Flow roll-out in Port Royal

[Tuff Gong]

Port Royal residents eagerly sign up for internet, telephone and digital cable

BY TANEISHA LEWIS Observer staff reporter
Monday, October 30, 2006

RESIDENTS of Port Royal will no longer have to trek to the library to access the Internet, or kick and punch their television sets in the vain hope of improving their satellite cable connections.

Yesterday, Port Royal became the first community to receive full "triple play"- Internet, telephone and digital cable - service from Jamaica's newest tele-communications company, Flow.

Close to 1,500 people currently reside in Port Royal, a historic community. Rick Pardy, Flow's chief executive officer told the Observer, that the company anticipates that at least half of the approximately 500 households in that community would be connected by next week.

"We also plan to provide the free Internet service for the learning centre here," Pardy added.
But for majority of the residents who gathered yesterday, a few metres from the square under tents designated for signing up for the various services, it meant that they would no longer have to squint or bang on their TV sets to watch a movie or television programme.

"When me did just get cable me did get all of the channels, but after a while me lucky if me can see three or four of the channels," one resident, who yesterday signed up of the Flow's digital service said.
The price for digital cable ranges from $650 to $3,900 for between 45 and 250 channels. Digital land line services begin at $495 and Internet services range from $650 to $2,450.

Yesterday, not even another earthquake could tear the children and some adults away from the areas that had been set up to demonstrate the services Flow had to offer.
"My family signed up for cable, Kyle Watler told the Observer, as he flipped through the channels on a TV that had been set up. "I like Flow because it is much more updated and it has a lot more channels to offer."

Similarly, children and adults alike crowded the telephone and computers, equipped with the Internet, that were part of the promotions.
One woman quickly hung up the phone and blurted out "it can call farrin (overseas) fi true," immediately after she discovered that her call had gone through.

Meantime, a Flow representative who had been registering residents for the various services, pointed out that most of the people she processed were interested in the digital cable services. The Internet, she said, came in a close second.

Member of Parliament for East Kingston and Port Royal, Phillip Paulwell, commended Flow for choosing Port Royal as the first community in the island to receive its services.
The Minister of Commerce, Science and Technology also noted that the total investment of the four major telecommunications providers was close to $70 billion.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html...GITAL_CABLE.asp

[Pepper]

Re: Flow roll-out in Port Royal

[img]/forums/images/graemlins/70409-waytogo.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70409-waytogo.gif[/img]
Fiyah pon C&W for their elitist service system.

[Hopyoneson]

Re: Flow roll-out in Port Royal

Yes C&W fi get lick, when i was down there all they was saying was now they respect customers and blah blah blah, I am happy flow rolling out services, I thought they were going to pull the old bait and switch and not deliver, but it sounds like they are doing it finally.

[Gen]

Re: Flow roll-out in Port Royal

wow ...triple play [img]/forums/images/graemlins/bannana_purple.gif[/img]

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Flow roll-out in Port Royal

[ QUOTE ]
[img]/forums/images/graemlins/70409-waytogo.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70409-waytogo.gif[/img]
Fiyah pon C&W for their elitist service system.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was talking to my brother he has Flow @ the office and Cable and Wutliss @ home. He says Flow went down once the day it was installed. It lasted 15 mins. Cable and Wutliss, have been down, cost more and less bandwidth.

The prices are still high for both services however.

[RichD]

Re: Flow roll-out in Port Royal

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Huge costs to switch cable providers - Triple-play monthly charges range from $3,000 to $5,700
published: Sunday | November 26, 2006

Susan Gordon, Business Reporter


In this March 2006 file photo, a Flow work crew is seen laying cables in Rockfort, Kingston. - File

As triple-play packages proliferate, sparked by Flow Communication's entry into the market, cable users opting to switch providers or subscribe to new products will face additional costs ranging from 70 per cent to 400 per cent.

Triple-play service offers voice, Internet and cable in one package.

Households with cable service have the option of a $3,000 package offered through Direct Connect Jamaica, in partnership with two cable companies, or $7,147 more charged by Jamaica Amalgamated Cable Systems (JACS).

Flow, whose service roll-out is still confined to specific areas of the capital, Kingston, charges $12,000 to install and provide the bundled service.

increase in cable bills

This new phenomenon of buying packages is likely to increase monthly cable bills by more than 100 per cent. The typical cable customer currently pays $800 to $2,200, on average.

Local cable operators are restricted by the Broadcasting Commission to operate in two or fewer zones, so for now, the bundled services are not widespread.

But Flow's plan to acquire some 18 cable companies, if successful - it has only announced a partnership with one so far - could change the landscape.

After Flow's announcement last November to offer the triple-play package to the Jamaican market, there has been much euphoria among consumers wanting to explore this option of what the new company promised would be cheap rates.

But Flow's roll-out has not been as fast as anticipated. In the meantime, Direct Connect, an associated company of telecommunications carrier Jamaica Network Access Point, has secured deals with at least three cable providers so far, including Entertainment Systems Limited, who would use Jamaica Network Access Point Limited's (JNAP) infrastructure to package voice and Internet with cable for their customers.

The Direct Connect product, called One Network, has no set up costs. The package, offered by Entertainment Systems at a flat monthly rate of $3,000, includes unlimited high-speed Internet, basic un-metered landline calls within the network, and more than 100 cable channels.

All local cable companies partnering with Direct Connect will be able to offer the triple service at the same $3,000 rate, according to JNAP's Dean Panton.

In comparison, Flow's 'super triple play' will cost new and even existing cable users an installation fee of $3,995 plus GCT, a refundable security deposit of $2,000, and a monthly fee of $5,749.33, inclusive of GCT, totalling $12,403.

This low-deal package offers 175 cable channels, 300 minutes of international calls to the United States and Canada, local calls at $1.95 per minute to Cable and Wireless Jamaica (C&WJ) landlines, and $9.50 and $10 per minute to C&WJ and Digicel mobiles, respectively.

The package gives Flow's customers high speed, four megabytes per second connection and unlimited Internet access.

JACS triple play

JACS, which started offering Internet service two years ago, according to marketing coordinator Pamela Fishley, has stepped up to triple play.

The Portmore company is charging an additional $3,072 to offer the three-in-one service - which includes the current $800 charge for cable - plus a $4,075 installation cost to be paid one month in advance.

It will cost existing JACS clients $7,147 to acquire 60 basic channels, plus Internet and voice service, which is provided by JACS Verge, another arm of the company.

But, outside of a one-off installation fee, consumers contemplating a switch will have to compare monthly rentals for cable charged by the three groups offering bundles - $3,000 for Direct Connect and its partners; $3,872 for JACS and $5,749.33 for Flow.

- [email protected]





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