Your fixed broadband speeds

[Falcon1986]

Not seeing any similar threads, so decided to start one just to compare.

To start, I'm using Digicel Fiber 100 in Kingston, wired network, and the service has been reliable. Not sure how I'm getting symmetric fiber, but might be due to bursts during off-peak hours.

[Dr.dre]

They are doing some upgrades so persons in some areas will be seeing the increased upload speeds right now. Watch out for a bill increase down the road lol.

[Falcon1986]

They are doing some upgrades so persons in some areas will be seeing the increased upload speeds right now. Watch out for a bill increase down the road lol.

There's always a catch.

As long as the quality of service and speeds improve, I'm willing to pay a little more.

[leoandru]

Seems I got a speed bump as well I was on 150 now 180. Maybe a bill hike coming?

[Arch_Angel]

Seems I got a speed bump as well I was on 150 now 180. Maybe a bill hike coming?

Same. Have the 50MB package from FLOW. Seems I'm getting 60MB now. Not that I could really tell the difference until you all mentioned it.

[5dB]

My upload speed doubled. Slight increase in download speed.

[MaxFactor1]

100 Digi and 50 Flow.... yes it's me.... og representing....

[GPRS Internet]

On 100mbps package at home, not seeing any upgrades,... Have 50mbps at my office, will check that soon...

[Chris]

100 Digi and 50 Flow.... yes it's me.... og representing....

Coming out from the cave ... like your avatar??

[khat17]

Was away from the forum for a bit. Had work. Internet.... *sigh*

Think I'll discuss a bit and give out publicly some of the info that I have.

FLOW has fiber lines across the island. Most companies use "dark fiber" - basically additional lines within the multi-mode fiber that FLOW isn't using. They rent from FLOW and this includes Digicel. Each company that rents dark fiber has their own equipment that separates their network, but damage to the MAIN line can affect one user and not another.

That said - I don't know if Digicel has any infrastructure of their own. Meaning fiber lines.

On services - GPON is offered by FLOW and, as the name suggests, it's a gigabit that can be offered up/down. HFC is available from FLOW and is used in most of the island, but FLOW has been building out GPON in areas where HFC is not available. I have no direct experience with Digicel, but their fixed service seems to be GPON without offering gigabit - I believe the maximum is 200Mbps or 400Mbps.

If I recall correctly, HFC has a maximum speed of 500Mbps down and 150Mbps up. GPON is gigabit up/down. FLOW does not provide anywhere near those speeds to clients. As a business client, you can get as much bandwidth as you need - if you're willing to pay for it. For residential, it's a maximum of 150Mbps down and 50Mbps up - the new "Yaad and Road" packages. Not sure what the GPON speeds are, but some persons seem to get symmetrical 50/50. Again - no idea what the highest speeds offered on GPON by FLOW to residential clients would be.

On "catches" and "customer service" - FLOW is the absolute worst with the latter, and Digicel is the worst with the former. For example - on the mobile platforms...FLOW actually gives you unlimited minutes and data. They've been playing with similar things like T-Mobile to give unlimited data at lower speeds. Digicel gives you notifications on calls or data about "fair usage" and you have to buy more. You get the same messages (or similar) from FLOW, but your services still work.

On the fixed services? From persons I know that have Digicel (since I don't have it...) their customer service is far superior to FLOW. FAR. And services are never down for 24 hours unless there's a major issue. Most problems are solved within 6 hours it seems - I say that though I've not heard of outages exceeding an hour. Speeds are better overall, but latency seems to be higher. I've not done any recent tests on Digicel to confirm any improvements with the latency, but the speeds are solid.

The problem with Digicel is that their fixed lines may be run similarly to their mobile. New packages with "MORE DATA AND MINUTES!" that you never asked for. But more cost and no option to stay on the older packages. FLOW has been known to increase data/minutes/packages without added cost. My wife was on an 8GB mobile data package and was upgraded at no extra cost to 20GB. Just saying. Where fixed is concerned though - FLOW is known to leave you on deprecated packages that cost more so they can collect more. The new packages are very good, but any benefits that were tied to older packages are no longer applicable. For example - I can't upgrade regardless of how much I'd like to. Love the 50Mbps upload - can't get it. My older package included 50% off mobile plans. It's going to cost me MUCH MORE overall monthly if I change to the new package.

That's it for now. I'll head back to the cave ahead of Max.