USVI-On-Line

I am relocating to St John/St Thomas in September. I have a dream position that lets me work anywhere with dsl and ATT Wireless, so why not? Have been keeping up to date with this forum. Please let me know if you have ideas, comments, etc. Haven't been there in over 10 years; just spent extended time living in Asia..teaching scuba!

Ann

First CONGRATULATIONS!!!! What an awesome opportunity! Lots of forumites live on either St. John or St. Thomas. I'm sure they'll be happy to help you in any way....

It sounds like it really sucks to be you today.

It sounds like you are going to get what all of us would like to have. Or at least we think we want. If you need a helper, let me know.

Good luck.

JIM

Congrats! Lots of jealousy coming from a lot of us I'm sure, but all with best wishes! You are doing what many of us would like to.

There is a relocation forum here- have you been on that? Plus lots of locals on the forum that will be a great help to you. What a fantastic adventure!!

Be careful what you wish for, because it may come true.

peace.... bert

.
Congrats!

Here are some things to know if you move to STJ.
These same issues may arise even if you rent
commercial office space. Whether you are planning on a
home office or an office out of the house, please keep
the things I've listed here in mind.
(I don't know if these are issues on STT, I only know about STJ)

Internet Connection
Be sure you can get internet where you live.
Be sure you can get internet service at the connection
speed you need. Yep, there are many areas of St John
that have no means to get internet let alone high
speed connections. There are many areas of St John
that cannot even get dial-up because you cannot always get a phone.

Have and pay for 2 different ISP's so if one goes down
you can use the other one. If you're thinking you can
use an internet cafe in the event your ISP goes down,
not always possible. Here in STJ there's a good chance
the internet cafe is using the same ISP as you and
therefore you're not gonna connect there either.
That's why you need 2 different providers if your
business relies on the internet.

STJ Phone Issues
Yep, we still have areas without phone lines so you
can't even get dial-up. These are not weird, deserted,
out of the way places either. Some times your neighbor
may have a phone and right next door you cannot get a
phone. Not as common now as a few years ago, but still
be sure you can get a phone.

Getting a new phone, even re-activating a phone
already installed at your residence that the last
resident disconnected, takes months, even years.
Really find out all the nitty gritty of the phone
situation where you plan to live.

Cell Phones
Lots of areas get absolutely no cell signals, from any
providers. I live in one of those zones. My cell phone
toting neighbors have to drive to areas where their
phones work.

Internet When The Power Goes Out
It sound's like you need internet to work. If so, you
will want to have 2 ISPs. For instance, my ISP goes
down when the power goes out and does not always work
when the power comes back on. It is not uncommon for
it to not start working again until the next day. So
pay for & have 2 different ISP's if you need to be
online for your work.

Power Outages
Power outages are still common down here. Power
brownouts too. You may want to get a generator to run
your office equipment, power outages that last for
several hours happen several times a year. And these
are not power outages during storms and such. A bright
sunny cool beautiful day and you can lose your power
because somewhere on the island someone just drove
into a power pole. Boop, out goes your power for hours.

Power brownouts, very very frequent, will kill
equipment also. A USB is absolutely a neccestiy.

Power In Your Residence: Blown Fuses.
I just got a small window AC unit. I wanted, and need,
one much larger, but a friend gave me this little one
& thank goodness because it is blowing the fuse. I
unplugged the three fans that were on the same
circuit as the AC (according to my fuse box labels)
and now the AC is not blowing the fuse. Make sure you
have the power capacity required to run your equipment.

Leaks
I once lived in a home that leaked AWFUL!
I did not know this until I'd lived there a few months
and we got our first heavy rain. One night as I slept,
rain leaked down a wall, onto a shelf, onto the
speaker on that shelf, down the USB cord that
connected that speaker to my laptop. I picked up the
laptop the next morning and about 8 ounces of water
poured out of it. I thought my laptop was in a safe
place away from the leaks but sadly I was wrong.

Wet Electronics
Electronics that get soaked in water, salt or fresh, MIGHT NOT BE RUINED.

If/when any electronic equipment gets wet,
DO NOT TURN WET ELECTRONICS ON
Turning on a wet gadget will cause an electrical short and that, not the water, will kill the device.

My emotional reaction is to immediately turn it on to
see if still works. If you also have that reaction,
fight it. Do not turn the gadget on until the gadget
is completely dry.

If it is wet from salt water I soak it in fresh water
then I dry wet gadgets in a warm oven. With our
humidity, it takes days and days for wet gadgets to
completely dry and that will kill the gadget. PM me if
you'd like me to talk to you more about drying wet
electronics. (That soaked laptop worked for years
after it got soaked because I did not turn it on, I
dried it in my warm oven and let it completely cool
off before turning it on. My roommate who saw all the
water pour out of the laptop was astounded to see me
using that very laptop that night.


               . * * *

There are definitely some odd details you need to
think about on STJ that you'd never need to think
about in the states, especially when your work
involves the internet & electronics. Hope this helps -c

               . * * *

No matter what you are told, it is not customary to have sex with every local as part of "initiation". That was an old policy that has since been done away with. Legislation has even removed it completely from the legal requirements.