Broadband in USVI is EXPENSIVE!

[Ichinisan]

My sister moved to St. Croix, US Virgin Islands and she wants me to look at the prices for Internet service providers in her area.

The first one I found is www.broadband.vi, where the fastest residential service available is 3mbps for $100/month.

For some reason, they charge even more for "snowbird" rates, which I assume refers to customers who only reside at the islands during the winter months.

Commercial service is even worse. For businesses, 4m service is $1,600.00 per month!

Residential and commercial customers always pay a $200 installation fee. There has got to be something better than this!

 

[sdifox]

It's an island... Are you surprised?

 

[TwiceOver]

Welcome to the middle of nowhere. Internet is expensive when there's no land inbetween.

Sucks balls, but check for satellite?

 

[shortylickens]

In the Islands?
No thats about right.

 

[Rage187]

$100 for 3mb seems pretty reasonable in the middle of the ocean.

You want to try expensive? Try paying for a few minutes of internet on a cruise ship.

 

[Crusty]

Not only is it expensive, it's SHITTY. There are several tbps of bandwidth going through the island, yet the local ISPs blow.

 

[Rubycon]

That's not expensive at all. Don't compare it to metropolitan area access like cable/fttp/xdsl.

Prior to having the ability to flip sim cards and tether at will I had a passkey for Green Flash Networks at St Thomas. Speed was fine for typical things (like posting ha!). Pings were 700ish. Nobody cares about that unless you game online. (no interest for me)

 

[Ichinisan]

Yeah, it bugs me that mobile data here is faster and cheaper than home broadband where she lives. I wonder if the mobile networks out there are serviceable for home Internet...? :hmm:

 

[Jodell88]

She went to the wrong Caribbean island.

<-- 25mbps for US$62.00. It's actually cheaper but I rounded it up upwards.

 

[SunnyD]

Don't people normally move out to places like that to GET AWAY from civilization?

 

[Rubycon]

Yeah, it bugs me that mobile data here is faster and cheaper than home broadband where she lives. I wonder if the mobile networks out there are serviceable for home Internet...? :hmm:

Yes but there are stingy (in comparison) data caps.
Even then I have no idea how people can use over a few gigs a month for legitimate things.

 

[Ichinisan]

Don't people normally move out to places like that to GET AWAY from civilization?

Kinda...but she went there for the University of Virgin Islands.

 

[Ichinisan]

Yes but there are stingy (in comparison) data caps.
Even then I have no idea how people can use over a few gigs a month for legitimate things.

Well, Netflix is legitimate...and that's one of the biggest uses of bandwidth for typical users.

 

[Ichinisan]

She went to the wrong Caribbean island.

<-- 25mbps for US$62.00. It's actually cheaper but I rounded it up upwards.

Why does Trinidad and Tobago get such excellent service?

 

[lxskllr]

Looks to me like it's $25 per month, $40 for a wireless router, and 3 friends ;^)

 

[Rubycon]

Well, Netflix is legitimate...and that's one of the biggest uses of bandwidth for typical users.

Get a satellite dish, far cheaper.
Any kind of streaming service is going to rip through allowance quick.

 

[Jodell88]

Why does Trinidad and Tobago get such excellent service?

Competition. There are at least three ISP's here for residential customers. We went from Dial-up to broadband as soon as other companies were allowed into the market. :biggrin:

 

[bobdole369]

Why does Trinidad and Tobago get such excellent service?

www.flowtrinidad.com

Flow baby flow...
Jamaica, TT, Grenada, Curacao... awesome for the internetz


http://www.columbuscommunications.com/

(company pride)


http://www.flowtrinidad.com/uclick/Rates/tabid/175/Default.aspx#5

Don't freak - that $799 is in TT dollars. It's about $125 USD for 100/10.

The closest I can get is 30mbit for $119 USD is sofla.

 

[bobdole369]

Don't people normally move out to places like that to GET AWAY from civilization?

People actually live on most of the Caribbean islands. And aren't transplants either. They were often born there, grew up there and stayed and had their own families. They want cable/phone/data too.

 

[bobdole369]

Welcome to the middle of nowhere. Internet is expensive when there's no land inbetween.

Sucks balls, but check for satellite?

Except there is a bunch of fiber connecting them all. It isn't the middle of nowhere as far as data is concerned. Big fat submarine cable pipes give the islands LOTS of Internetz. St. Croix is expensive because it is St. Croix. It isn't any more or less connected than anywhere else, but you can charge a premium there due to the high tourism.

 

[twinrider1]

It's an island... Are you surprised?

Honshu is an island. Is it slow and expensive there?

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

Like we have here. Sperm from a nobel peace price winner is cheaper than Broadband here.
1 Telecommunications company ruling the hardlines and 4 Mobile providers keeping the prices high

 

[alkemyst]

also expect the internet to go down when the locals decide to steal copper.

This happens on many islands.

 

[sdifox]

Honshu is an island. Is it slow and expensive there?

lulz there are islands, and then there are islands. Besides, we all know internet in Japan pwns intenet in US.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

Get a crappy mobile broadband provider. Many of them broken wap gateways. Nigerian Style