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Comparing Internet Cafe Rates Worldwide
tcd004 writes "I recently began compiling the hourly rates from Internet cafes around the world into a map. The result reveals wildly different prices, even in countries with similar economic conditions and technological development. This often puts access out of reach for large populations in developing countries who live on less than $1 per day. It seems government policies and telecom deregulation (in countries like Nigeria) are often the strongest forces determining a cafe's hourly rates. If you want to do some of your own rate hunting, take a look at sites like Cybercafes.com."
Crappy cybercafe listing on Cybercafes.com. It still lists Cyber X in Minneapolis. That place has been out of business for many years.
The site doesn't even have a function to add or modify listings. All it has is a banner ad for cheese!
Globe199
At least in Bomba, where I lived till 2002, cyber cafes cost a lot less than the $1.35 claimed... Rs.60/hour. I think Rs.25-30 is more typical.
That said, maybe its different in smaller cities where cable/DSL isn't available, adn competition hasn't driven down ISP charges as much
In Brazil, at least where I live, its hard to find a cybercafe that costs more than $1/hour.
$2.50/hr for China? Perhaps in hotels and other places that cater to businessmen or "rich" foreigners, but even in Beijing, in college areas, you can get online for 10 yuan (about $1.25)/hour at most. At some second-tier cities, the going rate is about 2 yuan (25 cents). You get exactly the same access -- the only difference is that you might be surrounded by smoking kids playing Counterstrike around you...
There's 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
Whre I live you can get Ar $1.5 per hour. And that's in the main city. Since exchange rate is Ar$3=U$S1 it's like 50 US cents per hour. The only way they could reach that cost is on certain cibercafes on remote tourist zones where they might cost that. I've only seen two and those where on places where only hicking and alpinist tourists go.
The overwhelming amount of population has U$S0.66 an hour internet in this country. So I might take a serious dubt about the veracity of those numbers.
Just looking at the numbers, the article seems to capture non-tourist prices. But it's important not to forget that prices are often not based on real cost, but on the customer's willingness to pay.
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
I travel on a regular basis and have to work away from my hotel for very long (but sparse) hours. This leaves me much free time where I wish I could get to a net connection. The solution? Public Libraries. Almost every library in the country even remotely close to a decent sized population will have some sort of internet connection available to patrons, for *FREE* 90% of the time.
The reasons for low prices, however maybe related to the fact that minors go to internet cafes a lot to play Counter Strike, GTA etc. Obviously this is because, in Turkey, many houses don't have computer. As the minors are the main customer group, and they cannot effort expensive prices, I think math is clear.
I should also mention that, my friend's internet cafe is always full during the summer. I don't know much about the school period though.
In Tashkent, Uzbekistan (right below Kazakstan) last December, I went into a cyber cafe that was $0.30/hour. I was impressed. But of course the average salary there is $50/month. Yes, per month. Average.
I've recently been to Chile and Russia and paid less than $1 an hour in each. Nowhere near the $3 listed. Where did these guys gather their information from, tourist hotels? No matter how poor the country, internet access can only get so cheap, you still need a computer which is likely imported. Elecronics always seem to be about the same price, no matter what country you're in.
I paid about 10 UK pounds (about $18 or something) for a week at Easy Internet Cafe in London a few years ago. No time limit other than that (they closed at 2AM).
They are one of the following:
A: Way too old. It hasn't cost that much on average for several years now.
B: Only sampled from some particular hotels etc, that aren't internet cafés as such.
C: Made up.
Matrix, a large internet café in Stockholm charges around $4/hour for non-members. They also have some packages where it becomes cheaper. Dragons Lair charges around $2/hour. Nexuz about 2-4, depending on time etc.
Same thing with other places around Sweden.
Internet cafes in South Korea have been around for a long time and their prices vary. Prices are different because they give you different choices of service. I don't know what it's like at the moment but I lived there till 2002. Usually it would be about $.75 an hour(or 1000 won) and prices wouldn't rise because there were so many internet cafes that competition was tight. I remember in some places you could do an all-nighter for about $5 (2002), or in some other places you paid about $10 and you got 12+ hours and the employee would make you a nice bowl of ramen to enjoy while chatting.
The internet cafes became what's called a 'pc bang' or a 'game bang' ('bang' means room in korea; i.e. game room). The computers in many pc bangs have good specifications in order to stay on top of the competition. I love the concept because it is so easy to arrange a night out with your friends for fragging or leveling up than doing a lan party. If one pc bang was full you just had to cross the street and go to the next one (there where many where I lived in Seoul).
