Internet in Paradise: Location, Location, Location, and Luck
EVERYONE’S EXPERIENCE WILL DIFFER, EXCEPT WHEN it’s the same for all. Some days, some times, your Internet connection maybe slower than others. What is normal speed for your house may differ from that of your neighbor, and different neighborhoods also have different norms. Then there are times when the entire Oaxaca Coast goes down for hours.
When we last did an article on the Internet in Puerto in 2015, we only had 3G cell communications and in most areas, including the Punta de Zicatela, your Internet came from a microwave antenna on your roof that got its signal, relayed, from transmitters in town that got their signals from Telmex. Who knows what changes the future will bring?
The good news is that TelCel and AT&T will be offering 5G service by end of this year. This will mean faster internet connectivity. It also means more towers. Hard as it is to believe, some people in Puerto protested for aesthetic reasons or fear of microwaves when 4G towers were built here a few years ago.
Back to the present. Most people, depending on their neighborhood, get their Internet through a land-line connection with Telmex or a 4G TelCel en Casa plug-in modem. It used to be that you could only get Telmex Infinitum if you had an existing phone line. Now they have a few hundred connections that do not include phone service. Last year, the municipio of Sta. María Colotepec, which includes the Punta, would not allow Telmex repairmen to work in their territory. They wanted Telmex to pay for the privilege. That affected Telmex service to some custumers for months.
TelCel en Casa was a God-send for many when it arrived a few years ago. Its plug-in modems were faster and more reliable than microwave relay systems. Now there are problems. Even though it uses 4G, there is a limited bandwidth. This is not the same 4G that you get on your phone. TelCel now admits they sold too many units in some areas, especially the Punta and Chila, and that the system is saturated. It is now only offered in a few neighborhoods.
On January 28 at 4:40 pm, my download speed in Bacocho with the basic Telmex Infinitum service was a respectable 4.88 Mbps, but the upload was only 0.39. At the same time, a friend in the Punta using TelCel en Casa registered a 3.0 Mbps download speed and 1.5 for upload.
Whether you use Telmex or TelCel, your internet comes from Telmex’s fiberoptic line which goes through Puebla. From Puebla there is a line to Salina Cruz and another to Pinotepa Nacional. Puerto gets its Internet from both sides. The fiberoptic line is mostly underground but it also runs along telephone poles, as some communities have not allowed Telmex to run the lines underground through their territory.
If there is a problem on one line, service will be slow. If there is a problem on both sides, there is a total blackout for the whole coast. Fires and backhoe accidents are major issues. Usually, the break is quickly located and fixed within a few hours. We lost the Internet on February 1 because of a fire in the morning between Salina Cruz and Huatulco, followed by an incident with a backhoe near Juchitán in the afternoon. Service was slow or nonexistent until midnight.
It often happens that speed varies from house to house and neighborhood to neighborhood. If you have a Telmex Infinitum connection, it travels over copper wires from their headquarters near the Crucero. The longer the distance it travels, the slower the connection will be. If the line zigzags along many streets, the distance is long. So it is that users near the Adoquín may have faster service than people living in Rinconada.
Speed is also affected by the number of users at any given moment. That’s why your connection is usually faster after midnight. Before the pandemic, home internet use was highest after 6 pm and on Sundays. Now with more people working from home and on Zoom, both the Telmex and TelCel systems tend to get saturated.
People in Puerto who need to be connected 24/7 have the option of a HughesNet satellite connection as back-up. It’s not as fast as Infinitum or TelCel en Casa but can be a lifesaver when the other systems are down. Serious Internet users have all three.
Telmex offers direct fiberoptic lines to your home or office via Huatulco, however there is a long wait, and it is not cheap. The monthly rate starts at $8,500 pesos ($425 U.S.). Telmex also offers an inexpensive fiberoptic service in the Punta and other neighborhoods, but it is not as reliable.
If you are fortunate enough to have a beachfront home, you almost certainly will have to connect through a wireless internet service provider (WISP). The provider gets its signal from Telmex and then relays it through its antennas to your rooftop antenna. If the Telmex connection is slow, the WISP will also be slow. The system is especially vulnerable to changes in the weather, but it is how people in seafront communities like Cumaná connect to the web
If you are a visitor to Puerto, you may also want to consider how many people in your residence are sharing the same connection. Don’t be discouraged, with a little research you may find the connectivity you are looking for. You can always buy two hours of unlimited data from TelCel’s Amigo plan, and upload large files with your phone’s Hot Spot.
