myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Question:

Does anyone know if there are any hotels, condos, villas, guesthouses, etc. which offer internet access in your room? (Crown Point Hotel offers "free internet access" but I suspect that I would have to make numerous trips to their office with my laptop.)

Or in the alternative a Cellular/Internet Co. who would be willing to give us access for a month at a monthly rate?

We are heading to Tobago next February for five weeks and want to continue working from there. My husband is a Technical Translator and all his clients are in Europe!

Thanks, Joanne

Hi Joanne

To the best of my knowledge, there are no hotel, guesthouses, apartments or villas on Tobago with Internet-enabled computers in the rooms. I can certainly vouch that there are no such facilities amongst the larger hotels and would be extremely surprised if it is available anywhere.

ALL the hotels offer some form of Internet access, but as you correctly say, you will have to make regular trips to their office to use their computer. None of them – or any of the Internet cafés - will allow you to use your own laptop with their dial-up. After all, if they provide you with their dial-up access codes, what’s to stop you using your laptop with their account anywhere else on the island?

You can, of course, use your own laptop from ANY hotel or other accommodation room – provided it has a telephone access point in the room. Some modern hotels hard-wire the telephone points into the wall, but every hotel I’ve used in Tobago has had standard fittings, so it has always been easy to simply unplug the telephone and plug in the modem lead. One or two have had modem ports in the actual telephone base, making it even easier.

To use your laptop in your room, you will have to arrange a local dial-up account. The major ISP over there is TSTT (http://www.tstt.net.tt). They are awful – truly awful. Their performance is poor and their customer service is the worst I’ve ever come across. You will not be able to open an account be email – I’ll be amazed if you even get an answer to enquiries. Telephoning them is no better. You will have to go into their offices in Scarborough to open an account, sign the forms and pay in advance. I have heard that visitors without a regular TSTT land-line telephone account can have major problems opening an account with TSTT. They are, however, the only provider that can offer you a full (????) 56K dial-up connection with a toll-free local access number.

My suggestion is that you contact Peter Wimbourne of Opus Networkx in Trinidad. They offer 33.6K access through a Port of Spain access number. They have provided me with economic short-term dial-up accounts in the past. Although the line speed is slow, the service has been good. You can contact Peter at [email protected].

Do not even think about using your cellphone for Internet access. Apart from the fact that you will only get a 9.6Kbps connection, at best, the overseas call charges will bankrupt you.

One final point, assuming you do arrange a local dial-up with either TSTT or Opus, discuss it with the hotel before using the number. Many hotel telephone systems charge you based on the length of time you are using the line. Even though you are dialling a toll-free number, you could find yourself in for a shock when you come to settle your hotel bill.

I can simply tell you that despite these problems, with a little planning and arrangement working from Tobago is no problem. My entire business is web-based so I spent a lot of time on-line during my last month on the island.

Hope this helps, but come back to me if you have any other specific questions on this subject. By the way - sorry to move your question, but I felt the information might be of benefit to a wider readership in the General section.

Thanks Steve for your very informative e-mail.

I will send an e-mail to Peter@Opus on Monday and get some more details as to availability and the process.

By the way, I posed this question to young Prince Robinson at Birdie's Nest. What a sweetie!

He will be watching for me for progress of a phone line to the "Nest" and hence internet access for future visitors who would want this service. What an enterprising young man!

Anyway, any more info you can supply or I gather, will be shared with all.

Regards, Joanne

Hi Steve:

Got in touch with Peter at OPUS. In addition to the cost of setting up the internet account, we will also have to pay the long distance charges to POS everytime we dial up as there is no toll-free access.

Reluctantly I have contacted TSTT but there has been no answer of of yet and I suspect it will happen in its own sweet time.

While Crown Point is the only hotel that allows free access in their office, they will allow us to use our laptop. "But if there are interntional calls we have to pay the long distance charges"

I'll keep plugging until I have success.

Best Regards, Joanne

Hi Joanne

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, but I needed to do some research on this one.

