My last blog entry about ANTEL and the ridiculous and insensitive way in which it operates drew more comments than any other entry I’ve written, at least for a very long time. The truth is that I really hate to say bad things about anything in Uruguay, and I feel an obligation to tell the whole story, rather than being a perpetual Pollyanna.
At least one good thing came out and that terrible experience. I discovered a telecom company that apparently wants to do business the right way: Claro, which was formerly CTI Móvil. We discovered it in our hunt for alternative Internet access during the ANTEL debacle.
NOTE:Â Since this was published several people have pointed out to me that Claro and Telmex are both ultimately owned by Carlos Slim. Maybe he needs to take a hard look at TelMex’s management and practices…
One solution turned out to be G3 wireless modems. We’d previously gotten one from ANTEL (I know, I know: I should’ve known better) because I wanted one that would work throughout the entire country. It does work, but the bandwidth isn’t very good. So, during the crisis, we decided to explore other options.
The Claro modem was the cheapest at 500 pesos per month with the first month free. It also had the best local bandwidth: I was able to get a steady 236kb. The one year contract promised to have countrywide service by the end of this calendar year. AND, in something unheard of in this business climate, they offered a five-day return with no questions asked.
Since the first modem worked so well, we bought two more. In addition we are negotiating with them for cellphones and modems for our entire staff, and also looking into the possibility of them providing a wireless backup Internet for the next time ANTEL decides to engage in it self-indulgent idiocy.
My plan is to do business with companies that want to do business properly whenever possible, and to promote them through my websites. Please note, I have no financial interest in Claro nor any business arrangement for promoting them. I am doing it for the good of Uruguay and those who live here or want to live here. I am convinced that good business practices will eventually drive out the bad.
There are two alternatives to ANTEL for Internet service: Dedicado and TelMex. My experience with both has been abysmal.
Having said that, we are going to give Dedicado another chance now that they have moved one of their main antennas. There are still many people who have excellent service from them and it is a real alternative to ANTEL. It seems that they can provide excellent service, but you need to check and see how the service is in your location before you buy. My biggest gripe with Dedicado is that they advertise that the bandwidth is guaranteed, but if you read their contract it absolutely is NOT!
TelMex is another case. They are expensive and incompetent! We signed a one-year contract with them which EXPLICITLY guaranteed the bandwidth, for which we paid a huge premium, and they never delivered. In the evening I seldom was able to get half of the Guaranteed bandwidth. After talking to IT professionals, I have been told that TelMex is famous, or more properly infamous, for this performance throughout Latin America.
I am hoping that Dedicado will take a page from Claro’s playbook and become a responsible company. I have little hope for TelMex, and absolutely none for ANTEL.
David — During me recent visit to MVD I kept seeing signs advertising Claro and was somewhat surprised to see serious competition for ANTEL. Sorry to hear of your unfortunate experience with ANTEL, but you’ve opened this potential ex-pat’s eyes if and/or when we decide to make a move to the DEEP South. Too bad we weren’t able to get together when I was there a couple of weeks ago, but my I will be coming back in November, this time with my wife, so maybe we’ll meet then. — Rich
Left by Fuzzybill on April 6th, 2008
Both Claro and Telmex belong to the same group: Grupo Carso mainly owned by Carlos Slim.
Left by rsisto on April 7th, 2008
That´s correct.
Mr. Slim, one of the richest persons on earth, owns both Claro /CTI and Telmex.
As well as Embratel in Brazil
Left by Javier on April 9th, 2008
I´ve read your experience with Antel, and it really doesn´t surprise me. Though I must tell you it´s not a very common problem to have no ADSL for several days for maintenance issues.
Bandwidth in Uruguay is expensive, I had to relocate my website (www.arena51.com.uy) to the USA for more bandwidth. Here, I was paying almost 200 US dollars a month to have a fixed IP to my server, very expensive!
I´ve friends who work at Antel, Movistar and Claro, but believe me, if you need bandwidth stick to the ADSL from Antel, and keep a 3G modem for backup, and don’t bother with Dedicado. Claro will start with strong promotions in Uruguay to get to number one place in 2 years, which I have no doubt they will reach, and a 3G modem from Claro will work also in Argentina.
