Cubans say prices too high at new Internet centers

Cubans say prices too high at new Internet centers
Last Updated: Wednesday, June 05, 2013, 12:21

Havana: Cubans had their first experience Tuesday of the island's new
web browsing services with the opening of 118 new Internet centers
nationwide, though the price of being online was still too expensive for
most citizens.

That was the chief complaint that several users expressed to EFE after
trying out the new services at centers in Havana.

An hour online costs the equivalent of $4.50.

"You can surf the web fine, but it's pretty expensive," said Roy, a
young computer technician who accessed his page on Facebook at a
downtown center in Old Havana.

Noel Antunez, 53, had a similar impression - he had just returned to
Cuba after working several years in Cape Verde where, he recalled, an
hour on the Internet at any center cost less than 1 euro ($1.30).

After spending an hour at one of the new centers in the Vedado
neighbourhood, where he was able to chat online with friends and look up
the bank account he still has in Cape Verde, Antunez told EFE that the
expansion of Internet service in Cuba is positive and a "great advance"
but "it's still a little costly for what Cubans can afford".

With regard to the quality, these same users agreed that surfing speed
is very good and that they had no problem accessing the web sites they
wanted to visit.

EFE found at some of these centers that surfing the Internet was faster
than is usual on the island and it was possible to visit without any
problem the online editions of media like Miami's El Nuevo Herald.

Internet access from the home continues to be restricted on the island.

http://zeenews.india.com/news/net-news/cubans-say-prices-too-high-at-new-internet-centers_852973.html