larryrn has left 104 comments

larryrn comments on Best Phone Set Up for Conducting Business from Colombia to USA

I have Vonage and Packet 8 and still have accounts with them. I now have a MagicJack (www.magicjack.com) - 40 bucks for 1 year of service. Includings caller ID, 3 way, etc. Everything like vonage except you dont have the webpage for management. But for 40 bucks for a US number and unlimited calls, its pretty nifty - and the quality is good too. Larry

larryrn comments on

I bought a directional USB wireless adapter which provides me with a 7 db gain antenna and I can sniff out a open wifi connection from a good distance away. I carry this with me and it's well worth the 50 dollars. Along with te Tmobile international data plan (which works on all 3 carriers in Colombia but the speed varies from dialup to a B channel of ISDN (64kb)). So just about anywhere in Colombia I can get internet -- even in the small towns with a GMS (non EDGE) connection. Last month I flew American - this month Avianca. I get tickets on Sidestep and the tickets there are just about always less than on Avianca. Even with 2 windows open on the same flights (one window to Avianca) - I really don't understand why. Larry

larryrn comments on The Festival of Flowers in Medellin

I forgot, Santa Helena the week before the big parade in Medellin is pretty cool. Its kind-of chilly up there and its where these older people (relative, but definately older than me) make the floats (things they wear on their backs made of flowers) by hand using flowers and ropes. You actually get to go into their houses and see them weaving by hand. The party is down this road that runs on the peak of the mountain (past the houses) - and all along the road they are playing music, dancing, lots of food, and lots of Pilsen. Make sure you take a poncho, last year it was very chilly up there, you could see your breath so I would imagine it was in the low 40s (F). Larry

larryrn comments on The Festival of Flowers in Medellin

I went to Avianca and you were, right, $1000. Then I went to sidestep (where I go all the time) and got a flight on Avianca with a stop for an hour in Bogota for $514 including all taxes (MIA-MDE). I opened another window when I was booking on sidestep for the Avianca site, no sure enough, the price as still close to $1000 USD for the same flights!! hard to believe!!! I met this lady from Colombia on one of my journey (imagine that) and she is the one who turned me on to sidestep. Larry

larryrn comments on QUESTION???? BANK CHARGES... DEBIT CARD....

Capital One has a foreign transaction fee of 1 percent. Most of the other American banks have fees at the normal rate of 3 percent. Regarding the 5 dollar charge, yes, I had this for some time now, however, someone here on PBH referred me to Citibank - so 5 dollars on 1 million pesos is nothing as compared on 5 dollars on 200,000 pesos (IMHO). Larry

larryrn comments on Finding the Beat of Chicago’s Latino Quarter

Dude, very good. I grew up in Northern Indiana and go up there a couple of times a year. Times have changed, there are so many spanish (mostly Mexican, but I love Mexican) stations now on the radio. And I love mucho picante -- having lived in Mexico City (and Juarez on and off) for a half a year- I really ENJOY the Mexican culture. So where in Medellin is the BEST place for Mexican food? Larry

larryrn comments on STOP! STOP! I cannot take it anymore!

Dude, you are crazy. Colombia is not about just getting laid and hot chicks. Colombia is a country and the experience is very deep. You need to go out and "chit-chat" and mingle with the people. Colombia is absolutely incredible. Yes, the women are hot -- but they are people.. Look at everything to appreciate. Larry

larryrn comments on STOP! STOP! I cannot take it anymore!

Where are you dude? Homecenter (grin). You must be in Medellin. my favorite station in Medellin is -- da-di-dah -- Radio Uno (most people hate this station).. What hotel are you at? Larry

larryrn comments on ¿ Cuánto costará y cuándo llegará el iphone 3G a Colombia?

There is no 3G service in Colombia. At best its EDGE which when turned up is 2.5G. And yes, AT&T has agreed to pay Apple $424 over 2 years on every phone sold. Larry

larryrn comments on Living together a taboo in Colomia?

