Did you know that even when you are sending an email to your neighbor right across the street - it has to first be routed through Miami? It's nothing sinister, that's just how the bandwidth traffic is routed. But now, a new internet exchange point will be set up in Belize - and all local internet traffic will be routed locally - at no cost to internet service providers like BTL and SMART. It's going through a hub at the UB Belize City Campus in West Landivar - and, in a minor modern miracle, all the major internet service providers have signed unto the initiative.
It was spearheaded by a regional group called Packet Clearing House. Bevel Wooding explained that while it may sound technical, the local exchange point it will make a simple difference in your e-life:...
Bevel Wooding, Packet Clearing House
"Now that access to sites anywhere in the world is normally done through an exchange point. Up to this day, those exchange points that you connect to that, service providers have to connect to, have been outside of Belize. What the parties are agreeing to do today is to bring, to establish, to develop an internet exchange point within Belize. So that the first point of internet traffic exchange is going to happen locally before it happens internationally. You now have a shorter distance for that traffic to go through and with most things, shorter 
distance means lower cost. Well shorter distance also means more efficient transfer of data between customers on one network in Belize and customers on another network in Belize. What use to happen before, and this is the grave travesty that is being corrected here, is if somebody on a service provider 'A' wanted to send email, a letter, a note to somebody on service provider 'B' in Belize, that traffic would have to go all the way up to Miami or New York or California or London before it comes back to Belize. It is inefficient, it is expensive, and it leads to the unnecessary interrogation of that data by actors, foreign government or others. That is quite unnecessary. By establishing a local exchange point, the providers have agreed today to say any traffic that is destined for a local user on a local network will no longer leave Belize, it will simply go through the local internet exchange point. That means the traffic between local customers is going to move faster. Does this mean you're going to get cheaper internet service? No, it means you're going to get more cost effective internet service. ISP's can provide more local bandwidth at lower cost to local consumers. Whether that translates into special packages now becomes a question of what the ISP's choose to do on the business side. But the point is this, for the first time in the industry in Belize, ISP's will be competing on the basis of quality of service, not on the basis of who have access to the most bandwidth. And this counts for anybody who is only using local traffic of across this new free internet service provider point and that's what this is all about. That's why there's so much excitement, that's why this is such a historic occasion. You have competitors agreeing to do something unanimously for the greater good. They benefit commercially, but consumers and businesses benefit in a very real and very tangible way. It's significant that a small act in an obscure room to deal with a technology that most people don't care about is intended to trigger a cascade of benefits that will touch consumers."
Jules Vasquez
"So, is there a timeline?"
Bevel Wooding, Packet Clearing House
"There is a timeline, the timeline is as soon as possible. The actual target date for this was January 2015. So now that we have the agreement out of the way, the technical aspect of it takes only a few weeks. so Packet Clearing House will be donating the equipment that should get in here within a fourth night and then workshops will happen to tell the local operators connect to the exchange. The room has to be finalized. I believe that is also scheduled to take no more than two to four weeks. So within the next two months I would say, this should be up and running."
As we told you, the exchange point - which is really just a switch and some servers will be housed at a neutral location, the University of Belize in West Landivar. Neutral so that no company is seen to have an advantage. But it's a big boon for the national university which can now embark on new programs. President Alan Slusher explained:..
Alan Slusher, President - UB
"UB is looking forward to greatly expanding its capacity to deliver training across the length and breadth of the country and directly into the homes and workplaces of our work people. Thus greatly reducing the costs of education while expanding its availability. We are looking for a great leap forward as a result of this corporation."
The local exchange point will also speed up those voice over internet calls made in Belize. You know the ones on Viber or Skype that always have a lag? Well that's because your voice is first going to Miami before it goes back to your Belizean friend who may be right across the street. The local exchange was eliminate that Miami connection as well, and should make those calls far more attractive.
Email
Print