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Thread: Digicel Play targets 150,000 homes

  1. #1
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    Default Digicel Play targets 150,000 homes

    Digicel rolling out Digiplay service faster than expected...
    "mad rush on"' for customers signing up for its latest high definition home entertainment -- Digicel Play. The company is already close to passing fibre by some 150,000 homes in Kingston and Portmore.
    Group CEO Digicel Cable and Broadband John Suranyi says there is a "mad rush on"' for customers signing up for its latest high definition home entertainment -- Digicel Play. The company is already close to passing fibre by some 150,000 homes in Kingston and Portmore.

    The new package, which includes fibre, fixed lines and internet services, forms part of a US$100 million investment that the telecoms company has been deploying since September to bring Jamaica on par with countries such as Korea, Europe and the United States.

    "Its the only fibre in Jamaica that is fibre to the house," Suranyi said, offering faster service as a result. "There is no old-fashioned cable."
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    It's interesting that Flow has not put out anything in response to this new found competition...
    50MB is tempting, I would want that for my Office... so I hope Flow offers something similar soon...
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    Not that much competition. LIME was actually rolling out fiber in a LOT of places. While businesses were the first to get fiber all over the island schools would get free internet from either LIME or FLOW. You probably wouldn't believe some of the BUSH and REMOTE places that fiber run gone. Now with this buyout and merger things are much more available. They probably not going advertise it much for another few months until Liberty Global takes over fully.

    I commend Digicel for what they're doing - but I don't know how much better their cable going be - different companies keep licensing the shows and channels.

    Quote Originally Posted by khat17 View Post
    https://discoverflow.co/jamaica/tv/flow-quad-play

    It's a one year contract. You get a free Samsung J5 and it's supposed to be direct fiber. Again I'll post more info once I have the service and I've done some tests. For an overview of their fiber services:

    https://discoverflow.co/jamaica/internet/plans-rates

    And for the existing internet plans:

    https://discoverflow.co/jamaica/inte...internet-plans

    Considering that I had intended to disconnect the cable since all the channels we really want to see are now blocked, and my bill was going like 9k-10k per month (not counting my postpaid phone) this works out better for me. I'll pay about 8k and have direct fiber, still keep the cable (just for news if I watch TV........) and not need to pay an additional bill for my postpaid phone. Yeah - also get a free phone (low/mid range) which I just literally handed to my wife.

    Phone specs: http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_j5-7184.php
    Knowing the solution doesn't mean knowing the method. Yet answering correctly and regurgitation are considered "learning" and "knowledge".

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    Digicel Play targets 150,000 homes
    Maybe I am expecting too much but that number seems a bit... anemic.
    1.8 Ghz Pentium 4 (OC'd.) / Intel P4 (478) Motherboard / 800MHz DDR / 256 Mb DDR RAM / 40GB Seagate / RIVA TNT2 Pro 32MB / 24X12X24 Sony CDRW+ / 18" View Sonic CRT / Windows ME Yes it will play Doom... i plan on trying Crysis 3 one of these days.

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    Their cable offering won't be any better than FLOW's... That's probably the most insignificant part of the package (that and landline). The part that I'm looking at is the glaring lies their telling (first FTTH offering in Ja; LIME had this in the residential area of Rhyne Park, St. James for the longest as well as a couple other places). FLOW's fiber network is extensive, and the HFC network can be converted to offer both DOCSIS and FTTH simultaneously. Plus, for the areas where only ADSL is available, IPTV should be availed to those subscribers by next year... while Fiber rollout is in earnest. The only leg up Digicel has on FLOW is that it is the first overhyped FTTH offering in Jamaica.