Well, the last several years I am living in Colombia with a woman - and her whole family knows and really accepts me as being part of the family. No difference than being in the states.. Larry

larryrn comments on Bogota DID for VIOP or forwarding

I asked didww about getting a DID in Medellin and they said shortly (grin). I will keep everyone posted.. I spent a lot of time looking at all the options out there and learned so much. most of these "SIP" standard services are not compatible with the large players in the US like Vonage or Packet 8 due to them using their own codec. With 12VOIP I think it would be possible to get a "box" which goes between a tradional phone and ethernet connection and would allow for unlimited outbound calls to what, half the world for free. These boxes are hacked Linksys Vonage boxes (most frequently available in the US) that are "unlocked" like the cell phones. Many things to experiment with when I return to Florida!

larryrn comments on Internet services for non-citizen

Hughes no. Their are 3rd parties for satellite connections but the price and latency is high. What speed do you need? If can get by on a slow 64kb connection, get a blackberry (mine is with T mobile) and I have the international data plan for $20/month and I can use my phone as a modem just about anywhere. Depending on the network here (there are no 3G services on GSM in Colombia) I can get up to 100kb. I know, its slow but it free, works just about anywhere (even on the 1G GPRS service). Another option is to get a Hawking directional USB antenna wifi adapter. With this directional antenna with somethng like 9db gain - It allows me to sniff out open wifi spots a good distance away and ingore everything around me on the defalt channel 6 (grin). From my condo here I can get maybe 30 or so wifi connections (granted most are closed) every time I rotate the antenna 25 degrees or so. Ironically, many are out there broadcasting linksys or dlink and are free to access. With the above antenna maybe you you can cut a hotel with a local hotel/bar and just give some some money and share their wifi connection from where you will be staying? Larry

larryrn comments on

EPM has VOZ and if it is installed on a laptop or computer in another country - it would should be possible to orginate and make calls to and from Colombia. It might be possible that they check the IP address and if so, I would need a VPN back to your house in Colombia so the IP address on the internet would appear to originate as one of their own. larry

larryrn comments on Go Dollar!

I am getting a hassle at Bank of America. Spoke with supervisor Scott in card services. I have a large credit balance on a BOA CC from a balance transfer on a Wamu new account. I want to transfer the money on the BOA CC to checking for immediate access to transfer to Colombia (grin). Scott says due to Patriot act, they cannot transfer the money to checking and give immediate access to funds - this can take up to 10 days. I said fine, then transfer 9999 today and the rest on Monday. He says their internal limit is 6K not 10K and they can't "skirt" the law. They said they, quote, "we had problems with people transferring and spending money in foreign countries". Imagine that, people want to spend money in "foreign countries". Mind you I am in such a foreign country on a VoIP call. I asked for clarification, "We had people write multiple cash advance checks at the same time and deposit into separate accounts then quote, "leave to another country and BOA is out all of the money". Nothing but the run around. I get the run around here in Colombia all the time (EPM the other day, complained about their triple play pricing and complained about competition with Telemex and competition and they lowered the triple play with a 12 month contract by 20,000 pesos a month). I guess no one wants to give up money (imagine that). I just want to buy a Finca in the mountains in Colombia.. After previous comments here from others about not needing a car, I am starting to agree. It’s the American frame of mind - having a car. Here, I do a little walking and ride the bus, metro and cab. The walking is great. I live up the hill on Calle 1 - walk down, over to Las Vegas by EAFIT, catch the bus to Sabineta, get off my Majorca Mall then walk south and over the bridge to Itagui and then am at my GFs office. The cost, 1400 pesos, nothing. Plus a little of exercise. If I had a car, the expense per month including insurance would be $1000 USD/month. I am still thinking a horse would be a better investment -- especially if I live in a rural area. I could always take the horse into town (Sabineta) and get a pack for the Pilsens with ice (grin). Larry

larryrn comments on For those Medellin and surrounding area Residents....Need some info please!!!

