Power & Internet, how reliable

Reliability is spelled BROADBAND VI.

It's sure not spelled wapa.

Most rental car companies have monthly rental rates. Don't think you'd want to incur the expense of shipping your car here for just a month's vacation.

It's sure not spelled wapa.

If the Internet and power works I would stay 6 months maybe permanent, I just figured I can stay a month as a workcation to test it out.

I wouldn't ship it right away just wondered the cost if I decide to stay, the idea is to go for a month and decide on what I need, then maybe ship the car and any stuff I can fill it with.

Reliability is spelled BROADBAND VI.

Thanks! is that cable or DSL?
I can deal with down periods as we get that even here in the states but I think I need at least 1mb +

broadband is the internet provider. wapa does go out. not sure i understand your comment of staying a month but it will not be more expensive than being here a week?

broadband is the internet provider. wapa does go out. not sure i understand your comment of staying a month but it will not be more expensive than being here a week?

If I can work there then I will be getting paid instead of using vacation time, my lease is up so I can put important stuff in storage and stay as long as I want. I'm paying $900 a month for a 2 bedroom townhouse now so if storage is $150 I can have family liquidate it all if I stay 3 months plus since I could replace it all for storage cost after a year.
Then have them ship my Land Rover and sell my BMW.

Reliability is spelled BROADBAND VI.

Thanks! is that cable or DSL?
I can deal with down periods as we get that even here in the states but I think I need at least 1mb +

Wireless internet. They install a receiving antenna at your location.

http://www.broadband.vi/

It's sure not spelled wapa.

If the Internet and power works I would stay 6 months maybe permanent, I just figured I can stay a month as a workcation to test it out.

I wouldn't ship it right away just wondered the cost if I decide to stay, the idea is to go for a month and decide on what I need, then maybe ship the car and any stuff I can fill it with.

WAPA is WATER & POWER AUTHORITY. I'll let others speak to reliability (I'm independent of WAPA).

You can't ship anything inside of your vehicle.

Reliability is spelled BROADBAND VI.

Thanks! is that cable or DSL?
I can deal with down periods as we get that even here in the states but I think I need at least 1mb +

Wireless internet. They install a receiving antenna at your location.

http://www.broadband.vi/

Ok and it looks like $100 month for 5mb that would be plenty, I pay $50 here now and my company covers that, maybe just a small generator to power the equipment my laptop will last a few hours anyway.

Thanks everyone for all the help, hope that low pressure doesn't cause any problems for you.

BBVI has towers all over the island to repeat/spread the signal.

I do not know what the power source is for their transmitters, so you'll have to ask them.

Be prepared for interruption of both power and internet. Remember you are moving to an island in the Caribbean, not some place in the states. If you need your internet for work make sure a 4 to 12 hour interruption won't be a disaster.
Come down and check out island life before you move (PMV) try to do your normal daily program and see if it works for you. Island living takes some flexibility and a sense of humor.

Thanks Doug, that's very helpful, I just thought about doing a PMV for a month and see how it works, the interruptions shouldn't be too big a problem since I have freedom to schedule work, when the power & internet are down, do you still have cell service? If I can call a customer and tell them of the problem its fine and I have done our staff meeting on the cellphone from a car since what's on the screen isn't important for me to see.

I work for eBay and have a great job but don't want to mess it up by not being available but I guess I would find out in a month and if I stay longer have family send more of my stuff but since I am single and kids are grown I can live pretty light.

I spent a lot of time at Catalina Island in California on my sailboat and at the Marina so I'm used to small places, humidity and planning for the un expected.

Cell service can be unreliable as in many areas in the USVI cell tower signals don't overlap.

You need to have backup for everything.

UPS and a generator for WAPA. WAPA was out on parts of STX yesterday as a result of Bertha. When Omar hit in 2008 power was out for ten days in the where I was.

AT&T Micro-cell & VOIP i.e. MagicJack, or Skype for telephone. Several day outages with AT&T are not uncommon if the tower you connect to at your home is out of service. AT&T is the best cell service for most people. Sprint is another option for some locations.

Data plan with your cell service so you can tether phone to PC when BBVI is unavailable. BBVI is very reliable so it will usually be available as long as you have power for their radio, your router and PC.

Thanks Jim, very detailed and helpful info, I guess you can get a 1500w generator from Honda for a grand so thats fine for backup, if it's down from a disaster then I'll use vacation time 😉 I do have a VOIP phone for work so that and A cell with a generator should handle being down for a few hours. I guess too if it's down a long time I can go work at a coffee shop or something on another part of the island.
Thanks again.

If you can find a condo or house that has a generator that powers the whole place, you will be better off.

While we currently are the same as east coast daylight, we are actually on Atlantic Standard. We don't change our time, but when daylight savings ends,we are an hour earlier. Thank heavens for DVR in the winter. I'd never be able to watch the Good Wife.

Thanks for the info

Backups for everything. Backup power source, backup location for when your backup power source fails, and three sources of Internet (main provider, connect through your cell, and backup access to another provider, not necessarily one that you pay for every month). You will use all of it. I have worked from home for many years, and it can be done and is worth it, but no power or Internet or phone source is ever better than 90% reliable. I'm being generous.

no power or Internet or phone source is ever better than 90% reliable. I'm being generous.

I think 99% up-time is more accurate for USVI, but the 1% down-time does make it feel like it's worse sometimes.

and broadband for me is down right now

The most important for me is having a backup power supply such as a generator. Stt has been experiencing rotating power outages yesterday and today due to problems at wapa which are not related to any damage by ts bertha. Bbvi internet not affected.

However, should we get a severe storm or hurricane, all bets are off for power, internet, cell and landline phone services and for who knows how long! You'd need a Generator just to run the water pump and keep refrigeration, at minimum. Propane stoves allow cooking without using electricity, so good to have.

The irony of this thread is not lost on me that we on STT are down three electrical feeders and WAPA is sending rolling 2 hour black outa to try to disperse the electricity.

Alana - BBVI works with no power? That might just be reason enough to switch.

Yep! Into my 6th outage in 2days and sure they'll be a couple more before the night is out and tomorrow comes or the feeders are back on line and all electricity is returned to normal (?) Or what is considered normal.

I have the generator running but it does get old.
Broadband vi has worked thru all the outages as has dishtv.
Getting ready to watch tv and turn on the a/c.

See, we don't even have to have weather issues to be without electricity here in paradox.

I need a generator lol!!! I will say that my house is as clean as it's been in months! Gotta do something when powers out lol.

BBVI relies on generators at its various sites in case of WAPA outage. Some generators they maintain (including re-fueling), and others are maintained by the home owners of the site. I think most of their sites have generators, but not all do. When I lived in Salt River STX, our Access Point (where our radio was aimed) was at a private house whose generator worked for the first few years, but then it was dead for the last year. In spite of that, BBVI is still the best ISP by far.