vla

I'm wondering if anyone can comment on how readily is Internet connection available? Is there high-speed? Is it reliable? Are there a number of providers or is it a monopoly?

Thanks.

Laura

Hi vla! Yes there is high-speed internet and it's very fast and reliable. There are many different providers (you can have it with cable TV, with your telephone company, or with some other company that provides wire-less internet, etc.).

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Laura

MRWOOHOO

Internet is really good in Panama City and the larger cities on the Pan-American highway as well as Boquete. Once you get away from the major road is gets increasingly worse although for Latin America, no complaints. I am currently doing this wireless in Santiago at internet cafe.

coolandhot

What about if you have your own wireless card? Will that work from anywhere?

Nosfer

well you can't use them everywhere... there are some internet cafes for that, and maybe if you're going to a good hotel you'll have internet available right there.

anyway, there was another thread about this subject, maybe it will help you:

http://www.panamaforum.com/panama-tr...nama-city.html

Charlez

As Nosfer said, if there are "hotspots" (this a term used to describe areas where there is a wireless internet connection available) nearby then yeah. A lot of hotels offer free wireless internet access, however if you were to move there, you'd have to probably buy it unless one of your neighbors has wireless internet and makes it public. There's two types of wireless internet, unprotected which allows anyone to connect to it, and the protected wireless internet which can be protected via different systems but to put in simple, if your not distributing the signal, your not going to access it unless the owner gives you the password.

themark

You can buy wireless network service for your laptop so that you will be able to get service anywhere like a cellphone, of course the place still needs coverage, same as with a cellphone.

MRWOOHOO

Hello themark, do you know who sells this in Panama?

WMQ

Check this out:

http://www.masmovil.com.pa/Movil/Ser...ernetMovil.htm

El Internet, a través de una red celular se pude accesar mediante GPRS.

GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), un servicio que ofrece Cable & Wireless + Móvil a todos sus usuario, se refiere a una técnica de transmisión de datos en donde la información recibida llega en forma de paquetes de data y no de forma continua. De esta forma se logra un uso eficiente del sprectrum disponible,

Igualmente existen dispositivos externos que le permiten tener acceso a GPRS a través de su computadora personal portátil. Esto puede ser mediante el uso de una unidad celular, la cual interactúa con su notebook como un MODEM inalámbrico o mediante el uso de una tarjeta PCMCIA. El beneficio de esta tecnología radica en la conectividad sin límites, siempre y cuando haya cobertura GSM.

In other words, if I understand this correctly, you can get mobile Internet via GPRS using a PCMCIA card. There are four different plans, from 12.95 to 39.95 per month.

The company is called Mas Movil (+ Movil) and/or Cable & Wireless.

Is anyone using this service? Isn't GPRS really slow? I think G3, UMTS and HSPA are much faster, but I'm by no means an expert.

Also, can you subscribe to this service as a foreigner (tourist)? What kind of PCMCIA card do you need?

MRWOOHOO

Thanks for the info, I would imagine that masmovil can tell you what type of wireless card is needed.

Charlez

I'm not sure exactly how fast it is, but it's definitely not as fast as your conventional DSL/cable internet. It's probably around the speed of dial up, maybe even a bit faster.

I believe that's what one my friends has on his phone, and when I went online on it, it was a bit slow. Took a while to load a page that loaded in a few seconds on my home connection. I have pretty fast cable internet though. But if there's no wireless internet around then that's probably your best alternative. Eventually they'll probably be able to provide faster speeds, and maybe even at the same price as technology improves.

MRWOOHOO

Yeah, 13 yrs of being a professional internet geek and having spent time on the internet while in Panama, I am pretty aware of connect speeds being different. But I appreciate your enthusiasm.

nuaeman

Which Internet Service Providers are popular and used by many? How's the fees over there, is it reasonable in your opinion?