Turbonett Fijo: New Rates, New Lies
Submitted by fyl on Sat, 2011/09/03 - 14:31.
Enitel's latest Turbonett Fijo page has some new rates and some new truth deregulation. The rates are impressive. Now I just need some facts. I know I won't find them by asking the Enitel people in Estelí.
First, the good news. For residential ADSL service, there are rates up to 4Mb. It used to be 512Kb maximum. The 4Mb rate is only $60.99/month. It says ADSL but doesn't offer the up/down rate ratio. I believe it used to be 4 to 1 but even 8 to 1 would be OK at that rate.
Now for the truth deregulation part. The page says "Acceso a Internet con ancho de banda garantizado." Access to Internet with bandwidth guaranteed. Sounds great but there is no indication of what that bandwidth might be. It is written to mislead you into thinking that if you bought, for example, a 1Mb connection that you would have 1Mb of bandwidth guaranteed. Anyone who understands how ADSL, the electric power grid, telephone service in general or even a sewer system works knows that is not the case.
It would be similar to telling you that there is space for 100 carry-on bags in the overhead bins on an airplane without telling you how many other people you share that space with. Space for 100 with a passenger capacity or 25 is quite different from a plane with a passenger capacity of 300.
In the Internet bandwidth game, the technical term for what we want to know is Committed Information Rate, virtually always abbreviated CIR. What this number tells you is the worst possible data rate. That is, if everyone sharing the one pipe back to the Internet with you is trying to get the bandwidth they bought, how slow can your connection get.
Unlike on the airplane, you don't necessarily know who you are sharing with or how many there are. There might be only three others (extremely unlikely, even if you are paying business instead of residential rates). A more likely number would be in the range of 15 to 63. If you go back to the 1Mb connection, if the total available bandwidth is 1Mb and you are but one of four, your CIR should be 256Kb. But, if you are one of 64, your CIR is 16Kb. And, just to make things more interesting, if the circuit isn't built correctly, there may be no CIR.
There is more than you want to know so here is the for Dummies summary:
- While Enitel is offering some fast ADSL rates at good prices, they may just be overselling the bandwidth more than before.
- Until you can find someone in Enitel who can give you the CIR number, you are just reading more propaganda.
Actually the only good part
Actually the only good part of Turbonnett and it's support it's that they response it's really good, more when you've a high connection (2Mbps+) with them. They also don't mind sending their support guys or contractor trucks on site to fix the issues quickly, the bad part it's that they may be overselling bandwith, altough the connection and latency it's pretty good overall, sometimes the limit of the speed, specially for download rates, gets below the 50% of your connection performance, this only happens a few minutes or one hour at the top hours of some days, haven't seen that bad way these last days tough... Has anyone tried Yota's service? I've heard many good reviews where they've the coverage signal. Regards, Rafae
Probably true for Managua
My experience has been that knowledge of Internet connections only exists in Managua. That's a good thing if you are in Managua but sucks when you are not.
we get "casa claro" w/fixed line phone & 2 Mbps...
technically in Managua but actually out of town on a farm in the hills...
it is good for the most part, faster than what I have in the USA and same or slightly higher price. The technicians that originally came out could not find an open jack at what I assume is the PSTN...so no go on try #1.
we finally realized (and someone confirmed) hey you need to grease (give a bribe or tip, however you want to call it) the tech in order to get the coveted "last open line in the sector" and all was well after that.
Doors of hope fly open when doors of promise shut. -Thomas D'Arcy McGee
Farmstay in the hills of Managua http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/92915
Nicaragua May Be
different :) ...>>(an understatement to the point of an oxymoron), but the tendency in the US IS to guarantee the bandwidth now. Remember how everyone would go to DSL for a guaranteed speed because cable speed was so user dependent? That has changed. The cable companies have figured out how to open the pipe but still limit your speed to precisely what you pay for.
I have a fixed cable connection of 12 Mbs with a fixed IP at my business (so I can reliably ftp and telnet into my servers). I check the speed frequently, but it's always there. For a few bucks more I can have 50 Mps, but what's the point ? You can google any number of sites that will check your internet connection up and down speeds quickly and at no cost..
At home I have a DSL but when it rains I lose the connection. Last winter was really bad. I have to go through the BS with the Verizon help desk, then they send someone out, and the guy finds a new wire pair for me that works for a while. The telecommunication companies are putting absolutely NO investment in wired connections. At least the infrastructure in Nicaragua is new-build.
I assume you might be able to get the DSL connection in San Nicolas but how are you going to get the 4 Mbs from San Nicolas to Cool Top ?? Does Telcor regulate lasers?
On the plane, if they run out of overhead space they always check the extra bags for free. Granted not the same if you are in a hurry.
Last Mile Issues
For your first point, maybe. I am asking. That is, asking people where I can really ask. If 4Mb is really 4Mb, that's a deal. Reminds me that my first broadband connection in Seattle was a T1 (1.44Mb) Frame Relay which translates to you might not get the full bandwidth. Cost was a bit over $1000/mo.
As for the last mile part, no problem. Actually, the problem is that DSL is not available in San Nicolas, only wireless and only up to 512Kb for residential connections. (Also note that I had no Internet from 6:15AM yesterday until about 9PM. 12 hours was due to no electricity in San Nicolas, the last three apparently because the Enitel router didn't come up and apparently some human had to go to SN and reboot it.
My plan is to do a one-hop link from Estelí to here. The total distance is less than 15Km and equipment which will do that bandwidth (and much more) are now cheap. It probably means a TELCOR permit but that's fine. If you have more interest in this, PM me and I will point you at some options.