Long term internet access

Looking for some advice for longterm internet access on the island. We have had a family home on the island since the 1960's and have strived to keep it a place to detach from work. Over the years we have had a phone line with dialup internet in the 90's-2000's. Once our Cellphones could roam on the island that has been sufficient and we have not looked to add an on island connection. During the last hurricane we lost our landline that was rarely used except to place reservations for dinner. We're now looking to relocate for the fall and will need reliable high speed internet to connect the kids with school and us with work. Talking with France telecom it appears I would need to be on the island with my passport to get the process going of a new line and an ASDL modem, this could take months and ultimately could be a good option. I am wondering if Orange or another cellular provider has a cell to wifi box and a nearly unlimited plan that could be purchased upon arrival. I have looked at oranges website however it was not clear whats offered on the island. Your help is much appreciated.

Brian

orange has the small wifi carry around boxes.. very useful

That sounds perfect, any idea on cost / month or data cap?

High speed internet and st barth is an oxymoron... a landline with a live box (as they call it) from Orange seems to be the best solution. we have not had a landline since Irma and use little 4G hotspots from Orange they call "air box" - https://reseaux.orange.fr/famille/airbox-4g - as Pascale mentioned. But 4G coverage on the island is spotty and doesn't work well in some places, so you'd have to see how that works at your home. They sell them at IDEAL in Gustavia across from Choisy bakery, and probably at the Orange store in St Jean.
Also they do not have a plan with unlimited access so we have two of them, and barely make it through the month, especially if you watch movies or anything... I work full time from the house so am online all day, so you might need one per person. You cannot add money or access as you run out - you have to wait for the cycle to renew. I think the largest offer is 100 giga for 79 euro per month. Some days they zip along and some days slower than that slow boat to China.
In theory over the next few years they are installing fiber optic but it's not for tomorrow, and it depends again on where you live as they seem to be going to install it by sector.

Thank you, we have great LTE 4G reception at our home, (Margot) so this sounds like a great option. Yes 100G is hard to cover a family for a month of data.

I'd suggest one per person in that case. I think they run about 80 euros per month for the service, and maybe around 100 euros for the initial purchase.
I am going to see about upgrading ours as there seems to be a newer generation than the ones we got after Irma in early 2018.

doesn't dauphine have an (expensive) option?

Elgreaux if you upgrade or find out additional information please share. TCPNYC if you have any info on the dauphine option please share as well. For dauphine I did not think they had 4g lte on the island only slower 3g?

We have used orange in the past with our At&t phones, the cost is $10/day and your capped at 50G / month per account, so on a family share its 50G and 10/ device.

I spoke to them a while back but i believe, via short-haul microwave antenna pointed at St Maarten, you can get close to 1gb...but its over 300 euro per month and requires a contract

brianmsailing said:

Elgreaux if you upgrade or find out additional information please share. TCPNYC if you have any info on the dauphine option please share as well. For dauphine I did not think they had 4g lte on the island only slower 3g?

We have used orange in the past with our At&t phones, the cost is $10/day and your capped at 50G / month per account, so on a family share its 50G and 10/ device.

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I will for sure.. and plan to pop in to see them tomorrow if possible...

I usually buy 2 air boxes when I go to France to visit my parents who do not have internet. I throw one in my purse and it is quite handy when we travel around the area.

Your timing is pretty good for getting a better than DSL internet connection in your part of the island, depending on the specific location in Marigot. As part of the current road construction projects around the island right now is a major FTTH (fiber-to-the-home) project. Called St-Barth Digital it's *VERY* fast internet connection, and uses the new fiber optic system being installed underground (along with power and water) along the roads. Homeowners need to fund connecting up to it.

Typically, a local electrician trenches out to the connection junction box along the road. City water and electricity will occupy the same trench. Roads in parts of Vitet were trenched/pipes/wired-up last year in spring. Rest to Vitet, Devet, Marigot, Cul de Sac, etc. are in the works this summer/fall. You would need to contact someone at the COM for more info on connections, monthly cost.

The project is owned by the Collectivity, and being run by Dauphin Telecom in St-Martin (no France telecom involved!) The high speed connection is already up and working. Each area of St-Barth has a due date for completion. Lots of articles in https://www.journaldesaintbarth.com I believe the St-Barth Digital customer website goes live in October.

