This is a direct branch off from my last post. I realized something with most small to medium businesses in Jamaica – there’s very little thought given to IT. Whether internal or external IT suggestions – most of it is glossed over until something happens. We’re more reactive than proactive.
To reduce the risks associated with owning tech in Jamaica – here’s some info to get things going.
POWER – UPS – SURGE STRIP
Regardless of you being a home user or a business – you NEED power protection. JPS is not the most reliable power company, and they cannot guarantee clean power to you just by virtue of how things are.
A great example that was given to me by a friend was this – imagine that you’ve built a new home on a newly commissioned area that JPS has put in a brand new transformer. You’re getting the best and cleanest power off the grid in your area. But…5-10 miles down the road – nowhere near you – someone is running a business that does welding. The electrical noise generated on the line will affect your supply – believe it or not. Now imagine being a business and there are dozens of other buildings nearby with varying power requirements. How can JPS guarantee that YOU will get clean power?
While an ONLINE UPS would be best – the cost is very heavy per unit. The cheapest single unit costs around JMD$80,000 – meaning that’s what it would be for ONE PC. Quite expensive if you should outfit all your devices with an ONLINE UPS. So the next best thing is the LINE INTERACTIVE UPS – or SWITCHING UPS. These are the more common ones that make a “click” when they switch from JPS to battery and back. They provide good enough protection for your equipment – but as with most things, there are some brands that work better than others.
FORZA has become very popular in Jamaica – but it’s not a brand that I’d recommend for their UPSes at current. Their surge strips and other devices seem fine, but brands I’d recommend include:
APC
Liebert
PowerWare
If you can’t afford a UPS – at the very least – get a surge strip. And not one of the cheap ones from the supermarket – a good surge strip from APC – or even a Forza one. The surge strip will at least protect the system in the event of a high voltage surge.
If you’re in a place that has lots of outages – maybe a fridge guard would do better. At least those stay off until power has returned to a constant supply for 5 minutes – I think the timer varies with different models.
BACKUP
This is something that – surprisingly – isn’t taken as seriously as it should be. If you’ve followed the news, you’ll realize that lots of business locally have fallen victim to ransomware and other cyber attacks. Without even considering the darker side of computing, there’s the fact that devices may fail due to age or factory faults. With no proper backups available, a failed drive could grind business to a halt.
Speak with your IT personnel to discuss local and cloud backup solutions. You can do one or both depending on your needs and budget.
MAINTENANCE
This is another sore point for most places. If the systems are working – “just keep swimming” as the statement goes (Finding Nemo reference). Excessive dirt buildup over time can lead to part failure. Static buildup due to the dirt, or having the dirt become “caked” into the circuitry may then cause breaks and failures – or cause failures after cleaning is done. That last one is funny – imagine dirt literally becoming a part of the circuitry and holding the pathways together – then you get it cleaned – then it fails because the circuit is now broken. Things like this actually happen – and it’s not the fault of the technician – unless THEY didn’t schedule your servicing.
Each environment is different, and some systems require more maintenance than others as a result. Typically, home and office systems should be good with 1-4 times per year. This depends on the environment primarily, as a system elevated (on a desk) will have less dirt than one on the ground – typically. And a system in an AC environment will have less than one that’s not in an AC room – typically.
Laptops will usually require less maintenance – again – based on the environment. One that is used by a person that has it on a bed, couch and any kind of fabric surface will find that it’s more dirty than one that’s always kept on a desk, table or flat surface. Even if it’s used in a bed or couch, a laptop that’s kept on a book or cooling pad will have less dirt than one placed directly on the fabric surface.
With laptops – again – there are variables. Some have intake from the back, the bottom (typically) or the top – right through the keyboard keys.
SECURITY
This is another topic that I can’t get into much right now. It will depend on the business/home and how the staff/users utilize the resources. There are always best practices that should be followed, and each person should take the time to review their surroundings – work or home – and do their best to not place the equipment at risk.
Let’s give some examples.
Don’t click on links in emails that seem suspicious.
Don’t go to illegal websites.
Don’t click on pop-ups.
Even if you know the sender – should the email seem suspicious, call and validate the information with the sender. Their account could be compromised.
IN CLOSING
Check with your IT person/s to verify what needs to be done. Have security reviewed by your IT person/s and take steps to secure your systems. Use password managers. Don’t randomly click yes/allow unless you’re SURE about what’s being run. Do what’s needed to stay safe.
LINKS
The link below was found as one of the first Google results from a search I did.
So recently I had a discussion with a friend in the IT field which got a bit heated. I realized that while we were saying the same thing – the way in which we’d analyze and question the client was different. So I got to thinking – how could I make this easier for persons to get into? Let’s make an attempt.
