VI Internet Access

Eddie,

Here's my lengthy post from earlier. You can search for "Internet" on this board for more info.

High speed is available here. See below for more info.

And, just so ya know, it's "USVI" or "VI"--- UVI is the University of the Virgin Islands! 🙂
Just didn't want anybody looking at you funny 😉

Best,

LR

There are three types of high-speed internet available in the U.S. Virgin Islands: DSL, wireless broadband, and satellite.

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?

Hope this helped.

Best,

LR

T1 is also available, if you can afford it 🙂

You can get T1 via VIPowernet, although I did bring a T1 in for one client via a company called SAVVIS ( http://www.savvis.net.)

Be advised, there are a bunch of hedge fund companies here that HAVE to be online in order to conduct business. For the most part, they are using T1 services. Most of them use T1 as primary with DSL as a backup.

Good point, Native Son.

There are many speeds available between "basic" and T1.
Keep in mind that only one company (that I'm aware of) guarantees speeds- surfVI/Ackley Communications.

You can get 192, 256, 384, 512, 768, 1024, or 1536 kilobits per second (1536=T1).

Ackley Communciations' guaranteed-speed T1 is $995/mo.

Not sure how much VIPowerNet charges.

Best,

LR