Cotonou - Post Report Question and Answers
Is high-speed home Internet access available? How long does it typically take to install it after arrival?
MTN is pretty good. It tends to slow at the end of the month, especially around holidays. - Feb 2020
Embassy provides temporary internet as a courtesy for a few days/weeks until you obtain it. Monthly cost is around US$85-90/month (after tax refund). Speed is usually adequate but can be less great especially if you go over the 150GB limit. - Aug 2018
Yes. One or two weeks to install. - Jan 2017
US$80. - Oct 2015
Yes, but 'high-speed' in the loosest most sense of the word and it is expensive. - Jun 2015
Technically yes, but it's high-speed for Benin. I had a 1mb DSL line which cost US$160/mo. I could maybe stream things late at night. The ping will be bad (usually 150-250+ ms), and you will experience frequent packet loss. Expect to spend lots of time buffering low-quality streams. I understand there are satellite options as well, which can only be worse. There's also a "wireless" internet option (probably using some sort of fob), but I have no direct knowledge of its performance. - Aug 2014
This varies. Neighborhoods without landlines are stuck with satellite internet. I pay $200/month for a connection that is too slow to stream video and only sometimes is good enough to use Skype. Others in neighborhoods with landlines pay a little less for much higher-speed connections that allow video streaming. - May 2013
Medium speed available for more than $150 per month. - Mar 2013
While I wouldn’t go as far as calling it “high-speed,” ADSL Internet service is available. It’s ok for e-mail, online shopping, FB chat, and my Vonage phone. Skype with video gets iffy, and I don’t have much luck with streaming video. Don’t expect to download movies or use Slingbox. We pay about US$180/month. Yep, it ain’t cheep. Warning! Most U.S. based e-commerce sites don’t like West-African ISPs popping up and many will block the local ISP. Remember, we’re right next door to Nigeria and many Nigerian Internet scammers have moved here. I use a VPN appliance which gives me a SSL connection to an ISP in the States. - Dec 2011
