HDTV, Cable Carriers, Sports Progs, and High Speed Internet

Hi Neil,

I have Internet service on my cell phone and I have a Mobile Broadband Card for my Internet service. The Mobile Broadband Card works wonderfully.

The Internet on my cell phone works about as well as my cell phone service itself -- i.e., doesn't work well, when I am in dead zones, which I experience in the states as well.

I agree with EE that you will not have stateside amenities here.

That said, I was pleasantly surprised to find that things were not as "rustic," as I had braced myself for them to be when I moved here 15 months ago.

Mell
🙂

Thanks Mell....Can I ask what you pay for mobile broadband a month down there?
(Remind what island you're on.)
And from what I've read, Sprint is the cellphone/broadband service to have, correct?

Hi Neil,

I use Sprint and pay $59.99 per month, and the card was free with rebate. Perhaps the monthly service has come down since I "contracted" with Sprint for this rate last year, (you know how that goes, I am sure.............).

Also, I wanted to mention that, many businesses on island use Ackley Communications and have very good luck with it. I personally have heard nothing but good things about their service.

I am on STT.

🙂

I've got Choice wireless "cable" and get Versus network -- except when they're broadcasting hockey games. Whenever a hockey game is on, all I get is a black screen.

We also have wireless internet from Broadband VI (this is line-of-sight permitting). The best thing about Broadband VI is that it still works when phones and Innovative cable are down (a not infrequent occurance).

You will also have to be sure that where ever you decide to live has good coverage. This is not a matter of what island, or even what side/end of what island, but does the house have coverage.

Amen, Linda!

Neil, if your business depends on the internet, please check your location carefully and talk with other people in the area. I almost lost my stateside business under the "how different can it be, I have a dream" program.....there is no way to make a statesider understand that these things just happen on island and there's no rush from any crew anywhere to get things up and running again. I will tell you that before our departure both the i-net and WAPA service had dramatically improved, but the first 6-8 months was iffy at best. We did wireless we routed from the landlord which sort of ceased working altogether - we were using a router and due to the concrete structure, the signal was blocked.... so then we had VI broadband during that period of time, which was kind of strange - we kept having to change the ISP numbers back and forth - it would go very slowly, we would change, it would be fine - 3 hours later you were changing back. Because we were in a little valley we had to ping off a box on a hill above us....if the wind blew very hard you had to go outside and re-situate the receiver, and if it was REALLY bad you had to bring it inside, so no internet at all.....

I will qualify this by saying I required 24/7 hour access with my business, which may be somewhat unusual or not....but for me it wasn't an option to be down for 2 days. We can't blame anyone but ourselves, though - it was simply one of those things we took our stateside mentality and transferred, never even thinking it might be different on an island. Dumb us!

When we moved center island on STX we were assured we had coverage if we had line of sight to Hovensa....oops, we had line of sight to the wrong end. Had to go with Innovative, and just getting set up required weeks of phone calls, letters, visits, etc. Awful. And awfully funny now, but definitely not even remotely amusing at that time!

I use a cingular 3G card for my internet and have not had any problems. It's not instant fast like stateside cable modem, but certainly alot faster than dial up. I also use Cingular for my cell phone and again have not had any problems. I am very happy with both. I am on STT.

Happy Mom's Day!,
Kelly

Islanderatheart, does the card work for a desktop? Cingular works at my house but I don't have a laptop. How much do you pay per month, if you don't mind my asking? Sprint cellular doesn't work where I live.