Ask HN: Travelling in South America - is there good Internet access?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6010568

by Sealy • 13 years ago

5 5 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Hi HN. I'd like to travel around South America but I was told that internet access is not great there. I still want to go but would need regular access for work.

I guess my question has two parts:

1. Where would you recommend going (ideally it has to be reasonably cheap)

2. What is access like from Hostels / Internet cafe's / Hotels?

benologist2• 13 years ago

"Good" is subjective but in my experience you can usually always find a one megabit connection and "broadband" usually only means that. If your good involves Netflix or streaming HD movies on iTunes you're going to feel the pain.

In poorer countries you should be prepared for internet cafes that don't have wifi and in hostels and hotels the wifi often doesn't reach the rooms.

Generally the further you get from a major city the greater the chances of not having internet access.

phaus• 13 years ago

I can only comment in the context of playing videogames with people in South America, but you may find the information helpful.

I've been playing a lot of Counterstrike lately, and apparently the game is wildly popular in Brazil. The average player from Brazil appears to have 200-300ms of latency, and when playing with them, the game suffers intermittent lag spikes.

This doesn't really give you an idea of the availability, but it should give you an idea of what your connectivity is going to be like when you are trying to interact with services in the U.S.

pjlegato• 13 years ago

It varies wildly depending on exactly where you are and how much money you're spending, from "not available except via satellite" up to "widespread wifi."

Economic development is extremely uneven in South America compared to the US or Europe. If you're in a $2,000 a night luxury hotel in Buenos Aires, it's likely that it'll have adequate wifi hooked up to broadband. If you're in a $10 a night hostel in a rural area, you'll be lucky to be able to stand in line to check your e-mail on a shared 15 year old Dell with a CRT on a dialup modem.

Another complication is that even in many of the places with adequate broadband, access to locally hosted sites is reasonably fast, but there are very few overseas pipes leading out of the country. Hitting US or Europe based sites will usually be much slower than hitting an in-country site.

PencilAndPaper• 13 years ago

For basic use, wifi is widespread enough, especially at gringo hostels. Not sure about working, but I was contemplating bringing my laptop on my next SA trip and getting work done. What I worry about is how much of an obviously wealthy person I would appear as(relative to locals)if I set up my laptop anywhere away from the hostel. I dont like overt displays of wealth because it makes me feel icky, but it would also make me a prime target to rob. Im curious what other people have to say though...

benologist2• 13 years ago

It really depends on where you go. There are places where it would be very foolish to take your laptop out of the hostel.

Ask HN: Travelling in South America - is there good Internet access?

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