Also, the bandwidth you can get from these 3G modems, varies considerably by the distance to the nearest radio base or cellular tower, but seems you don´t have that problem. I´ve a cell tower right in front of my apartment here in Poctios, and the reception with the 3G modem of a friend is great, though not good for p2p networks, they are using bandwidth throttling over 3G connections.
Reagards
Xantia
Left by Xantia on April 15th, 2008
Hi Southron!
I’ve read your last posts about Antel and Claro, the State owned companies, and so on. Let me tell you my Uruguayan opinion. As you have been living here for a while, you already know, as the rest of the Uruguayans, that there will be moisty, rainy, cold evenings when you will ask yourself just why are you living here; and there will be glorious automn sunny mornings, with crystal clean skyes, and the exact bit of fresh breeze, that you will picture yourself in nowhere else but here. Well, moisty miserable evenings and glorious fresh mornings are both part of our climate. Countries, societies, and cultures are interralated unities, that you can change and improve, but knowing first that some bad things are related with some good things, so you don’t end up with a collection of broken parts. You reacted as an American to your problem with Antel. And that’s natural because you was born and grew up in a country that’s like a continent with no frontiers and customs in between. You buy things or use services provided by American companies owned by American big or small capitalists, or even owned indirectly by American pensionists, who spend their proffit in the US, recycling it into more jobs and businesses for Americans. And the scale of your country makes this system work fairly well even if a number of Americans buy German cars, or Italian suits made of Chinese fabric. Uruguay, instead is (and has always been) a very small country, with the demographics of a neibourhood of any of the big cities of it’s neighbours; with no national “capitalist†worth of mention, other than the Uruguayan State. Claro, a branch of the Mexican transnational Telmex, takes good proffit of its economy of scale. It brings from Mexico or its regional base in Buenos Aires everything it needs from your monthly bills, to the red balloons they are using to promote their brand renaming campaing. It practically creates no Uruguayan jobs, and consumes no Uruguayan services or goods, and it repatriates back to Mexico every coin of proffit it makes in Uruguay. Yes, it provides good services (though focused in the proffitable metropolitan areas) at low prices. And that’s good for Uruguayans as consumers. But besides being consumers, we are also workers, business men and women, and citizens. Morover, we are always workers before we are consumers, aren’t we? You reacted as an American cause the scale of your country don’t expose you frequently to this kind of contradiction in your role as a consumer or as a worker/businessman/citizen, that we in a small country experience. In the US, companies compete for the benefit of consumers, and they grow or die, and eventualy jobs and proffits are moved to other cities or States where people can move following. Jobs and proffit moved out of Uruguay, just let unemployed people or potential migrants. Antel, as compared with Claro, means about 3.000 direct jobs, and many more thousand jobs of private Uruguayan companies that provide them services, from cabling, to IT, through education, marketing, etc.. On the shoulders of Antel’s infrastructure, is our “One PC per Child†program. And it’s because of Antel that not only the proffitable metropolitan areas, but also rural areas have had telephone communications. Besides, its proffits stay in Uruguay. The same with the other Uruguayan State owned utilities, and banks. The relatively uniform country that we have (and you like), was built upon this rather “socialist†sector of the economy. Is this perfect? Of course not! We know the problems intrinsic to State owned enterprises. We suffer them everyday! And we are trying to change that aspect. By the way, they have improved during the last decades, though you will still face some business or user unfriendly enterprise culture episodes now and then, like the one you described. Uruguay need good services to promote new businesses; we know that. But we are a “fragile†country and we tend to change things taking the risks into special consideration. Is this prudence or cowarness? Well, this is a matter of discussion. It’s clear that it’s not on our hands to get more glorious automn mornings out of the miserable moisty evenings; but our economy and culture, being an integrated unity, is not such a fate as the climate. It can be improved, provided that we don’t ruin it in the process. That’s why we need voices as your, that can take a look of us from the inside but with eyes born abroad. It’s just that I felt the need to put to your consideration the whole picture.
Left by Alberto on April 16th, 2008