"El Point" Internet Cafe, or others?

[Anthony]

We will be arriving in Tulum next week for our first trip to Mexico. We're staying at Azulik, and need to find an internet cafe where we can email family back home to let them know we arrived safely and check in on our daughter. Ideally I'd like someplace along the way, and not have to make a special trip out of the way.

Since we will probably arrive after dark, I'm trying to figure out where the cafe's are before we leave so I'll have some idea where I'm going.

I ran across a place called "El Point" in Tulum that is supposed to be next to the San Francisco market at the 307/Coba road intersection. Has anyone here used their services? Are they easy to find?

We don't speak any spanish, and have never used an internet cafe before, so I'm wondering how easy it will be email family back home. I have a hotmail account, and a couple of others in case there's a problem with that.

Any assistance you can provide would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Anthony

[dcap]

During our visit in June, Copal, next door to Azulik on the north side, had wireless internet avalable. Zahra the other side of Azulik also had wireless in their resturant as well. Our first day there it was down or they didnt have it up and running but the following day it was good to go. Not sure about El Point, but I do remember seeing Internet cafe signs in town. If it is next to San Fran market that will be the first place you come to in town, it will be on your right as you come to the light. That is where you will make a left to get to the beach resorts. Also known as the Boca paila road. Dave

[austxdan]

I too heard about wireless internet at Azulik. They offer it to residents of Copal as well, which I found to be extremely funny since Copal doesn't have electricity in the cabanas.

There are plenty of internet cafes in town. We used one down around the bakery, or just south of the bakery and before the bus station. The keyboard is a little funky, but language will not be a problem for you.

Have fun,
Dan

[dcap]

We took our notebook w/ 2 batt. had plenty of power for about 5 hrs. Mostly for e-mailing the teens we left at home to make sure they had'nt burnt it down, anyway, after finding plenty of internet cafes around we will not be doing that again. Taking the notebook that is. Dave

[Anthony]

> I too heard about wireless internet at Azulik.

According to the Azulik folks, wireless is available in the Copal reception, Copal restaurant, Maya reception, and Zahra reception. Can anyone confirm whether this coverage extends to Azulik?

Also, I just bought a wireless adapter for my laptop, and have never used wireless before. I have everything up and running fine at home, but are there any special tricks to use the wireless at Azulik?

> We took our notebook w/ 2 batt. had plenty of power for about 5 hrs.

Unfortunately, I only have 1 battery, and not enough time to order a second one. But that should give me 30 minutes or so each day to check in with our daughter back home. If it dies, we could always track down an internet cafe.

Beyond the "gee whiz" factor, is it even worth the trouble to pack the laptop, or should I rely on the internet cafes?

Anthony

[dcap]

As I mentioned in my post below, personally I dont think it's worth taking. Not much on security at some of the cabanas anyway. Copal access is only around the resturant, reception area. And yes to the Maya Spa reception area which is about 150 175 ft. from the resturant. Azulik is to far to get a good signal from there. Zahra, I wouldnt think it would be from there either. With plenty of Internet cafes in town, we will not take our notebook again.

As far as the wireless card. Since you have this set up to run already, when you get there check at reception, they will give you a password. Click Start, control panel, network connections, find the local connection they have there, right click and follow prompt for a place to enter that password, click on connect and you will be your way. This only applies to PC if your using MAC ???.

[austxdan]

> Beyond the "gee whiz" factor, is it even worth the trouble to pack the laptop, or should I rely on the internet cafes?
Anthony

Anthony,

This is my own personal opinion. I work in Information Systems, therefore I spend all day on a computer. I moonlight, so sometimes spend too many evenings and weekends on a computer. When I take my annual trip down to a place that I love for it's serenity, peacefulness, and "away from it all aura" I prefer to leave my computer, cellphone, etc at home.

That's just me. And that said, the only reason I used an internet cafe in town last trip was because I lost my camera at a function from another board and was posting to see if anyone found it. Someone did, and I recovered my camera. Otherwise I wouldn't have touched a computer on my trip.

Cold beer and running water are all the amenities I need :)!


Dan

[firecop680]

Hey Anthony, Give us a good report for the Azulik... We are going in March and hope to hear good things. We are staying in the Romance villa... Have a great trip!

[Anthony]

> Not much on security at some of the cabanas anyway.

Azulik supposedly has safes in every villa now large enough to hold two laptops.

> With plenty of Internet cafes in town, we will not take our notebook again.

I'm mostly considering it for the convenience. We could walk over to the Copal restaurant and email home while waiting for dinner, instead of having to make a special trip into town to find an internet cafe.

> I spend all day on a computer....sometimes spend too
> many evenings and weekends on a computer.

Yep, same here, which is one of the main reasons NOT to take the laptop with me.

My laptop is an old one too (P200 with a 4 gig hard drive), and the hard drive isn't all that reliable. I'm not sure it would hold up to the wear and tear of a trip anyway.

I normally wouldn't even consider taking it, but with the new airline restrictions, I have lots of extra space in my carry-on bag. The laptop would fit in there nicely. :)

> Give us a good report for the Azulik... We are going in March
> We are staying in the Romance villa.

Will do... I had originally booked the Romance villa, but switched to Villa #3 to be out closer to the water. It will be interesting to see if that was a wise decision or not. :)

Thanks,

Anthony

[Jessie James]

There are always plenty of places to get online. It's one of the most popular small businesses down there. You can barely walk a block without seeing an internet cafe.

[Anthony]

> You can barely walk a block without seeing an internet cafe.

Thanks for the info. After talking it over with my wife last night, we have decided to leave the laptop at home. One less thing to carry and worry about. We'll probably only send one email each day, so it shouldn't be that much trouble to stop in at a cafe.

Now I just hope someone there speaks english so I can figure out how the whole thing works. :)

Anthony

[austxdan]

Anthony,

I think you've made the right decision ;)

You won't have any problem at the internet cafes. As I recall you just sit down and use the computer, then you walk to the table and pay at the end. It is all very easy (and cheap), and the first time you use it will remove all concern.

Enjoy your trip,
Dan

[dcap]

Good choice you wont regret it. We used a Internet cafe in PDC because we could not get wireless service where we stayed a couple of nights. All was well and I think it was about $1.50 for 25 min. and 1 printed page. Something strange about their keyboards though. The @ key was some series of keyboard strokes like F9 and hold down ctrl and push something else. It had a sign on the monitor that said what to do. It was kind of confusing at 1st. Dave