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Viya, the largest telecommunications provider in the U.S. Virgin Islands, has announced a major development in its offerings — the availability of lightning-speed 1 gigabit internet to customers — a first for the territory.
This is yet another product to fulfill Viya’s mission to provide the best connectivity solutions and entertainment experience to enhance the lives of all residents, and to support business growth in the USVI, the company said in a release provided to the Consortium.
“Since 2017 we have invested over $100 million on advancements to our networks, proudly leading the way to better connect the USVI," said Viya CEO Geraldine Pitt. "Since the pandemic, our customer’s digital behavior has shifted permanently. Some customers now require additional bandwidth for their activities, whether for work, school, or entertainment. By launching the 1Gig plan, we are making it possible to fulfill this new demand for download and upload speeds."
One gigabit internet is significantly faster than the average internet speed USVI homes or businesses use today. Viya said the lightning-speed service will allow for heavy data consumption activities, such as applications in the cloud, content creation, gaming, streaming, etc., to work at fast speeds while everyone else is connected.
Morris Reid, Viya’s chief technology officer, explained what customers can expect. “As an example, your average movie is about 2GB in size and using a 50 Mbps internet connection, it will take about 30 minutes to download," he said. "In comparison, you could download that movie in less than 3 minutes over a 1Gig connection. Another great benefit is the ability to have multiple users using numerous applications at the same time with the same quality, and not just at home; it’s excellent for businesses as well.”
Today, many businesses have their systems hosted in the cloud; with several employees from one or more locations accessing the same applications. A faster connection is often required to keep their business going. Viya said its 1Gig internet service ensures that business’ applications are available 24/7 to users with the best performance.
This faster connection is a benefit in the same way for residential use, where several household members connect in different ways simultaneously for gaming, to stream movies, download music, or connect to a video conference. The company said its 1Gig broadband internet plans are available to customers and businesses over a wide geographical area across St. John, St. Croix, and St. Thomas.
Customers interested in the 1Gig in Charlotte Amalie and other areas where 1Gig service has not yet been fully deployed, Viya said it has connectivity available through full fiber plans. Customers can visit Viya’s website to check availability of the 1 Gig plan in their area, send a request online, or visit their stores.
Both the residential and business packages include two plans: 500 megabytes and the 1Gig plans. For residential customers, the 500 megabit plan, which provides 500 megabits download speeds and 20 megabytes upload, the cost is $349, according to plan details provided to the Consortium by Viya.
The 1Gig plan for residential customers costs $549 monthly, and provides 1 gigabit of download speeds and 30 megabits upload.
For business customers, the 500 megabits package cost $399 monthly. It provides 500 megabits of download speeds and 25 megabytes upload. For the 1Gig plan, the cost is $599 monthly and provides 1gigabit download speeds and 35 megabits upload.
Both plans come with two wifi plus extenders provided by Viya free of charge as part of a two-year contract.
For more information about Viya’s internet service, go here.
