Hola,
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If you have read my blogs, you already know I talked to a lot of folks in Costa Rica about the best way to have internet installed in my house.
I selected ICE which stands for “Costa Rican electricity institution”. It was not hard to get things started. I asked my landlord where the office was. He said “Hop in your car and we will go to BriBri.” The town is about 20 kilometers from my house.
As we drove into the town of BriBri, we took the first street to the right, went down about 300 meters, turned right into their parking area. It wasn’t a “lot”, just five parking spaces out front.
There was a guard at the door at ICE. This is normal for a lot of the big businesses in Costa Rica. Inside, we took a number and a seat.
Here is where you better have your ducks in a row. I needed my passport, document showing I have filed for citizenship and the electric bill for the house. (The electric bill identifies the house.) This was why I having my landlord travel with me was helpful. He had copies of the electric bills for my home. In Costa Rica, especially outside of the capital, they are not street addresses like in the states.
With all the required paper work given to ICE as requested, I signed up for my new service and received a document to identify my service request. This document is very important. One other important fact here, I did not pay anything up front. You pay your bill after a month of service.
At this point, my landlord and I departed. I thought we would head for home, but he had me stop at a copy center to get three more copies made. Then, he asked to have each laminated. That’s for a good reason: you do not want them to get wet!
To my surprise when we arrived at my house, my landlord did the following:
One, he attached the first copy to the electric meter by the road.
Second, he attached a copy to a bush about half way down the driveway.
In the above picture, you can see a gate, this is where you make a right turn to continue to my house.
Third, after the right turn you will come to another turn, this one to the left. Here again, my landlord attached a copy of the order.
Fourth and last, it was my job to place a sign in my window. All this needed to happen to make sure the service installers would find the correct house and install my connection to the internet.
I was told it would take seven to ten business days for the installers to arrive. They made it in seven.
The installation was just like in the states. They ran a wire from the road to my house, asked where I wanted the modem, ran the wire in the house, attaching it to the wall, and set up the modem. Afterwards, I had access to the internet! Yeah!
“Pura vida”
Until the next post.
