I just got around to reading my May issue of Wired and there’s a great one-page feature on the cost of logging on at Internet cafes around the world. In some ways it reflects how far your dollar or euro goes in different places, but in others it reflects the price the business has to pay in rent and technology.
A cybercafé in La Paz, Bolivia, for instance, will only set you back an average of 38 U.S. cents per hour. In New York City, where rents are sky high, it will cost you $12.80 per hour. (And I paid about that much a few months ago, I’m sad to say.) Then again, a T-mobile wireless connection will cost you at least $6.99 for an hour in a Starbucks whether it’s in New York or Nowhere, USA, so maybe that’s not so bad considering it keeps you from carrying a laptop.
The best deals happen to be in some of The World’s Cheapest Destinations : Around 50 cents or less for an hour in Lima, Cairo, Bangkok, or New Delhi. Less than a buck in Marrakesh or Jakarta.
Considering how expensive Tokyo is for everything else, paying $3.41 an hour to get wired isn’t too bad. The odd ones are Prague and Budapest, at around $3.30 per hour. You can buy a couple of good beers or a basic meal for that amount there–so ouch!
No link as this piece isn’t available online…
