My Thoughts on Technology and Jamaica: @LIMEJamaica 4G not in Rural Jamaica - Why Summer 2015 in Clarendon will be a @Digicel_Jamaica Zero Summer

Thursday, April 30, 2015

@LIMEJamaica 4G not in Rural Jamaica - Why Summer 2015 in Clarendon will be a @Digicel_Jamaica Zero Summer

While Telecom Provider Digicel rolled out Digicel Zero on Friday April 24th 2015 in response to WhatsApp rollout of WhatsApp to WhatsApp Voice Calling on Thursday April 23rd 2015  as noted in my blog article entitled “Digicel launches Digicel Zero - How @Digicel_jamaica is testing VoLTE vs @WhatsApp's Free Voice Calling to boost smartphone sales”, Telecom Provider LIMEW is taking a different approach.

Seeing that VoIP calling from WhatsApp is going to be the main driver for smartphone purchases as well as the ever present popularity of Social Media sites such as Facebook, Telecom Provider LIME has opted instead to put the Huawei on a JAS$3999 one day Sale.

So says their LIME Jamaica Twitter Feed as shown below.


But does this mean that their 4G service is finally coming to the rest of Jamaica? Apparently not!

LIME 4G not in the Rural Areas – Focused on Making Money from Business Services

Telecom Provider LIME appears unruffled by this latest update from the Facebook Camp, possibly because their business isn't purely mobile.

Their focus is on the Business side of Data, despite having launched their upgraded 21 MBps 3G+ Network in Kingston and St. Andrew , which they've dubbed “4G”, in April 2014 as noted in the article “LIME To Roll Out New 4G Network - 5G Being Developed By UK, Germany”,  published Friday March 28, 2014,The Jamaica Gleaner.

Albeit Social Media does get people to buy more smartphones, Mobile Data from regular customers isn't a growth area for them. Evidence of this can be seen from their "4G" offerings across the island a year late in April 2015, as they've yet to cover most of the island.

Instead they've chosen to focus on areas that have large populations, like Mandeville, Manchester  in November 2014 as noted in the article “Mandeville Goes 'Superfast' With LIME 4G Upgrade”, Published Monday November 3, 2014, The Jamaica Gleaner.
Since that last major announcement for 4G Deployments across Jamaica, I've not heard any more updates on 4G coming to anywhere else in Jamaica.

Milk River, Clarendon uses Private WiMax – Summer is going to be all about Digicel Zero in Clarendon

In Milk River, Clarendon, which is fourteen (14) miles from May Pen, Clarendon, we’ve been subsisting on Wireless Internet thanks to a private contractor who installed a private WiMax Network powered by a FLOW Jamaica head-end in our community as noted in my blog article entitled “FLOW rolls out Hosted PBX - How 100 MBs FLOW Ultra can power a Private WiMaX Community Network”.

Just last year in the fourth Quarter of 2014, we began to pickup Digicel “4G” Internet, thanks to an antenna re-alignment in neighboring Gimme-Me-bit that's giving us coverage. However, thus is only the “4G” Mobile Service which is only for smartphones; we're yet to get access to their 4G Broadband service.

This means I can't get to use my EX-250 modem which I've spoken of upgrading to a DX-250 Model as noted in my blog article entitled “@Digicel_Jamaica Greenpacket Ex-250 Modem – No Exchange for a Greenpacket Dx-250 Modem as Data Prices haven’t changed since 2013” in Milk River, Clarendon when I go home for the summer.

Telecom Provider LIME is totally non-existent in Milk River as well as the rest of Clarendon.

Their low cost JA$3999 Huawei Ascend Y330 which was very competitively priced against the JA$7599 Digicel DL700  purchased during the World Cup 2014 as noted in my blog article entitled  “JA$3999 Huawei Ascend Y330 vs JA$7599 Digicel DL700 this Summer of 2014 - Waggonists Transfer Form not Required to get new smartphone” are the main reason why most Milk River and Clarendon people as a whole have a smartphone.

Telecom Provider LIME continued with this strategy against the then overpriced JA$13,688 DL750 from Digicel as noted in my blog article entitled  “JA$3999 + GCT Huawei Ascend Y330 from @limejamaica - JA$13,688 DL750 price cute expected from @digiceljamaica for Christmas 2014”.

Telecom Provider Digicel eventually capitulated, resulting in the great Christmas sale of the DL700, the DL750 and the introduction of the DL800 and DL900 smartphones as noted in my blog article entitled  “JA$6,950 DL750 and JA$8,250 DL800 on Sale at Digicel – Alcatel One Touch Pop C1 as ZTE Force Awakens and Alcatel’s Empire Strikes Back”.

But we can't use their Data Service, as they’ve got no “4G” coverage in Milk River, Clarendon.

So when I go home this Summer after exams are over at the MICO University College for my Professional Diploma in Teaching course, I'm willing to bet everyone in Milk River, Clarendon and the rest of Clarendon as a whole will be hooked on Digicel Zero.




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