These towns you mention are around 90 minutes from Medellin and for the most part, the roads are paved. There has been a detour on the tunnel route from Medellin to Santa Fe requiring you to drive through San Jeronimo for the last 8 months or so which increases the drive time by maybe 15 minutes.. For the most parts the places are weekend getaways and yes, safe. I would not say there are slums, however there are parts of these towns that are not as fancy as the resorts. But walking in the town and hanging out at the local bars and eating foods from the various street vendors (which I enjoy so much) is what I would consider safe. The markets are not as large as the ones in Medellin, however there is a great variety of foods - when I am in Santa Fe I shop at the "farmers market" for all the fruits and veggies which are very, very good. Internet for the most part is available via cable in San Jeronimo, however, from that I know in Santa Fe it is available only via dialup. There is a hot spot in the square of Santa Fe and 10,000 pesos gives you about 4 hours of internet time via a Orbatel pre-paid card. The electricity is reliable, during 3 weeks at Christmas, Santa Fe was in the dark on New Years eve for maybe 2 hours. There for awhile I was going to the area monthly for 3 days, however as of recently I have been going to Andes, Jardin, Guatepe and El Penol. Larry Larry

larryrn comments on

How much for the 4 meg ADSL? ADSL speeds here are what, 100% of rated downlink and 25% of rated link uplink? Is it possible to get SDSL of 4 megs here -- 4 megs up and 4 megs down? If so how much per month? As anyone checked out Telamex? They are advertising everywhere as of the last 6 months. They have a kiosk in Oviedo mall by BanColombia with a free wifi hotspot now with a motorola cable modem that you can pick up a good 100 meters away. Larry

larryrn comments on Bringing Money to Colombia

Can't the bank issue a check to the car dealer instead of takng cash to the dealer in various trips?

larryrn comments on Brew Pubs In Colombia

There was a restaurant in Medellin across from J and C Arepas in Poblado that brewed their own beer but they went out of business.

larryrn comments on Bringing Money to Colombia

The BMW dealer in Medellin told me if I paid cash or credit card they could indeed put a car in my name as long as I have my passport. At Exito they told me I could buy a motorcycle in my name as well using my US passport. Larry

larryrn comments on Bringing Money to Colombia

Actually, the dealer told me he would take a credit card - if they would do this I would only have to deal with the foreign transaction fee (but still get the rebate miles!). But in Colombia many people tell me one thing and then their boss or someone else tells me something different. Its amazing how things change so much when doing business in Colombia.. Larry

larryrn comments on Bringing Money to Colombia

Dude, I found the max I can get from the ATMs is 400,000 pesos at BanColombia. In my accounts in the states i have the money -- but at 400,000 pesos a day it will take forever to get the 45,000,000 I want to buy the car.

larryrn comments on opening bank account

Well, for one. If I transfer dollars today to an account in Colombia then at least my money will be worth something. I want to invest money now while I get 1690 vs waiting. Look at this, invest 75k us and with a 100 drop in the peso the amount of dollars increases by 4k. I applied for a equity line here and the bank says were are sorry but you have no equity. I say I put 25 percent down when I bought the house 3 years ago and the tell me ny equity now is 3 percent. Option a, cut the losses and bail to Colombia with no debt in the US or option b, keep the house, rent part of it for 50 percent of expenses and pray the economy in the us will improve. Asking around the people here at the hospital they all think its going to get worse before better and this slump will not turn around for 5 or more years. Look at the debt, price of oil and the economy as a whole. So today headlines CNN dow down 300 points. More good news. Is it this hard for Colombians to open a bank account in the US? So if I get a cosigner then I can open a bank account in Colombia?

larryrn comments on opening bank account

Well, for one. If I transfer dollars today to an account in Colombia then at least my money will be worth something. I want to invest money now while I get 1690 vs waiting. Look at this, invest 75k us and with a 100 drop in the peso the amount of dollars increases by 4k. I applied for a equity line here and the bank says were are sorry but you have no equity. I say I put 25 percent down when I bought the house 3 years ago and the tell me ny equity now is 3 percent. Option a, cut the losses and bail to Colombia with no debt in the US or option b, keep the house, rent part of it for 50 percent of expenses and pray the economy in the us will improve. Asking around the people here at the hospital they all think its going to get worse before better and this slump will not turn around for 5 or more years. Look at the debt, price of oil and the economy as a whole. So today headlines CNN dow down 300 points. More good news. Is it this hard for Colombians to open a bank account in the US? So if I get a cosigner then I can open a bank account in Colombia?

