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Cuba Uses Big Data To Help Tourism, But Their Networks Lack Capacity
dkatana writes: The Cuban government is very active in reshaping the country's industry, not only focusing on leisure and cultural tourism. The biggest challenge, however, is the quality of Internet connections. Cuba's global ranking for Internet speed is 196 out of 200, averaging 1.6 Mbps, just ahead of Guinea, Gambia, Equatorial Guinea, and Niger.
Another thing that Cuba lacks: free movement of currency, as reader lpress points out: Cuba has two paper currencies — the Peso and the Convertible Peso or CUC. CUCs are worth about $1 and Pesos, which are used for government salaries, are worth about $.04. But, what about Bitcoin? The first Cuban Bitcoin transaction is history. Will Bitcoin be used by Cubans and Americans to sell goods and services without the knowledge of their governments? Cuban offshore developers might be the first to use Bitcoin.
While the US is just now starting to establish ties with this country again, I think that we have a pretty good chance at setting up several shops and improving the connectivity in this country. This could be a giant boom to the industry which we could so greatly use.
Place something witty here
provide an island nation it's temporary access.
Will the cryptoloons and techno-anarchists ever give up trying to push their awful solution everywhere and anywhere in hopes of a price bump?
7 transactions per second, costs more the traditions methods, no consumer protections, easy to get ripped off, impossible to use securely.
Just let it die, already, the experiment failed.
It's funny they cite Ookla’s Net Index, given that the site has been dead since last week (take down August 4th, but not updated for a while before that), and it relies on statistics gathered by their "Internet Speed Test" site, which is not going to be accurate for Cuba, since it relies on "nearby" central nodes for the testing.
They have a peering connection via optical fiber to Venezuela (restricted), and a relatively slow link to Sprint in the U.S., which has to be the source of the Ookla numbers for them.
I would accept dramatically slower internet in exchange for the best healthcare system.
Just checked when we passed 1.6 Mbps average here in Norway - that was around 2005-2006. So one of the poorest connected countries in the world is just as good off as we were ten years ago. So you probably don't want to use YouTube and Netflix much, but seriously.... there's no problem downloading a Linux ISO or whatever else you want over a >1 Mbps line if you got a few hours.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
"sell goods and services without the knowledge of their governments".
Every transaction is *very* publicly recorded. Sure, its associated with an 'anonymous' id, but that chain can be picked apart, particularly as more legit business start to use bitcoin. Once you have can identify one of the parties in a transaction, it is a simple matter of applying pressure to determine the other party. Your anonymity is only as good as the trust you place in people you transact with.
Cuba's global ranking for Internet speed is 196 out of 200, averaging 1.6 Mbps
Sounds like my Comcastic connection in the US half the time.
Free movement of currency means speculators can attack your currency. A country can deal with it if it has big change reserves, just like Russia a few months ago. I do not have hard data on Cuba, but I do not see how they could hold hundreds of US$ billions in their central bank, given that they have been embargoed for decades.
Therefore I am not sure free movement of currency is what Cuba needs right now.
Averaging 1.6 Mbps is great since so much of the city is still stuck with 1.5 Mbps DSL. Also, much of the city doesn't have cable Internet access available since Comcast doesn't provide service to their entire monopoly area. I'm, like most of my friends, still on dialup. CenturyLink says they want to provide faster DSL, but several property owners in the area are putting up a fight since they don't want their yards dug up.
Will Bitcoin be used by Cubans and Americans to sell goods and services without the knowledge of their governments? Cuban offshore developers might be the first to use Bitcoin.
Three guesses and the second two don't count.
"Which foreign currency is in common use throughout the Caribbean and frequently adopted or accepted as legal tender? "
Currency substitution: Anchor currencies: US Dollar
Now a harder one:
"If prosecuted for an economic crime with $100 million in assets at stake, would you prefer to be tried and sentenced in Cuba or the United States?"
Cuba sentences Canadian CEO to fifteen years on financial charges
It will never take off with the mainstream. Stop dreaming that it will.
Send the anglos back to Europe.
Where do you think your mom came from?
Alright, so the only people left with be the original natives, right? Everybody else, back to Europe and Africa!
Cuba: beware the "Colour Revolution".
AKA covert United States foreign regime change actions via endorsed internal uprisings and popular movements.
In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
The younger Cubans, and Cuban immigrants like myself from the first immigration in the 1960's, remember or were taught a lot about the Cuban economy before Castro. It was about as corrupt as Bitcoin itself, with massive drug dealing, gambling, and money laundering to avoid taxation built into the system. Castro and his leaders had to clean up after Batista, and the loss of bribe money and US sponsorship was *devastating*.
I'm very curious if the current Cuban government learned enough under Russian leadership. For the *average poor Cuban, flushing the bad money and the foreign criminal businesses out of the economy was a very large benefit. I'm extremely curious what the current generation will handle foreign money and, let's face it, Bitcoin money laundering.
Every other article: complaints about how websites are bloated and online video is mostly bullshit.
This article: OMG 1.5Mbps isn't enough to watch videos online!1!1!! lollololol commies!
"They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
The US makes nothing that Cuba needs or can not get elsewhere (note: Humanitarian items have always been exempt from the embargo). Hell, the US makes nothing that we in the US need or can't get elsewhere. Many items come from China, just like they do here. Trade with the US has always been a red herring used by Castro as an excuse to the Cuban population. Even with diplomatic ties restored, there are still Cuban restrictions on ALL private foreign investment. Things will improve due to tourism which will feed the underground economy (about 35% of Cuba's real economy). But nothing changes until the political structure is flushed down the toilet.
Uh, I believe they use it already.
There was a movie about one of them, particularly successful, entered the canon of classics. The title was "Scarface".
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