A Question about the Utility Services in Colombia

Michael B says on May 13, 2005, 04:23:

It's not just you I have no idea of what's causing it, but phone service at my step daughters' place (a strata 3 on the south side of Cali) has been very intermintint the last few weeks, and they say when theirs is out, so are most of the neighbors. They've had the phone company out, but the repair men couldn't seem to find (or at least couldn't fix) the problem. Near as I know, though, they haven't had problems with the electricity.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

juanalejo says on May 13, 2005, 05:05:

Bad quality services I think it is just bad quality services, I really do not know how Cali services are, in Bogotá power failures have become very infrequent, mostly go unnoticed by me and according to the utilities bill which lists all the failures they happen maybe twice a month. I know smaller cities in some areas of the country, specially those which are not part of the national electrical grid suffer much more. Usually power failures in large cities occur in just areas when old transformers collapse or when repairs are being done.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

2retirensa says on May 13, 2005, 05:24:

Same here for the last couple weeks It either take forever to get through, if I am oh the phone for an extended lengh of time it disconnects, or out of 5 lines I have to call on, none are good enough quality to speak.
I never experienced this problem beforfe unless there was a storm, now it's every time I call (about 5x a week).
Maureen

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Gator says on May 13, 2005, 06:46:

For What It's Worth... the wife has had many problems lately in trying to call her sisters in Cali. Calls placed from Bogotá get busy signal or simply do not connect.

"Brevior Sltare Cum Deformibus Mulieribus Est Vita!" .

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Bruce V. Shrader says on May 13, 2005, 07:05:

Gator I think some of it is the amount of telephone
calls (or "Traffic") which is the problem.
I have had similar problems with "dropped calls",
"Busy signals", and just plain failure to connect
when calling from Florida to Cali.

I think you will find, however. that the Cell phone
service is better than the regular "Land Line" telephone
service. The reason is that the equipment is much newer
and is more "Standardized".

Also, there is the way the telephone, cable TV,
and Power lines are run. On the telephone poles
and from the poles to the house. Most of the wiring
(as I see it) does not follow the National Electrical
code and is of outdated technology and is in some cases
just outright dangerous.

We have a house which is in the "Camino Real"
section of Cali and I was apalled at some of the
things I see done.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Lionheart says on May 13, 2005, 14:55:

South Cali I have the same issues in that area ... it has been raining a lot I was told yesterday, and it seems to have to do with that.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

adrimm says on May 13, 2005, 18:15:

Agree w juanalejo My aunt in Cucuta had no gas over the easter holidays, so they had to cook on a portable stove.

I can understand intermittent scheduled utility unnavailability (ie. restricted water etc, rotating services), but these random multi-day outages are ridiculous.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Lionheart says on May 13, 2005, 23:51:

in addition to the fiber optic trunks I used to have access to a website with an interactive map showing the activity and condition of the various internet backbones around the planet. Now they want mucho $$$ to access it.

I did some more digging using Tinto's comment and found an interesting article about Latin American backbones, with Panama City being the telecommunictions hub between South America and the rest of the world.
http://www.escapeartist.com/efam21/PanSilVal_page_2.html

*** I chopped out the marketing hype:
The MAYA-1 ring will feature relays in Florida, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Grand Cayman Island and, in addition to its own communications structure, will provide a restoration path for the Pan-American cable.

The ARCOS-1 trunk spans Florida, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Aruba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas. These submarine networks will give Panama two international connections via high-bandwidth, fiber-optical trunk routes, superseding the current satellite link--feed system that is now in operation.

The OXYGEN network links the US Caribbean, goes through the Panama Canal, and connects to the Pacific ocean within Colombia, Perú, Ecuador, Chile, Brazil and Europe.

The GLOBAL CROSSING project connects Asia, the US, goes through the Panama Canal, the Caribbean countries, and Europe.

Ultimately, the main benefit of MAYA, GLOBAL CROSSING, OXYGEN, PANAMERICAN and ARCOS will be lower international prices for consumers. In addition, these new cables will incorporate New Wave Division Multiplexing Technology that will allow extraordinary ultra high speed bandwidth applications, such as multimedia and digital video.

****
Adding up the info on various maps Colombia has entry points via submarine trunks from the Pacific and from the Caribbean, I could count at least three. I couldn't find more info on the actual gateway locations in Colombia. But following traditions I assume they are located within major university complexes.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

miamimike says on May 14, 2005, 06:52:

Maybe its a case of ... Dominicanrepublicanitis.jajajaja

"Wait a minute. What did you just say? You're predicting $4-a-gallon gas? That's interesting. I hadn't heard that." -- Feb. 28, 2008 --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C.

0 funny, 0 helpful.