larryrn comments on opening bank account

Well, for one. If I transfer dollars today to an account in Colombia then at least my money will be worth something. I want to invest money now while I get 1690 vs waiting. Look at this, invest 75k us and with a 100 drop in the peso the amount of dollars increases by 4k. I applied for a equity line here and the bank says were are sorry but you have no equity. I say I put 25 percent down when I bought the house 3 years ago and the tell me ny equity now is 3 percent. Option a, cut the losses and bail to Colombia with no debt in the US or option b, keep the house, rent part of it for 50 percent of expenses and pray the economy in the us will improve. Asking around the people here at the hospital they all think its going to get worse before better and this slump will not turn around for 5 or more years. Look at the debt, price of oil and the economy as a whole. So today headlines CNN dow down 300 points. More good news. Is it this hard for Colombians to open a bank account in the US? So if I get a cosigner then I can open a bank account in Colombia?

larryrn comments on Sirius and XM Radio in Colombia

Yes, this would sound better. I listen to Sirius all the time over the internet now using their included "free" service. They have a digital service that streams at 128kb but that is 3 bucks extra a month and I am quite happy with my computers integrated sound card connected with cable to my stereo. Larry

larryrn comments on Colombia Gets $100 Computer

They have a new model of the Eee PC and I saw them on Buy.com. I believe the new screen is larger at 9 inches vs 7 and the price went up by 50%. They are made by Asus which has been making computer motherboards and parts for many years. These computers run Linux which is an incredible lean operating system and actually available any many consumer products as an embedded OS (ie: like cell phones, Phillips TVs, Linksys routers, etc.). Larry

larryrn comments on Visas in Medellin

Thanks for the referral for the lawyer, I am going to setup an appointment and in August I plan to go half on a finca here.. Larry

larryrn comments on Is this true?

Dude, Colombia is a country - just like the US. There is good and bad everywhere. I can take you to places in Miami where people are begging in the street too. As with anything in life you have to accept things as a whole. I run into people begging when I go into the small towns, or yesterday i ran into people begging in Santa Domingo here in Medellin (yes, here in Medellin). Larry

larryrn comments on

I have a beer keg system in Florida and used to do the home brewing stuff when I lived up north (grin, Indiana) so I know beer (grin). Here I absolutely love the Pilsen and went to their brewery where there they loaded me up with free Pilsen stuff. This was after they changed their brew maybe 18 months ago - they changed the labels,bottles and logos slightly at the same time. Personally, I liked the older Pilsen better than the new stuff, but oh well. I was thinking of getting a keg machine here - I see the kegs sold at the liquor stores in Envigado - but I will wait until I get a finca here then I will have all my PBH friends over to enjoy the Pilsen draft. Larry Larry

larryrn comments on Gyms in Medellin

there is a place next to Picillo Pizza in Envigado on El Poblado on the left side of the road when going into Envigado. I see people there at 5:30 in the morning but I dont know if they are open 24x7. Larry

larryrn comments on

There are 2 exporters - one out of Miami and another out of Texas. I find the Agulia and Club Colombia in America taste completely different than they do here in Colombia. I don't know if they are old and out of date, or it's a special brew, or handled improperly (in a 40 foot container in the hot sun for a week?) or what the deal is. Larry

larryrn comments on Immigration scumbag in Miami

I get a major hassle once a month when I go to Miami. Where do you stay, who do you stay with, where did you meet her, what did you do, what do you do for work, do you have any work id, where do you bank, over and over. Last month they stopped everyone from the flight as we walked off the plane and in the middle of the hall at MIA before the moving walkway. They guy wanted to look through my bag and had me take the battery out of my laptop and he smelled it like a dog. He then looked at my password (with bi-weekly trips from MIA-MDE) and then wrote some stuff on the palm of his hand. Then I make it though the line (where one in 5 people were walked off with immigration to the "other room" and the lines were moving so slow that the baggage was off the plane and waiting on the other side) then they guy looked at my passport and declariation form and told me to follow her and pointed to the walk around the back to the scanners and inspection. Then they take the password and look at me and type a bunch of stuff in the computer. After another hour I am out of there. This happens to me on a regular basis. I am guilty for coming to Colombia!! Maybe I should check my residence country was being Colombia since I live here more than in Florida?? I hate to say it, but coming to the states is a big hassle. When the flight leaves Miami for Colombia I feel like I am coming home. When the flight leaves Colombia for Miami I know I will be have a problem. I hope I can rent my house out completely -- that way I can stay here and maybe only come back to Florida once every 2 months or so.. Larry

