It sets a bad precedent... and that's my issue. I have international clients who shut off LTE whilst roaming on Digicel when here because they've had little success in doing anything on it. Whilst you don't need to be topping 200 Mbit/s to send a WhatsApp, massive capacity is what makes the experience better for everyone. A great example is where FLOW's Band 4 averages 35-40 Mbit/s in data heavy areas like Sangster International Airport or 50-60 Mbit/s in Downtown Montego Bay. There is no excuse for underserving your customers capacity-wise especially on LTE. I cannot think of any other network in the world that deploys an LTE network that only suffices for light browsing & social media... in fact, when LIME had said their HSPA+ network was sufficient for social media and light browsing, patrons of this same site were enraged. Are that easily satiated that we'll put up with mediocrity and banish what is apt as being "overkill"?
At this point allot of Digi users more concerned with how much data they can get and how long it lasts vs how fast it is..
All I can say is that Digicel knows their user base to a T which is why they can get away with murder day in day out..
I agree with GPRS. Only techies like us are concerned about the fastest LTE network. Very few Jamaicans are data-heavy users. The majority gossip on WhatsApp and follow ppls lives on Instagram. They care more about most gigabytes for less money. I recently read a report that Flow Jamaica lost 17,000 mobile subscribers. So seems their fast network aint doing much for them yet.
Last edited by leoandru; Aug 19, 2018 at 05:32 PM.
I wonder what the speeds would be if flows network had digicels user base on there. When i was in America using ATT or Verizon the speeds were excellent outside the city but in high populated ares the speeds fell way down. Like GPRS and Leo said, the average user doest care much about speed they just want to whatsapp and instagram. Funny thing is a digicel LTE Ad was playing in the background while typing this lol.
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I don't why there's this misconception that FLOW's network is a ghost town. FLOW's network especially its LTE network gets as much utilization if not more in some cases than Digicel. Let not random figures that you see in Digicel's press releases trick you into thinking they're dealing with more than FLOW at every inch of the island. Digicel is well supported in rural areas almost exclusively in some cases. Outside of rural areas, there's pretty much parity in subscriber numbers between the two. What may have you confused too is how complex Digicel's sites as opposed to FLOW's... alas, this is reflective of Digicel's hodge-podge spectrum plan. Digicel uses:
1. 900 MHz (GSM)
2. 1800 MHz (GSM)
3. 850 MHz (UMTS)
4. 1900 MHz (UMTS)
5. 1700/2100 MHz (LTE)
6. 700 MHz (LTE)
Think of having to provide all of these bands on a single site... it HAS to be complex. FLOW is simpler. They use:
1. 850 MHz (GSM & UMTS)
2. 1900 MHz (GSM being phased out, now UMTS & LTE)
3. 1700/2100 MHz (LTE)
For comparison, America's Largest LTE network by PoPs & Subs, Verizon uses the following:
1. 850 MHz (1x, EVDO Rev. A, being reformed to LTE)
2. 1900 MHz (LTE)
3. 1700/2100 MHz (LTE)
4. 700 MHz (LTE)
Due to complex licensing agreements, most markets in the US only see 3 layers at a time most times; much like FLOW. Despite this, Verizon wins speed awards every year and is unmatched in coverage & reliability despite serving over 100+ million customers.
From a business perspective, FLOW is running a tight ship in terms of site complexity, licensing fees and frequency re-use. To think that Digicel's size is the reason for its lackluster service is misguided. Digicel needs to re-evaluate; fail to adequately serve with LTE you'll certainly drop out of the race to 5G.
Also, FLOW Jamaica is adding Fixed LTE broadband to its porfolio & has voiced its intention to continue along the LTE Advanced path up to LTE-U/LTE-A Pro.
Last edited by Brandysull; Aug 19, 2018 at 10:15 PM.
We don't need figures.. it's a known fact that Digicel's mobile user base is far greater than Flow's mobile user base, I also said that Digicel feels no real treat from Flow so that is a great reason why they are not reacting in the manner you think they should.
In-fact right now Digicel is slowly eating into Flow's Cable/Internet/home phone market, so if Flow is not careful they may run into issues there..
I don't see people blocking the streets and demanding faster internet from Digicel, 90% of what I see if people demanding is more data and better rates as I have said before.. and Digicel just always seems to apply band-aid fixes to everything.
Last edited by GPRS Internet; Aug 20, 2018 at 11:37 AM.