How much does internet service cost in Belize? Much of the information I am finding online is outdated, and I can't get the information off of BTL's site. Also, is there any option on AC for cable internet?

Thanks!

I pay $197BZ per month for 512K service but I am on a plan which brings down the cost a bit. There are no real benefits of using cable as they funnel through BTL anyway (which sometimes causes bandwidth issues). The only difference is the deposit required and possibly installation fees, can't tell you those as it's been a long time since I was hooked up.

Thanks Simon!

Do you know if that is the fastest speed available?

Thanks!

1Mb is the fastest that I know of unless you go for a leased line which would be a fortune.

Thanks Simon,

Do you know the cost of the 1 Mb speed? And I assume that is download, now upload speed?

Thanks!

I think I pay $330 Bz per month for 1MB
and $550 for 2 MB (somewhere in that region.)

I don't think we can get faster than 2mb on the island - although I could be wrong.

Wow... I knew it was expensive, but those numbers are a little difficult to adjust to! I think I'll be going for the 512 option, though the speed will also be hard to adjust to!

Be thankful we even have Broadband. It was only a few years back we had dialup at best.

Really? I didn't realize. Thanks for the help everyone!

No kidding. 10 years ago we were on fixed cell and could only get 4800 baud.

What about satellite? Anyone using it? Costs? Internet is crucial to our financial existence and it's got to be fast and we need Skype for making global calls. I have a vague memory of the local company blocking Skype and it only works if you have satellite. Is that true?

If you use the search function near the top of this thread and enter satellite or Skype there are many threads that cover the subject in detail.

Thanks Simon.

We have 2 MB here at Corozal Bay Resort. It is supplied by B.T.L.
Cost per month: BZ$660. or US$330.
Very expensive but it works great.

Doug
Corozal Bay Resort
www.corozalbayinn.com

Thanks for all the responses!

How much does satellite internet cost, is it very different?

Thanks!

I think initial set up would be around $5,000 Bz then about $80 US per month for service.

All the information from everyone has been great! Thank-you!

We made the jump from paying $129 at coral cable to pahing about $350 at BTL for 1 mb and while it is costly it is totally worth it.

I have learned not to think in terms of comparing (too much) what we had in Canada or how fast the net is in Mexico compared to here. The $19.95 for just over 1 mb a month quest commercials still sting sometimes ha ha.

So would the Canadian weather........

Can we clarify here, because I am still getting mixed feedback as I continue my research but it sounds like Krysanne is in the same position we are...it seems the satellite could be the way to go once you get over the initial set-up costs, can be much faster than 1mb and the monthly cost is lower than BTL. Plus with a good-sized dish the weather is not as much of a factor in terms of reliability I hear. But....does satellite not have more of a delay when using Skype, Vonage etc. on the long distance calls? My satellite contact person says it does not, maybe one second at most, if it's hooked up properly. But of course, everyone you talk to has a different story/experience. I have searched extensively through the message boards, and I'm still not clear on which way to go.

We want to use Vonage or MagicJack or Skype, so will try all of them most likely to see what works best. Though I have to say I found that Skype costs from Belize are comparable to BTL and Smartphone for long distance if you take advantage of their double up and triple up promotions every month. Though my new Smart phone has lousy reception so I'm not impressed so far.

Cant imagine they're comparable costs. Skype is US$0.02 cents a minute. I have the 500k btl and it's fine for my needs. Web browsing is fast. I stream Audio, listen to iPlayer and watch you tube clips - you generally have to let the video download a few minutes ahead of you watching though. You get used to it fast and don't have to worry about Sat dishes the space they take up, cost etc. I would imagine the majority of Sat Dishes owners are for specific high bandwidth needs or where there is no broadband btl. You need a lot of years of service to make up the differernce on in the savings between the monthly fees to pay the cost of the Sat dish installation delivery duty etc.

Skype has all different rates abroad on their site, but looks like from Belize it is .22 cents and up (?) This was claimed on one of the message boards recently too but I do see on Skype there is also .021 Global rate as an alternative, so it's a bit confusing then to me.

Used it yesterday and looked at the rate at .021 cents unless I misread it. I was in Bz but "virtually" in the US at the time.

When I used Skype to call UK mobile phones the rate was around 25cent US per minute.

Phil, do you find that sending emails with attachments take a long time? I find that's where I noticed the slow bandwidth most recently but it could be I didn't have a clear connection to the router (I was borrowing someone else's).

Right, so how does it go from .021 Globally on their site (which Phil gets) to .25c US when Amanda calls the UK?

I sent some huge attachments the other day - +/- 80M Zipped files and it only took a minute or so. A normal attachment is almost instant.

Really, wow. So sending five attachments in one email, each being approximately equal to 300-500 K each, to 100+ people should be pretty instant?

The rate is .021 for calling landlines and .25 for calling a mobile phone in most European countries.

Sometimes there are limits on servers for attachment sizes or so - Hotmail used to be like this - so it will be recipirnt dependant. Mine was to a tech services with specific bandwidth for a large database attachment. But a usual pdf word doc one to five page long is instant. I doubt your example would be as I imagine my zip file was around the same size.

That's the same rates that I've been getting for the past few years. .25us per minute to a cell number and .021 for a land line. And there is no charge if I call computer to computer. And with computer to computer you can even see the person.