DISCLAIMER
As usual – this is my own POV. If you disagree we can discuss. Etc. Etc.
I’m also going to try and simplify this to keep it somewhat short. So let’s go into it.
YOUR NEEDS
The best computer/laptop/tablet/phone/car/etc – is the one that suits your needs. Now I added “car” into that for a reason that we’ll get into for comparison.
All cars do exactly the same thing. They get you from point A to point B. Some are more comfortable than others. Some you may have a certain experience with that gives you a bias towards one versus another. As an example – some persons swear by European vehicles, some rather Japanese and others rather the “American Muscle” types. But whatever the reason – regardless of how fast or slow – they do the job.
A computer/laptop is very similar. It will get the job done regardless of specs, but some will do it faster than others. With that bit out of the way. Let’s talk money.
BUDGET
This is usually the deciding factor. Regardless of all the bells and whistles – the price will usually be the deciding factor. If the system is a desktop then the ability to upgrade individual parts will be more likely. Portable devices (laptop/tablet/phone) don’t usually have that luxury – or the parts that CAN be upgraded/changed would be less. So let’s go into the next question.
PLATFORM
The primary area my friend and I got stuck on. The platform. I ask this for familiarity and the possibility that a user/client may already have software within the platform that they want to continue using. For example – a Windows user may have purchased Sony Vegas for video editing while a Mac user may have purchased an Adobe Premiere license. Persons with licenses like Adobe Creative Cloud may be able to move between Mac and Windows platforms, but platform familiarity will also reduce the learning curve to get tasks done. Which brings me to the next point.
USAGE CASE
This is related to the first point – your needs. If you’re going to be gaming then it’s more recommended to use Windows. This isn’t to say you can’t game on Mac or Linux – but it’s easier to get things set up on Windows. If you’re doing emulation, the new Mac M2 does an excellent job – far better than equivalent priced PC hardware.
This section isn’t one that can be painted with a broad brush – there’s too many variables. But your comfort level with the platform, the upgrade path and budget will all play a part in your decision.
FAMILIARITY (Again – Somewhat)
When asked about a recommendation, I may say (for example) that you should buy the HP EliteBook. Your reply may then be that you hate HP based on your experience. I could then suggest Lenovo – and your reply may be that you don’t want anything out of China. These variables may then cause certain questions to be raised based on the needs. So how can we (somewhat) summarize this?
SUMMARY
What is your budget?
Do you have a platform preference?
Do you have software/licenses that you wish to keep?
If you do have licenses – are they platform specific?
Are you looking into moving to another platform?
Are you looking for a desktop (stationary) or a laptop (portability)?
There’s more to it – but I think that’ll do to get the ball rolling. In the mean time – as of today – 2023-02-17 – you can check out a few of these links below.
To make things easier. If you buy a gaming class device, or a business class device – whether it’s a laptop or desktop – then it will likely have better components and a longer warranty. If you want your desktop system built by a technician – that can be done as well. If you go the Mac route – bear in mind that there are various models. There will usually be a BASE MODEL that has very little to it – as well as a “flagship” model that has all the bells and whistles.
In the past – getting a Mac would be difficult where warranty and servicing is concerned, but ATL is an authorized dealer locally. This means that all of the services that you’d get overseas can be had right here.
Lastly – don’t expect a $200 computer/laptop to give you the performance of a $500 one. Unlike a car – the person driving it doesn’t improve the chances of a better result.
I’d like to have persons somewhat familiarized with Starlink and what it does. Then we’ll get into some more details. A good video with information is linked below.
Basically – it’s a satellite internet service that is faster than the old ones. Dish had satellite internet, but due to how far those were, the latency was horrible. You had internet – but very slow.
Starlink uses low-orbit satellites to give you MUCH improved service over the other satellite internet providers.
With that out of the way – let’s get into some details that you may need to move forward.
PRICING
The cost of the Starlink hardware (as of this writing – 2023-02-06) is JMD$60,500. It’s quite a lot, but considering a few things…it’s not that bad.
Your kit contains:
A wireless router. No LAN.
A power cable for the router.
A standing mount for the “dish”.
A “dish” – satellite receiver.
A really long cable attached to the “dish”.
That’s it. Nothing else. The main issue I had is no LAN – but we’ll get into that later. You can buy multiple addons from their site at https://shop.starlink.com/ if you so desire.
The reason it costs so much – aside from the general hardware cost – is the fact that this includes:
The hardware (listed above).
Shipping – using DHL.
CUSTOMS!!!!!
Delivery – again – DHL.
The fact that it includes customs makes it worth the price IMO. Especially considering that the cost in the USA is around USD$599 (USD$600 basically).
