How Jamaicans can setup and activate ReadyTV Box

As many Jamaicans may have heard, ReadyTV is making plans to expand islandwide in June 2018, just in time for Summer as noted in my Geezam blog entitled “How ReadyTV will go National in June 2018 to reach Montego Bay and Manchester”. 

With a single tower in Coopers Hill, St Andrew, they’ve managed to supply service to the following parishes:

1.      Kingston

2.      St Catherine

3.      Clarendon

4.      St Ann

5.      Parts of St Mary

6.      Hills of Manchester

That's 35% of Jamaica with two (2) more transmitters in the following areas:

1.      Flower Hill, St James

2.      Huntley tower in Manchester

This would extend their reach to the Western and central part of Jamaica to cover the following parishes:

1.      St Ann

2.      Clarendon

3.      Trelawny

4.      St Elizabeth

Their prepaid cable subscription model is also a part of the attraction, with 10 free digital cable channels as I'd pointed out in my Geezam Wars blog article entitled “ReadyTV’s prepaid cable TV comes with 10 free digital TV channels” 

So how does their service work?

How ReadyTV Service Works - The Installation

ReadyTV's Technicians come to your home and based on your location, they determine if you can get coverage from their tower. Three options exist as listed in the table below:

Delivery Method	Time	Location	Cost	Additional Information
Home Delivery	Within 24 hours	Kingston, Portmore & Spanish Town	$900. The cost of the box is not included.	$1800 in other areas.
Home Delivery & Installation	48 hours	Kingston, Portmore & Spanish Town	$2500. The cost of the box and outdoor antenna is not included.	$4000 in other areas within 48 hours.
Installation Service Only	4 hours (Premium Service)	Premium service in Kingston, Portmore & Spanish Town	$4000 in 4 hours $2500 within 24 hours	$3500 for Standard Installation for other areas

The $4,000 setup cost is far cheaper than any cable company on the market and you get 10 free channels; eight local and two overseas. While your Prepaid TV Starter Pack includes a basic indoor antenna to help get you started, and outdoor antenna to optimize your viewing experience is highly recommended. 

An outdoor antenna will overcome most signal interference issues you might encounter, including:

1.      Distance from our broadcast tower

2.      Obstructed lines of sight

3.      Hilly terrains

4.      Buildings or environmental factors

There are many types of powered and unpowered UHF outdoor antennas that will work with your digital box. Always check the manufacturer’s label to ensure the antenna covers the UHF 470-862MHz frequency range.  

Coverage is not a guarantee from their one Tower in Cooper's Hill so call 1-888-429-5RTV (788) to find out if we have coverage in your area.

So now on to the packages!!!!

How ReadyTV Service Works - The Packages

Subscribers have a choice of one of five (5) packages of 33 channels each:

1.      ReadySTART

2.      ReadySET

3.      ReadyGo

4.      ReadyWIN

5.      ReadyMax

Please see the ReadyTV brochure for more details on the Packages and their codes.

The cost of packages depends on how long the subscriber wishes to enjoy watching these packages and how many channels they wish to have:

1.      $150 per day

2.      $900 per week

3.      $2,700 per month

Please see the ReadyTV brochure for more details on the channel offering for the different packages.

They purchase their packages using ReadyCredit Scratchcards/e-vouchers, which is denominated in a manner similar to Prepaid Phone Card used by Telecom Providers.

These ReadyCredit Scratchcards/e-cards are denominated in a manner similar to Prepaid Phone Card used by Telecom Providers:

1.      $100

2.      $200

3.      $500

They also purchase ReadyCredit Scratchcards/e-vouchers from some local merchants who help to sell their prepaid card use to log on to the services listed out in my Geezam blog article entitled “ReadyTV garners support from Local Merchants to reach 800000 subscribers”.

They are among the many ReadyTV Sales Locations listed on their Website!!!

How ReadyTV Service Works - Registering your ReadyTV Box

After Installation, setting up the ReadyTV box is also very simple as the video shows:

So too is as registering it and adding on the prepaid service as can be seen from this Twitter post on their ReadyTV Twitter page.

Registering your Digital Box is as easy as flipping a switch! #ReadyToLearn?

Watch this quick tutorial and join the #ReadyFam pic.twitter.com/xS43oUXR1e

— Ready TV (@ReadyTV_Ja) November 29, 2017

To register follow the simple steps:

1.      Find the Box ID# on the base of your Digital Box

2.      Send text message to REGISTER to 822-4788 in the format *FirstName*LastName*BOXID#1

3.      You will receive a text message with you User ID

So how do you buy service on ReadyTV?

How ReadyTV Service Works - Topping up, Buying Service and Checking Balance

Topping up with ReadyCredit is very simple:

1.      Use the Scratchcard or E-voucher purchased at one of several ReadyTV Sales Location to Top Up your account.

2.      Dial 822-4788 (4RTV) on your smartphone

3.      Enter the following code; *USER ID*16 DIGIT PIN#1

4.      Read the text message with your purchase confirmation and remaining credit balance

5.      Allow up to 30 minutes for purchased channels to be authorized

You can also check you balances using the following code:

1.      Dial 822-4788 (4RTV) on your smartphone

2.      Enter *USERID*Bal#1 to see your balance

Good to note that your “USER ID” is the four digit number you will receive upon registering your box. You'll also receive a text with Top Up approval and credit balance and codes available to buy channel packages.

Folks, with ReadyTV going National in June 2018, expect more news from the Geezam blog as well as on this blog as we'll be testing out their product and doing a video von their service

Here's how to get in contact with ReadyTV:

Juven Montague-Anderson

Marketing Manager

Telephone: 549-6017, 704-2426

Suite 13-15, The Palms Plaza,

23 West Trade Way,

Portmore , St. Catherine, Jamaica.

