Feb 02
Cable Onda Down This Morning
Just to be fair in my coverage of Internet providers, my Cable Onda Connection was down when I got up at 6:30 AM. I was able to get a Yahoo messenger connection and that verified that the problem was not with my equipment. Since I complained so much about C&W, I thought I should give equal coverage to Cable Onda.
I have been able to access one web page, but it was very slow and not reliable. Sometimes a refresh would not reload that page.
Basically I have zero access to the Internet. I am writing this off line to post when I get a connection.
Anyone moving to Panama and expecting consistent Internet connections, will most certainly be disappointed. This is my first problem with Cable Onda since the conversion from Cable & Wireless.
It appears that Cable Onda has solved their problem. 30 minutes or so is not too bad. I would have expected more based on my experience with C&W.
18 responses so far Hardware, Technology
Don,
That pretty much sums up every other service offered in Central America. Intermittent, or unreliable for the most part. I lived in Boquete 3 years until I realized I was missing out on education and technology as the world turned and left me behind. Afterall, what kind of a society can function efficiently without a physical address and a home postal address?
I understand people want to run away from the rat race in the U.S.A. but seriously, Is it really worth the headaches for some folks? The United States is not such a bad place when you take a good close look at the system.
A variety of schools, a good emergency medical support system, and strict Law and Order to mention a few of the programs offerred here.
I hear you Bob. However even with all the warts, I would rather be living here in David, than I would to be living in the US. I really don’t miss anything there except for family.
Como dice mi papá: “El negocio que no deja, se deja.”
I always enjoy the local expressions that you teach me.
Hi Don: I have had Cable Onda since we moved to Los Algarrobos and the Internet connections sometimes are unbearable. When it rains a lot, no internet, lo signal on TV. We have been to the Cable Onda office many times to complain and it doesn’t do any good. They don’t seem to understand any complaint. They say that when many people are using the net, it is more slow, but, at the same time, we are paying for the services every month, depending on what we sign up for. It just doesn’t work. Welcome to Panama. There are some days that all is great, and, others, nothing. Charlotte
Hi Charlotte. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. The reason I post some of my annoyances is so people moving here don’t move and become disillusioned. Better to expect some problems than to think that Panama is going to be perfect.
I think most people that live in David have good service from Cable Onda. I can tell you my experience to date has been much better than it ever was with Cable & Wireless. I also like my TV stations more now too.
It is true that cable can slow down as more people get on it, but I would also think that can be true in remote areas because they may under-engineer it to accommodate the number of clients.
We can also say to people like “bob lower-case”:
“Vas pa´l cielo y vas llorando…”
Regarding rain and bad signal. I had the same problem. CableOnda was out twice not much help. I discovered the problem myself. There is a silver metalic barrel shaped gizmo about 2 inches long. It is a filter or attenuator and was attached to the splitter box where the tv and internet cables split off. It was in my case above my ceiling panels. It was full of water. Did they check this first? Wasted their time and mine. Fortunately I am somewhat technically competent. It wasn’t screwed on tightly, which may have allowed water in.
Thanks for the information Pantah.
Last week Cable Onda blocked my Internet connection for three hours while I called all sorts of phone numbers trying to get my service back. Seems they incorrectly blocked me because of non-payment. I was fully paid up. I had agreed to automatic billing of my credit card when I signed the agreement with them but they kept screwing up, billing me twice some months and not at all some months. I finally went in to their office the other day and had them remove automatic billing and I will pay in person every month. Hope they don’t cut off my Internet service again.
Patrick
Hi Patrick. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. I am on automatic payment. I hope it doesn’t happen to me.
Don,
Do you know of anyone using the Hughes Net satellite service. Seems it could be more reliable once the installation was perfected.
Who about hi-speed wireless? I have it here in rural Washington state were cable is not available, and it is reliable and very fast
I am not aware of Hughes Net being available in Panama. There are several wireless options. THey cover some areas and don’t cover others.
I used to have almost daily early morning slowdowns on C&W ADSL. I noticed that the sites I had listed in my hosts file usually worked when nothing else did. I added a new DNS server (208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220) and slowdowns and outages are now rare. My guess is that local DNS servers get pretty crappy maintenance. Many if not most of the slowdowns occurred in the early morning hours and recovered about 8:30~9:00 am, around the time that the day shift finished whatever it is they do at the start of the workday.
Henry
I am in San Pablo & on Cable & wireless. I have only internet service. There have been few outages since I water proofed the wire connections at the weather head. The wires were just twisted together, it is surprising it worked as well as it did. I think there are a lot of little things that contribute to poor internet service. My advise is, check every thing your self.
Henry: thanks for the DSN server addition idea.
Henry and Ray. Thanks for the comments. Henry – where did you get the DSN addresses?
I don’t remember which article I read that listed that service, but here’s info and some more public DNS servers.
http://www.tech-faq.com/public-dns-servers.shtml
Henry
I, like Henry, have added a couple of additional DNS entries even here in TX. It’s fairly easy in Linux, add the appropriate addresses in /etc/resolv.conf. I’ve been using OpenDNS; their addresses can be found at Henry’s link.