Chasing a Flicker of Internet on Cuba’s Rooftops
“If having electricity means you’re rich because you have solar panels, and having gas means you can afford dollar-priced canisters, then having internet means having Starlink.”
HAVANA TIMES — You don’t need to look at your phone to know whether you have internet or not. Just watch your neighbors. Phone in hand, wearing a worried expression, they spend the day on rooftops or out in the street, moving from one spot to another, hoping to catch a single bar of signal. Some look as though they’re flying an imaginary kite, weaving between antennas and water tanks.
The loss of connectivity varies but is persistent and, above all, worsening. So much so that these days the Island seems to have gone back fifteen years. From one week to the next, more neighborhoods lose service. In areas where there had been no connection problems, the signal suddenly deteriorates. “There are places where there’s no connection anymore, where it’s impossible to get online,” laments a resident of Guanabacoa, Havana.
“If being rich when it comes to electricity means having solar panels, and with gas it means being able to buy dollar-priced canisters, then with internet it means having Starlink,” the man sums up. On social media, Starlink kits are advertised for around US $1,300. Another option is to connect through someone who already has the service from Elon Musk’s company. They provide access to others who have a NanoStation antenna—costing around $200—for a monthly fee of between $50 and $80, depending on the connection speed.
But it’s not that simple, says Clara, a resident of Central Havana. “The Starlink antenna has to be within a certain distance—not too far away—and people don’t advertise that they have it because it’s illegal… Besides, very few people can afford to pay for it.” She adds, “To have what we used to consider basic necessities a few years ago—electricity, gas, internet—you now have to spend enormous amounts of money.”
Some of the informal operators who have been forced to buy satellite internet equipment are those who run the illegal lottery known as la bolita. They need to know the winning numbers in Florida, US, promptly and accurately, since those are used to determine the lottery results.
Another new business has emerged out of the shortages. Raidel explains: “Since the electric company takes at least three days to respond when transformers break down or malfunction, neighbors pool their money and the technicians show up sooner.” The technicians, he says, even prefer to come at night: “They get paid more during those hours.”
Just yesterday, in his neighborhood, he says, the transformer began leaking oil and emitting smoke. “The technicians came and all they said was that there was too much electricity being used, and then they left. They’re clearly waiting for it to break down completely so they can get paid to fix it and solve the problem.”
First published in Spanish by 14ymedio and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.