larryrn comments on How much to bring my car from Miami

GM is loosing money big time in the states, but their operation in Latin America is doing very, very well, it is now the most profitable division for GM. I wonder if their plants here are union too? Larry

larryrn comments on

Here in Envigado I saw an dry erase board and generic 4 pills of 50 mg each was 3050 pesos. In El Pablodo I saw the same on a sign going for twice as much, so location seems to be the key factor. Its like when my kids where in diapers when I lived in Orlando, we would go to the Walmarts in the "less fortunate" parts of towns as the diapers were less expensive there than at the other Walmarts. No for my grandkids, I buy them diapers on Amazon and free ground shipping (withiin the US) and no tax makes for better prices than any store. Larry

larryrn comments on

I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but I bought a Sprint CDMA/GSM Blackberry World Edition 8830 phone after their website and stores stated that this phone roamed in 154 countries. This phone came unlocked with a Sprint SIM installed for GSM. Well the phone data never worked outside of the states. Voice worked fine everywhere (at $1.99 min here in Colombia). Sprint said the problem was with the Colombian carriers yet when I put my Movistar SIM in the Sprint phone all worked fine. So ultimately I cancelled Sprint and went with TMobile stating that Sprint products did not work as advertised. Sprint insisted on a early termination fee which I tried to argue out of since their products did not work as advertised. After my last bill I filed an official complaint with the FCC on Sprint. Sprint was served with the complaint via registered mail from the FCC and called me immediately. I had a check in my hands within 3 days from Sprint for the entire about of the last bill including the early termination fees! Here in Colombia I find Movistar is available everywhere, even in the small little towns with the horses and donkeys everywhere. I find TIgo has the fastest network and their data rates are the best in Colombia. Comcel has the spottiest coverage and half the time my data doesn't work depending on the specific tower I am on. My current phone roams on all 3 networks. Right now, my laptop is connected to my T Mobile Blackberry 8320 which is on Tigo EDGE (EDGE is 2nd generation and the fastest network here in Colombia). I am surfing at around 140kb via this network. On the GPRS network (the 1st generation data network) I get 20kb. Larry Larry

larryrn comments on Netflix - Stream your Netflix Queue to your TV over the internet

At my house in Florida I have a cable connection with 8 megabits in and 768 kilobits out. My router is a Buffalo WHP-54G (which is an incredible router, I have installed a bunch of these after trying everything else, the HP means high power and with the DDWRT software you can increase the range by 500 percent. Also I suggest a high-gain 7 or 9db antenna) and I replaced the code with DDWRT software and enabled the remove tunneling and VPN. So here with my laptop, I just go and connect to the VPN and then bingo, I am connected to the internet from a US IP address. What would be cool with this device is that if you downloaded the movies to a hard disk and then you watched them via the local hard disk. This way you could stream them in the highest quality but it might take several hours to get them to the hard disk.

larryrn comments on

I bought a Movistar SIM at Movistar in San Diego mall. Its pre-paid but I think I am going to switch to Tigo as I believe their network is superior

larryrn comments on How much to bring my car from Miami

My car in Florida is indeed a 2008 but has 7500 miles on it and like many things here, I get the feeling now that this would be a hassle. I brought a bunch of Vizio 42" inch TVs from Sams in Coral Springs with me a month or so ago, and I was stuck at the airport in Rionegro going back and forth for 5 hours before I was able to actually take the TVs into Medellin. Doing business here is hard if you know Spanish which makes it very,very hard for someone like me who is just learning Spanish.. So it is possible to buy a car here and get insurance from the dealer (along with the 300,000 peso insurance you buy at the gas station) here in Colombia with only my US passport and a tourist Visa? Larry Larry

