WHALE said:
Is there only one internet provider for the whole country ???
wolfie_cr said:
two, RACSA and ICE, RACSA is a "private" company which is owned 100% by ICE.
Mostly but not entirely true.
There are only three ways out of Costa Rica Internet-wise, via RACSA, via ICE and via Satellite. RACSA and ICE, despite being subsidiary/parent, have completely separate uplinks to the outside world. ICE's is both newer and superior.
Within Costa Rica there are several connection options:
AMNET and CableTica offer cable modem service (in some areas), RACSA handles the routers and transit at the cable head-ends.
RACSA offers direct connections (e.g. T1 lines), colocation, dial-up, and 1980s worthy satellite service.
ICE offers DSL connections (in some areas), and also direct connections (T1s, etc).
I'm aware of at least two line-of-site wireless providers. One has their uplink with RACSA and the other with ICE.
I'm aware of several colocation providers with various uplinks (RACSA/ICE/Satellite).
Many buildings have their own Internet provider. Oficentro and La Colmena have Digital Solutions, Torre Mercedes has a Guatemalan network provider (the name escapes me), etc. However the upstream from there goes back to the 3 ways out (RACSA/ICE/Satellite).
The choice of local connection method/provider can make a big difference in quality of service.