Often times members of different clans of any game (Quake, CS, Rainbow six, Diablo 2, Starcraft, you name it) arrange meetings in some pc bang and rent out a whole place to have a showdown. I attended one CS game session for a clan (not that I was that good) and it was a very friendly atmosphere and it was exciting to meet the guys (and chicks) you only knew the nicknames of on CS. But that's another story.
Unfortunately, the pc bang can be used and is being used for grownups who chat with young highschool girls and 'pick' them up. I think it's terrible that there are people taking advantage of younger girls and luring them with money. It's sad to me that someone's willing to give away sex to some guy they meet for a few minutes online. But that's a moral story.
Anyways, the pc bang is truly a place of social interaction or a place where you can be left alone to do your own thing. I hope this gave some insight.
I live in Mexico City. The site says the rate here in this country is $2.25. You can find this rate in the most exclusive cafes in the city; however there are places that go for $1.50 and even $1 in other areas.
In Xalapa, the capital of Veracruz, the hourly rate is about 50 cents of a dollar. There are even some places that charge by the minute, 12 cents of a peso for a minute (which amounts to about 63 cents of a dollar, for a whole hour).
So, is this chart showing the price for the most expensive rate found in the country, or for an average, or what?
Does anybody know if the rates shown for other countries are as inaccurate as the rate for Mexico?
Go hug some trees.
I'm currently running an ISP in Pakisan. Your perception of the role of government subsidies is inaccurate. Bandwidth is currently provided throughout Pakistan primarily by PTCL (Pakistan Telecom), which untill very recently was a protected monopoly. They are currently selling ISP's bandwidth for about 12 times the cost of their international circuit. We pay $6000/Mb, whereas their cost is somewhere in the region of 400-500 dollars. So if anything, we are getting ripped of royally.
Low internet rates can be attributed to fierce competition in the ISP market. Many ISP's are having to sell bandwidth at a loss, just to try to cover their operating cost. The internet cafe business is also highly competitive. Since a large number of people cant afford computers at home, they generally turn to internet cafes for access. As a result, the country has seen an explosion in the number of net cafes in recent years (Porn has also been a very prominent driving force in the growth of net cafes)
There is currently a campaign underway to try to preassurize the new minister of Science and Technology to reduce bandwidth costs substantially. If this happens, there will be a drastic drop in internet cafe access charges.
Low internet rates can be attributed to fierce competition in the ISP market. Many ISP's are having to sell bandwidth at a loss, just to try to cover their operating cost. The internet cafe business is also highly competitive. Since a large number of people cant afford computers at home, they generally turn to internet cafes for access. As a result, the country has seen an explosion in the number of net cafes in recent years (Porn has also been a very prominent driving force in the growth of net cafes)
There is currently a campaign underway to try to preassurize the new minister of Science and Technology to reduce bandwidth costs substantially. If this happens, there will be a drastic drop in internet cafe access charges.
Not necessarily. I know where a lot of Internet cafés are located in Oslo, but I have no idea what they charge. If someone on one of the travel boards I'm on asked me for prices of Internet cafés in Oslo, I'd investigate for them. Other than that, I have no reason to know, and wouldn't be able to help someone who asked me on the street.
People say I'm crazy, I got diamonds on the soles of my shoes...
about $0.80/hr
Again, thanks for feedback and comments.
We collected prices by calling, visiting cafes, emailing, and via cafes' published rates on the internet.
There is no guarantee that all of our prices are perfect repesentations. Even sampling 20 or 30 cafes in a country that houses 20,000 is too limited of a sample to be called definitive.
In some cases, we may reevaluate our data if we can get solid evidence that our prices are wrong. Again, this is a piece meant to illustrate the divides between many countries and regions. Even since this map was originally published, prices have begun to drop in Nigeria thanks to better regulation.
Perhaps these numbers should be revised and revisited on a yearly basis.
Also, please do not consider this project to be a "Study". It is meant to illustrate a point, if loosely. but not to be a definitive-end-all-be-all study.
Thanks for everyone's feedback!
tcd004
The prices in Chile are nowhere near US$300 an hour.
In Santiago (the capital), internet access is around 400-600 pesos per hour. US$1 = CLP$650, so we are talking 60 - 90 US cents. I've also seen these rates on the beach side towns and in the south (on the Island of Chiloe, currently isolated from the mainland due to band weather, but still with reasonably priced internet).
In places like San Pedro de Atacama in the North and Puerto Natales in the South, both remote places heavily infested with gringo touriests, you might push $1000 an hour, so US$1.50 max.
Norman Cook's Ode to Sl
For nearly every country we collected prices from at least 10 cafes. We eliminated the most expensive and least expensvie cafes, based on the assumption that these prices reflected tourist-type locations. (note that many "back-alley" or "grey market" cafes probably didn't make our study. These locations often have lower prices) At this point, we found it would be innacurate to take an average of the remaining prices. (the averages were too often different from the most common price, since even the prices left varied widely. So, we used the most common value or mode.
