Best option from Cuba to UK - Europe?

[andy]

When looking at this for people on another forum quite a while ago, I read that there were proposals for a submarine cable from Venezuela which would vastly improve Cuba's connection to the rest of the world.

A brief search shows that this was commissioned into use earlier this year, with a further connection to Jamaica, so internet speeds were improved from January.

Whether or how this affects mobile data use and prospects of VoIP I haven't yet looked

Apparently there is also a cable from Florida to Yucatan which passes only 50 km or so from Havana, but presumably the chances of something being arranged there are based on political rather than technical reasons

[DRNewcomb]

Originally Posted by andy

Apparently there is also a cable from Florida to Yucatan which passes only 50 km or so from Havana, but presumably the chances of something being arranged there are based on political rather than technical reasons

It is my understanding that for many years Cuba's connection to the rest of the world was via an old tropospheric scatter system to Florida, operated by AT&T. The US embargo had an exception for existing telecommunications communications systems. This continued until Hurricane Andrew destroyed the Florida antennas in 1992. There was no financial justification to rebuild the system. Since then Cuba's main links to the rest of the world have been via satellite. However, the cables you mention are a possibility.

If the cable from Fla to Yucatan is not new, there would be little reason to try to run a branch to Cuba. Much easier and better to run a new cable. However, even if the US was willing, the Cubans would probably rather deal with someone else.

I also recall reading somewhere that one of the major reasons that the US invaded S.E. Cuba in the Spanish-American War is that was where the telegraph cables to Spain came ashore.

[GadgetKen]

ETECSA (Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A) used to have offices in Jose Marti airport in Havana(terminal 2 or 3). You could get a local prepaid sim card with the following rates: http://www.etecsa.cu/index.php?page=...cubacel_tarifa

Rates are in convertible pesos (CUC) that are pegged to the US dollar. There will likely be a 10% fee to convert USD to CUC. Credit cards with US banks probably will not work in Cuba due to embargo restrictions.

Local rates are .35 CUC peak (7 AM-11 PM) or .10 CUC off-peak (11 PM-7 AM). Rates to North America are excessive at 1.60 CUC. In theory a callback card could be used in conjunction with the local number but the combined rates would be the same or higher for many callback cards.

Other options I can think of would be (and all are expensive):
1. International callback sim card.
2. VOIP but internet is costly and latency pretty bad due to satellite back-haul mentioned in other posts.
3. Low tech local calling card but international calls to US have rates that aren't much better than a local sim card.
4. A prepaid sim card from a country other than the US that has Cuba roaming capabilities (e.g. Digicel), but rates will also be pricey.
5. Use a satphone that doesn't block calls from Cuba due to US embargo restrictions. Would likely be cheaper than other alternatives on a per minute basis.