News of the Day-3/5

andynap

Senior Insider
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How much of the island and where enjoys the high speed fiber internet these days?

To my knowledge, only a very small handful of high-end hotels and one private villa have fiber optic service at this time, and they've had it for a number of years at a very high price.

On the other hand, the service that currently is being promoted for widespread usage is, I believe, yet to be operationally rolled-out. It is coming soon, however . . . through an interesting arrangement between public and private sectors.

As explained to me, the Collectivite is covering all (maybe only a large part?) of the cost of underground installation of fiber cables along roads throughout the island (significantly disrupting traffic in the process) . . . with delivery of service to subscribers thereafter in the hands of private businesses (of which, I believe that three have been licensed by the Collectivite).

Between installation of cables and delivery of service, there's an intermediate step -- bringing a connection from an underground roadway cable to a subscriber's home / business. As also explained to me, the Collectivite will pay for this connection when (& if) someone subscribes to the service.

Pricing, as described to me for Villa CEC in Marigot, has a couple of options. One is a dedicated connection for the Villa . . . the cost, as I recall, was said to be about 180 Euros per month (I may be off here by 10 Euros, one way or another). The alternative is a connection which is shared by a number of people in the vicinity . . . as I recall, the number might be 10 - 20 subscribers. The cost of the shared connection was said to be about 90 Euros per month. The dedicated connection truly would be high speed (not being very technologically savvy, the speeds quoted to me didn't embed in my brain!) . . . whereas the speed for the shared connection would be diminished in accordance with the number of shared subscribers using it at any particular time & the type of usage (email vs. streaming, e.g.). (I haven't had to make a decision because the trigger hasn't yet been pulled to start service.)
 
I know my friend Pascal in Lorient has it and the cost seem very reasonable. Can’t recall the exact price. Famously the Guanahani was one of the first to get fiber before Irma.
 
JEK may have already commented on this- it seems that there are low numbers of vaccinations per week. Is this because of supply? Eligibility? Lack of personnel to administer them?
 
I know my friend Pascal in Lorient has it and the cost seem very reasonable. Can’t recall the exact price. Famously the Guanahani was one of the first to get fiber before Irma.

Re: the “reasonable cost,” I wonder if Pascal has the dedicated or shared connection? If the latter, I agree . . . “reasonable” in the sense that the cost would be about the same that I now pay for services from Orange. The advice given to me from one of the three vendors, however, is that the internet speed on a shared connection in a populous area (such as Marigot) probably won’t be materially different from what we presently get from Orange.
 
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