Internet over satellite in the Caribbean has become a hot issue. Some suppliers don't want to supply, some new supplies went black as Olly states, some of our customers and Dunhill's customers had to fall back on services with strong FAP (fair access policy) approaches. It has been an expensive game for everyone and some suppliers simply don't want to supply the Caribbean as they cannot deal with our lack of infrastructure in installations.
The Dominican Republic specifically has been a lesson in patience and just sheer teethgrinding hanging on over the past year. As Ollie says, some of our customers had to change over twice and still don't have a good solution. This started with Hughesnet deciding to change their Caribbean coverage, of course without telling anyone actually working in the DR. We had to change. The company that we changed to (a large organization), went black and does not supply the Caribbean any longer - they could not keep up with our specific requirements in the field. As the CEO said, they did not realize that the satellite install is the infrastructure ... Duh!
Having said that, one of the biggest businesses in the Dominican Republic still funtions and functions well, on our installations - they run just about their complete business over satellite including Voice over IP with a WAN deployed over satellite to their different offices. On other islands, we have mission critical businesses functioning well on internet over satellite, and they have done so for many years - with regular upgrades and some movement between satellites.
In this game, there is no substitute for working with a good dealer. The good dealers know what is cutting and they will tell you when to spend money and when not. It is not a cheap game whatsoever and some people get disappointed. This is not something that you should go into if you are on a tight budget. I always say a terrestrial line is your first option, then, if there is nothing, consider satellite, but with a full wallet.