The Arrival

If you're looking for reliable internet, Cuenca may not be the place for you. (That's a little Ecuadorian joke...the internet isn't bad, per se, but it isn't mind blowing either.)

The least expensive way to find a rental is to deal with the owners directly, as opposed to through a broker, but this might require a solid understanding of Spanish. (Which may be okay for you.) You might want to decide a few things (if you haven't already) about number of bedrooms, budget, furnished/unfurnished, full kitchen or partial, services include etc.

I've heard that many rentals don't accept pets as a rule, but know several people that rent and have pets. There are several companies that help with finding rentals which can be fairly easily googled or found on gringotree.com or cuencahighlife.com and other resources for expats in Cuenca.

Why move to an already congested and polluted part of the city? El Centro according to an air pollution study I read online is much more polluted than the rest of Cuenca.

source: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/ … ca-ecuador

As for internet, if you want a good and reliable connection you'll have to pay for it. There's a blogger Cuenca Tech Life who reviewed several internet providers and his blog might be helpful.