Broadband (DSL) access in North Coast

Uzin · May 3, 2006

Hi,

After 3 weeks in the last Xmas in Sosua/Cabarete I really liked the idea of spending winter there (had a great time and look forward to my next trip). But I'm now playing with the idea of working a couple of months from the DR (all depends on my boss of course, currently he agrees to 1 month but plenty of time till December to get him up to 2 ... !?

)

Now if I succeed I need to have a reliable broadband/DSL for about 8 hours a day in DR. Here are my questions :

1- As the DSL thechnology gets better every day, what is the latest speed you can get these days in the North Coast of DR ? (512Kbps, 1Mbps, 2 etc.)

2- If an apartment/condo doesn't have a broadband would it be possible to get it set up quickly - of course for 2 mths it might not worth it, but if I help to pay for 6 mth (may be some installation cost) and the owner also likes the idea, I wonder how easy it is to set it up.

3- If not, then could I get a place with a reliable broadband (and some battery backup for electricity - just to power the laptop and router for DSL I guess) that does not cost an arm and a leg ?

4- When the electricty goes, does the broadband and the phone lines go as well ? (I know that is not the case here in UK but what about DR.)

Basically I need to be connected Mon-Fri (say about 7am-3pm DR time), can't use the excuse that the phone or broadband or electricty is down too many times (I need that for my own occasional mishaps...! :cheeky: )

Cheers,

A.

Buzzard · May 3, 2006

DSL Experience

After 3 weeks in the last Xmas in Sosua/Cabarete I really liked the idea of spending winter there (had a great time and look forward to my next trip). But I'm now playing with the idea of working a couple of months from the DR (all depends on my boss of course, currently he agrees to 1 month but plenty of time till December to get him up to 2 ... !?

)

Now if I succeed I need to have a reliable broadband/DSL for about 8 hours a day in DR. Here are my questions :

1- As the DSL thechnology gets better every day, what is the latest speed you can get these days in the North Coast of DR ? (512Kbps, 1Mbps, 2 etc.)
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When I signed up for DSL a few years ago, Verizon offered several speeds. I chose the least expensive (whatever it was) and have been satisfied with the performance.
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2- If an apartment/condo doesn't have a broadband would it be possible to get it set up quickly - of course for 2 mths it might not worth it, but if I help to pay for 6 mth (may be some installation cost) and the owner also likes the idea, I wonder how easy it is to set it up.
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I believe that you must signup for one (or two) years. I would NOT recommend attempting to get it 'suspended' while you are gone, even if the option was available.
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3- If not, then could I get a place with a reliable broadband (and some battery backup for electricity - just to power the laptop and router for DSL I guess) that does not cost an arm and a leg ?
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Possibly.
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4- When the electricty goes, does the broadband and the phone lines go as well ? (I know that is not the case here in UK but what about DR.)
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I have an inverter and a UPS. When street power switches, the line drops & I have to restart the modem. Everything else (two CPUs, two printers, wireless router, etc.) stays solidly on. Don't know if this is perculiar to my location or not; my power & telephone lines are buried, for the most part, here in Costambar. I've been told that they run in the same 'tubo', so I believe that magnetic flux from spikes, which often (always?) accompany outages/reconnects, could be playing a part. When I had dialup, I would get MUCH faster thruput when power was out!!!!! I atttributed this to interference from the power line.
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Basically I need to be connected Mon-Fri (say about 7am-3pm DR time), can't use the excuse that the phone or broadband or electricty is down too many times (I need that for my own occasional mishaps...! :cheeky: )
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I just completed four months of work from the DR. I worked 10-6 local time (9-5 NYC time) five days a week (changed to 8 or 9 to 5 or 6 on occasion) Used Skype for all calls, including hour+ conferences. Had no major problem at all. However, between 8 and 9 and again between 5 and 6, the DSL would drop a few times, usually associated with EdeNorte's outages, as far as I could tell.
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Rocky · May 3, 2006

Uzin said:
1- As the DSL thechnology gets better every day, what is the latest speed you can get these days in the North Coast of DR ? (512Kbps, 1Mbps, 2 etc.)

Most DSL lines are 256kbps, but there are some places that have slightly faster.

