My family is moving to Iquitos Peru for a year or more.  Iquitos is famous for being the largest city in the world that is not accessable by road.  I'm pretty sure that I will find that the only Internet option there is the satellite variety.

I would appreciate it if anyone can either provide me any advice available on what is my best option or if you could direct me to any resource site that would be unbiased.  Keep in mind that I am green when it comes to this satellite stuff although I am very computer literate.

My goals are regular Internet access and the use of a VOIP phone over the service.

My general questions are as follows:

Who should I turn to for reliable cost effective service?  We are volunteers down there so cost is a major consideration.  On the other hand, it's no good if it doesn't work.
Would any cost effective service that works here in the USA also work down there?
What can I expect to pay?
Are there typically "unlimited" plans or do you pay by the Megabyte?
Can I expect reliable connectivity?
Can I expect to make high quality VOIP calls?
What kinds of real world speeds can I expect?
Is there any new technology "just around the corner"?


Don't feel that you need to respond to all these questions but any help or direction would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your willingness to help. . .

Well, odds are good that you're the first member to ask this particular set of questions. As such, odds are probably even better that you won't likely get a substantive response here either.

But I'm guessing you must have come here first. Because it only took me 5 seconds with Google to learn that Internet is not a foreign concept in Iquitos. See https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&rlz=1B3GGLL_enUS362US362&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=internet+iquitos+peru&fb=1&gl=us&hq=internet&hnear=iquitos+peru&view=text&ei=8WzcS9_uIpDK9gSOx52wBw&sa=X&oi=local_group&ct=more-results&resnum=1&ved=0CA8QtQMwAA. My suggestion is to contact some of these folks. Ask them who their provider(s) is (are), and go from there.

//greg//

USN - Retired wrote on May 1^st, 2010 at 7:27pm:

it only took me 5 seconds with Google to learn that Internet is not a foreign concept in Iquitos. //greg//

I've done the same search that you did here.  By posting the questions on this forum,  I was trying to think/search outside of the box.  I figured that if there was any USA service or any other service unknown by the average person living there, that would also work down there, that it might be cheaper/faster/more reliable etc.  I thought that maybe I could find something better than what they are already using down there.  I have already been told by an American working down there, who has satellite Internet, that it is costing him around $150/month for service.  I didn't want to bend over and take that as my only choice if there was something that the guys who frequent this forum could advise me on.  Most people would do as you suggested and take what those living there are currently doing as the only path available.  It very well might be, but I'm going to at least ask the questions.  I would think that the best advice on satellite Internet should come from a very specialized site like this.

As I said in the post, any advice is greatly appreciated.  Any other thoughts from anyone?

North-American service is simply not available in South America. Satellite coverages differ dramatically between and among the continents. Now some providers may offer services to both NA and SA, but it's not the SAME service, and not the same price structure either. I pay $80/mo right now, for a tier of HughesNet service that's basically 3rd from the bottom. So before you decry any charge as excessive, you should really find out what it buys first. Hence my recommendation to contact the Iquitos leads that Google turned up.

Your opening questions suggest expectations that are a bit on the high side. I didn't initially address them initially, since it would be presumptive of me to speak for South American providers. But since I am a retired telecommunications engineer, I can provide some generic info:
1. Lease locally. If you're only there for a year, it's not worth buying your own equipment.
2. You get what you pay for, and "unlimited" plans are not typical
3. Reliability is inversely proportional to the severity and frequency of precipitation (rain/sleet/ice/wet snow)
4. Given the laws of physics as related to latency (delay), there is no such thing as a "high quality VoIP call" over satellite.
5. Again, you get what you pay for
6. There's no meaningful "new (consumer-grade) technology" worth waiting for at the moment.

//greg//

I can recommend the following website:
https://www.viasatelital.com

GO:  https://ciberall.net/idirect

SCPC
TDMA
DBV-S2

contacto@ipviasatelite.com