High Speed Internet

Hello Kandi,

Dial up is the most used. No cable internet. The high speed internet that is available is Wired DSL and wireless DSL and their availability is not islandwide. Internet is not typical for apartment amenities.

Fun Stats:
The CIA Fact Book reports 30,000 internet users for the USVI for 2002. The population, 108,775 (2004).

--Islander

Here is a post by Loyal Reader from a few months ago that covers internet:

Satellite internet is available here. It's called Starband. I believe that Cal and Renee (Bumble's Ice/Satellite Entertainment Services) offer it. Their number is 340-779-1588.

Big disadvantage to satellite is that although you can sometimes get some great download speeds, upload is usually awful, and quality of service can be poor.
This is due to latency- in order to get service, the dish has to 'beam' your traffic up into space, then back down again, then up again- even the speed of light isn't fast enough!

We're on the edge of satellite footprints (satellites are usually placed wrt population density, and there aren't as many of us down here!) as well.

Satellite is really ideal for one-way distribution of identical content to many sites (hence, satellite TV usually works great). Cal and Renee offer satellite TV, too- it's called DishNetwork. We have it and love it. Weather can affect it, but we noticed the same thing stateside.

Satellite's not viable for VoIP (Voice over IP) or VPN (Virtual Private Networks). There's limited upstream bandwidth, which can make for a very frustrating web experience.

We face some unique networking challenges here in the VI. We're in the middle of the ocean. Bandwidth is therefore very expensive. Things take longer down here (as everyone knows). We have unique terrain (verrrry hilly in some parts- hence, valleys and peaks to deal with). Then there's the weather...

So you pretty much have three choices for broadband delivery in the VI now:

1. Wireline Infrastructure - DSL (offered by Innovative/Vitelco). This is delivered to your home via a wire line (copper). This relies on Innovative's infrastructure here in the VI.

Pros: Cheap, install can be broken into payments.

Cons: No guaranteed speeds here- could be fast one day and slow the next.
Relies on Innovative's infrastructure (check out the splices on their lines!)

Jim- I was stunned when you said you got a flyer from Innovative offering 1Mbps for $49/month. Did it say "up to 1Mbps" or did it promise a full megabit? Those are very different things- "up to" could mean 56kbps....256kbps....or 1Mbps.

2. Satellite (offered by Satellite Entertainment Services)

Pros: can have good/great download speeds
Cons: no guaranteed speeds, expensive to install, high monthly rate, poor QoS, latency, slow uploads. Weather can affect is, as Rachel mentioned.

3. Terrestrial Wireless (aka Wireless DSL, aka Wireless Broadband) (offered by Ackley Communications/surfVI or Choice)

This is delivered by installing a little antenna (usually about 1'x1') on your building, then pointing it to a servicing location. You can do Voice Over IP (VoIP), teleconferencing, security camera monitoring, and intranet over this type of link as well.

Pros: High QoS, fast upload and download, "just works", no phone line required.
Cons: initial installation. Must have Line of Sight to a servicing location. Ask your service provider where their servicing locations are! Ackley Communications and Choice have different servicing locations- you may be covered with Ackley if you can't get Choice.

Dominic-
surfVI is part of Ackley Communications. The phone number is 774-5780. The website is www.surfvi.com or www.ackleycomm.com.

Important things to find out from any provider:

1. How many internet providers do THEY have? This is important to you, because if they lose connectivity, so do you. And if they only have one provider, it could take a while to get back up!

2. Do they guarantee their speeds? You want to have a consistent, reliable internet experience.

3. What is their support structure? Will they call you back? There's nothing more frustrating than having a broken product, and being on hold for a long time- or never getitng a call back.

4. What is their SLA (service level agreement) policy? If they go down, will they credit your account for the time they were out?

5. What is their uptime? Are they reliable? What kind of monitoring do they have on their own network?

Thanks Islander!

I figured that dial up would be the most used and the easiest to hook up!

*Kandi*

Great tutoral Islander. Thank you.

Glad the 'tutorial' helped.

One last note on internet here....

For dial-up, there are 3 local providers: surfVI, VIAccess/Choice, or VIPowernet.
There are also some off-island providers, but if you want/need tech support, you might want to go local.

surfVI is $13.96/month
10 megs of storage
7 free email addresses
no contracts- freedom to come and go as you please.
www.surfvi.com
340-774-5780

Choice is $19.96/month
1 email address
5 megs storage
supernews
free faxing
www.viaccess.net
774-0024

Innovative (nee Vitelco/VIPowernet) is $15.95/month
1 email address
5 megs storage
pay quarterly, semi-annually, or annually
www.vipowernet.net
714-3700

KEEP IN MIND
that all dial-up utilizes Innovative (Vitelco)- you have to use the local ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier- i.e., the telephone company.

There are no CLECs (competitive local exchange carrier) here- so Innovative is your ISP's only option for dial-in T1s.

To be more specific- you must "plug in" your modem and dial a phone number, which goes through the local telephone company. That number "rings" at your Internet Service Provider's location, where you are connected to their servers, and thus "dialed up". Internet comes from your ISP, but you have to use Innovative to "get there".

This means that if your phone line snaps, crackles, pops, or hisses, your dial-up service may well be affected. This is in Innovative's court-there's nothing your ISP can do about it. Dial-up providers here usually get a flood of calls just after a heavy rain- the telephone lines are "soggy", and quality of service declines, since it relies on the local monopoly.

As I mentioned, if you have DSL through Innovative, the same applies.

Wireless broadband and satellite are the only way 'around' Innovative right now.
Just a note of caution to folks who might be used to crystal-clear phone lines up in the States.

Best,

LR