Uzin said:
2- If an apartment/condo doesn't have a broadband would it be possible to get it set up quickly - of course for 2 mths it might not worth it, but if I help to pay for 6 mth (may be some installation cost) and the owner also likes the idea, I wonder how easy it is to set it up.

Anything is possible.

Uzin said:
3- If not, then could I get a place with a reliable broadband (and some battery backup for electricity - just to power the laptop and router for DSL I guess) that does not cost an arm and a leg ?

There are condos that have Wifi with DSL.

Uzin said:
4- When the electricty goes, does the broadband and the phone lines go as well ? (I know that is not the case here in UK but what about DR.)

If it's properly set up, there will be no downtime during power failures, assuming the router, & Wifi are both on a UPS.

Uzin said:
Basically I need to be connected Mon-Fri (say about 7am-3pm DR time), can't use the excuse that the phone or broadband or electricty is down too many times (I need that for my own occasional mishaps...! :cheeky: )

That's not a problem, however I wonder about your need for high speed.
If you are taking a lot of bandwidth, constantly downloading, that would slow others down on the network, so you might have to get your own installation.

Uzin · May 4, 2006

Thanks for the info Buzzard, there is nothing like the advice of someone with real experience of working from DR. I am planning exactly that. The drop line is not crucial to me, I'm not going to be streaming or spending a long time on the VoIP (Skype).

Thanks also to Marco, I was hoping you come in on this thread. I remember you had a succcessful, free WiFi running at Rockey's. But I didn't think it was 256K, that sounds a bit slow !

I actually don't need a bandwidth, but just the speed. I won't be downloading large volumes of data. I mainly hope to work on my laptop independently but I need to regularly use the VoIP and also connect to my PC (and servers) in the office (terminal services or PCAnywhere etc.). Now these services (specially the last one) don't fill the bandwith (very little volume of data in fact), but need fast connection. Otherwise the experience would be so clumsy and slow that makes it impractical.

Out of interest, assuming a phone line is in place, how much does it cost to get set up say for a 512K or 1M DSL in Sosua/Cabarete/POP ? And what is the monthly subscription ? (here in UK they give you the router and installation for free - but make up for it on the monthly subscription !!!).

Cheers,

Rocky · May 4, 2006

Uzin said:
But I didn't think it was 256K, that sounds a bit slow !

That's the rated speed, but, as we are only 1 block from the main trunk, we get well into the 300's.

Uzin said:
I actually don't need a bandwidth, but just the speed. I won't be downloading large volumes of data. I mainly hope to work on my laptop independently but I need to regularly use the VoIP and also connect to my PC (and servers) in the office (terminal services or PCAnywhere etc.). Now these services (specially the last one) don't fill the bandwith (very little volume of data in fact), but need fast connection. Otherwise the experience would be so clumsy and slow that makes it impractical.

I'm with you there.
The reason I asked is that, like here at Rocky's, we also broadcast wifi at our condos, as I guess many people do.
One of the conditions of the free wifi is that nobody do any heavy downlaods during the daytime, otherwise it slows everybody else down.
Those who want to download music and the likes, do it after midnight when few people are on.

Uzin said:
Out of interest, assuming a phone line is in place, how much does it cost to get set up say for a 512K or 1M DSL in Sosua/Cabarete/POP ? And what is the monthly subscription ? (here in UK they give you the router and installation for free - but make up for it on the monthly subscription !!!).

Cheers,

They give you the router here, as well, but charge you for it if you cancel in less than a year, somewhere around 100 bucks.
The montlly charges are close to 50 bucks.
Some people order the 512kbps, but I haven't seen great results, certainly no more than we get here, but it could be because they are farther away.

Uzin · May 5, 2006

Thanks for the info Marco. So if I pay $150 for say 3 months and $100 for the router (for when it is cancelled after 3 month) and find an agreeable landlord, he might consider installing a DSL line for me (I don't need a WiFi as I need to sit at a desk somewhere quite to work).

Well, lets hope I can get the green light from my boss and then closer to the time I start the search (of course your condos will be on top of the list....).

Take care,

A.

Rocky · May 5, 2006

Uzin said:
Thanks for the info Marco. So if I pay $150 for say 3 months and $100 for the router (for when it is cancelled after 3 month) and find an agreeable landlord, he might consider installing a DSL line for me (I don't need a WiFi as I need to sit at a desk somewhere quite to work)
A.

I don't see why not.

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