If you want to know what is wrong with the country regarding the internet just read the interview with Dr. Dionne Miranda - Customer Services Manager, BTL in daily today. I have seen some strange economic reasoning before (Obama, et al) but this lady really takes the cake. If she is really the Customer Services Manager for BTL there is absolutely no hope at all of Belize ever becoming anything but a third world country. I am very sorry to say that of course but she apparently is trying to reach out to the segment of the market that is located in the boondocks and can't afford either the devices or the service at all. Give up hope all you enter here!

It really is a sad and disappointing scenario in this day and age, the price that is charged is already massivly excessive and the speed and service is atrocious for what you pay and there really is no valid excuse for it in the year 2012.

Will Belize ever allow a real service for a fair price in a world where the Internet is so important for business. Who knows.

Do you have a link to that interview

Gaz Cooper

Well after reading that the mentality is all wrong.

Talk about a NON forward thinking company holding business and the population back .

I am living at the moment in a third world country with villages with shacks and chickens and the people live in terrible conditions compared to Belize, but you know what ?, they ALL have access to cheap Internet with connection speeds min 4 m connection and in many cases its provided free if not internet cafes provide it for 1 cent a minute.

BTL and the powers that be really have to stop thinking like small minded individuals and work toward the future.

Belize is so close to the US maybe it could be a hub for IT services and a great place for companies to invest but of course as soon as they see the services, speeds and prices they cant stop laughing as they move on and look for a real country serious about attracting business investment by providing the min required to conduct business in the 21st century and that is internet at a decent speed and cost.

Gaz Cooper

You can talk all day & night about the dogs,crime,garbage,high cost of airfare but the internet is the backbone of commerce. THe speed & cost ratio is like out of whack according to BTL. See the light BTL. Get into the 21st century. The jewel of the Caribbean should be in the 21st century.

Belize is in this Caribbean comparison at US$ 256.50!
http://ambergriscaye.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/443772/Re_Internet_speeds_and_prices_.html

FYI:

Interesting report posted on that group:
http://www.belize.gov.bz/public/Data/18311212771.pdf

Cablemas (which services Chetumal) offers 100 mbps download and 10 mbps up for about $145 USD per month. Their cheaper plans are even much faster than here.
http://www.cablemas.com.mx/Productos/Internet.aspx

That's roughly what I pay for 1 mbps from Coral Cable and the internet goes out on almost a daily basis here. Gonna have to see if Electric Dave can run a line into Mexico for me and tie in up there...

If you go to a village in Africa or the Serengeti you will find internet service for all and cost is not a factor. The children learn on old equipment other countries have discarded and donated. If Belize cares about the future of their country (and I know they do) then they must start with the future of the children’s education and that means internet access and equipment for every child - every home. All of the people who keep telling BTL all the things they need to do, should really be reaching out to all their geek buddies and figure out a way to bring their cast off equipment to Belize. Lay it at the feet of BTL. Help them hand it out to schools, homes, and help the children learn the wonders of the internet for what it is truly worth. Heck, turn it into a charity affair!! Have your buddies come down, spend two weeks helping BTL getting the equipment setup in schools and internet cafes for the communities. Just think of all the good publicity your companies would receive. You’d be helping a country, you say, you want to bring into the 21st century. The minister has given you a challenge “show her where the need is and who has the equipment.” Compromise with her, tell her if you supply the equipment and set it up, wherever you do this the cost will be a penny a minute for the people who utilities the equipment. Be sure to setup a way for her to keep a record of the usage the first year. You know she will see an increase in use and then you will have the proof you need to help her move on with your dream of a faster service for all of us. Help her see the benefits not just complaining like Americans love to do. Sure it’s going to take time and the rest of us won’t reap the benefits at first. (Sounds like life to me) But, in time, the cost, as she has already stated, will come down. You show her the speed is needed to help make the children succeed and you will get the speed you want. In the medical field, Doctors donate their time, equipment, and services all through Belize. Why not learn from them? Look how far the benefits reach when “Doctors without Borders” come into a country.