For more info check out: https://www.journaldesaintbarth.com...nnectes-au-tres-haut-debit--202006031346.html

Orange in Saint Jean can sell you a 4g phone line with sim card that gives up to 100 GB per month (and voice calls/texts). You can use that with any 4g Wireless router. they can sell you a little pocket one, but you can use a bigger and more robust one if you prefer.

there are strings attached. you need to bring your passport and ideally have a french bank account so that they can do a direct debit every month.

since i didn't have a french bank account, they allowed me to pay by phoning me from Orange Caraibe's HQ in Guadeloupe and taking payment over the phone from my credit card.

if you commit to 12 months then its 69 euros per month for 100 gb data plus included phone calls and texts. if you want no commitment (eg, 2 months and cancel anytime with 30 days notice) then its 79 euros per month.

there are smaller amounts of data on different plans.

as others have mentioned, we're awaiting (impatiently) being able to get a Fibre connection.

where we are on the island, we dont have good 4g coverage, but we have used an antenna to pickup the weak signals and we get around 20 megabits/sec on 4g using this method.

we also have a DSL line, but it has a very poor data speeds. Although the dsl router/modem says its synced at 18 megabits to the exchange, it only delivers about 7 megabits. i think its been throttled by orange at the exchange.

our part of the island (near Le barthelemy hotel) seems to only have ADSL but some parts of the island seem to have VDSL which is faster (but not much).

if you try and roam using another country's 4g sim card, the limitations on speed and amount of data are significant. we have uk sims from EE, and usually they roam very well, especially across europe.. but they roam very badly in st barts and we only get Edge speeds (very very slow!)

we know someone who has an AT&T sim from the usa, and they get very good roaming speeds in st barts. but other us networks like mobile and google fi, dont seem to get good roaming speeds.

just wanted to give an update as i just complete a week long test. I am in St Jean basically across from the Orange boutique. These are the data points i have pulled together:

Orange DSL- 1.5mb with consistent drop outs- (worthless)
Orange mobile 4G- 6mbps (79 EUR for 100Gb per month)
Dauphin mobile 4G- 20 mbps (120 EUR for 100Gb per month)
Dauphin fixed mobile internet- 40+ mbps (300 EUR for unlimited)....1k EUR to install so very expensive- but more than enough juice and very stable.

tcpnyc said:

just wanted to give an update as i just complete a week long test. I am in St Jean basically across from the Orange boutique. These are the data points i have pulled together:

Orange DSL- 1.5mb with consistent drop outs- (worthless)
Orange mobile 4G- 6mbps (79 EUR for 100Gb per month)
Dauphin mobile 4G- 20 mbps (120 EUR for 100Gb per month)
Dauphin fixed mobile internet- 40+ mbps (300 EUR for unlimited)....1k EUR to install so very expensive- but more than enough juice and very stable.

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as I said earlier, we get over around 20 megabits/sec with Orange 4g (but we're using a big antenna) because we have zero coverage in Petit Cul de Sac without the antenna.
but im interested in the Dauphin fixed mobile internet that you talk about and would love to find out if we can get reception for that in petit cul de sac.

do you have a web link so I can find out more?


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can someone provide a contact number for the orange sbh store?

brianmsailing said:

can someone provide a contact number for the orange sbh store?

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In my experience, you cannot call the Orange store in St. Jean unless someone there gives you a private number. Calls to Orange go to, I believe, Guadeloupe . . . and then it's possible to find an English-speaking person, but not easy. Far easier to simply go to the store, if you're on the island.

cec1 said:

In my experience, you cannot call the Orange store in St. Jean unless someone there gives you a private number. Calls to Orange go to, I believe, Guadeloupe . . . and then it's possible to find an English-speaking person, but not easy. Far easier to simply go to the store, if you're on the island.

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if you do go to the orange store in st jean, it can be a long wait to get in if theyre busy. its 1-2 people at a time inside the store (wearing masks of course), and long lines outside the store at busy times.

when I went to the store, I found they didnt accept foreign credit cards or foreign euro bank accounts, and I ended up arranging a call with orange in guadeloupe anyway (which was fine)