larryrn comments on Finca Type Place - Near Medellin

Hi -- I was at Hostera Real there about 4km before the town on the left - very nice. When the road has a Y and you take a left towards town -- in a block on the right there is a Finca-Hotel behind a large wall. You walk in on the right they have a nice pool -- the place is beautiful - however I felt boxed in by the walls. But the place is very, very nice. Then a bunch of us rented a large Finca - 7 bedrooms on a couple of acres at Christmas. It was expensive, like 7000 USD for 2 weeks - but it was awesome. I bought my German Shepard from Florida - we had 2 people cooking for us all the time (that was another 50,000 pesos a day) and their familys ate a LOT of our food. The food was expensive (for the 14 of us plus the people of the farm). And that doesnt include the alcohol (grin). Even the local policeman came on a motorcycle every day at lunch time -- and left wobbling down the street after eating and drinking with us. He was always smiling (grin). Larry

larryrn comments on Credit Card and ATM fees

Capital one I found is the lowest -- 1% on transaction fees with the no hassle miles card. That is the card I use here. However, beware, I was at J & C Arepas on El Poblado and they took my card and swipped it -- then told me it didn't take and they needed to reswip the card. I said fine, etc. An hour later I get a VM from Capital One Fraud detecting charges at Home Center, CareForre, etc. all in excess of 500 USD per transaction. Of course, all were declined. Capital One was very cool about it.. Larry

larryrn comments on Update Avianca/JetBlue Flights from USA

I was always flying Avianca on my monthly trips however in April Avianca raised all fares by $140 with a fuel surcharge which doesn't appear on the cheaptickets.com, sidestep.com and various websites. In the search Avanca always shows up with low-ball prices however when you try to book you can't. So now I am back to Copa. Copa is $137.50 one way Miami to Medellin plus taxes. I have tickets for the next couple of visits on Copa. I don't especially like the airport in Panama but saving the money for more trips is worth it. Cartagena is a cheap trip on Spirit for under 300 round trip including taxes but its hard to find a flight from Cartagena to Medellin. Of course, for 70,000 pesos I could get a round trip bus ticket which takes 14 hours! BTW, at MIA I park at the Airport fast park. 7 bucks a day plus a free day plus free days with the Frequent Parker program. They are exceptional. Larry

larryrn comments on bringing insuline to Colombia

I bring medicines back all the time for my mom. The prices here are a fraction on most of the older medicines. I don't bring back controlled medications, I really don't even know if they are available here without a Rx. Oh, in Insulin in the hospital, once opened we don't refrigerate it anymore. Larry

larryrn comments on Santa Marta

I have been to the Costa Azul, Decameron Irotoma and one more, the Zuana beach resort in Santa Marta. Irotoma is very nice -- older place but well maintained, my favorite. Zuana is newer and clean and very nice - but the people I didnt find as friendly, but the women were all incredible looking. Decameron was maybe 3 star, people were friendly, talked, danced, etc. this was the least expensive and not as fancy as places above. Costa Azul was for families with lots of kids. If I were to go back, my preference would be Irotoma. Cartagena is expensive and nice - and more bars as is larger. I stayed at a B&B (forgot name but owned by a English guy), Hilton on Boca Grande, Caribe and -- in the fort at a classy place and expensive - Santa Clara. Larry

larryrn comments on 1 MB to a 4MB line -------- MEDELLIN INTERNET & Vonage & Blackberry ?

