I hope that many of you are now thinking to book a flight to Cuba and indulge in one exotic and worth it holiday alone or with your loved ones.

But, if some of you have already read some of my previous articles will know already how difficult it was for me to keep update the blog itself due to the lack and the difficultness of getting an Internet connection.

Hence I feel the need to write down few important info about Internet and WIFI connection in Cuba so that you will get there prepared.

As a matter of fact, you won´t easily find the Internet in private house in Cuba as it would be far too expensive (and definitely it would open too many minds..) so the easiest thing to get is the famous WIFI hotspot spread within the country both in public places and hotels.

Once you have located them (easy to recognize them, as soon as you see a pile of people staring and working on their phones there is the hotspot, either you can ask to you Casa or hotel, they are most luckily to get the hotspot as well), you need to follow this step:

• Walk to any closer Etecsa point (the only available Telecommunication brand in Cuba) and purchase a pre-paid Internet card “Tarjeta de Navigacion”: price range from 0.75 CUC for 30 min / 1.5 CUC for 1 hour / 7.5 CUC for 5 hours.
  Important: take the passport qith you, as they will ask you, it is mandatory and you cannot buy more than 3 cards at the time.
  You can also find this Internet card in hotels and sold unofficial in the street but both will cost you more than at Etecsa points

 

Once you have most likely queue up for at least 30 min. under an hot sun (you will never queue inside the shops in Cuba for a matter of security, so always ask who is the last one when you reach a queue – saying ” queue es el ultimo”) you have now purchased your WIFI card and ready to be used to any of the available hot spot.

The usage of the card is easy, just follow the instruction.

• scratch the silver plate
• set your mobile phone-pc on WIFI and connect to Etecsa and wait for the log in
• fill the log in with the num. reference on your card and the passwordwhen you are done always remember to log out your WIFI otherwise the minute will run out
  look after your card, and DO NOT LOSE IT

Bear in mind that most of all in the public area the reception is very low and sometimes you won{t connect at all, so do not get frustrated and just go to the nearest hotel if you have something important to do, as there the reception is much stronger.

The limitation of WIFI in Cuba was overwhelming at the beginning, most of all for someone, like me, who has to work with the Internet, but then I truly enjoyed the idea to be somehow disconnected from the Online world and have more time to get to know the beauty of this fantastic country.

At the same Etecsa point, you can also but the phone card  (Tarjeta telefonica) to get in communication with locals phone as well.

These card start from 5 COP and the won´t easily accept for you to pay with CUC as the cheapest price of the card itself, so get ready to have some COP with you or 0.25 of CUC

How to use the phone cards: both public or private phone

scratch the silver plate for your password
select 161 on the phone and  as is the first time you are using the card the automatic voice will ask you to select a language ( Spanish or English), after the first time you won’t be asked anymore and you will carry on with the selected language
Then select the serial number in your card
Then select the num you have to call ( digit 1 upfront mobile phone num.)
hang up when done

Sometimes the phone decides not to work and goes under out of service, wait for few minutes
Here prices and local codes: http://www.etecsa.cu/inicio/llamadas_nacionales/

Also here you can buy phone cards for International calls.

For more information about WIFI connection and phone calls in Cuba do not hesitate to message me

thanks and enjoy your holiday