BBVI

For the newbies:
BBVI = Broadband VI, which is a local ISP providing Internet connectivity via WiFi.
http://broadband.vi/

I thought it was Big Beautiful Virgin Islanders.
I was wondering what made them come back and speed up.:-o

Thanks for the clarification Bob!;)

Glad to hear.....and Sky....we came back for the rum

Yesterday I heard a BroadbandVI commercial on the radio touting "faster speeds".

The wording suggested that they were going to increase the speeds for current customers if they went to the website.
Their website says nothing about it.

I read in the paper that the islands are getting a broadband upgrade, and that we are uniquely positioned to have some of the highest speeds in the hemisphere because of the highspeed cable passing by the islands.

So it begs the question: why are we only getting 512kb for $50 a month? (which is ridiculously slow by today's standards.)
Is BBVI keeping the speeds artificially low because they have no real competition?
Or are they so under-capitalized that they can't take advantage of the higher speeds at our doorstep?
Or...are they indeed on the verge of upgrading current customers to respectable speeds?

StCroix,
I can assure you, BBVI is working hard to improve speeds and quality throughout its network.
We have not had a chance to update the website....should be done soon.....I'll blame Earl for the delay. Residential speeds have increased 50%, business speeds 100%. Here is a copy of an email we recently sent all our customers:

Subject: Broadband VI update

Good Morning,

Thank you for your patience during and after Hurricane Earl. We are thankful nobody was hurt and we were able to keep the network
up and running throughout the storm for the vast majority of our customers. We had some generator issues at the Wintberg, Red Hook
and Bordeaux sites, we are working with the tower owner's maintenance company to make sure this does not happen again.

We want to update you on all the good things happening at Broadband VI:
- your speed is faster: we are upgrading upload and download speeds for everyone
- our speeds are what is printed, not "up-to"
- our connections from Global Crossing and Sprint increased; over 1Gbps of traffic carried off the Territory, more than any other provider
- tower connections improved: higher capacity and more reliability
- access points are being added and existing ones improved: new technology and faster connections
- we are auditing all customer connections, fixing problems and implementing quality control procedures for your connections
- we have implemented priority response for all business customers

We continue to offer the lowest latency, excellent uploads and great customer service (with expanded coverage until 9pm coming in October).

Thank you for your business,
Your friends at Broadband VI

Didn't get the email. :-X

Does this mean that a 512 or 1g account will be upgraded to a new speed without an increase in our monthly bill?

Suggestion: You should have a blog feature on your site so that outages and upgrade announcements can easily be made from any computer (or phone). That way any of your folks can update the site without having to go through a web designer.

btw...I appreciate a company such as yours posting on the board. Some may consider it advertising, but they would be wrong.

Didn't get the email. :-X

Does this mean that a 512 or 1g account will be upgraded to a new speed without an increase in our monthly bill?

Suggestion: You should have a blog feature on your site so that outages and upgrade announcements can easily be made from any computer (or phone). That way any of your folks can update the site without having to go through a web designer.

btw...I appreciate a company such as yours posting on the board. Some may consider it advertising, but they would be wrong.

Yes, everyone is being upgraded with no increase in their monthly bill.
Great idea re: a blog

The truth of the matter is I think that right now there is a pivotal struggle for control and possibly survival between BBVI and Choice. For a long time BBVI was the only 'high' speed option but at a high price and with great customer service. Now Choice is stepping up and trying to deliver much higher speeds at lower costs but from my experience they're struggling. I still haven't had a return call from Tech Support/Customer Service about my issue I reported a couple of weeks ago.

For my money I'll pay more for BBVI if they keep their current customer service level and up the speeds. If and only if Choice can up their speed and quality of customer service will I consider a permanent switch from BBVI (I'm still doing a 30-day trial of Choice right now to see if it replaces my BBVI service.)

Given the up and down service issues I've had with both lately as they fine tune their networks I'm starting to think my best option is a dual wan router so I can buy the lower-end service from both and bridge them so I should have service 99+% of the time.

I received the e-mail from BBVI earlier this week. Our internet in Cane Bay went down yesterday afternoon but when it came back on this am, it seems to be much faster. Speed had been kind of sluggish lately -so thanks BBVI !!! :@):D

Jumbie -STX

My BBVI on STX is faster than anything I experienced in Europe. I'm very well satisfied that I'm getting my money's worth.

Anyone who has done business with Choice will, like me, be a staunch supporter of BroadbandVI. I've had such protracted bad experience with Choice that I cannot imagine what would induce me to return. The stories we're hearing of poor communication, lousy support are chronic to that company. OTOH BBVI's service has been everything I could hope for. They've raised the bar for business quality and consistency in the territory and what they've done for the public infrastructure is unprecedented.

great customer service too. we had an issue last week and my bf called them and helped him figure it all out with patience. way to go.