In Colombia like in the US lines (cable and DSL) are sold as being a different upload and download speed. For exmple with EPM the basic is 300kb down and 128kb up. Vonage works with a birectional stream of around 90kb assuming their is a call going on. If no call on Vonage then this bandwidth is free. With Vonage its possible to change (configure) your adapter to use less bandwdith (50kb) which might decrease the quality of the call. This also I have found doesn't allow for the fastest fax tramissions. I program all my routers with Quality of Service which basically give VoIP calls (Vonage, UMA) the priority of the network bandwidth. This assures a clean connection if the LAN/WAN is getting slammed. I also have Packet8 and Packet8 is like Vonage in many ways. Vonage has UNLIMITED calls to landlines in Medellin (and the other major cities in Latin America) in their optional $15 dollar package. Europe is free in the basic package. They have other options for China, etc. with each section of the world for 15 dollars. Packet8 uses less bandwidth and but doesnt have the unlimted calls to landlines in Colombia. Its cheap and great for origination lines here in Colombia. Test show it uses only about 40 kb of bandwidth bidirectionally. I have a Florida number that forwards to my Movistar phone here in Colombia. So my kids call a 954 number and it forwards to my Colombia Cell at the rate of 9 cents a minute. Having my Backberry here with Tmobile. With the international data plans all my email follows me everywhere in Colombia, Panama, etc. This is unlimied international data and emails for the $20 dollars a month with Tmobile. Tmobile has another service called Hot Spot at Home for $9.99 which includes a free (after rebate) Linksys (or D Link (yuch) router. Using Hot Spot at Home enables me to call the states and people to call me on my Tmobile Blackberry for unlimited for FREE as long as I am connected to a wifi connection. But if I walk outside or drop off wifi and the call automatically converts to the local telco (Comcel, Tigo, Movistar) then I am charged $2.99 per minute for international voice roaming. THe solution is to turn off the Mobile network which forces a Wifi (UMA) connection then if you loose the connection the call is dropped vs paying 2.99 a minute. Before the end of the year I plan on moving from El Poblado to an casa/finca in Envigado or Sabineta. I want to be close enough to get a 1 megabit connection however I want to be far enough where I can have some land and horses. Then I can ride my horse to the store to get Pilsen with my Blackberry in my saddlebag (grin). I hope this helps. any questions please ask. larry

larryrn comments on Selling a house in USA to move to Colombia...

You can try to be creative - offer $10,000 cash bonus at closing to selling agent for starters. This increased the traffic through my last house in Florida. Renting is an option, I can rent mine in Coral Springs for the monthly P and I. I would be out for taxes and insurance. You could offer to hold a 2nd mortage for your equity. You could try running an ad in the El Tiempo for an incredible house in AZ - maybe consider a trade for a house in Bogota? Just some ideas.. Larry

larryrn comments on

Bank of America will be supporting scanning of US checks via home scanners for electronic deposit later this year. Larry

larryrn comments on Property Thoughts Poblado

Medellin - El Poblado is very expensive - and has increased to almost 3 mil sq meter over the last 2 years.. There are building the largest apartment building in Colombia in Sabineta according to an article I read last week. Sabineta is outside of Envigado and very nice, but until recently very unknown. The point is they will be asking premium prices for this building in Sabineta. Unlike America, real estate in Medellin's nicer neighborhoods is increasing in value. There still are lots of construction projects here and I am amazed at how fast they are selling. Larry

larryrn comments on American to charge for checked bags

Avianca started a fuel surcharge of $140 as of April. Note that this fare doesn't appear on the internet search engines like Sidestep and Cheaptickets so Avianca constantly comes up cheap --but when you try to book you see the note that these seats are not available. So American is coming up the least expensive on my next journey at 588 including taxes MIA-MDE. Avianca (which I would rather fly) is coming up another 150 above the American fare. Larry

larryrn comments on Sirius and XM Radio in Colombia

The problem is that when receiving data over the internet, it's pretty much imperative to create a large buffer to take into consideration when the internet connection flaps (goes up and down quickly). The buffer will use memory in the computer to buffer the content (say for 10 seconds). This will provide for a more consistant flow of audio. Many of the plug-ins for winamp have this feature.. Tomorrow I go back to Florida - I hate to leave but I have projects there to work on like putting a new floor in my house. Since the market sucks in Florida (and the rest of the US) I am planning on renting my house and putting everything in storage. I did get an estimate a year ago about packing the whole house into a 40 foot container and shipping to MDE - the cost was around $7000 USD but now I dont know how my friends at DAN would look at this and want to calculate some large tax for all my household goods. This is so crazy as compared with lets say, Panama.. Larry

larryrn comments on

I think a good business venture would be a neighborhood grocery store. Of course you would need to have the right combination of people working and managing the store, but I think this has a hugh potential. People here will not support the larger Exitos as much as those in the states going to WM since a much lower percentage of the population here doesn't drive. Since what, 5% of the population has a car, people will continue (like it was in the US back in the 60s) to support the neighborhood grocery stores, meat markets, bakeries, etc. Larry