I found the following post on a forum board. It turns out that internet access is available, but pretty slow and expensive. I get pissed off at the lousy 1.4 Mbps 3G on my cell phone when I get 15 Mbps at home. I can't imagine going back to dial-up, but at least you could get some emails there in Cuba.....



Internet and Email access has gone from almost non-existent (several years ago) to fairly easy and accessible for tourists and foreign business people. There's not numerous Internet Cafes like in many parts of the world, but this is slowly changing.

In Havana there's the usual places like the Internet Cafes at the Capitolio (one upstairs and one downstairs) and International Press Centre, as well as the numerous business centres in all of the top tourist/business hotels. (The $12/hour at the National Hotel is expensive, but their "6 days a week/10 hours a day" banking services are right next door, and the computers are in the bar so you can enjoy a cold one while you're taping away! LOL!) There's a little place on Obispo that'll do individual email send/receives for $1. Many of the Post Offices are offering Internet connections now. The telephone company, ETECSA, is building small Internet booths all over the place. There's two new ones in Old Havana, down near the waterfront, and another two in Vedado. (These booths look exactly like the International Telephone Booths.)

If you're bringing your own laptop I'd suggest you buy the Internet Card that's available to foreigners so you can log-on anywhere you have access to a phone line. The cards are $15/5 hours and can be bought from the International Press Center at 23 and O in Vedado. You can use their computers, plug in your own laptop on the premises, or do it privately from the comfort of your casa. (You have the dial-up number, the card has a Log-In and Password, all you need is a telephone jack to plug your telephone modem cable into.) It's easy and works like a charm.

There's sporadic problems with Cuba's woefully inadequate telecommunications infrastructure, but I'd say at least 90% of my emails are received internationally within a few minutes. When I'm working there I'm sending dozens and dozens of emails daily for days on end and I (almost) never have a problem.