HONDURAS & THE INTERNET

Cyber Espacio

Cyber Espacio, is a restaurant-slash-cybercafe that is located in the third floor of the Centro Comercial Universitario--the National University's shopping center. It caters mostly to the large student and faculty body of the University but outsiders are welcome.

Cyber Espacio provided the most economical service I found. At 30 Lempiras (about 3 US$) per hour, it is hard to beat. Not suprisingly, it was the most crowded one as well. Getting a table -- or a computer for that matter -- during the lunch hour can be a gamble.
Although the café officially closes at eight at night, it has been known to stay open until nine for those late surfers.

Its three computers are cubicled in the rear. These are no collegiate cubicles, though. The silicon-meets-metal motif that adorns the partitions is recurrent throughout and suits the beat of the local radio station blasting top twenties from a boom box sitting near the entrance.

Of the three computers in the establishment, only one has an Internet connection. The other two are networked together and share the same connection. Although this method should slow the connection drastically, download speed proved to be satisfactory.

The narrow room is sandwiched by two large glass windows that provide natural lighting during the day. At night, ceiling track lights spot the establishment. Probably by accident, the room is well lit for reading computer monitors in comfort.

To avoid controversy with the University's administration, there is a no porn policy. Web sites that have questionable content or any material of ill repute are banned from the computers. This was the only café that I visited that censored content. Two tech support coeds are on guard to police the screens and help beginners find what they are looking for in the sea of information.

In addition to Internet connections, Cyber Espacio also provides a host of other services including fax, email (for 8 Lempiras a piece; roughly one US$), and the use of other computer programs. For those who are there for the food, the menu includes snacks, beverages, coffee, and a variety of foods stewed by a cook in a small kitchen.

If you are looking for an economical to  browse the web, Cyber Espacio is your ticket.

Cyber Espacio
Centro Comercial UNAH
3 nivel, Local 5301
Tel (504) 239-2087

Stanley Marrder is a Houston-based multimedia and Internet developer. He is also the webmaster for Honduras This Week Online.

Surf's up in Teguz
Internet cafes provide an economical way to navigate the Internet in the capital

Tech support personnel at Multinet cyber cafe, in Tegucigalpa, help novices and experts alike surf the Internet,  latte in hand. (Photo courtesy Stanley Marrder.)

Part 1 by Stanley Marrder

Whether you call them cyber cafes, Internet bars or cyber bars, they have arrived in Tegucigalpa. And It is about time. Computers in Honduras don't come cheap, and with Internet Service Providers charging large amounts of hard-earned Lempiras for dialup connections it is no wonder that this new wave of Internet cafes is rippling the cyber waters in the capital city.

I recently reviewed four new internet bars in Tegucigalpa. Prices ranged from thirty to sixty Lempiras per Internet hour. All offered free technical assistance to get the beginner up and running in no time.

All four cafes had Pentium computers with at least 16 Megs of RAM running Windows 95 and Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator.

Technical support at the cafes vary. One of the cafes had a relatively large staff who seem to know their way around while another one is manned by a single employee with novice skills.

Ironically, not all the cafes offered coffee. At one café you are welcome to go next door and bring coffee back with you. Another one not only has coffee and beverages but food as well. If you want to explore the wonderful world of multimedia on CD-ROM, one of the cafes can give you access to a variety of titles at no extra charge. Another café has computers sporting microphones and speakers that let you talk to others via the Internet.

During the following weeks we will review four Tegucigalpa cyber cafes in terms of location, technical support, speed and such ergonomic issues as lighting and comfort. Although the idea is basically the same, each establishment offers a unique experience. Tune in next week for the first cyber place review.

Part one of a Multimedia Review of Internet Bars 

This grey box will soon turn into a video--if you are using a Java enabled browser such as Netscape Navigator 3 or Internet Explorer 3

Emailing Roatan :(

For some, it is the perfect morning coffee companion. For others, it means business. For those in Roatan it is a big hassle.

By STANLEY MARRDER

Donna Arcaya, owner of the Inn of the Last Resort, one of the first Honduran resorts to set up an Internet site, claims that over 90 percent of her guests have been in some way or another exposed to their Internet presence. Most of them have booked their reservations via email. But Arcaya does not have an Internet connection. Neither do most residents of the Bay Islands.

Rebekah Parker, owner of the Roatan-based Waterloo communications, handles Arcaya's email. Every day Rebekah sends Arcaya a floppy disk with the day's email via ground transport. Arcaya replies to the messages and saves them onto the disk for Rebekah to upload the next day.

"One of the biggest obstacles in connecting to the Internet from Roatan is just getting a phone line," Rebekah says. It took her six months to get the phone lines she needed to dial up into her Internet service provider in San Pedro Sula, in addition to a daily dose of nagging. And as most Hondutel customers know, her case is not the exception. It is more like the norm.

Hondutel has three transmission posts in Roatan. The main antenna is located in Hondutel headquarters, in Coxen Hole. This post transmits signals via radio waves to another post in La Ceiba. The other two cover the remainder of the Bay Islands. What this means to Roatan residents is that a call to another point within the island can be billed as long distance. And a call to the mainland can be very expensive.

IF YOU CAN MAKE IT...

Since the connection between Coxen Hole and La Ceiba is via radio, weather conditions must be favorable in order to establish a stable Internet connection. Strong winds, rain, loud noises or even large birds may cause the connection to be interrupted, thus breaking the connection on most modems.

Most modems manufactured nowadays for the North American market lack error correction capabilities due to the stable fiber optic based telephone lines, which have become standard among the Baby Bells. Honduras, like most countries in the American continent, uses the same protocols as those used in the United States, but fiber optics are still very rare.

Commercial Internet connections work on a concept called PPP or point-to-point protocol. This method requires that both ends, the server and the client, be connected via a stable route during a sustained period of time. High end modems, such as the 33.6kps Motorola external modem that Rebekah uses, have built in error correction capabilities that allow them to recover from interruptions such as a strong wind. But they are not too forgiving when it comes to dirty lines.

Hondutel webbed the island with copper wires, the standard. This in itself creates "noise" and poses transmission limitations. However, a good modem can compensate for it. But the weakest link is not the copper lines but the radio transmission that delivers them over the sea. Radio waves have a tendency to loose their quality with distance. If the source is poor, the transmission will be even worse.

Lorenzo Dee Belveal, who owned one of the first resorts in Roatan dismissed the Hondutel channel completely. "If I used Hondutel's facilities at all, it would be to call Kirby Warren as often as necessary, and ask him to send me over a fresh case of Nacional (beer)."

THERE IS HOPE

Technological advances may soon solve most of the communications problems for Roatan. Already there are digital satellite companies testing Internet connections over air waves. These connections will provide not only very fast Internet connection speeds but also other services such as televised entertainment. A connection to one of these services would eliminate the need for Hondutel's service.

Stanley Marrder is the webmaster for Honduras This Week Online and Honduweb Travel. He co-founded the Honduran Internet DList Catrachos in 1992 and has been the listowner since. He is currently the executive producer of Galaxy Multimedia in Houston, TX and president of Marrder Omnimedia.

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