Virgin Islands LTE coverage

[Beginnings]

My wife and I are looking to escape Chicago for an extended time and stay on our Saona 47 in the USVI/BVI for a few months. We’ve not actually sailed there before and since I’m still working I’ve got to have internet access. What are the best places to stay around or close to for reliable wifi or LTE access.

Thanks!

[BrianInBoston]

I can answer that one, we were just in the USVI a couple weeks ago. I had very good AT&T LTE service all along the south and west sides of St Thomas.

St John was tougher, the towers were around Cruz Bay and that extended south somewhat. The mountains north of the Bay blocked signal all along the north coast. In the bays at Maho and Waterlemon, my phone kept linking up to the Lime network over on Tortola in the BVI. Tried to manually block that network but it was a company phone and kept defaulting. Inadvertently ran up some data roaming, not sure what the cost was.

Also had signal at Skinny Legs in Coral Bay St John, but we took a taxi so not sure about out on the water there.

No signal at all at Lameshur, but a lovely view at night of St Croix 30 miles distant on the horizon. Time to put down the screens...

[flightlead404]

Do you use a cell booster?

If so, what can you say about how well they work and whether they are work the $?

Do you have a reasonable browsing experience? Stream NetFlix? ok webex?

Cheers

[BrianInBoston]

I did not have a cell booster, just an iPhone 8 in a LifeProof case. When within sight of St Thomas or near Cruz Bay I used the AT&T LTE signal for reading news sites, work email and weather/radar apps. I had previously downloaded the Navionics chart data for the area as a plotter backup so didn't need cell data for that.

I had 3-4 bars in that area so I suppose if you had a huge data plan you could stream Netflix or Zoom meetings. WFI obviously better for that, so I'd dinghy in to the larger bars and restaurants, many have it.

[Beginnings]

Brian,

That was a helpful rundown. We are heading out there in just a couple more weeks. We are AT&T Customers and I have an unlimited data plan with them so it sounds like for the most part we will be OK.

[svgoodvibration]

I'm in Maho (St John) tonight just on the outside a bit and the LTE on Verizon is pretty good, Verizon uses AT&T towers down here. Last night I was deeper in the bay and had little to no signal while occasionally picking up BVI towers. So far, the north side is ok if you are not too far behind the mountains. On St Thomas Christmas cove was great as was Magens. I do a lot video conferencing with zoom, teams, hangouts etc and it works well. Streaming Netflix and other videos is very doable when the signal is good.

Waiting for STARLINK...

[Beginnings]

Video conferencing is the thing I’m most curious about so I’m glad to hear that has worked well. I’m definitely with you on starlink. They claim it will roll out for worldwide service this year. I’d love to get it and not have to sweat the internet access challenge.

[John Saylor]

Heading down there myself in a few weeks and have AT&T with unlimited domestic plan. All that I was able to glean on chats/forums as well as ATT site is pretty good coverage esp St Thomas. Make sure you turn off “roaming” on your phone so you don’t inadvertently pick up a third party provider and receive a monster bill.

[Beginnings]

So I just got back from three weeks and here is what I found:

- AT&T coverage was good to excellent in most locations around St Thomas, St John and St Croix. Certainly better than I expected.

- Definitely turn off roaming If you are an AT&T customer. I forgot to, got the surprise cost notice but AT&T worked with me and removed all the roaming charges.

- I purchased at VIYA myfi hotspot as back up anyway. For $85 a month for unlimited data (throttled after 90 gigs) it was an insurance plan I felt was worth it. Besides I left it on the boat so charters have free wifi on it.

- I was able to do everything I needed, including video conferences. It was really nice spending nearly a week in Maho Bay being able to snorkel in the morning, work during the day and the hit the beach in the late afternoon.

This was a test run but it confirmed I can work there and get the heck out of Chicago.