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Claro ISP, according to a friend who works for them, has too many clients for their bandwidth, and the infrastructure hasn't been upgraded. The clients are in essence victims of Claro's success.

Claro as mobile phone internet provider is, however, excellent. In many parts of the city, it's 4G although areas more north or south only have 3G.

As for puntonet and netlife, from personal experience they are both good. CNT is also good and has the quickest customer service, as in they deal with an issue in less than 24hrs (personal experience).

Usually, an area will have CNT available (maybe fiber optic), and one more service provider. That's how it is in the capital. The only exception is the commercial district that has almost all providers servicing the area.

So, you have to find out which ISP is available in your GF neighborhood. if there are two providers offering fiber optic, then choose the one that has the closet hub to her house. Cables break all the time, and replacing them can take days/weeks to replace.

BTW: another option is TVcable (no personal experience).

vsimple wrote:

As for puntonet and netlife, from personal experience they are both good. CNT is also good and has the quickest customer service, as in they deal with an issue in less than 24hrs (personal experience).

Usually, an area will have CNT available (maybe fiber optic), and one more service provider. That's how it is in the capital. The only exception is the commercial district that has almost all providers servicing the area.

So, you have to find out which ISP is available in your GF neighborhood. if there are two providers offering fiber optic, then choose the one that has the closet hub to her house. Cables break all the time, and replacing them can take days/weeks to replace.

BTW: another option is TVcable (no personal experience).

Thanks, that's all very good advice. I'll be installing a mesh wifi network to cover her whole building (her mom is the landlady) and subsequently want to upgrade the bandwidth. that narrows the list of ISPs considerably down to 3.

OK, Netlife for the win.

We went to CityMall on Saturday. We signed up for Netlife's 50Mbps fiber optic internet in 15 minutes. After the initial half price promo, the regular price is $55 per month-- a few dollars less than I paid in Ohio.

This morning, Tuesday, the installers came at 10:30 as promised. By 11.30 they were testing the connection, and by 11:45 I had restarted my Google WiFi mesh for the new network. I confirmed I was getting the downloads and uploads as I ordered, and the friendly installers left.

So this is an awesome upgrade! My girlfriend can now stream Netflix in HD while I videoconference with clients. Also, her mom and brother, who live on the first floor, will also be able to share the connection tonight after I install the 3rd wifi mesh point downstairs. I am also gifting them an Amazon Firestick too.

Todos bien!

Congrats! And 50 Mbps is good for 4 people. As for the Fire-stick it’s meh in Ecuador but it’s functional. Well to be fair, other entertainment providers are also meh. Playstation Store for instance. With games, all titles are available for purchase. But for TV shows and movies one can’t even buy anything. I wanted to buy The Wire re-mastered, but it wasn’t possible.

vsimple wrote:

Congrats! And 50 Mbps is good for 4 people. As for the Fire-stick it’s meh in Ecuador but it’s functional. Well to be fair, other entertainment providers are also meh. Playstation Store for instance. With games, all titles are available for purchase. But for TV shows and movies one can’t even buy anything. I wanted to buy The Wire re-mastered, but it wasn’t possible.

Thanks!

Considering these folks were on 5 Mbps for the last 5 years, 50 is quite an upgrade. We were offered speeds up to 200Mbps, but currently that's overkill in this home (I guess in 5 years 200Mbps will be the norm) When I first met my girlfriend in 2016, she was using a sad old N300 wifi router, and her signal couldn't go downstairs. So google mesh wifi is quite the upgrade here.

True, Firestick is kind of meh, compared to the offerings in North America, but again, my girlfriend's family hasn't seen this techno-wizardry and subsists on broadcast TV (at least they've got a modern samsung flat screen). From their point of view, this is exciting

Yeah 200 Mbps is too much. With 50 Mbps, one can also watch Ultra-HD Netflix. I personally don't have 4K TV, but just stating that in terms of what 50Mbps can do.

I do however how many 4K titles Ecuador Netflix has. As for the Firestick, I actually use it often as my TV app menu is awful.

I've used Claro, TVCable and Netlife. Netlife is the best one (speed, performance and customer service). They cost a little more but worth the $, no hassle. The only issue with them is, that they have some areas they can't cover... They're a relatively new company. So I changed to TVCable, which I was hesitant because my experience with them wasn't so good. However, according to a local friend, this depends on the neighborhood, which, it seems it was true. When I moved to Samborondon (the higher-end neighborhood) customer service was COMPLETELY different, as well as speed. Perhaps here the bandwidth share isn't as clogged as other areas. No issues so far (8 months). Claro, was a nightmare hahahaha.............. So I guess my suggestion is, first check if netlife is in your area. if not, then go for tvcable? Though I'm not sure of other service providers.

wanderer_t wrote:

So I changed to TVCable, which I was hesitant because my experience with them wasn't so good. However, according to a local friend, this depends on the neighborhood, which, it seems it was true. When I moved to Samborondon (the higher-end neighborhood) customer service was COMPLETELY different, as well as speed.

It's just how things are. In Quito, the better the neighborhood the more attention it is given. This is true for street maintenance, police patrols, internet service availability, and even trash collection.

In affluent neighborhoods, once there is a pothole it is quickly fixed. Compare that to poorer areas where you’ll be bopping up and down from one end of the street to the next. In the best areas they pick up the trash right from the front of the building and on time without fail. In good areas you have to take the trash to a corner where a large garbage container is located and dump the trash there. Seldom, they’ll overfill, but they always collect garbage in a scheduled matter. In poor areas like comité del pueblo, last year, garbage just piled up without collection with residents fuming.

To me it makes sense, there are only so many resources and people and businesses that pay more taxes, and contribute more economically should be given priority. It is what it is.

omg the potholes! you're right! i really didn't notice about the garbage. i'd usually just drop them down the chute. but yeah, i guess there are priorities in customer service... but definitely, netlife has been my best experience!

In this way, Ecuador is  no different than my experience in Cincinnati. Affluent neighborhoods have pristine streets, smartcity traffic signals, new public schools, lush, neatly trimmed landscaping in traffic medians, etc. The poor parts of the city get the potholes filled once a decade. Junk gets piled next to abandoned buildings (which have been abandoned since I learned to drive). Medians have bent and rusty guardrails. The garbage does get collected, at least.