Internet hassles

Do  you have cable with De Lancer?  They have an internet package as well

Bob K

Seems odd,  I had no idea Tricom was in Sosua!    And not having an up to date passport OR a cedula certainly cannot be blamed on any company! 

IF you require internet - does that mean you are working?

I am not aware of tri come being here as well.

And getting ligit internet is NO problem here

Bob K

Oh good I am not going crazy. I was pretty sure Tricom was not on the north coast.

This does not mean you are not going crazy

Bob K

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm True Bob.......... true.......   

@ Bob >Do  you have cable with De Lancer?  They have an internet package as well

No dont have that.


@planner:
>Seems odd,  I had no idea Tricom was in Sosua! 
 
Yes seems that is in fact the case, but on Internet it stated there is a Tricom office in Duarte, that is why I thought maybe possible here. (When I mention Tricom connection before this was in Santiago and it was easy and efficient)

>And not having an up to date passport OR a >cedula certainly cannot be blamed on any >company!

MMh dont know how you reached that conclusion? I never said passport was out of date!

I am saying they will not accept just passport any more, now you need DR bank account, proof of income and stuff like that and of course I do not have Cedula as I am not Dominican and also do not have residence permit, as I am overstayer.

As I said in the past  was no problem but seems now you need all kinds of other stuff, passport alone is not sufficient any more!!

What you said honey was old passport, so the assumption was made. If it  was passport alone -  that is another story. They have changed their rules then.

One more reason I guess to need a cedula.... we are always being asked why bother to get one when it is so easy to overstay......

No I do not have cable with de Lancer but only their internet package.

Bob K

@planner
>What you said honey was old passport, so the assumption was made

well, in that case guess I better get some strong glasses then,.. read through original post twice and saw nothing at all mentioning "old passport."

@ Bob

so what is this deLancer thing then Bob? never heard of it ...where is the place in Sosua? what is cost  etc

For de Lancer cable and or intenet there are various prices.  For internet it varies on speed.  Their office is in Charimicos on the main road heading to Puerto Plata a bit after the light and pharmacy on the right.

There are some of the folks there who speak perfect English if you need.  Ask for Rosa to help you.  We have been very happy with their service for the last 7 years.  There service, if you can believe it, is also very good.  If we call with a problem there is someone at the house fixing it that day.

Hope this helps

Bob K

OK Bob
thanks for info.
I shall drag myself down to Charamicos later to check it out.

Take ot easy on yourself,  use a vehicle to get there.   That way no road rash!!

Gypsy I so wish I did not have a mouth full of coffee when I read your post.  Been a long time since I have had coffee come out my nose.  Certainly a smile to start the day

Bob K

TP you are welcome.  I think you will find them easy to work with

Bob K

@Gypsy
>Take ot easy on yourself,  use a vehicle to get there.   That way no road rash!!

Heaven forbid Gypsy... you may get all excited again and think you are talking to an idle Gringo as before :-)

No, I shall walk there and back , is good exercise in any case....and no hassle really. I take the pleasant beach route, then up the hill and turn right at Charamicos traffic lights.   but anyway if you do see a Gringo flattened or splattered by side of road, in the vicinity of DeLancer...that be me :-)

It is a very nice walk
Bob K

Old biker:  if you find this helmet lying on the road & my head is still in it ...call 911 !!                              Sure glad someone has a sense of humor !1

@ Bob
Well I did go to De Lancer and there is good and bad news.

You were correct, they were quite professional and spoke enough English to get by and were helpful, so was quite happy up to that point.

But then they handed me the price list, that's the bad news :-(

I was staggered by the prices to be frank

Previously with Tricom (Santiago) I had 2 MB speed (which was just about sufficient for my needs) and cost about 1000 Pesos.

But at DeLancer the price for 2MB was almost 300% more, just under 3000 pesos. For 1000 Peso you only get a lousy 512 Kbps. Prices in DR for Internet really are horrendous, when you compare speeds and prices from other countries.

I recall on a recent visit to Germany, Holland and Czech Republic, they were having speeds of around 20 MB for as little as $25 a month. Or in areas with fibre-optic cable, speeds of up to 100 MB !!

By comparison just 10 MB with De Lancer is more than $200-crazy prices !

Still that is life... I guess price to pay for living in the sun :-)

Anyway , eventually decided on a  1 MB option with DeLancer , which is a bit slow, but will have to do.
And again the service was very good, they promised connection within 48 hours ,  but in fact connected me within 24 hours,  so that's pretty impressive for DR. 

