After the breakup of the telecommunications monopoly in the Cayman Islands in the early 2000s, a faster, better and more readily available internet service began to take off. Today there are four companies offering the Cayman Islands broadband internet, often bundled with cable TV and telephone services, and all are working towards the eventual goal of making a broadband fibre optic internet service available to every Cayman Islands household.
While they roll out this government-mandated plan to connect the entire territory with fibre optic cable, Cayman Islands internet providers still offer customers older alternatives such as DSL, coaxial cable, wireless and satellite — even dial-up, a virtually obsolete technology, but one that still finds a niche when there’s nothing else available.
Unlike copper cabling, the optical fibre in the Cayman Islands can carry a high bandwidth signal over long distances. The longer a signal has to travel over copper wire, the lower the bandwidth (the speed and amount of data that can be transmitted). A fibre optic cable can carry virtually unlimited bandwidth at very high speeds with great reliability.
Fibre optic also provides a more stable and reliable infrastructure. It is less susceptible to outages caused by corrosion, power surges from lightning or other causes. Customers enjoy an always-on, always-secure connection independent of any phone line.
Cayman broadband Internet uses multiple data channels to send large quantities of information. Where fibre optic cable is not installed, this high-speed Internet connection is provided in the Cayman Islands through either cable or telephone companies.
An older technology that is still widely used, DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line and uses the existing two-wire copper line that connects to a home’s telephone landline. Service is delivered at the same time as the landline phone service and customers can still place calls while surfing the Internet. This type of broadband connection is slower than fibre optic or coaxial cable, but usually has higher bandwidth that wireless or satellite.
A cable Internet connection is another form of broadband access. Through the use of a cable modem, users can access the internet over cable TV coaxial lines. Cable modems can provide extremely fast access to the Internet, often comparable to fibre optic, but users will be required to buy a bundled internet and cable TV service from the same provider.
In locations that are remote, temporary or lacking infrastructure, radio frequency bands are used in place of telephone or cable networks. One of the greatest advantages of wireless Internet connections is the “always-on” connection that can be accessed from any location that falls within network coverage. Downsides are ‘cold spots’ where a radio signal keeps dropping, or cannot be received and potentially high costs for bandwidth use.
In other areas where a broadband connection is not yet offered, a Cayman Islands satellite Internet option may be available. Similar to wireless access, satellite connection utilizes a modem. Satellite service can be more reliable than a wired connection when bad weather brings down overhead lines or floods vital equipment, but it can also suffer from connection issues — dishes can be blown away or off-track, and sometimes line-of-sight to the satellite may be obscured by buildings or trees.
As internet providers in the Cayman Islands continue their rollout of fibre optic cable, more customers are going to see the benefits of fibre optic broadband and enjoy the fastest, most reliable and highest quality internet service.
