Wifi Logistics

After reviewing the recent posts about WiFi, we've come to the conclusion that Digicel is going to be our best choice. We are arriving at West End pretty late in the day and heading to Nanny Cay.

Is our best bet to head to the Digicel office (Asson Electronics) near West End, or run into Road Town the next morning?

If ya gotta have it all the time... Doesn't matter which place you go.

I always go to road town. I don't know which is better. You might call or email first to see what inventory they have.

Thanks. I'll give them a call Monday.

Check your charter company - Our boat has Wifi - we just need to activate it with a credit card when we get there - $125/week-
Capt J

Jaustex: Don't go all logical on me! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" /> I can barely wait the 7 days as it is!

I'm with you there -- leaving in 5 days. Can't come too soon <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

I would not pay $125/week for internet service. With Digicel, you can buy a mifi and a pretty decent amount of data for less than that. Once you have the mifi, you can get a good amount of data for around $50.

To the OP. I would go to the Digicel store in Road Town, but that's me and I have never been to the authorized retailer in West End. I just have found you are usually best off going straight to the service provider. The West End store may be great though, for all I know.

How much does the mifi device costs and how much data does $50 cover? Also how much to cab it to digicel and how long do you have to wait in line at the store to get it activated?
If all that adds up to $50 and it only takes 15 minutess to purchase the mifi device and have it set up - then I'm in - otherwise $125 split four ways and no hassle is what I'm sticking with. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />

Sorry Jaustex, not making any judgment on you! Just said that I wouldn't pay that much. Your time is in all likelihood more valuable than mine, to be perfectly honest!

Digicel gives you 30 days and 3 GB of data for $55. That should be more than adequate for a week or ten days in our experience. You can get 1 GB for just $25.

The mifi is $80 if you buy it from Digicel. As others have mentioned, you can get one cheaper (~$50) if you buy it on eBay and bring it with you.

We always rent a car, so rarely do we do the cab thing. We also use the car to do most of our shopping. I bought the mifi and a cell phone while my wife was doing the shopping last trip.

Long story short, it would be about $135 for the device and 3 GB of data first trip. After that, just $55 top up for future uses.

You had a great suggestion in checking with the charter company, I was just offering some additional detail on the alternative. Some would say avoid the internet all together, to each their own! We like to have it, even if just to rub our friends' faces in our good fortune... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />

No worries onlymedication- <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> I was pointing out what was involved both ways. The biggest advantages of having mifi is it works elsewhere - not just the boat and you will own it (I personally have an At&t hotspot that travels with me in the states when my t-mobile is out of reach of 4g towers). And you pointed out that you can use it again on your next charter- I will say technology moves fast and the mifi may be worthless in a very short period of time giving it limited use.
You are correct my time there is valuable and a few extra dollars less a few hours waiting in line in a mobile phone store are worth 5 times the money- even though I will most likely be sitting on the boat sipping a Carib listening to Jimmy Buffet and doing absolutely nothing. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />
Cheers-
Capt J

Cheers to that!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

I am interested in the wifi device being discussed here. Is it like Verizon's Mifi or is it a dongle that attaches to a laptop? I use an Ipad and need a wireless wifi device.
Can a person order one ahead of time and pick it up prior to charter?

Terry (socamon), here is what I bought a couple trips ago, from Digicel.
http://www.digicelbvi.com/en/phones/view_phone.php?id=7893

This is not a dongle, although you can get those as well. It is a router and can provide data for up to ten devices. It has its own battery, so you can take it in the car, whatever, but the battery won't last all that long (a couple hours maybe), so we usually just keep it plugged in when in use. Bought it for $70 or $80 on previous trip, added $25 for a month of service and 1GB of data. When we returned several months later, stopped in the Digicel store and added another $25 and were in business. You can also top up online, once you have an active device.

You can also search for the same or similar device on ebay or amazon and get them for around $50-60, but be sure they are compatible with the BVI networks and that they are unlocked. Then, you still have to stop in the Lime or Digicel store to buy a SIM card from them and activate service.

It took us no more than 20 minutes to buy a phone SIM card, activate our phone and add data to our Mifi at the Road Town Digicel store on our last trip. D Best Cup is right there as well and my wife loves their coffee, so we don't see it as a major inconvenience.

Hope you find this helpful.

Thank you for the fast reply. Just what I was looking for.

Did you buy the Select or the Flex. What is the difference? Seems like this would be sufficient for my needs and give me access land based as well. We should start a lending library of these devises!!

Rita, I think the Select is when you buy a monthly plan, the Flex is the pay-as-you-go option. We do the Flex as we just want to pay for the service for the few days while we are there. I learned this past trip that you do have to have some form of activity every six months to keep a phone or mifi device active, which is not a big deal, imo.

A lending library is actually a fantastic idea! Not sure exactly how it would work logistically, but I bet we could figure it all out.

I am going to look into this. I would be happy to share it with others going down as long as it can be re-registered. I am going to email the Roadtown office and ask some questions!!

Rita, just goto to the main Digicel store. They will set you straight on the plan. We always purchase a prepaid Internet plan.

It's also important to make sure that users shut off automatic updates, set phones to download minimal parts of an email, shut off automatic playing of facebook videos or you will go through data very quickly.

Just to followup from my original question: I ended up not getting a "mifi" "mobile access point"..... We had AT&T access at: Peter, Norman, Horizons base (Nanny Cay), almost to the Baths, all of JVD, Cane Garden Bay and West End.

I used my bullet H2 to pull wireless at: Marina Cay, multiple locations in North Sound, and Anegada.

So, in effect, I had access everywhere. So much different than the "phone booth to make a call" of the 90's.

Last time I was at the Sunsail base downtown, there was a shop there, that rents wifi devices. Probably similar to what you are all talking about. I am not sure what they charge, but perhaps Sunsail would have more info..

nice. you were getting at&t local (long distance)? what were the at&t charges you incurred?
any info would be great, I'm thinking about just taking my at&t phone and paying regular charges, with no "international" plan...

I was getting AT&T voice and cellular data (NOT roaming..that was turned off) at all those locations, with no extra charges. I even logged into my AT&T account at one point to make sure.

My son has T-Mobile, so he had zero access the whole trip, but I brought my business AT&T hotspot and set it up in the cockpit when able to connect to AT&T so he would stop getting the "I can't communicate with my friends!" shakes. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />

With the new ATT on east end St. John we were getting Internet at Cooper and 2G voice and text at Spanishtown. As always, need line of sight to the tower. On the north side of Tortola and for much of JVD we can get the STT tower.

Cheers, RickG

This is just a bit off topic and going into geek mode:

Out of curiosity, are there very many "IT" people in the BVI's that setup site wireless? I only ask because I noticed that many WiFi sites had the same fingerprint for configuration. In our group, one would be able to connect but the rest could not and I would have to override the wifi configuration to make people work.