Email: info@ReadyTV.com

ReadyTV website

ReadyTV Brochure

ReadyTV Sales Location

ReadyTV Twitter Feed

ReadyTV YouTube Channel 

ReadyTV Facebook Page

How Jamaican can watch GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships Live on 1spotmedia

It's that time of year again when friends become bitter rivals as they support their schools during the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships!

The action starts March 20 -24, 2018 and you can catch it all on 1Spotmedia, the RJR-Gleaner Communication Group's streaming platform. Over this five (5) day period, 1Spotmedia will stream live the most anticipated high school track and field event showcasing the best of Jamaica’s athletic talent.

This Pay-Per-view access will allow you to watch live one of the most enjoyable events on the athletics calendar and experience the camaraderie of high school athletics!

So how do you get in on the action?

1spotmedia portal - Free viewing for Jamaican but diaspora must pay

The 1Spotmedia portal delivers thousands of hours of engaging video on demand content and live streaming of the Group’s four television brands:

1.      TVJ

2.      TVJSN

3.      JNN

4.      RETV

They also have five (5) radios stations that the website streams as well:

1.      RJR 94FM

2.      FAME 95FM

3.      Hitz 92FM

4.      Power 106FM

5.      Music 99FM

Good to note most of them have their own streaming services, which you can find listed in my MICO Wars Blog article entitled “How to get Streaming Jamaican Radio Stations”..

Viewers in Jamaica can watch the event “on the go” via TVJ and TVJSN for free on http://www.1spotmedia.com or on the 1spotmedia app.

All you have to do is register on http://www.1spotmedia.com for the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships Pay Per View. The prices are as follows:

1.      US$25.99 for ‘Early Early Bird’ season pass

2.      US$27.99 for the ‘Early Bird’ season pass

Good to note you can access this early bird passes on March 10 and March 17, a good amount of time before the action begins.  For the rest of the normal folk abroad, regular and Day Passes are as follows:

1.      US$34.99 for Regular season pass

2.      US$10.99 for Day 1 Pass

3.      US$10.99 for Day 2 Pass

4.      US$10.99 for Day 3 Pass     

5.      US$15.99 for Day 4 Pass

6.      US$20.99 for Day 5 Pass       

Something tells me that this is really more for Jamaicans living outside of Jamaica, as no Jamaican is willing to use their credit card to purchase items online. They can register for the Pay-Per-View experience and then download the 1spotmedia App from the Google Play Store and in the Apple App Store on any mobile device.        

Last year the team from Calabar High captured their sixth consecutive Boys Championships title and Edwin Allen captured their fifth Girls title, when both teams eliminated their rivals. Who will win this year?

Here's the link:

1spotmedia website

1spotmedia App on the Google Play Store

1spotmedia App on the Apple Itunes Store

How Motorola and Harvard University study reveal that Nomophobia is getting worse

It’s no secret that smartphones take up a large part of our time and attention spans. Smartphones are talking up a large part of our time and attention. Heck, just writing this sentence, I glanced at my smartphones about 5 times!!

In an effort to understand people’s “phone-life balance" Motorola has released results from a new survey that examines smartphone habits and its impact relationships as reported in the article “Motorola’s survey confirms we’re addicted to our smartphones” published 21 February 2018 by Brenda Stolyar, Digitaltrends.

Motorola developed a global study in partnership Dr. Nancy Etcoff from Harvard University and the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Psychiatry. Independent research company Ipsos undertook the survey on their behalf to look at behaviors and phone use habits across generations.

This was in an effort to understand how smartphones impact our relationships with ourselves as well as others. So what did the study uncover that we didn’t already know?

Motorola and Harvard University – Problems in smartphone-land

The study found that:

1.      33% of respondents prioritize their smartphone over interacting with other people, like friends and family

2.      53% of Gen Z respondents described their phone as their best friend

3.      33% admit to panicking when they have lost their smartphones

4.      29% of participants also agreed they are already thinking about the next time they will be able to use it

5.      50% of the participants agreed they compulsively checked phone and felt the need to do it constantly

Clearly many who took this survey suffer from Nomophobia, which literally means a fear of being without your smartphone as pointed out in my blog article entitled “How to deal with Smartphone Addiction as Wearables trend indicates it is getting worse”.

Good to note here are those of us hose born from the 1990s to the early 2000s, effectively the so-called Millennial group!!

The study also identified three key problematic smartphone behaviors:

1.      Compulsive checking

2.      Excessive phone time

3.      Emotional over-dependence

Also, many recognize that this was a problem and are actively trying to quit or at least want to find a balance as the survey further revealed:

1.      61% of participants who agreed they want to use the phone more efficiently yet not miss moments in their life

2.      30% also agreed they spend too much time on their smartphones and said they'd be happier if they cut back

3.      60% said it was important to have a life separate from their phones

So how and why did Motorola conduct this survey?

Motorola and Harvard University - Smartphone Survey reveals Nomophobia is a real problem

This research was very similar to one done by Antivirus maker Kaspersky Lab who suggested that it is not only killing our relationships, but our ability to think as well as our actions under the sheets as well as noted in my blog article entitled “Kaspersky Lab Smartphone Dependency Study suggests smartphones are killing Reasoning and Sex”.

Motorola recognizes that smartphone users are in need of a better phone-life balance. With this knowledge, in an effort to help others, the company has put together a simple 10-question survey that allows you to:

1.      Understand how you compare to other phone users

2.      Provide tips to improve your smartphone habits

In the end, self-control and quitting cold turkey may be necessary, especially if you are planning to study for exams as pointed out in my MICO Wars blog article entitled

“How Jamaicans can stay awake all night while studying for Exams”.

Sharing is caring so share this with your friends who are trying to quit!!!!