Phone and Internet connection - Sabaneta de Yasica

Adrian

Member
Oct 22, 2003
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I want to install a phone line and Internet connection for my house in Sabaneta.

For the phone I believe the only provider is Codetel and a basic package is going to cost me about 450 pesos per month.

For the Interent connection Codetel say that in Sabaneta they can currently only provide speeds of 384kbps/128 kbps. This will cost 850 pesos per month.

We do have cable TV and have been told that within the next month they will be able to provide an Internet connection of of 512kbps/384 kbps at probably less than 850 pesos per month. This obviously sounds more attractive if the do actually make it available.

On the Codetel Website they say:

5 . ?Cu?l es la diferencia entre el producto Internet Flash ADSL y los servicios de Cable Modem (o Internet por Cable)?
El Internet Flash ADSL provee un acceso permanente y a alta velocidad al Internet a trav?s de una l?nea telef?nica que es dedicada entre la premisa del cliente y la central de Codetel.

Por su parte, el servicio de Cable Modem tambi?n ofrece una conexi?n a alta velocidad, pero con la diferencia de que el acceso a la red del Internet es a trav?s de una l?nea de cable (de televisi?n) que es compartida.

La capacidad de banda ancha que posee el Cable Modem, tanto para transmisi?n (upstream) como para recepci?n (downstream), es compartida entre todos los usuarios de un mismo Sector o Vecindario, y esta capacidad puede verse mermada quiz?s dram?ticamente a medida que m?s usuarios (en el Vecindario) se conectan al Internet al mismo tiempo o de manera concurrente.


For those who do not read Spanish this says (I believe!) that Internet via a phone line is not shared with other users, whilst via cable is shared with other people in the vicinity and therefore the speed may reduce dramatically. This seems to be opposite to the UK where Internet via a phone line is shared and tends to be more affected by other users than cable.

I would welcome any thoughts as to whether it would be better to go for a cable Internet connection (as opposed to via a phone line), or any other comments or suggestions about gettting a phone or Internet connection.

Thanks,

Adrian
 

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
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With DSL you should get what you pay for, with of course loss due to cables, distance etc. Cable speed will slow as more subscribers use the available bandwidth. This is also true in the UK.
 
Feb 7, 2007
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Adrian, everything is a matter of oversubsription (or user to bandwidth ratio). You can have 10 DSL users sharing 512 kbps available bandwidth, if all are on at the same time your bandwidth would be 51.2 kbps, technically. You can have 1000 users sharing 512 Mbps available badwidth on cable, and if all are on, your available bandwidth will be 512 kbps. And vice versa.

Here in the DR I have seen cable to have slower speeds than DSL.

In Europe, I have seen DSL and Cable to have same speeds and advertised bandwidth always available, because bandwidth is cheap in Europe, so when the ISP (telco, cable) sees a bandwidth saturation, they just add more cheap bandwidth. DS3s, OC-3s, OC-48s, etc... you don't see that kind of bandwidth in the DR.

AND, if your cable company is just starting with the Internet, there will be glitches in the beginning and LOTS of service interruptions. Here in Higuey the cable company still cannot get it straight after 10 months of service. I had them "on-trial" for 3 months alongside Codetel, and I had more trouble ticket receipts than pages in my daily planner.
 

Adrian

Member
Oct 22, 2003
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Robert,

Thanks for you reply.

Cable speed will slow as more subscribers use the available bandwidth. This is also true in the UK.

I agree. But in the UK DSL subscribers also share bandwidth (unlike what seemed to be implied by the Codetel FAQ) AND you get loss due to cables, distance etc. In the UK cable is normally fibre right to the house, so I don't believe there is any speed loss due to distance and possibly the impact of sharing is less due to the greater bandwidth of fibre against copper wiring. I am no expert so this may be rubbish ;)

Anyway, in my case, which do you think might offer the best speeds? I am inclined to go for the cable if it does actually become available (at least there will be few people sharing it to start with!).

Adrian
 

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
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Cable is different to fibre. In the DR you get cable not fibre and in most cases it's not that good. Personally I would go with Codetel, better the devil you know than the one you don't :)
 
Feb 7, 2007
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There are areas, where there is digital cable, such as here in Higuey. of couse it's not Aster but a different company. I think they have fiber (e.g. fiber optics) laid out to large parts of Higuey. I don't think you can get digital cable over coax grid.
 

DunHill

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Aug 29, 2003
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Don't forget that even when you choose cable, in many (say all) cases there is a dedicated DSL router (mostly codetel) at the end.

It is just how many subscribers are on the same connection, and that is something that nobody will tell you in this country.

To choose between 2 evils: i would go for codetel in your case
 

MikeFisher

The Fisherman/Weather Mod
Feb 28, 2006
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even beeing often very unsatisfied with the codetel DSL at my prior office(very bad service when the connection doesn't work, they still don't know what customer service means), at many times very slow connection(looks like their rooters share a specific bandwith with too many customers/areas, too) aso.
here in the area (i live in Punta Cana) i got lucky with a new provider, wouldn't try a new one usually before i hear from others that the service is worth the bucks, but a friend of mine is working for them and talked me in, they deliver me a wireless connection to my house(they just mount a receiver box at the backdoor, depending in distance to their nearest tower it may be neccessary to mount it on the roof using a antenna) offering different speeds (128kbs at around $42.-/month, mine is a 384kbs for $98.-/month), and my wireless connection(cable plugged in the computer directly, i don't use a wireless router in my house) is running much faster than the DSL from codetel ever been. they provide a top service, 24/7 phone support. i had only lost the connectivity 2 times during the 4 months i am connected now, both times i called them and they knew about the problem and been at the spot working on the resolution. both problems been electricity related for the electricity been shut down at the residence where they have the tower which delivers the service to my house, their inversor been too small to cover the whole blackout time. a few weeks ago they installed at their tower a much stronger inversor to guarantee the service for at least 24hrs without electricity at the residence. here in PC you only face blackouts when they work on the electricity line/changing cables/maintenance aso, so i think from now on the 24/7 internet access is on. i have 2 neighbours with codetel connections, the DSL one is o.k. til now, the next neighbour has that slow basic connection, i think it is a 128kbs one, that is a p.i.t.a., i wouldn't be able to work on that speed, running my own website over that.
if codetel and the cable provider(new) are the only options for your area, i agree with Robert and Rubio and recommend to take the known devil codetel, but take the highest speed available in case you work online, their basic packages let you fall asleep while opening a e-mail, ha ha.
Mike
 

MikeFisher

The Fisherman/Weather Mod
Feb 28, 2006
13,766
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Punta Cana/DR
www.mikefisher.fun
here's the contact for the wireless internet service in the Punta Cana area.
the contact person is named Charly (Karl Helmut Kotter, but please don't call him anything else than Charly), cell phone 809-863-6152.
the company's name is BecTel, Bec Telecom S.A., their main office is in Santo Domingo, Av Tiradentes Esqu. R.Pastoriza, Plaza JR, 6to piso Ens. Naco
their office number in the capital is 809-338-2161.
for the folks in the PC area Charly will be the contact, he's the guy making the installations, too.
Mike