DHL
The shipping done by DHL in Jamaica is a bit tricky. If you’re in Kingston or some other location that has a street number, lot number, house number, etc…then you’ll get the item right at your door. Most of Jamaica doesn’t have this, so the item will most likely be delivered to the nearest DHL to your shipping address. So you’ll get a phone call once the item is available at the nearest DHL location – you go in – sign for it – go home.
SETTING UP
I’m going to apologize for some of the low quality pictures you’ll see. But here we go.
The box is about 2ft by 1ft. You get the previously listed items.
The “dish” plus the stand. A really long cable. And the router. Above you’ll see the “dish” on the stand with the router on the right.
The box is very neatly packed. I recommend saving everything and making a note of how it was packaged. You can then put it back if you want to return it after the free trial period (30 days) is up.
Once you get everything out – you’ll see what I was talking about. The cable is really long – probably 75 feet or more. They have 75ft and 150ft cables on https://shop.starlink.com/ – so I assume you’re shipped with one of those.
There’s a card included that gives instructions. The assembly is straightforward and pretty easy. There is just one thing I need to stress though…
DO NOT TRY TO MOVE THE UNIT BY HAND. The “dish” has motors and will automatically attempt to align itself once it’s connected. Once you’re done it should be the items below connected by a cable – and a power cable from the router to JPS. I advise you to get a UPS to reduce your downtime and protect the equipment from surges/outages.
It’s best to have the device placed where there are no visible obstructions. I assume that based on our location, a clear view to North is advised. You can secure the device to your roof or elsewhere – I’ll get into some other details about the device later on.
You’ll realize in the above image that the “dish” is aligned North. I noticed this prior to securing the device to a roof. It always faced North. Since Jamaica is a small island in comparison to a large continent like the USA – I assume all “dishes” will be aligned to the same location.
CONFIGURATION
Prior to setting up – it’s advised to get the Starlink app from the related store – Apple or Android.
You should already have a login to the Starlink website – use that when signing into the app.
Once you have everything up and running – you’ll see a network called STARLINK that is open. Connect to it and go through the setup in the app. In my case – the device may have been used previously and not reset properly. The person obviously didn’t like the unit or company. My network was called “STINKY”.
Everything prompts you on how to proceed. Set up the wireless network and leave the system to do what it needs to do.
It’ll take a while for everything to be done – 15 minutes to 30 minutes – but it’s pretty straightforward as I said. Here are some other images and information to give you some ideas beforehand.
As stated – the device needs a clear view of the sky. It’ll align itself automatically once it’s on.
Once everything is done you’ll have internet available by wireless. As I said – really easy to set up and configure. But – let’s get into some other things.
LOCATION
While Jamaica is a small place – the device is location locked. You can’t take it from MoBay to Negril and expect it to work. You’ll probably get an error like below.
There’s also some information when you try to move the location – either online through the website or through the app. And I’ve got a tip for that.
Hit the option to UPDATE ADDRESS and ensure you have Google Maps handy. Find your address and get the coordinates. As an example – “18.502432073010848, -77.91474222411976” is the location for the airport in MoBay. The Starlink app location doesn’t support that many characters, so it may end up as something like “18.502432, -77.914742” instead. But just get it as close as possible. Once you put that in – give it another 15-30 minutes and it’ll come right up.
Another method is to use the “PLUS CODE” for the location. Still using MBJ Airport (Sangster’s) you can find the code once you scroll down if it’s not visible.
If the “PLUS CODE” is not available, click on your location on the map. It will drop a pin and show the coordinates at the bottom.
Once you click on your coordinates, it will bring up the “PLUS CODE” on the left.
In the picture above, I picked a random location close to the airport – you’ll see that the “PLUS CODE” is on the left once you click on the coordinates at the bottom in the prior image. It’s best to use that on the StarLink site – it seems to work better. On the off chance your location doesn’t have a plus code after following the instructions, just use the coordinates. Copy and paste into the StarLink site and you should be good to go.
One issue with this may be the zooming in. You could be attempting to change the location and notice that the option is not available. You must zoom in as close as possible on the available map to get the location changed. Just bear in mind the coordinates from Google Maps – or use the website.
PORTABILITY?
They offer portability to be able to move the device wherever you want. For an additional JMD$2,000 monthly. This was an issue from what I saw – because the Boat & RV version is not available in Jamaica. We only get the fixed address version so you’re a bit limited in what you can do. A workaround would be to use it at home and then – if you’re going elsewhere temporarily – take it and pay the extra JMD$2,000 so you’ll have internet wherever you are.
WiFi STANDARD
Another issue I had is the standard the device uses. We have basically 6 versions of wireless standards.
A – Old original standard.
B – Next available standard.
G – Probably the most common standard with older devices.
N – Not too old standard which has gained traction.
AC – Pretty recent standard which isn’t available on all devices.
AX – The latest standard.