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    So do you think that FLOW will respond by offering FTTH? I am on FLOW's legacy and am thinking of switching to Digicel because of the picture quality and download speed of the Digicel play service. However, as a holder of CWJ shares and a longtime FLOW customer I would much rather upgrade to their AVS service. BTW, does anyone else have a problem with the fact that you can't readily see what FLOW's AVS picture quality is while you can't turn around and not see demos of Digicel play? I think FLOW is missing a trick here.
    Last edited by mikeyp; Dec 5, 2015 at 07:45 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mikeyp View Post
    So do you think that FLOW will respond by offering FTTH? I am on FLOW's legacy and am thinking of switching to Digicel because of the picture quality and download speed of the Digicel play service. However, as a holder of CWJ shares and a longtime FLOW customer I would much rather upgrade to their AVS service. BTW, does anyone else have a problem with the fact that you can't readily see what FLOW's AVS picture quality is while you can't turn around and not see demos of Digicel play? I think FLOW is missing a trick here.
    it's inevitable as the next evolution of HFC is FTTH. However, the timeline for this, I'm not certain. Between them upgrading cell sites to fiber backhaul and rolling out FTTH, work is being done in earnest. AVS demos were all over at one point, I remember seeing one at MegaMart in MoBay. I think the flagship stores may have them.

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    The last mile of a HFC network is coax so even though fibre makes up a significant portion of Flow's network all existing a new residential customers will require a new last mile connection of fibre for FTTH. Considering that Flow does not yet pass all areas in Jamaica for their existing network the timeline for this will be extremely far away. For a technician to come to your house for a regular installation or to correct a problem requires a least 5 days. Multiply that by all existing customers and you will see that rollout will take years. Digicel's rollout will also take a significant number of years as well with the exception that they did fibre from the get go future proofing their network.

    Note I am not knocking HFC as it is sound technology with many more years left in it with DOCSIS3.1. Residential customers do not require more than 100Mbps for quite some time and up to 300Mbps is achievable with the current network.

    Competition is benefiting both residential and business customers so we all stand to benefit while Flow and Digicel duke it out. I just hope that they both continue to invest in offering the best possible packages and rates.

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    Quote Originally Posted by psilos View Post
    The last mile of a HFC network is coax so even though fibre makes up a significant portion of Flow's network all existing a new residential customers will require a new last mile connection of fibre for FTTH. Considering that Flow does not yet pass all areas in Jamaica for their existing network the timeline for this will be extremely far away. For a technician to come to your house for a regular installation or to correct a problem requires a least 5 days. Multiply that by all existing customers and you will see that rollout will take years. Digicel's rollout will also take a significant number of years as well with the exception that they did fibre from the get go future proofing their network.

    Note I am not knocking HFC as it is sound technology with many more years left in it with DOCSIS3.1. Residential customers do not require more than 100Mbps for quite some time and up to 300Mbps is achievable with the current network.

    Competition is benefiting both residential and business customers so we all stand to benefit while Flow and Digicel duke it out. I just hope that they both continue to invest in offering the best possible packages and rates.
    DOCSIS 3.1 can exetend the life of the HFC network and keep FLOW competitive but I am not certain as to what FLOW plans to do with DOCSIS 2.0 or ADSL. ADSL could be upgraded to VDSL2+ (yes, I know, the speeds promised from such diminish quickly the farther out from the exchange you go but it's rate of "decay" so to speak slows much more relative to VDSL and ADSL) but I think that copper needs to go... It will take years to achieve this but their network is suffering from it between frequent thefts to inability to instablity in adverse weather plus I'm sure the infrastructure is aging too. Digicel is working like a jack rabbit to get FTTH in full sqing in the KMA and if FLOW doesn't look into a DOCSIS 3.0 upgrade and pull it's socks up and shun ineffective leadership, Digicel could do them a number as they did in 2001.

    Businees customers on the otherhand have Fiber and MPLS options from FLOW (C&W Business) and sole Fiber from Digicel. It will be interesting to see what happens in that space.

    P.S. What's happening to Digicel 4G Broadband now?

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    Well in regards to their broadband service it has improved a lot for me recently, even seeing youtube videos automatically switch to HD now. It was really bad a few weeks ago though where where my modem could only get a few hours of connection a day so i guess they were working on something.

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