So to sum up DeLancer- service excellent- shame about the prices.

(Also noted they have a  technical service with home visits, to diagnose and repair computer for $20 an hour, that could be useful one day)

But really it is a shame there is no Tricom here in Sosua, because I was even more impressed with their service in Santiago last year.

I remember signing up just by producing passport,  took a bus to my apartment  and was totally amazed- there was a Tricom engineer outside my apartment, before I even got home from Tricom office, to connect Internet within 45 minutes of signing up- that must be bordering on a miracle considering its DR :-)

Anyway at least have a connection again, slow is better than nothing :-)

so thanks for that advice Bob, certainly solved the problem with Claro and their new stupid rules with more bureaucratic hurdles ,like bank accounts, residence permits, etc.

With  DeLancer was no hassle at all,  just showed passport, paid first month in advance- Done!

Glad you are "hooked up".  Yes their prices are high but they are the only game in town so they can get away with it. However the service is top notch and they deliver what they promise.  Two commodities that are rare here in the DR.

Bob K

I might also add that with  de Lancer you now have a USA  IPS address so you will not longer be blocked by certain sites, as you would with a DR IPS.

Bob K

@Bob
Yes indeed, a healthy dose of competition would not be amiss around here  Tricom please ride into town :-)

Yeah  in all my travels around the world, DR is the slowest (for the price) and most expensive I ever seen.

Looking at these crazy prices, should think Internet is pretty much out of reach for most ordinary Dominicans on the little money they earn.

@Gypsy

>if you find this helmet lying on the road & my head is still in it ...call 911 !!   

Yeah right :-) , but no more heads in helmet jokes if you please :-)
   
Well kind of brought back a bad memory for a brief moment...happened long time ago..During my final week of training as a paratrooper in UK. We were just back from a long route march and near the base noticed a dark mushroom cloud similar to nuclear explosion... very strange we thought, what the hell is that. When we got to the camp what happened was a plane had just crashed. It was an RAF Hercules doing low-level flight exercises when engine problems developed.
All 5 Crew were killed. Never seen anything like it. Bloody great plane like that, all that was left was the tailplane, rest was just bits and pieces... Including unfortunately the 5 crew :-(
And we were roped in to perform the unenviable task of looking for body parts. One of my fellow paratroopers turned up with one of the crews helmets ...and yeah the head was still in it, with the eyes open...horrible!  Had nightmares for couple of days after that.

so take it easy with the helmet jokes :-)

Still looking back, it could have been worse, it could have been full of paratroopers -with me in it!  And also the plane only just missed the married quarters full of women and kids and crashed in woods just across the road! Yeah,.. could have been a right mess!

Those are memories that are best forgotten but impossible to forget.

Bob K

Indeed Bob
But time heals all wounds as they say   well some anyway  ...
Little did I know not much later would see even worse things, after being sent to Belfast, Northern Ireland during "The Troubles" as they called it...   still it does make you appreciate life more!

Going back to Net again...Well seem to be coping OK with my slow speed, can do most things reasonably well, just takes a little longer -although had a couple of hiccups with connection being down for like 20 mins...hopefully wont happen to often.

Very rare to lose connections however it does happen.  I have noticed a short one (5 min) both yesterday and today. Not a big deal and again usually go weeks on end with no problem.  If lose it for more then 15 min or so do call the office to make sure they are aware of the system.

Worst outage we have had in the last 6 years was we lost it for about 2 days after a major storm.  Still better than Ed Norte as it took 3 days to get our street power back.  Thank God for generators.

BObK

@Bob

Ah yeah, that kind of ties in what happened to mine, was out yesterday and this morning but the one this morning was longer than 5 mins

>Still better than Ed Norte as it took 3 days to get our street power back.

Talking of power that brings me to another question, the apartment I moved to recently (not far from Hotel Europa, Pedro Clisante) does not have a backup generator or water backup like Apts I had previously.

I did not think that would be a problem, talking to people before they seem to tell me that there are not many problems with electric and water in Sosua.

However after a couple of weeks in this apartment I am starting to think that was not quite correct.
Although electric so far has only been a small problem, had 2 power cuts in the last two weeks lasting about 6-7 hours in the morning, but water is a big problem... after 8-9 PM often there is no water at all until next morning. That kind of surprised me a bit, from what people said, thought things were a bit better organised on the North Coast being tourist area, etc

So again one lives and learns :-)
Guess I will just have to put up with it, like before in Santiago.