My immediate reaction to your reply, above, was that call charges from Tobago to Trinidad were not exactly "long distance" charges. I must therefore thank Tanja, of Yes Tourism for the following information:

TSTT distinguishes between various regions in the country. Calls from Tobago to Trinidad usually are zone B which means that for 23 cents (which is also the minimum charge) one can be on the phone for 20 minutes. This applies for calls between 8 am and 5 pm, nightsaver rate is from 5 pm to 8 am and means that 60 minutes can be spent for the same 23 cents.

For a Tobago local call, there is no time limit for the cost of 23 cents (both daytime and night saver rate)

I think most hotel's class calls from Tobago to Trinidad as 'local' calls and the costs involved here - assuming you are only sending/receiving email - are not exactly going to break the bank. Remember that Tanja's figures are in TT-dollars, so her 23cents is actually US$0.04.

Opus only offer 33.6Kbps modem connection (I believe), whereas TSTT offers a full 56K. However, the line quality invariably means that you will not achieve a full 56K and for the distance and convenience, I would recommend sticking with the Opus account. The extra cost of setting up with TSTT will probably offset the extra call charges (if any).

Hi Steve:
Thanks for your response.
TSTT contacted me today and outlined which packages were available to us (dial up and high speed possibly) all with access via a toll-free number.

The problem is that we want to be able to have access in our hotel room.
For Crown Point that is not an option. We must journey to their designated office inthe main building.

However, at Johnston's (where we stayed this March) they were willing to offer this service to us as long as the access number was local or toll free and possible just charge us a token daily rate. After all we will be tying up one of their lines at any given time. Charges at Johnston's are set somewhere in the range of TT$1-3/minute from your room.

If we use that rate (times 30 days) together with the charge to be charged by OPUS, and considering the length of time (possibly 5-8 hours per day) we would actually spend researching the Net, it could turn out to be a small fortune.

We are definitely spoilt - here we have a 1.5 Mb broadband connection which is on all day but just to have access for the month, we will have to be willing to put up with anything.

I'll let you know how it unfolds. Johnston's has more or less told me that they would consider giving us access from our room as long as we are dialing locally or toll free.

And of course we have to continue to work to pay for this trip!

TTYL & TIA, Joanne

Hi Joanne

All a bit of a dilemma, I know. Frankly, you might possibly be better off renting a small apartment or using one of the smaller guesthouses who are more willing to discuss and arrange something amicable and reasonable.

I should stress that this is not a problem associated with Tobago. This problems occurs everywhere in the world, in my experience. Hotels and similar are simply not geared up for this requirement yet.

Dear Steve:

I have checked thoroughly with smaller places and while they will assist us in setting up internet access, they are all inland. Also, we like being in the Crown Point/Store Bay/Pigeon Point area.

Our trip to Tobago is to be on the beach and breathing in the salt water and listening to the crash of the waves. We want something different even if we have to pay for it.

I'll plug away until I find an amicable solution.

Tks. Joanne

Hi Steve:

Just had an e-mail from TSTT re: 619-EASY Internet Package for Foreigners or visitors to TT. This may prove to be the best option yet!

"We have available an Internet package, 619-EASY (3279), which is recommended for foreigners visiting the Island for a short time. 619-EASY does not require any pre-payments or having to visit a Internet Customer Service Center. Once dialing in with the number charges are billed to the phone line by which the service be being used, that is $2.00 TT Plus VAT Per Minute.
The username is easy and no password is required. The computer used to dial in to the Internet would have to be configured to TSTT setting. Assistance for this is provided via phone from TSTT's Internet Helpdesk.

Upon arrival to Trinidad & Tobago please contact TSTT's Internet Helpdesk at 824-TSTT (8788) Option 5 for further assistance."

Hope this helps!

Regards Joanne

Hi Joanne

That must be a new package. When I last contacted them in January, they didn't want to know about short-term packages for tourists. Mind you, at TT$2 per minute, it seems expensive for what you want.

Hi Steve:
Tks. for yours. It is rather expensive but at least we know they are on the ball for visitors. $2.00 + VAT/minute is steep but at least we know we have yet another option.

Regards, Joanne