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Wide Band Internet Service
Becomes a Reality
Three years behind schedule,
Monday, the Instituto
Costarricense de Electricidad
(ICE), together with the
Ministerio de Ciencia y
Tecnología (MCT) will crank up
the Internet Avanzada - wide
band internet service.
The Red Avanzada de Internet (RAI)
will complete the modernization
of the national
telecommunications system using
Internet Protocol (IP) which
will provide wide band internet
service over a a fibre optic
cable.
The RAI will permit more
connections by more people at
the same time without degrading
the end user speed or tying up
the telephone line. Outside of
San José, access to the internet
is mainly by dial up or ADSL in
some areas, which used the
telephone line. San José
customers also have the option
of internet service by cable
modem as well.
The new service will be based on
a set monthly fee with unlimited
access rather than on a usage
charge. ICE says it will have
routers in all telephone central
stations that will provide
internet service throughout the
country.
Though ICE officials did not
detail the cost of the new
service, they did say that the
cost will be reasonable and
competitive with the current
services. Currently, ICE offers
unlimited dial service for us$15
a month to residential customers
while cable modem internet
customers connect to Racsa start
at us$25.
One of the benefits of high
speed internet service is the
use of VOiP (Voice over internet
protocol) which allows customers
to make international calls at a
low rate. Vonage, one of the
leading VOiP services offers
customers in Costa Rica 500
minutes a month to call the
US/Canada for only us$15 and
rates as low as us$0.10 to call
Colombia and other Central
American countries. Calls to
Europe and Asia are as low as
us$0.04 cents per minute,
compared to the us$0.55 per
minute ICE charges on calls to
US and Canada.
ICE announced earlier this year
that it intends to stop the use
of VOiP, similar to the way it
is combating the use of "call
backs". ICE currently blocks the
use of VOiP over it's ADSL
connection.
Internet customers who signed up
for ADSL got a surprise when
their VOiP modem would not
connect, though it does work
connected to a cable modem,
using internet service provided
by Racsa, a company owned by
ICE.
On Monday, the communities of
Alajuela, Cartago, Ciudad
Quesada, San Ramón, Coronado,
Curridabat, Desamparados,
Turrialba and San José will be
connected to the RAI, the rest
of the country following in the
coming months.
The introduction of the service
now places Costa Rica as one of
the leaders in wide band
internet service in Central and
South America.
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