Internet Connection on island!

[wmu37]

Yet another question we have come up with!
We were wondering how fast you are usually hooked up with internet in your apartment? Also what kind of connection is available?
My fiancee relies on the computer for his job and we wondered when we get there in early August, how long it will take to get him hooked up. THanks!!

[FoxTrot]

Takes about a week for regular dialup because if you don't have phone service, then they have to come out and install it in your apartment or where ever you'll be living. Can take months to get DSL since there is a waiting list.

[wmu37]

I now have a couple of new questions...Is the number of hours connected to
the dialup you get unlimited? What if you the apartment you were moving
into already had DSL. Would that make the getting it that much easier?

[MitchDC]

As anywhere else, you can get the unlimited dial-up plan, or you can get a limited plan that is cheaper.

You won't find many places that already have DSL hooked up and running for you. Even if the last student already had it, it only takes a stroke of the computer keyboard to disconnect.

MitchDC

I now have a couple of new questions...Is the number of hours connected to
the dialup you get unlimited? What if you the apartment you were moving
into already had DSL. Would that make the getting it that much easier?

[LuckyLuciano]

Beware of the unlimited dial up service. It does give you unlimited time on the internet; however, you must pay a connection fee everytime you have to get connected. In addition, the service kicks you off every 20 minutes or so!!! In the end, you end up paying a lot more money than it's really worth. Just use the school internet until you get dsl in your apartment. If you can find a 4th semester student who is leaving, you can have them transfer their "port for dsl" to your name. That way, you don't have to even be put on the waiting list.

[singer]

Lucky Luciano:

My third semester son has dial-up and turned down the DSL when offered too him this semester. Each student must determine the amount of time they will be spending on the internet and then determine whether getting DSL when it is finally offered to them makes sence, For the amount of time that my son spends on the computer the dial-up is cheaper.

He also states that his dial-up in Dominica actually connects at 56k where in the US his old 566k modem was lucky to connect at 14k.

[Neuro3]

I have adsl at my apartment. Here is the process at cable and Wireless. There is a woman that works the counter at the internet desk. You have to fill out a bunch of paperwork, activate a phone line, pay $1000.00 ec deposit, $ 150.00 ec installation fee. You will also need a modem. You can buy a modem from students leaving for around $200.00 ec or buy one from C&W for 347.00ec. Once you do all that she takes your paper work and puts it into a big folder and tells you there is a list of people ahead of you and it should be at the end of the month. I went to C&W around 3-4 times and tried to speed things up and I think they got tired of seeing me and hooked it up 1 week after we filled the paper work out. Later I heard people say they waited months to get it.

There are a few plans.... One is 128kb for 129.00 ec per month. I got the 728kb adsl which is $499.00 per month but today I just lowered it to the 128kb plan. A friend next door has the 128 and my download speed was actually the same and sometimes lower. I contacted C&W 3 times and they did nothing so I lowered it. It definetly not like home, but its better than the schools. They claim to have a T1 connection but when I do a speed test it reads just above dial up. If you have any questions send me a pm and I'll try to answer them.

[oc23]

... If you can find a 4th semester student who is leaving, you can have them transfer their "port for dsl" to your name. That way, you don't have to even be put on the waiting list.

c&w doesn't allow transferring of ports anymore. they won't even transfer your own port if, say, you move to a new apartment and still want to keep your dsl.

[link626]

They claim to have a T1 connection but when I do a speed test it reads just above dial up. If you have any questions send me a pm and I'll try to answer them.


holy crap. you gotta be kidding. the school network can't be that slow all the time?! Webpages would load horribly slow at that rate.
With such a slow speed, no one needs a fancy wireless card either.

I dunno what you did to speed test, but I'd login to Microsoft's anonymous ftp and download one of their files and see what the speed is. Website speed tests aren't accurate.

[FoxTrot]

I have dialup and I never have gotten kicked off once. Not once. If you get kicked off, it's probably either the phone lines or the modem in the computer. But I heard alot about people with unlimited service getting knocked off alot and expected it to happen to me, but I've been lucky so far.

By the way, how many kb/sec are people with 128kb DSL getting with their downloads? And how much better does dialpad perform with the 128kb connection? Any dialup fees each time you connect like with the unlimited plan?

