Connecting to the Grid

Connecting to the Grid

One of the first things we did upon arrival in Ecuador was to get our cell phones switched over to Claro (the biggest service provider throughout Central and South America.)  It was easy:  they took out the Verizon chip from my iPhone 5S and put in a Claro chip.  While still in the US, we bought Tom a BLU (Bold Like Us) brand phone that can handle two chips: one for use in the US, and one for Claro here in Ecuador.  Now that we have Ecuadorian cell phones, it makes day-to-day transactions much easier!  When we return to the US, we’ll have Tom’s US cell phone number.

On Friday, March 6, our temporary internet was shut off (planned – it belonged to the family subletting the apartment from us.)  Our permanent internet was scheduled to be installed on Wednesday, March 11.   I say “scheduled” because one never knows for sure when ETAPA will actually do the installation.   ETAPA is the city-run utility department (provides cable TV, internet, water, etc.)  Our building uses ETAPA for internet - we have no option.

We have DirecTV installed (only 1 day past the “scheduled” installation date!)  In their defense, Cuenca had a major downpour on the scheduled day.  Many homes and businesses were flooded.  The jury is still out on whether or not TV is worth paying for – not a very good programming selection, and not a whole lot of HDTV channels. 

TV and internet are the only two utilities that we must deal with ourselves.  Everything else (water, gas, electricity) is provided by the building, and we pay the building owner via meters.

As I mentioned, our internet was scheduled to be connected on Wednesday, March 11.  We have been using the retail shop’s internet, as well as free wi-fi at restaurants.  We have a lot depending upon getting internet installed!

First & foremost is my need to have internet to do my independent contractor consulting work.  I’m actually in the mood to work; therefore, I have to strike while the iron is hot!  My home office is completely set up now.  Tom even has a small built-in work station in the office. Sonny Bunny’s “nest” is right beside my desk, and he’s napping away in it right now!

We will also be using our internet connection to hook up our Ooma internet-based telephone system.  You may recall that we switched our home phone service in the US to Ooma last year. We love it.  We have the Ooma apps on our cell phones that permit us to call the US for free (as long as we have a wi-fi connection.)  You may also continue to call our US home phone number FREE OF CHARGE.  It will ring at the condo here in Cuenca.  How cool is that?!    We highly recommend Ooma – even if you have no intention of moving abroad!

Our internet connection will also be used to stream TV and movies via our Roku box.  There are so many channels available on the Roku; therefore, we may drop DirecTV and use only the Roku box.

To get Pandora (internet radio), Roku, Netflix, a lot of websites, etc. to work in Ecuador, we have to “trick” the internet into thinking that we are still in the US.  Otherwise, we get messages such as “Sorry, but Pandora is not available in your country.”  To accomplish this, we bought a router from Sabai, a company in South Carolina.  The router is programmed to have a US-based IP address regardless of where in the world it is being used.  Some people use internet programs such as “Hide My Ass” and “Hola” to access US websites from abroad.  We’re going the router route because we heard it is the better, faster option.

An update:  We finally got our ETAPA internet installed – on March 23.  The speed is slow, and it makes streaming videos frustrating.  We will upgrade to a faster package soon!