The $1 figure is from the United Nations Millenium Development Goals Indicators database.
In Cozumel, I was charged ~$6 hour on the beachfront street where all the fat American cruise ship passengers got drunk, and $1.50 an hour 6 blocks away where the wealthier locals shopped. The gradient was truly awe inspiring. One could escape 99% of the tourists by walking about 500 meters.
Not, mind you, that anything in Cozumel could be considered untouristy.
... grumble, grumble, grumble, mutter, mutter, Millenium... Hand... Shrimp, I tol' 'em, I tol' 'em.
You dont belive me?? Ok here is a list a a handfull of cafes you can get $0 access at.
Some of these are even next to or in areas of ForPay wif cafes.
Enjoy the Connectivity while you juice up on the java.
Pioneer Courthouse Square Area(covers a few cafes)-SW 6th and Morrison
Powell's Bookstore World Cup Cafe-NW 10th and Burnside
Stumptown Coffee Roasters-SW 3rd and Ash
Anna Bannanas-NW 21st and Northup
World Cup Coffee and Tea- NW 18th and Glisan
Ecotrust- NW 10th and Johnson
Coffee Plant-SW Broadway and Washington
Backspace-NW 5th and Couch
South Park Blocks-SW Park and Market
The Basement Public House-SE 12th and Taylor
Red Wing Coffee and Baking-SE 6th and Market
Rose and Raindrop-SE Grand and Stark
Portland Independent Media Center
-SE 34th and Belmont
Subway Sandwich- SE 35th and Hawthorne
Hawthorne Hosteling International-SE 31st and Hawthorne
Goldrush Coffee Bar-NE M L King Blvd and Russell
Northstar Coffeehouse-N Interstate and Lombard
Costello's Travel Caffe- NE 22nd and Broadway
Red and Black Cafe-SE 21st and Division
Ugly Mug Coffeehouse-SE 13th and Nehalem
The Crow Bar-N Mississippi and Failing
Cafe La Dolce Vita-NE 12th and Alberta
Urban Grind Coffeehouse-NE 22nd and Oregon
Cedar Hills Crossing Shopping Center-3205 SW Cedar Hills Blvd. in Beaverton
-tomhiggins
Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap! Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap! Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap!
The cybercafes.com site was created in about 1996, and abandoned in 2000, I think. I found cybercafes.com in my bookmarks of client sites from 1997, but the domain obviously changed hands since then. A quick glance through their database shows a couple of cafes I know haven't been around since 2000 or 2001. Their entries for Belgium and France still show francs for currency, so it isn't just Ireland.
Its a cobweb site. Nothing to see here, move along, move along. There will be a repost of this article over the weekend by CmdrTaco.
the AC
Hemos is like...sci-fi fans;he thinks technology is cool, but he hasn't bothered to understand the science it's based on
Here in Venezuela the rate is 0.60$ (without subsidies)
Gasoline costs 0.03$ per liter (gasoline is cheaper than coke and water).
A BigMac costs 2$ (too expensive for the crap you get).
A Whoper costs 3$ (this is a good meal).
A Grand Cherokee Limited 2004 costs NaN$ (30,000$ basic model, ouch!)
BTW, the minimum wage is 90$ a month, a graduated computer engineer (at least me!) makes 6,000$ a year.
There are some internet cafes in South Korea that charge 500W per hour. That comes out to $0.57 Canadian and $0.43 American, as of todays xe.com rates. Many other cafes charge up to 1000W per hour, but that's still pretty cheap compared to a few years ago back in parts of Victoria, BC, where you'd pay 9$ an hour and be glad for it. Some Koreans have brought the business model over to Canada and are giving the internet cafes a run for their money with the cheap service.
Downside: These are mostly for gaming, so a lot of the services that come in other internet cafes (like scanning) aren't always available. Don't know the rates or quality on printing, but I imagine they're probably a little cheaper than back home, IF the service is available.
Also, the machines are all in Korean, which isn't too much of a problem because Windows 98 is pretty brainless to use, until you want to try to hunt down programs in the menu hierarchy (the Run menu command recognizes things like Notepad fine, though). Also, trying to get help from the counter brings up the language barrier.
One of the nice things about the low rates is that some places let you bring a headset to the cafe, hook it up, and do long-distance phone calls over the internet. Stupid cheap.
Plus, 500W an hour means about 4000W a night, and if you can find a nice hidden place to nap you've got some of the cheapest overnight accomodations anywhere. (Haven't tried this out yet, though...)
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Bleah! Heh heh heh... BLEAH BLEAH!!! Ha ha ha ha...