[stacy_de_lin]

Should I move to Dominica, my husband would be in a similiar situation.

He regularly needs to receive and send large files. While we are waiting for DSL at our home, could he bring his laptop to school and use a wireless router that the school provides? There is another post about wireless card so I am assuming this means the school has a wireless router. It would be essential to our move that he can be up and running shortly after we get there.

I just did the currency conversion and saw that 499EC is $185US-- for one month of 728kb! Yowsers! Guess my husband may have to learn to live with 128kb... sigh....

Thanks a million.

Stac'

[link626]

128k is ideally only a little over 2x as fast as 56k.

so you can imagine how slow that is. Here in the US, we have 1500k dsl, and 3000k cable.

**** is a rip off on the island.

[MitchDC]

Actually, no matter what students are saying here, the ADSL connection in Dominica runs pretty fast - fast enough for most everything that a student needs to do. Its fast enough to download files, music, etc.

MitchDC

[Ganja Magic]

To test your bandwidth speed, try this link. It might be slightly inaccurate since Dominica is definitely off the beaten path from the Internet backbone, but it is useful to see what your "real" speed is on DSL or ISDN.

http://reviews.cnet.com/Bandwidth_meter/7004-7254_7-0.html?tag=tool

[Neuro3]

Look below and you will see what my dsl speed is.......




Bandwidth calculation is measured against that of CNET's Internet Services. Bandwidth may be higher or lower depending on Internet congestion. Calculated tests do not reflect server reliability and speed.


Connection Type Connection Speed Faster Providers

28.8 Kbps Dial-up 28.8k



33.6 Kbps Dial-up 33.6k




45.7 Kbps - You 45.7 kbps ****** here is my adsl



53.3 Kbps Dial-up 56k Find ISP



384.0 Kbps DSL/Cable 384k Find ISP



768.0 Kbps DSL/Cable 768k Find ISP



1500.0 Kbps Cable

[link626]

Look below and you will see what my dsl speed is.......




Bandwidth calculation is measured against that of CNET's Internet Services. Bandwidth may be higher or lower depending on Internet congestion. Calculated tests do not reflect server reliability and speed.


Connection Type Connection Speed Faster Providers

28.8 Kbps Dial-up 28.8k



33.6 Kbps Dial-up 33.6k




45.7 Kbps - You 45.7 kbps ****** here is my adsl







if that is your speed, you better get yourself a refund and cancel that baby. You're getting jipped pretty badly.

[gadget]

We do have a dedicated 1.544 MB T1 line. You see very slow download speeds on campus because we manage our bandwidth and restrict downloads on a per session basis so that they do not monopolize our aggregate bandwidth. Please see IT services if you have need to download a pertinent application or file and will expedite the download if it is for research or other educational purposes

[link626]

wow. 1 T1 line.

at 193 Kilobytes/sec (1544 kilobits/sec), if 193 people got on the internet from school, everyone would be seeing an average speed of 1 KB/s!

I hope webpages load fast enough at least.

[gadget]

Internet and web traffic is anything but constant. If fact, web browsing is VERY bursty, as any ISP can attest. Our T1 line currently has a 95% or better network efficiency rate which measures the rate of retransmittals due to oversubscription. We do not currently have 193 computers on campus. However, we do recognize the need for future bandwidth increase as our network continues to grow as we continue deploying wired and wireless connection areas.....

[MitchDC]

Unless there were network issues, the campus internet connection was always plenty fast to do the things which we needed to do. Whether it was searching medline or medical reference sites, e-mailing, etc there are few complaints about the speed.

Please remember, link, that some of the other offshore medical schools are still using dial-up or DSL connections. Here some students complain that they must have their computer configured by I.T. for WIRELESS access and at other schools have strict limits on how often they can dial-up from an outdated computer wired system on campus.

The technology at Ross is outstanding and our IT department in Dominica is always very helpful, professional, and supportive. Realizing that students are away from the States, they even help students (usually for free) who are having computer issues (hardware, OS, etc).

Take care, M

wow. 1 T1 line.

at 193 Kilobytes/sec (1544 kilobits/sec), if 193 people got on the internet from school, everyone would be seeing an average speed of 1 KB/s!

I hope webpages load fast enough at least.

