Mobile Internet Goes Free, National For a Day In Cuba (reuters.com)

More than 5 million cellphone users in Cuba received free internet on Tuesday, in an eight-hour test before the government launches sales of the service. The test marks the first time internet services were available nationwide. Reuters reports: Cuba is one of the Western Hemisphere's least connected countries. There are hundreds of Wi-Fi hotspots in Cuba but virtually no home penetration. Dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez, considered the country's social media pioneer, raved that she had directly sent a tweet from her mobile. In another tweet, she called the test a "citizen's victory." On the streets of Havana, mobile users said they were happy about the day of free internet, even as some complained that connectivity was notably slower than usual.

Hotspots currently charge about $1 an hour although monthly wages in Cuba average just $30. The government has not yet said how much most Cubans would pay for mobile internet, or when exactly sales of the service will begin. But [the state-run telecommunications monopoly ETECSA] is already charging companies and embassies $45 a month for four gigabytes. Analysts have said broader Web access will ultimately weaken government control over what information reaches people in a country where the state has a monopoly on the media.

Comments

Why should Cubans care?

[Vinegar Joe]

According to Michael Moore they've got free and "incredible healthcare"......

Re: Why should Cubans care?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because now they can hear how great communism is from a bunch of dumb American hipsters

Re:Why should Cubans care?

[Anonymous Coward]

According to Michael Moore they've got free and "incredible healthcare"......

You do realize, I hope, that a place can be good in some areas, such as basic health care, but weak in others such as internet availability. Different governments and communities may be better at different things.

Does it say we in America are morally superior because it is easier to get good internet than basic healthcare, particularly if you don't have any money?

Learn. If a country is good at something find out why. Can we use that knowledge to improve our own country? Can we improve on it? Too many in America ignore the rest of the world when trying to solve their own problems just assuming that solutions that worked there can never work here. I think at the highest levels this is encouraged because their are people profiting on the status quo.

No one is suggesting we adopt Cuba's form of government. We can do a hell of a lot better than that, though right now I very much fear if we don't change course we will find out that we can do a hell of a lot worse than that too.

Re:Why should Cubans care?

[alvinrod]

U.S. health care is pretty good all things considered, but a big part of the problem is that the U.S. is just terribly unhealthy. One-third of the country is obese (we consume more sugar per capita than anyone else, and we're almost 25% higher than the next country) and we're near the top of the lists for almost all types of hard drug use.

The other problem is that our healthcare system is some terrible amalgamation that's the worst of a free market and worst of a national system cobbled together. When people get unhealthy, they don't want to get checkups early because they don't know what it will cost them. We don't have the free clinic visits of some countries that can nip a lot of expensive problems in the bud if dealt with early, but you can't possibly get a hospital or clinic to give you a price for any of their services before you buy. In some cases they don't even have that information.

There's a public healthcare system in Medicare and Medicaid but it has its own problems and is too frequently abused by medical providers who make false charges. The private healthcare system isn't terribly great either since you can't go across state lines to buy insurance, so in some cases you're stuck with too few providers for reasonable competition to take place.

Re:Why should Cubans care?

[cascadingstylesheet]

According to Michael Moore they've got free and "incredible healthcare"......

You do realize, I hope, that a place can be good in some areas, such as basic health care, but weak in others such as internet availability.

Except, of course, that isn't the case with Cuba. Nobody travels to Cuba to use the great healthcare. Because it isn't great.

Re:Why should Cubans care?

[ljw1004]

Cuba is down to 33rd in the world in life expectancy.

That's terrible - only one notch above the USA, at 34th in the world!

Re:Why should Cubans care?

[skam240]

Your source begins with some random lone person stating in their post "The reason I am interested is because last semester 3 out of 5 of my professors were Marxist " and goes on from there with just more of that. A few lines down apparently "The entire anthropology department at Rutgers is Marxist. ".

Your right wing reddit grief fest is just as convincing as Fox's War on Christmas. Shit, we don't even know what they mean by "Marxist". I see plenty of conservatives calling people communists for the slightest Left wing views.

Basically, your anecdotal evidence is garbage. If this is "proof' to you of anything it certainly explains why you think radical Leftism is a major thing in the most Right wing first world nation on earth. Most of who I see referred to as "radical leftists" by conservatives in this country are called moderates in every other civilized country on the planet.

Re:Why should Cubans care?

[Thrakkerzog]

(we consume more sugar per capita than anyone else, and we're almost 25% higher than the next country)

This is actually kind of funny because, per capita, Cuban sugar consumption is through the roof. It's actually more than the average American, but Cuba is usually not included in those "top 10" list type things. See https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/b...

Anyway, there's actually a reason for this. Before the fall of the USSR, Cuba had a deal with the Soviets where they would produce sugar in exchange for just about everything that Cuba wanted / needed -- meat, cars, televisions, you name it. They ramped up their sugar production and this worked, for a while, until the USSR collapsed and the trade stopped. They were left with huge amounts of sugar and a people who knew how to cultivate sugar. When your food supply dwindles and you have a lot of sugar, the obvious thing happens and people eat the sugar. I was told, while I was there, that people piled sugar on mango and pineapple to this day because they had grown used to eating such massive amounts of sugar.

They are very active, though, which certainly puts them at an advantage over the average American.

Re:Citizens' victory?

[DNS-and-BIND]

I have to give it to you for the whataboutism in your last sentence. Not many people use whataboutism in its original sense, to deflect from the crimes of Communism, any more. But here's an example spotted in the wild. Pretty cool, actually.