Digital Nomads - is Belize an option?

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victw
Posts: 191
Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2016 3:07 pm

Digital Nomads - is Belize an option?

Post by victw »

Hi all,

We are 3/4s retired. My husband will work part-time through February (to be eligible for this year's full-time bonuses.) I thought it would be nice to end his career working from Belize, a country he has always wanted to visit. However, it seems like the reliability of wifi/internet might be challenging. Can you recommend a place and/or resources, an evaluation method for determining if the internet access is good and reliable?

I'm also open to other time zone-friendly places, Mexico? South America?

We've been on the road since September in the US and we have learned that it's not always as reliable as you would expect.

Thanks.
Vicki
gtd98765
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Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2017 3:15 am

Re: Digital Nomads - is Belize an option?

Post by gtd98765 »

I can't help you re Belize, but if your income depends on the internet I would look for some place where you could get two independent sources, such as over cable TV wires and over cell phone. With three of us working from home since the pandemic started, I am very happy I signed up for T-Mobile Home Internet to supplement our internet when Comcast had an outage. $50/mo for the T-Mobile package is cheap insurance to be sure we can keep working when our main internet dies.
Walkure
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Re: Digital Nomads - is Belize an option?

Post by Walkure »

Wikipedia shows Starlink internet is being offered as "Public Beta" in Mexico and Chile. Not sure how quickly they plan to ramp up in other countries across the Americas. I imagine that once the satellites are deployed in a given orbit it's technically trivial to offer service, the hurdle would be whether a country has sufficient demand to establish a presence and go through the regulatory process there as an ISP.
Valuethinker
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Re: Digital Nomads - is Belize an option?

Post by Valuethinker »

I believe Belize is one of those countries where the monopoly telephone provider (a private company) has an iron lock, legally backed by considerable powers of punishment, on communications - both voice and data. As many Belize citizens work abroad, that's quite a valuable position.

That would be worth checking into.
mlipps
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Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2012 9:35 am

Re: Digital Nomads - is Belize an option?

Post by mlipps »

AirBNB has a new feature for this, where hosts can test their WiFi speeds and post a verified value to their listing. I'm not sure if one can search specifically for properties with verified WiFi but I have definitely seen in some listings recently.

Personally, I'm wrapping up my 3rd week working from Mexico City & my internet here has been more reliable than at home, if anything. I did check with the host before I arrived and he verified that that would be the case.
crefwatch
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Re: Digital Nomads - is Belize an option?

Post by crefwatch »

I've only been there very briefly, but I should remind you that the visiting the vast majority of Belize carries a significant exposure to malaria.
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quantAndHold
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Re: Digital Nomads - is Belize an option?

Post by quantAndHold »

mlipps wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 11:06 am AirBNB has a new feature for this, where hosts can test their WiFi speeds and post a verified value to their listing. I'm not sure if one can search specifically for properties with verified WiFi but I have definitely seen in some listings recently.

Personally, I'm wrapping up my 3rd week working from Mexico City & my internet here has been more reliable than at home, if anything. I did check with the host before I arrived and he verified that that would be the case.
A friend has had similar results working from Cancun. His internet is better in Cancun than at home in New Hampshire.
Starfish
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Re: Digital Nomads - is Belize an option?

Post by Starfish »

I recently worked from Costa Rica. I visited Belize but cannot say much about the internet,
In CR the internet had failures and we did not even have power at some point. It felt exactly like California :D
US is pretty low on the scale of internet connection and infrastructure.
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