Around 7:30 last night while watching a movie on Netflix, our Wi-fi abruptly went out—yet again. We’ve been experiencing heavy thunderstorms for the past couple of days, but last night it wasn’t even raining! I had read a Facebook post earlier about some folks nearby losing their TVs and one person losing their modem completely because of the storm. One thing to be aware of here in Costa Rica is that, during the rainy season, you need to protect your electronics during thunderstorms because lightning strikes can be severe and knock out your sensitive electronics.
Most people I know use surge protectors, but in my case I had a high quality surge protector a few months ago but my television was still rendered completely useless. Luckily I had a one-year warranty and was able to exchange it for a brand new one at the store, but I knew that the problem had been caused by the storms. Now, anytime I hear thunder or see lightning, I unplug my television.
Here in Costa Rica, you get use to the internet going down, but normally it’s only down for a few minutes before it’s back up. However, the previous time it went down it lasted a couple of days, which worried me because—as you know—I write a blog. The last time it went down, I didn’t know whether I’d be able to upload my blog post in time. Although it ended up being a bit late by several hours, I managed anyway.
My internet provider is Kolbi Ice, which in my opinion is a good company and one of the oldest and most reliable in Costa Rica. Whenever I have a problem, I ring up their technical service representative on WhatsApp and tell them about the problem; in most cases, I get an English-speaking representative who solves the problem internally within a few hours. I’ve also heard that in the near future, Fiber Optic will be available in some areas.
Other Internet providers in Costa Rica include Tigo Costa Rica, Claro Costa Rica, Movistar Costa Rica, Tica Cable, and Cablevision Costa Rica.
