www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Anybody have any experience with the internet in the San Jose area as far as speed and reliability?
I trade Futures and options for a living and would need a reliable and semi fast connection... emphasis on reliable

during my past trips, Hotel Wifi has been somewhat adequate, but looking at how service is in the different residential areas. Would also like to see if there are any workspaces or desks for temp extended stay rentals?

any other traders, telecommuters or digital nomads to chime in?

thx in advance...

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its easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled- mark twain

I telecommute, (taxes and accounting) I rely 100% on the internet for my US phone, e-fax, and all email correspondences. I have a basic Kolbi line at the apartment and use the costa phone's hot spot option, as a back up. my third back up is the free wi-fi in the apartment complex .

In the morning the internet is great, but it steadily degrades during the day, and picks back up about 11:00 PM

For your needs, sounds like you need their top plans.
Here is the web site showing the choices

https://kolbi.cr/wps/portal/kolbi_dev/h ... BIS9nQSEh/

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Having too much fun. 8)

Rico,
That's the internet (up to 20mb) and TV package prices.

If you want internet only (up to 100mb), look here: https://kolbi.cr/wps/portal/kolbi_dev/h ... BIS9nQSEh/

$200/month ($150 promo) for 100mbps internet. Welcome to the third world.

Kolbi sucked in my area for internet. Tigo was the best but when we moved they do not offer service where our house is. We currently have Cabletica and it is better than Kolbi by far, but still has its issues. The 6 Meg speed is rare to get even though that is what we pay for, usually 3-4 megs.

I've had decent service from both Tigo (Tigostar) cable service and Kolbi's new Fiber (actually DSL at the house) connection. Cabletica's cable internet was horrible in both speed and reliability -- I cancelled it after about 6 months.

10 mbps is about $40 - $50 per month, or effectively less if you get it bundled with your cable and phone. I don't know anything about trading online, but I'm guessing it doesn't require any more bandwith than that. I stream 720p HD video over 10 mbps and it works fine. Live video conferencing in HD doesn't work very well with 10 mbps though.

Kolbi's 4g cellular service runs at 10 mbps, and only costs about $10 or $11 per month. I use it as an add-on to my cellular plan. I don't know if you can get it alone (such as with a USB cellular modem). Kolbi's 4g is smooth and fast, but in only works in the areas with 4g coverage, and that's a pretty small area. It does include most of the city, though. After you use 6 gb per billing cycle (month), Kolbi drops you to 2 mbps for the rest of the cycle. That's about 8-10 movies at 720p. You'll automatically drop to 3g or less in non-4g areas. 3g is usually something better than 1/2 mbps in the city.

Reliability is very good here in San José. The biggest issue is power. If the power goes out, you'll lose everything but cellular and cable service. Kolbi's fiber requires power, and I use a backup battery for that. In the city, the power is usually out for less than 30 minutes, and it doesn't happen that often where I live, which is not in the best area.

I recommend a connection at home, backed up with cellular internet. That's what I use, and it's effectively 99%+ reliability.

One of the biggest risks trading online, other than the risks associated with the stock, mutual fund, Call/Put, etc is what if their is a "glitch" in the signal. Your trade didn't close out or open immediately; like it's supposed to. There are ways to hedge or reduce risk if trading online. For example, a buy signal @ $54 will prompt the system to purchase the stock at that price once that price is reached. Back to the mainpoint. The risks. Then, once the trade finally closes out or opens, the price jumped or dipped (not in your favor), and you lose money; depending on what you're buying/selling.

The other one, and it's commonly associated with online banking, is what if the WHOLE SYSTEM COLLAPSES? Meaning servers in multiple states or sites shutdown, at the same time, and you or the bank have no way of determining the balance prior to the servers collapsing.

Companies will not tell you that, but it is a common fear online businesses deal with. Just know the risks.

On a side note, I would charge the chicas twice the price Internet cafe's charge them. Lie and tell them you pay for the bandwidth used per month. They'll have no clue what that is. It's too technical, and they will believe you. You don't want them chicas coming over there and stealing all your Internet. Avoid bringing them home if possible.