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Telephone Services Cellular telephone companies have added an additional digit in front of all their phone numbers. This means that all cellular phone numbers have a total of 8 digits, while land line number have 7 digits, not taking into account the country code. There is currently no area code in Honduras, every phone operates with the country code and there are no long distance fees to call any phone within Honduras. Telephone services are not entirely reliable but work only most of the time. There are periods with no service, dropped calls, messages not delivered, and so on. Some numbers cannot call certain other numbers. It is a good idea to have some kind of back-up system such as Skype, especially if you are doing business (or trying to!). Cellular Telephone Service There are two companies offering cell phone service: Claro/ALO and TIGO. It is easy to buy an inexpensive cell phone and use prepaid phone cards. Amazingly, it is less expensive to call Canada and the United States than to call locally. It should be noted that you sometimes have to try several times before getting through. You will often get a message that says that “you cannot make the call from this phone” but that doesn’t mean anything. If it doesn’t work on the first try, try it a couple of more times and it will go through. To call Canada and the United States, dial 001 + area code + phone number. To call other countries, dial 00 + country code + phone number. For country codes, please see the bottom of this page or the International Calls section in the Bay Islands 411 Book. Land lines Land lines are available through Hondutel, a government-owned company and Telefhon. They are quite expensive and there is a long waiting list for installation. It appears that the infrastructure is insufficient for the demand in certain areas and there is currently no work in progress to increase the capacity of the network. The network is not currently expanding in spite of all the new residential developments and new businesses on the island. In some areas, new clients have to wait for existing clients to abandon their service in order to receive theirs. Long-distance calls on land lines are costly and fraud is rampant. Several clients have seen their service cut off suddenly. They were told that their bill was not paid on time but in some cases they had not received any bill. Bill distribution is not easy with no mail service! Internet providers can install a DSL service independently of land lines, using their own cable network. Internet services are available in several forms:
Hondutel offers the land line connections. The service is rather slow and goes out during power failures, but it may be sufficient if used primarily for emails. You can get an Internet connection without having a land line This is achieved with DSL or Satellite-based services. Satellite-Based Satellite-based service requires the purchase of a satellite dish. Be prepared to spend a minimum of $1700+ (HughesNet) or $3,700+ (VSat) for the dish. Monthly rates start at around $100 and can go up substantially if you increase your connection speed. Some satellite services have monthly quotas (VSat) and others do not (HughesNet). The advantage of satellite-based service is a connection that beams directly to the satellite and then to the United States. Provided that you have a generator, power failures will not affect your connection. The downside is that your connection can be affected by bad weather. Some satellite service are a lot more reliable than others. Check providers carefully. DSL/Cable-Based The DSL/cable-based service has recently become available by Navega a company affiliated to Metrored of Central America. The residential service is rather costly but very stable and the service is fast. This type of service uses physical cables and radio antennas. Navega has generators so the service is not lost during power failure if you have some kind of back-up system for your computer. There are 2 major cable TV companies on the island and each has its own territory, although they are planning to expand their current network. International calls are done by dialing: 00 + country code + area code + number The most advantageous method to make long-distance calls is either cell phone or the Internet with VoIP. The cost is about equivalent whether you use one method or the other. You can make long-distance calls using VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol). Not all VoIP services will work with all Internet connections. Verify these details carefully before committing to a specific Internet service. If you are staying for a short time, you can use an Internet Café or you can rent a cell phone. Paradise Computers offers cell phone rentals for short-term stays. Some Internet Cafés offer international calls, whether through the Internet or with another specialized service. Internet-based calls will not cost more than the regular Internet rate but you will need an account in your name for the telephone service, for instance Skype. Verify the rates of the other international call services as they may vary substantially. It is interesting to note that whether calling with your cell phone or with Skype, it is cheaper to call Canada and the United States than make local calls.
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