The internet company here in Cuenca, Ecuador which provides internet service to this apartment complex is ETAPANET, whose transfer rates and prices were translated into English by Google (transfer rates are in the ‘Continue Reading’ section).
So, it seems that here in Ecuador, you are paying almost $38/mo for a guaranteed 12.8Kb, $65/mo for a guaranteed 25.6Kb and almost $80/mo for 51.2Kb during peak hours. When are peak hours? Generally from 8:30am to 5pm or 6pm. Minus the 3 to 4 hours of electrical power outage every weekday and internet gets quite expensive here in Ecuador.
I had better internet service in Hue, Vietnam, 5km in the suburbs — 30Kb to 50Kb day and night.
What I don’t know is if you are charged the extra 12% tax in addition to the stated rates. All non-food products are charged an additional 12% tax at the checkout — in addition to the import tariffs charged at the border for imported goods.
Yesterday, I spent almost all day trying to locate open source software which would bypass iTunes for my touch iPod.
The day Windows 7 was released, October 22nd, I purchased a light-weight Toshiba laptop with 2GB RAM and 320GB hard drive. It comes without a DVD unit so I also purchased a Plextor external DVD burner.
