the rest of my trip, and it was faster than the public. I wish Sportsmans would run a few more access points, sped is okay, but usually I got poor signal strength.

I would also incest in an AC powered USB extender.

And if you are staying in any of the older rooms in SL, remember to bring a power adapter. I had to unplug my minifrige to be able to plug in my laptop in a convenient location.

Thanks for the input. Much as I thought it is an end to end system solution rather than a single component.

I am poised and justified for a trip to test, test , and test...

Elroy:

Use of an external antenna to your wireless card will enhance your ability to receive and communicate unsecured Wifi throughout downtown San Jose. This antenna even negates the use of your WiFi card as it has it's own built in. Most of the WiFi nets I've seen are on unsecured routers which require no password. Very nice. Perhaps not for banking work, but very good for VoIP and using your machine in a hotel that doesn't have WiFi. There are such antenna's for purchase all over the net and ebay.

Here is a sight I posted a few months back:

http://www.innovativedevice.com/asp/information.asp

_________________
"Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand."
- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Ch. 16

I've used Vonage at a hotel that I am staying. I actually hooked my router into the DEC 6.0 Vonage phone adapter of the hotel. I used it to call the States until the owner one day became convinced that it was causing his phone problems. So now I use his Vonage phone.

I know use Skpe to make calls elsewhere in the world. I use a Logitech cordless phone for Skpe. It displays all of my contacts, plus I can go to the bar downstairs and do not have to drag my laptop around.

I have another cordless phone if anyone is interested. Same type.