A Cuban Notebook- Connected?

I’m sitting in a hotel lounge in Trinidad, Cuba listening to live music, which occurs almost everywhere, and waiting for a late night snack. I’m struck by the number of people hunched over their phones, ipads and laptops. Sure, in the US we see it frequently…. all hail free hot spots….. but not in Cuba. At 2–5 CUC’s per hour (the equivalent of about $2.30-$5.60 per hour) our inexpensive internet service in the US looks pretty good. Think about it….that works out to about $50 for over 24 hours. Be assured that the only folks in that hotel lobby using the internet are visiting tourists and business people and not Cubans.

Here in Trinidad there are 4 towers. I’m told each of these towers can handle only 30 people at once. Not much access for a town of approximately 70,000, plus the tourists pouring into the country every day. The public square across from the hotel is a wifi spot and is filled nightly with people talking to family in Miami or elsewhere, teens checking Facebook and people reading the news from the States. The. glow of hundreds of people sitting in the square looking at their phones each evening is a bit eerie. If you speak Spanish , listening to the conversations is a collection of fascinating stories from this country experiencing some of its first tastes of freedom of the press as a result of technology.

Of course the price is high and the local wifi cards that Cubans line up to purchase at the Cuba Telecommunications store are precious to those who can afford them. The service is oh so slow and reminiscent of our old dial up days. Luckily, the cost of a 30 minute or one hour access card has gone down in the past year. It’s not uncommon to get thrown off repeatedly and the extra step of. having to log off or lose your precious minutes can be a difficult process. Typically service is only available in the hotel lobby although some hotels boast of having service in their guest rooms. My favorite experience was trying to log on. from my hotel room. The only place in the room it worked was a corner by the door- it certainly limited my online time since it was not a comfortable locale for a long period of time.

Once back in Havana, I walk along the hot streets on a Sunday afternoon in Old Havana. Enjoying street life, taking photographs and watching families enjoy the day together. A historic hotel (government owned) up ahead tells me that they have a hot spot by the number of people standing right outside their open doorways and windows. Each has a tablet or phone and is surfing the internet, using Facetime to talk with friends or family outside of the country .

To Cubans, the opportunity to access the internet is a huge bonus, even at a cost. In July of 2015, 35 public wi-fi spots opened up across the island and a plan to add an additional 80 by the end of 2016 was in place. While Cuba has the one of the lowest connectivity rates in the world it was announced that Broadband Internet service would be connected in a pilot program in. Havana this year.

President Obama’s historic visit to the country this year along with his delegation of US business leaders and legislators promised future assistance with internet access. This by itself is a huge step toward more open access for the Cuban people.

Less than 10 years ago a battered radio in Havana that might pick up a staticky Miami radio station (the Florida coast is just 90 miles away) was a cherished experience. Now access to the internet, even in its infancy is a revolution all its own bringing music, movies and uncensored information.

Business travel to Cuba is up 77% from the US and the island is experiencing record numbers of visitors topping out at over 3 million in the past year. While business and tourist visitors will find the internet availability challenging, Cubans are excited for the new found access.

With so many changes on the horizon for Cuba and its people, access to information that is of varied opinions and thoughts are sure to impact its people in a way that hasn’t been seen for over 50 years. Cubans, like the rest of the world will have to find a way to navigate the web of information and decide for themselves, like we do, what is real and what is fiction.