AstroVision Is About To Force Me To Change
Sep 2nd, 2008 by Don Ray
I have been considering moving to Cable Onda, for my Internet provider, for some time now. I put it off because of the “Out of the Pan and into the fire” phenomena, that happens so often in Panama. I have always been afraid I would move to Cable Onda and have as bad or worse service as I was getting from Cable & Wireless.
Now AstroVision is trying to convince me to change as well. Yesterday and today I am without the CBS channel (53) and the FOX News channel (56). It isn’t unusual for Astrovision to have a channel out for a day, but I am in my second day.
I did stop by Cable Onda yesterday to get prices. It appears that the prices are cheaper for faster Internet, more cable channels and cheaper phone service than I am currently paying for the combination of C&W and Astrovision.
If I have looked at this correctly, the cable cost is about equal, but for another $9, I can get at least 7 extra movie channels, ABC and a couple other channels that I don’t currently get. If my missing channels don’t come back by tomorrow, I think I will switch. Currently, it appears to be a better deal as long as the service is good.
Don Ray,
Cable Onda is just now coming into Los Molinos, and I was wondering what the cost would be for both internet and TV service.
Any info would be appreciated.. also, where is the Cable Onda office located in David?
thx again…
steve
Here are the prices I got yesterday.
Internet prices, if you use 2 Cable Services (ie Internet + TV or Phone):
150K= $14.95 300K=$14.95 500K=$22.95 800K=$32.95 1M=$39.95
Internet prices, if you use 3 Cable Onda Services (ie Internet + TV + phone) :
150K=$10.95 300K=$12.95 500K=$18.95 800K=$28.95 1M=$35.95
Telephone Jubilado rates (local calls only):
Basic= 300 minutes per month $8.65
Familiar=600 minutes per month $14.21
Unlimited=no limit $22.46
TV:
Family plan - 31 channels -$20.36 per month
HBO Gold - Adds 21 channels - $26.89 or $6.53 more than the Family plan
Platinum (requires a converter box - adds 17 channels -$35.98 or $9.09 more than the HBO gold plan. All plans are for 3 TVs and if you have the Platinum, it is for one converter box.
Currently, I pay C&W $52/month for 768K. And $25/month to Astrovision for close to the HBO Gold equivalent.
thx don…
now, where are they located in David?
Oops. I forgot that part of the question. Cable Onda is located ibn the one way street that goes by the old C&W office. That is the same street as Dollar 1-2-3 and to the right of the Daisy department store.It is a couple blocks from Parque Cervantes. I realize that these directions are not great, but this is Panama.
Oops. I forgot that part of the question. Cable Onda is located on the one way street that goes by the old C&W office. That is the same street as Dollar 1-2-3 and to the right of the Daisy department store.It is a couple blocks from Parque Cervantes. I realize that these directions are not great, but this is Panama.
Don: you also failed to mention that the Internet service covers more then one computer, two or maybe three, I’m not sure. I had C&W, first dialup and then ADSL and when Cable Onda became available I didn’t wait for an instant and have never been sorry. Stop procrastinating, do it!!!
Patrick
Hi Patrick. I guess I forgot because I opted for the Ethernet C&W which allows 4 PCs. It did cost me $5 more a month, but the USB modem from C&W was worthless and would never have worked for me. I may go down tomorrow.
One of my missing channels is back. Fox News is still missing in action.
Thanks for pointing out my omission and the push to move my butt.
HI!
I have so enjoyed your website….
I have been signed up with Cable Onda here in Boquete for about 6 months. My internet service is acceptably good, however the Television part is lacking. I pay for the HBO Gold plan and it is frustrating to find over and over again programs that are repeated many many times. This includes movies. So I am not getting what I pay for. If anyone knows of someone worth complaining to, let me know!
Hi Evelyn, I guess you could complain to Cable Onda, but I doubt that it would do any good. I don’t think that Cable Onda has anything to do with the programming. They receive from satellite and put it on their cable. Good luck.
Be aware that CableOnda apparently “Throttles” your download speed if you download more than a cetain volume a month. So if you break their limit, you may be paying for 2 Meg but only getting 250K.
If you do a lot of online movie viewing or make a lot of web-based calls, you may wind up with a problem. I was just informed of this by a friend and while I’m not 100% sure that it’s true, it would explain some problems that I’ve had in the past where the connection speed was actually very good, but downloads dragged.
I haven’t pursued it since we’ll be moving in a couple weeks but it might be a good idea to ask some hard questions about this before you sign up.
FWIW
Mike
Hi Mike. Interesting information. Now if I only knew where to go to verify that.
don and mike,
i signed up with cable onda last month and they did not mention anything about “throttleing” the download side but again i didn’t ask…silly me. don, i guess you can ask about it when you visit cable onda again or have someone call their office since going there and waiting to see someone face to face can take a good chunk of your time.
i have a friend who moved into a house not covered by cable onda and when we went to c&w they did say that their 1 meg service goes down to 256 after 7 large downloads, so they are “throttleing”back.
Well, it is September 3rd and my C&W connection seems to be running pretty slow. I think the decision has to be made on overall services and Cable Onda just about can’t be any worse than C&W.
Good luck!
Dan
Hi Dan. Is there a hidden message there??
to check your c&w speed go to this site
http://www.cwpanama.com/cwp/Servicio%20en%20Linea/default.htm
under Servicios de Internet click on Velocidad de conexión click on david and see what the speed is…
good luck
I have Cable Onda (minimum) as I am not as adventurous as you but, they constantly take off channel 70 & 7l TV. We have complained and got a credit (partial) for l month and that was the end of it and we have the same problem. Also, when the weather is not good, rain, etc., the internet is slow. Today, it was not raining and — slow again. Also, on FOX, low quality signal is constant.
Hi Charlotte. See, I knew that there are reasons why I always put off switching.
Hi Don,
The saying “Es mejor malo conocido que bueno por conocer…” may apply here. Do any of the fellow readers know its equivalent in English?
AS
as,
i’ll take a stab at it since i like to know what it really means.
“it’s good to know what is really bad”
am i close?
Bob,
Thanks for your interest: here is my literal translation:
“It´s better a bad one that you know than a good one you don´t know.”
I just found this translation for the same phrase.
“Better the devil you know than the one you don´t know.”
Hope it´s more understandable now.
AS
Thanks for the new expression. Now if I can just remember it.
My only question is “do u actually get out much”?
Sometimes. Does that improve Internet and Cable performance?