Wonder if the day will ever come when Dominicans manage to provide some basic services, that'll be the Day :-)
anyway better stop now, just realised its Wednesday. Its vegetable day in Super Pola ! ... so better get my ass down there pronto :-)

PS Just had a mail from a  German friend who also  travels a lot, seems there are actually worse places than DR for Net so guess we should be grateful for what we got :-)

DeLancer... I will never complain about price again :-)

Cuba must be nightmare $125 for 2 hours! Crazy! Although find that bit hard to believe... who the hell would pay over $60 an hour for Net !!  ...will check with him to see if he made a typo.
--------------------------
> you should count yourself lucky!
>I can give you 2 examples which are still worse:

>1. Peru: Maximum 2 MB, but normally not more then 1 MB. Very slow and unreliable and costs $58.

>2. Cuba 125 USD for 120 minutes per month. Loading time for yahoo for example 25 minutes. >This no-one can top!

I used Tricom for 4 years in Santo Domingo and I really miss it now.

@planner
yeah know what you mean ...Tricom in Santiago was excellent too

The water and electric problems you have been experiencing are very common in Sosua.

Usually every Tuesday the power is out fro most of the day and then at other times as well but not usually as long.  Water has been a big problem for the last year or so with many nights and some days with no water.

I would NEVER rent somewhere that does not have a backup system of some sort (Inverter or Generator.)

If you are lucky things will basic services will be "normal" when you grand kids are old

Yes Super Pola every Wed for veggies.  Already went and back this morning.

Bob K

Sorry to have brought back bad memories.  It wasn't a joke, but an admonition to always wear a helmet,  with the thought that if your head as in it that your body was attached to it.  Then there is a chance of your survival.  It's a sticker given out by an insurance company.  Again, didn't mean to offend any one.     Do you ride your ass to the store or lead it?    Does it carry your stuff back home for you?            One of the very few good things here is internet service..   $35.00  for 10 mbs wi-fi satellite.  Amongst the bad:  36 deg. last night.   I'll take sweat over ice anytime, even with slow net service..........See you all in May.

36 is pretty warm. At our old house in Colorado it is currently 19 and snowing with up to foot of the white crap on the way.  Don't miss it for a nano second.

Bob K

36 is very cold to me after 30 years in  the  islands.   But then again, it is all subjective.

@gypsy

<Sorry to have brought back bad memories.

no Prob,,, in a way was kind of training for worse things to come later :-)

>It wasn't a joke, but an admonition to always wear a helmet,

You dont have to tell me that ...  many years ago, if I had not worn a helmet on the day a dumb car driver pulled out in front of my motorcycle, I would not be here now! Must have been thrown 30 feet and landed on head...without helmet would have been instant mash, so to speak.

@ Bob

>The water and electric problems you have been experiencing are very common in Sosua.

Oh dear, looks like I should not have listened to Doms telling me it is OK these days really...just did not realise it was this bad, having had Apts with back ups before.

>I would NEVER rent somewhere that does not have a backup system of some sort (Inverter or Generator.)

Ah well too late now, stuck with it...guess if it gets really bad may have to move again.


>If you are lucky things will basic services will be "normal" when you grand kids are old....

I get this strange feeling you could be right :-)
I recall couple of years back some official saying power in DR is being dealt with and cuts will be thing of the past soon...Yeah and pigs might fly...

.Oh yeah and had another DeLancer Net breakdown this afternoon,  thats 3rd time in 24 hours, hope they aint going to make a habit of this!

@Bob

....just a follow up comment on DeLancer.
Although you said hardly any cut offs, unfortunately my experience so far has been rather different!

Having more or less constant cut offs, usually at least one every couple of days, ranging from 5-10 mins (at times even had 2 or 3 short cut offs in one day), but last couple of days seems to be getting even worse , yesterday late afternoon off line for nearly an hour!!
And this morning yet another one lasting 15 mins, came back on and 2 bloody minutes later cut off again- for another 18 minutes!
Very irritating especially in the middle of a credit card purchase!
  .
Really very poor performance considering their high prices!

Think time to have words with them, when next bill is due...which reminds me -where can one pay bills?...is there a place in Sosua or does one have to go to Charamicos office?

Do give them a call as they have always been pretty good in responding and fixing problems.

Yes you need to go to Charamicos  to pay the bill

Bob K

@Bob
ok thanks, will try that and call them , certainly needs looking at,... another 25 min cut off this morning!
There are several numbers on receipt- which is the number for complaints?

Call the main number and ask for Rosa (she speaks perfect English)

We were out today as well for about 30 min.  First time in weeks.

Bob K