[link626]

I just searched for last year's welcome packet, and it says.....


phone service is about $43 month!!! Is that true? what a rip off. How much extra is dial up internet service?

[MitchDC]

Actually, local phone service is pretty INexpensive. I just checked my old bills and it costs $24EC per month plus a small fee per call. That is about $9.00 US. So, it really ends up just about the base rate for phone service here in the States.

You can research all the plans you want at www.cwdom.dm - the phone company and internet provider in Dominica. Remember, the amounts you read are EC dollars....so relax....

MitchDC


I just searched for last year's welcome packet, and it says.....


phone service is about $43 month!!! Is that true? what a rip off. How much extra is dial up internet service?

[Nooks]

Since you have had it changed are you disappointed or do you think its fast enough?

I think i got the 299EC plan and its pretty good. I had the expensive plan at first but then I got some good advice and changed it. I didnt want to slow it down to a rediculousl slow speed, but if you say the 128 plan is ok, and you have no probs with it, i think i am going to lower it again.

Please advise, thanks

[Kat]

The reason students come to expect these technological summits, and even god forbid complain when they find themselves hoodwinked, is because Ross sells this as a competitive feature the school offers. When I was looking at med schools, this statement had something to do with my decision, and I went out and paid an extra $200 for internal wireless hardware. The official website advertently states that there is wireless access on campus, with the further coverage sometime in 2004. Will this happen this year? Lets just say I hope the bathrooms work, and my shack food is free of the 4Fs.
If I find myself surfing the net in the "food court" or "outdoor cafe" ( http://www.rossmed.edu/Medical_School/school_overview.html ) at any point during the next two semesters, I will surf over to ValueMD and criticize this statement myself. Otherwise, it is not right for the school to CONTINUALLY fail on deadlines for projects they have slated. If they cannot deliver they need to be more conservative in their sales pitches. As far as allocating the bandwidth, dont plan on downloading/uploading anything here. I currently have a newsgroup account since legal and "illegal" music download sites are blocked, but I am wasting my monthly $10 subscription fee as it takes a half hour to rip a song. The school certainly has invested in blocking students from downloading music, but they seem to be inept in keeping the lights on and the water flowing. Make cents, er, sense, eh?


Please remember, link, that some of the other offshore medical schools are still using dial-up or DSL connections. Here some students complain that they must have their computer configured by I.T. for WIRELESS access and at other schools have strict limits on how often they can dial-up from an outdated computer wired system on campus.

wow. 1 T1 line.

at 193 Kilobytes/sec (1544 kilobits/sec), if 193 people got on the internet from school, everyone would be seeing an average speed of 1 KB/s!

I hope webpages load fast enough at least.

[link626]

I currently have a newsgroup account since legal and "illegal" music download sites are blocked, but I am wasting my monthly $10 subscription fee as it takes a half hour to rip a song.

Sounds like they could use an extra T1 line.

Why don't you use dial-up to download your music? At 30 minutes, you are downloading slower than dial up.

[archon218]

Still waiting to download.

[Kat]

626, For what we pay in tuition for Ross' superior IT capabilites, should we need to pay more for dial up at home? Plus, not sure if music is worth the Source of Incompetence, aka C&W. Deposit or tie into your banking account? Get outta here....

[link626]

626, For what we pay in tuition for Ross' superior IT capabilites, should we need to pay more for dial up at home? Plus, not sure if music is worth the Source of Incompetence, aka C&W. Deposit or tie into your banking account? Get outta here....


that's what I would say. but every penny saved is a penny earned for Ross. And that fits well with the for-profit philosophy of the school.

As for the part about tying into your bank account.... i have no clue what you are talking about, since i'm not even on the island yet.

But doesn't everyone open a local bank account anyway? I wouldn't mind them wiring money from a dominican bank. I'm gonna close that biotch after I leave anyway.

[Neuro3]

The technology at Ross is outstanding and our IT department in Dominica is always very helpful, professional, and supportive. Realizing that students are away from the States, they even help students (usually for free) who are having computer issues (hardware, OS, etc).


hunh? You sure u are talking about Ross? I have one word for u Printers.
and I won't even discuss getting laptops configured.

I not complaining but I think we should be honest. I would hate for someone to come here thinking everything is wonderful when it's not.

Everyone I personally know has had trouble with the IT department and Financial aid.