Chile Forum

thanks:
Questions that pop up in my mind

Any problems to rent , what kind of papers or references they required ?

Are prices for apartments cheaper or more expensive than Santiago.?

Is the construction newer, with more amenities than Santiago.

How is the Transportation (buses, taxis and such?

Any ideas for a 1 bedroom in a nice (not expensive0)in the 70 square meters (753 square feet)?

I see alot of apartments but they are season rentals.

thank you for any info

Zulu,

I have not really had any problems. I went to the ELMERCURIO Valparaiso website - propiedadaes section and looked there. Despite the fact that I only wanted to rent til March and everybody (agents) wanted me to rent for a year, I managed to rent for 8 months plus month to month. Paid month in advance plus 1 month bond and 50% of 1 month in agaents fee. The notary wants photocopy of my passport and I gave copy of a (web) bank statement to show that I could afford the rent. Thats it so far. Even found an apartment which has nice furniture..... surprised.

Taxis, buses, terrific and even Metro (trains) to Valpo all regular cheap and easy. People friendly, no shortage of people who will help out when they realise that my Spanish is terrible. Next job, contact the university next week for Spanish lesson courses. I dont want to speak English here but I must admit it speeds up the process for me when somebody helps out by practicing their English.

direct; I was unable to get a contract under my name.. my girlfriend (chilean) had to get it in her name.. she had to provide a certificado of some sort.. she is a uni student.. no probs for her.. i dont think they would have given it to me..

You never tell them in advance you have a Mac.

And like I said before, you must be your own techie.

Wifi is cross platform and config should be a no brainer. Should only be wifi standard, SSID, password and type of encryption if any.

I fully agree with this one. Just tell them to set it up. I have to do the same thing with my Linux computers, even though the guys installing never get to touch my computers.

If I told the sales rep that I had a Linux computer they would simply tell me they could not provide services. My assumption, and it has been proven true with 100% of the tech support I have encountered working for the ISPś in Chile so far, is that they themselves can do little more than check their email.

Typically what I do with these problems is get the make and model of whatever modem they are using and then Google it to get the Manuel online in English. Typically that includes how to configure a system for Mac or Linux.

Only if they are insisting on installing some unneeded and funky software written for windows should you have any problems. Even then, the maker of the modem will likely have Mac support software on their site. I really though have never encountered a router used by any of the ISPś in Chile that a Mac would not connect to.

Last I seen, Telefonica del sur DSL connection are simply a low end stock ADSL dlink modem which fully supports Mac. At least in southern Chile. I know they have some funky Chinese version of 3G they are using in some cities to provide wireless internet to your home. We have one of their phones on this system, and it works great. Just dont move too much because the cell density is really high. They should be fine when the router is sitting in one place.

Also there are still a couple of companies in Chile that believe using a MAC address (hardware address) is some sort of security.

I had to go back and see what the original post in this thread was about to see how far off topic we have drifted.

I think this is a new record for the forum, that we have gone 5 pages in to a topic and somehow managed to stay with the original posting (for the most part).

Greetings - New user here, so maybe I should be on the intro threads, but the internet discussion seems most relevant to my questions. Little did I notice that there were 4 more pages to this thread until just now, so pardon if my question has already been answered, but here’s what I’m trying to do. My family and I are going to come down to Chile from the US for 3-6 months this fall. The tricky part is that we need to have a fairly reliable DSL connection on a regular basis, since I’m going to home school the kids through an online school. Since as a gringo on a tourist visa I can’t get an account with Telefonica or other ISPs, I gather from your comments that having a resident do it for me is the way to go. I suppose I could only look for rentals that already have a banda ancha hookup, but I suspect that probably puts me into a more high-end price bracket than I’d like. Would it be reasonable to try negociating with a private individual that may have a rental available to make a deal that they would set up service (for a couple months) in their name and just include the cost as part of the rent? Also, how connected are the smaller cities (e.g. Linares, Curico, Valdivia)? Possible to get banda ancha in these places?

welcome to the forum

More or less, if the town has phone lines, then it has internet. Even many of the super rural schools without power or electricity have a satilite that provides limited internet and phone support to the area. I am talking places that are like 6 hours in to the mountains by horse or 4x4 in Patagonia. So, just about everywhere else will have it also.

Couple options are notebooks and the wifi hotspots. Likly not great places to work.

Also, many landlords could likely be persuaded if you cover the installation cost. Much depends on where you are going to be at. I think a lot of landlords would arrange something if they believed it was a deal breaker on renting the rest of the house / apt.

Thanks for the info. I guess the issue for me will not be internet availability as much as house rental availability (and accommodating landlords). Do you think it’s realistic to hope that I could arrive in a small, non-tourist oriented town (e.g. Linares) and score a house in a middle class hood for a couple months? I imagine I wouldn’t be the most desirable renter, given my short-term needs. I’m not all that interested in vacation rentals in the more touristy areas, but maybe that’s more feasible given my situation. Any suggestions for low-key summer vacation areas that might cater to the average Chileno? I’m just trying to steer clear of high-end gringo spots.

thanks Charles.. u have once again answered my question before i have had to ask.. i had the tecnico from TELSUR and he told me that they we're not compatible with Macs.. he called his supervisor that told him the same and that a memo had been issued from Valdivia that TELSUR was not compatible with macs.. so he packed his things and left.. went in and saw Telefonica CTC and they tell me that they have no problems connecting macs to the net.. so will try them now... this is quite frustrating.. mainly because i havent got much tech experience on a mac..

thanks for the tips!

Those guys don't want to support anything but the most mainstream configurations (i.e. Windows XP). If you add up a weak technical culture and little training at many ISPs, then they come up with such policies that actually have no technical justification. They don't want to bother with supporting Macs and will blame made-up incompatibility.

Yea, most of the ISP's in Chile I have dealt with have stock modems with both USB and and ethernet.

Most of the modems come with instruction books in both Spanish or English, and often just in English. The techies can't handle macs, because they can not read the Manuel. Most of the modem makers now fairly well idiot proof the installation process, so tell them to plug it in as they would normally, and read the Manuel yourself. Make sure they leave you any password or whatever specific to your account.

If you get stuck, bring it to this forum and I think we have sufficient IT people now hanging around to walk you through how to get your mac configured for whatever modem they might give you.

Thanks for the info Charles, i 'm planning to bring my Cable modem Motororola Surfboard 5100, w/ethernet/usb output and a Speedstream5260 Ethernet only adsl modem.
Let see what kind of connection can i get ...