Howdy. I'm an American considering relocating to Caye Caulker (or perhaps somewhere on the mainland of Belize). I need to be online 30+ hours/week for work, not to mention keeping touch with friends family & news from the states. Is this possible on Caye Caulker? Is it practical? expensive? What about on the mainland? What about the telecommunications monopoly? I know that it is or was a problem, but have not been able to find any specific information.

Thanks in advance!
Ryan

Internet access is very expensive in Belize. If you have it where you are staying, BTL charges about $2 u.s. an hour for internet access. Hopefully wherever you are staying will have it already because I've heard of people waiting as long as 6 months to have a line installed. If you go to a cyber cafe you will probably pay $20 a day as a frequent user.

thanks for the reply. Is the 6th month wait something that only happens in remote areas where telephone service is not availible? Once you get service, is it up to first world standards? Is there an internet cafe on Caye Caulker, or just the one on Ambergris?

Thanks again,
Ryan

BTL is the only service provider, and I have spent many hours cursing the computer screen trying to do uploads and getting halfway there and BTL takes a dump. But the internet access is acceptably slow. I was in Cancun using internet cafes there and had worse speed problems. Your connect speed is at whatever BTL decides it will be when you log in. Sometimes you fly like at home and sometimes you crawl, or it stalls - doing nothing. It just depends on what the internet fairy grants you that day.

The six month wait is everywhere, but you could get lucky and get the service hooked up right away. If internet access is already installed at where you are staying, you can go to BTL and have your account activated and probably be online in a couple of hours. With hurricane Keith hitting at the end of September, it added additional work to the already maxed out company. Some residents of Caye Caulker still don't have phone service. I've heard though that there are rentals available with internet access. There is an internet cafe on Caye Caulkeron Front Street.

I found the web page for Nettos internet cafe, and sent them an email with a couple of questions... also emailed BTL to see if they have any more affordable packages for high volume users.... here's hoping. Thanks again

If you are seriously considering a permanant move, you might look into purchasing a dish for access...granted, the initial investment might be steep, but time would obviously even that out when you subtract local disruptions and expenses...
Check out purchase/installation/and shipping FROM the US..be sure you can install yourself, or contract a local tech at a reasonable cost!
Good luck...in whatevever you pursue!

Tom Gore
trgore66@hotmail.com

Tom,

I am looking into satellite, and so far have found one company that seems to offer service in the area, but their website doesn't offer many details, so I'm awaiting their reply to my email.

Do you know of any satellite providers seving the Western Carribean?

Ryan

Sorry to tell you this.. but Nettos closed because of the hurricane and won't reopen. The website you accessed is old andhasn't been updated in over a year. The owner returned to the states, his mother was seriously ill. So the internet cafe on Front Street has a monopoly in Caye Caulker. Check out this website that is under developement for some interesting information http://www.cybercayecaulker.com

Oreos--we are neighbors, I'm in Southgate, lol.. small world. If you have any information on satellite service in Belize, please email me at caribbeancolors1@hotmail.com or post it on the message board at http://www.cybercayecaulker.com

Y'all,

Hey neighbor(s)of a small world...
Ima lookin' for ya...back asap!

Tom