Telecommuting from the DR

C

curious

Guest
Hello there,

I am considering relocating to the DR and telecommuting via the internet to work in America. I was wondering if anyone had some advice or warnings about doing this? Are the Internet connections in SD good enough to have dedicated access? Is there a region of town where blackouts are minimized? How expensive is it to set up a home office? What can one expect to pay to live down there a month upon rent, food, travel, etc.? I would be relocating there in the next 2 years and have been to the DR about 12 times before. I speak good spanish and love the latin culture and people of the DR, which is prompting me to consider moving and telecommuting from down there.. I consider Santo Domingo to be the best place to live for such work, any other locations in the DR recommended?.

Also, thank you very much to Rob and Delores for supplying this service of DR1!!

Thank you for replies in advance!!

Cheers,

Curious.
 
Robert

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
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dr1.com
If you are telecommmuting the only place to live is Santo Domingo. Here you can get ADSL or a dedicated ISDN. Even T1 if you have US$10,000 to burn a month. ADSL: This is only currently available within certain parts of the city, I'm sure over time they will roll out the rest. You would need to check with Codetel on areas covered. Codetel will allocate you 2.5MB of bandwidth on their switch. Locally you will get 2.5MB, but for PPP or surfing you will average from 60-500K/Sec. Reliability is up and down depending on location. Cost: RD$6,0000 for the installation and ADSL box. RD$1,000 per month for residential service/RD$5,000 per month for businesses. ISDN: Cost around US$750/month plus installation. I would check on the codetel site (www.codetel.net.do) for details. People tell me that the uptime is good and the connection reliable for the ISDN here. I'm sure over time the cost will come down Depending on your bandwidth requirments I would go for ADSL. It's cheap and Codetel is pushing the service, so there is a good chance they will support it. Don't expect the level of support you would get in the USA, it just does not happen here. If your job/life depends on good reliable dedicated connection 24x7, then I wouldn't relocate to the DR. If you can live with a sometimes slow connection with a little downtime, this is the perfect place :) Rob.
 
D

DR One

Guest
If you live in Casa de Campo (La Romana), blackouts are minimal because you will not be on the public grid. Likewise, there are some new residential developments that are installing their own power systems. But in general, if you have $$, blackouts can be kept under control so that you barely will feel them from your home office. You may locate in a building that has a power plant, and then install a supplementary inverter. (That's how we operate, and it has worked well.)

Regarding the cost of living, suggest you go ahead and purchase the Living in Santo Domingo book. While it is two years old, inflation here is low, so prices will not have changed that much. There is a chapter on the cost of living in the book, as well as answers to many many of other questions you may have.
 
C

curious

Guest
Hi Dolores,

Thank you for both your and Rob's responses.. I have a copy of this book already and have found it to be invaluable in my planning process.. Can you recommend a neighborhood that would be good in SD to live in, I'm considering up around El Conde - is this area good for power and safe? Also, if I have frequent travel back to the US, say once every month or two, is there an airline that sells multiple flight tickets for a discount. AA seems to have a virtual monopoly upon travel into La Romana?

Thanks!
 
F

Fabio J. Guzman

Guest
We have an ADSL line in Sosua and it has worked perfectly since it was installed some two months ago. We are online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (our server is always on) and we have not had one interruption since the service was installed. Of course, we have backup electricity in case of power outages.
 
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