Rangoon Internet Users Report Poor Connections

Two Burmese monks go online in a Rangoon Internet café, where owners are required to keep records of all users. (Photo: AFP)

Owners of Internet cafes and their customers are complaining that servers in Rangoon have become increasingly unreliable in recent weeks.

The reason for the frequent disruption of service is not known, but users in the former Burmese capital say that the problem has become more noticeable since the beginning of this month.

“It takes a long time to send attached files, such as photos and pictures. It is not as fast as before,” said a woman working at an Internet café in Sanchaung Township.

“Sometimes the connection fails completely while users are online and we have to change to a new proxy number. It happens all the time now,” she added.

Keeping services up and running has become a constant struggle for technical staff.

“My staffers are very busy helping our customers because the connection is down every five minutes,” said the owner of another Internet café in Sanchaung Township.

One user complained that Internet services appear to be going the way of the country’s notoriously undependable electricity supply.

“I come to the Internet café so I can contact my husband, who is overseas, because I can’t afford to make long-distance telephone calls,” said a woman contacted by The Irrawaddy. “But now there are constant problems with the Internet connection. On top of that, sometimes the lights go out.”

Last September, Internet connections in Rangoon were shut down for a week to prevent people sending digital photographs and video of a crackdown on monk-led protests.

Although service has resumed, the authorities continue to restrict Internet traffic to prevent users from gaining access to outside sources of information, and to keep damaging images from reaching exiled and other international media outlets.

According to sources in Rangoon, the Burmese regime’s network of informers are now focusing their attention on Internet cafes, which are replacing traditional teashops as places where people can discreetly share their views with others.

In late January, Burmese authorities arrested one of the country’s best known bloggers, Nay Phone Latt, who is also the owner of three Internet cafés in Rangoon. His friends believe he was probably arrested because of political content on his site.

The authorities have tried to break contacts between Burmese bloggers and the outside world by blocking the Web site www.blogger.com and by slowing down Internet transmission speeds, said sources inside Rangoon’s Internet circles.