I am in the process of making a decision. I will be required to work in Jamaica for a few months. My ability to do so requires me to have a very good and reliable High Speed Internet connection that stays up at least 80-100% of the time especially during the hours of 8:00am-6:00pm.

I will also need a connection with a high upload and download speed, possibly commercial and/or T-1.

I know that ADSL is available and working in Treasure Beach, but I am not familiar with the reliability and/or down time.

Please advise if anyone might be able to contribute to my concerns with all possible feedback.

I would very much like to make Treasure Beach my choice of residence to do this.

Check with Sean Chedda at Breds

You could contact Button Bay as they have internet, and could possibly answer your questions.

All in all, I've been able to do my web-intensive work here in TB without problems.

You won't find a T-1 line, but the ASDL reliability is good (no significant downtime over the past 2 weeks) and its speed is adequate. There are different packages available, from 128K to 2Mb. Obviously higher = faster. Contact where you're going to stay and ask which one they have. If it were me, I'd have them go to speakeasy.net/speedtest and click on Atlanta to get real world numbers. Repeat 3 times and take the average.

Note that the 128K package is not fast enough to play movies (youtube, etc) directly. I find that I have to stop the movie, let the buffer fill up, and then play. 512 seemed to be able to handle the stream for the most part.

Another thing to think about is who you will be sharing the connection with. If you're at a guesthouse and others are on, speed will suffer. If you have the place to yourself (and staff/their kids aren't watching replays of Mr. Bolt's world record race :-) then you're golden.

Good luck

-Eric

I have a DSL line in Treasure Beach and I recently called Cable and Wireless to upgrade to their One Meg service. It actually turned out to save money on my bill and the speed is much faster and more reliable. I can now watch video without buffering and it's great. Guest houses can easily upgrade for their guests.

Related question: I have a guest coming down later this month who doesn't want to lug his laptop, but needs to check in to his office once or twice. He asks if there's an Internet cafe. I dunno: Is there?

Does 1-MB DSL work in Ft. Charles? What about Billys Bay? Are certain sections of the area better for Internet connections?

Prop Head, An internet connection depends very much on your telephone line and as you get higher in speed requirements, can also depend on the wiring that is being used in the area.

In Treasure Beach, the phone lines seems to be reliable. The concern with speed is dependent on the main lines and at what position in the connection your phone service is. the more traffic, the slower the speed.

So even though the Internet Service Provider might offer 3072K x 512K as CW Jamaica does, teh fact is, it can still depend on how many people in the area are using the service on that particular network.

So even though they offer 3072K x 512k, that is the maximum and not always what you will get. Like you noticed in eric's post, going to www.speakeasy.net and doing three speed tests to Atlanta, taking the average would be a true indication of what you will get on any given day around that same time.

The only issue that I have found so far with the dependency of phone line in TB is that in some areas the CW jamaica phone service is yet to be back on - Great Bay is one example, where I could not get internet over the X-Mas Holidays, becaus ethe Villa that I stayed at, did not have phone service and Sattelite, cell phone connection did not serve my needs. Hope this lengthy course helps a little in your understanding. In short, if the phone service is good, then chances are so will the internet staying up.

Don Noel, they can go to Bred's. That's where I go when I'm in TB. Sean Chedda if you see this posting maybe you can post the days and hours that Bred's is open and a contact telephone#.

Eric. .Thnak you for the info. I did notice that CW Jamaica have different speeds. I would be renting a house until I make some more stable arrangements, purchasing etc. I need at least 512 up with about 2450 down. On CWjamaica.com they say they have those speeds available and I will need a fixed IP which they also say they have. The big question, is Whether the higher speed packages and/or Fixed IPs will be available in the area. I will be very close to Jakes in the Calabash Bay Area and I have used the internet several times at Jakes & Jack Sprat. My concern is getting the necessary speed and connectivity reliability. Thanks for your insight. If you can expand on teh availability of teh higher speeds I would greatly appreciate it.

Sure there is an Internet Cafe by the King Fisher Plaza at Breds Office. Opened Mondays to Fridays 9 - 5 and Sat. 9 to 12. Usage for a minimal hourly fee.

Thanks, Alice and Internet!