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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.
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.
The first time I was in Cuba, I remarked to our tour guide that they must have some amazing mechanics to keep those cars running. He smiled, and said "we call those people religious people, they get up every morning and pray the car starts".
As you said, the body of an old Chevy (bondo and all), the transmission from a Chinese car, the engine from a Peugot, and who knows what else ... it's all been mashed together to keep the illusion going.
These are cars which have been kept running with ingenuity, necessity, and whatever the hell they have laying around they can work with.
But they sure as heck aren't pristine, original collector cars. They're pretty amazing to see, but half million dollar cars? No bloody way in hell.
They're a testament to Cuban ingenuity, but wouldn't be road legal in many countries.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.