Panama Online : Third World Lifestyle, World Class Communications?

Many have said that Panama is a third world country with first class amenities. When it comes to the internet and being connected to the outside world, this once again holds true. There is no doubt about it, Panama is wired, and not just Panama City.

Many of the retirement communities such Altos Del Maria, Coronado and Boquete, have first class internet service as well.  If you are just here on vacation, getting your internet fix is no problem either. Most of the hotels are hooked up with wireless internet.

Some even have their own servers, so connection speed is not an issue. A couple of years ago, I stayed at the Riande Granada . Getting my laptop online was no problem. I used skype was able to make calls from my room back to the states and Greece for a very low fee and great quality.

If you are out and about. There is a cyber café or wi-fi on just about every corner in the downtown and business areas. Many of the chain restaurants such as TGI Fridays and Bennigans also have wireless internet within their establishments.

If you are looking for long term internet net service, there are 2 companies that control the majority of the internet business. One is Cable Onda, and the other is Cable and Wireless. One thing that seems prevalent with these big companies is the need to sign long term contracts.

This especially seems to be the case with Cable and Wireless.  I’ll start with my wife and I’s story regarding Cable and Wireless when we first moved down here. This is the provider that we have now. I have to say that once we got connected the service has been virtually flawless with very few interruptions. The key phrase is “once we got connected”.

With Cable and Wireless you have to have phone service with them first before you can have internet service. So we ordered the phone service. We had to wait about a week which is pretty normal even by North American standards. Once we were all hooked up we then had to order our internet. A representative came by and filled out our order, he told us our service would be hooked up in the next week.

Well, next week came and went with no one showing up. Then halfway into the following week still the same story. So we phoned again and were told a cable had been cut and all technicians were looking after that. A few more dozen phone calls over the next 2 weeks and they finally showed up and hooked up the cable.

So after 4 weeks and 27 phone calls we were finally hooked up. I don’t know if this is the case with everyone but I do know Cable and Wireless is legendary for their poor customer service.That being said, once hooked up we have had maybe two short term interruptions in two years. Not too bad.

As far as pricing, they have various packages ranging from $25 to $100. I have a package that costs $75 and gives me about 4MB of upload. More then enough for most people. You can expect to pay in this price range for most of the providers.  You can find Cable and Wireless at  www.cwpanama.com

The other major internet provider is Cable Onda. They provide cable television services throughout Panama and also internet through their cable network. From what I have heard, their customer service is good and turnaround time to get hooked up is fairly quick.

They do run a lot of specials so the pricing is usually better then Cable and Wireless. One downside is that they are not available in all areas of Panama City.  You can find Cable Onda at  www.cableonda.com/   Other up and coming players are Clarocom and Tele Carrier.

If you are outside of Pamama City, perhaps in one of the interior or coastal retirement communities you can try Mobil Net. They have wireless broadband as well as other services. They have English speaking staff and a good reputation for service and quality.

You can find Mobile Net at  http://www.mobilphone.com/   The bottom line is that Panama has pretty good internet even at it’s worst. There is more competition coming which can only by good for the consumer. Quality will go up, price will go down and upload speed will increase.

So bring your laptop, your vonage router, and your rolodex and you will have no problem being connected to the rest of the world.