WiFi6 or WiFi-6 is also Wireless AX. The latest and greatest. It’s a bit unfortunate that the device stops at AC (5) and didn’t go to AX (6) – but it’s still not bad.
For the more technical persons – let me put this here.
So it depends on a couple things. However – WiFi-6 is the latest but WiFi-5 is where the Starlink router stops – as of this post.
LAN?
There is no network port available on the device. If you want that – you’ll have to buy the addon for it.
SPEEDS
Now – they advertise 200Mbps for you to see, but what you get will vary.
The finalized speed test showed 130Mbps down with 19Mbps up. That’s FAR better than you can get on DSL locally, and especially in areas where there is no available internet – or poor signal (like Portland) this would be awesome.
What I found confusing is the upload speeds. Note that there are two separate test results above. The LEFT is from the phone to the speed test server in use. The RIGHT is from the “dish” to the satellite. You’ll notice it has awesome download link speeds – but the phone is much slower. Yet – for some reason – the upload on the phone side is higher. I assume this is part of the available bandwidth based on network saturation. It’s possible that more people going online will reduce the overall performance, but they are improving it constantly – so maybe things will be about the same?
LATENCY
Some persons complained about the latency being high, but I didn’t see that. Considering how the technology is, you’re getting great service for about JMD$1,000 more than what FLOW would charge for their HFC service. And you are less likely to have downtimes like FLOW would give.
For the more technical persons – here are two latency tests. Click to enlarge and view the results.
Overall – for a satellite service to average under 80ms during tests – that’s a win IMO.
MANAGEMENT
It’s best to use the app to do everything. With the exception of the location aspect – the app is the way to go. With it you can change all the settings for the wireless along with power management settings for snow melting and such – which we don’t need in Jamaica. You can also “stow” the device from the app. This basically puts it back in position so you can package it for storage or shipping.
CONCLUSION
While Digicel and FLOW are the best available options for home internet, Starlink is a strong third contender. If you need a multi-WAN setup you can use Starlink as your failover.
If you’re in a location where HFC or fiber internet is not available from either FLOW or Digicel (FLOW has both based on availability and area – Digicel is fiber only) – then Starlink is the best option.
If you live in a remote location and want to be mostly off-grid – then Starlink is your best option.
Price is pretty good in comparison to the USD costs – the monthly charge is just JMD$1,000 more than what you’d pay to FLOW for current HFC packages – you probably won’t need an “expert” to do the install – and there is no contact. You can stop your service whenever and resume when you’re ready.
The only drawback is the initial cost for the hardware, but once you’ve gotten past that – you should have fairly reliable service.
I’ve just not done so far is test it in a storm or on a really cloudy day – but I’ll update once that’s done.
UPDATE – 2023-05-31
So I’ve tested during rain with clouds – and I’m still getting over 100Mbps down. I’ve done tests and gotten 200Mbps+ while it’s raining – so it’s safe to say it works quite well. Once you have the cables secured, you should even be able to use it during a storm. I don’t recommend that though – you could have damage to the device. It’s best to take it down if you have the threat of a hurricane and then put it back after. While wind and rain shouldn’t affect it, you have no control over flying debris.
I forgot to mention – though it’s kind of obvious – StarLink is an INTERNET ONLY provider. You won’t get cable TV or land line. If you go the StarLink route, it would be best to have an IPTV or other subscription if you’re a TV person.
For the phones – most places locally (Jamaica) have land line numbers that you can call directly. The locations you’d want a land line to call would mostly be those with toll free numbers listed. Using the Yellow Pages website to look up a company will usually provide a regular number you can call directly. JPS for example, has no direct number on their own website, but they do have a regular number on the Yellow Pages listing. You want to use regular numbers if you have a mobile plan with limited or unlimited minutes, as calls to toll free numbers in Jamaica are not toll free from a mobile device.
For me, the fact that the service is less likely to be down when FLOW and Digicel might be – that’s a major win. We even had recent events in the last week or two from this update where most of the island was out of service if you were a FLOW user. This happened for a day or two and affected both residential and business customers. Digicel also had one of the longest outages I’ve ever heard of from a user in Mandeville – from about 6PM the evening before until about 11AM the next day. This is unheard of with Digicel from when I’ve seen, as outages do not usually last more than 2 hours. Maintenance with Digicel is also done in the very late hours, and customers are still given notice by SMS about the maintenance being done.
That’s it for now. Hopefully the information helps. Weigh the pros and cons and take your pick.
UPDATE – 2024-03-09
There is currently a deal going on where you can purchase a refurbished kit for about JMD$36,000. According to StarLink – this kit will have the same warranty as a new kit.
Go on their website directly and do the order. During the process it’ll ask if you want a new kit (about JMD$60,000) or the refurbished kit.
