Controller in hand, eyes fixed on the flat-screen TV, Russell Jones was having a good time shooting people on Friday morning.
Sitting on a couch at LIME’s Flemming Street store, Mr. Jones was playing Titanfall, an online multiplayer game that casts players as futuristic mechanised soldiers hunting each other in real time.
Mr. Jones, a co-founder of the video game group Carib Gamer, has long been an outspoken critic of the service and speed of LIME’s broadband Internet offering. Slow speeds and unreliable connections have real consequences when playing a game like Titanfall.
“The problem you would have is that even when you shoot somebody, you would shoot them and they wouldn’t die,” he said. “On my screen I’d be shooting them and on their screen I’m just standing. The lag is what kills you.”
Internet demonstration
LIME invited Mr. Jones and other gamers to the store as part of its recent upgrade of its fixed-line broadband network in the Virgin Islands, which the company hopes will diminish widespread customer dissatisfaction with its Internet speeds.
According to the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, LIME’s broadband offered average download speeds of 2.7 megabits per second during a 2012 test, lagging far behind much of the region. After months of digging up roads and installing new equipment across the territory, LIME has replaced much of its network of copper lines with fibre-optic cable that the company says can now deliver the Internet at least six times faster.
At one point as he was playing Titanfall, Mr. Jones simultaneously used the video-calling service Skype to chat with another gamer. He also used his smartphone to take a picture documenting the Internet speeds he was getting: over 31 megabits per second, a speed he was very happy with.
Upgrade plans
According to Sean Auguste, LIME’s CEO in the VI, the first phase of the company’s upgrade is well under way. The upgrade has been deployed in much of East End, Baughers Bay, Fahie Hill, Road Town, Lower Estate, McNamara, Palestina, Frenchmans Cay and West End, he said.
Phase two of the project will see service expanded to other areas of Tortola and the sister islands.
The company has seen a “mostly good” reaction from upgraded customers, Mr. Auguste said, acknowledging that others remain wary of the promised improvements.
“I can understand that some customers may be sceptical: That’s okay,” he said.
Most existing broadband customers have been upgraded to the higher speeds for free on a three-month trial basis and will then be given the option of paying for the service. The pricing plans will be released soon, he said.
He advised customers who are still having issues with their service to contact LIME as their problems may originate with outdated modems.
TRC concerns
The TRC announced on Jan. 29that it was investigating why fixed-line broadband speeds in the territory were lower than the rest of the region and why the number of new broadband customers was falling here even as it was rising in most other places. The agency is scrutinising the actions of LIME, which is currently the territory’s sole fixed-line broadband provider, and may take actions in the future to further regulate the market. The regulator also said it has gotten a number of complaints about the quality of LIME’s service, particularly about the speed with which the company responds when a customer has an issue.
Mr. Auguste said Friday that he believes that the upgrade will resolve most of those concerns, adding that with new “nodes” built in many neighbourhoods, the company can connect new customers much more quickly than in the past.
However, he noted that in recent months delays associated with the upgrade prevented the company from installing service for new customers. Those issues have now been resolved, he said.
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