Electricity & Internet In Phu Quoc

Hi Magnus

We are thinking of opening an office in Duong Dong. We have a publishing/advertising business.

I think, no matter where you are in Vietnam, it is advisable to have generator back-up.

Have you found anywhere suitable yet?

Robert

Early last year there was a new main electric cable and fibre optic internet cable laid to Phu Quoc island from the mainland,near to Ha Tien.This has resulted in a significant reduction in the cost of electricity on the island,and a much more stable supply.There are also now financial incentives from the Vietnamese Government to some businesses starting up in Phu Quoc,as it has been been designated as a SEZ (Special Economic Zone)

By the power of Vincom corp, electricity is more or less stable if and only if you are in Duong Dong town proper.  The older resorts by Long Beach still suffer from black outs, but i am not sure if it is because they are not connected to the new power grid OR the resort owner/manager is turning off the power to save money and just lie to everyone.  A 110kV submarine power cable system connecting Phu Quoc to Ha Tien went live earlier this year.  Unfortunately the wifi on the island is still slow - 3G is faster but they are also improving this.  I was planning on working remotely on the island but had to leave due to poor wifi/internet connection.

Some Phu Quoc related resources:

Facebook Phu Quoc Group for Q&A:

facebook.com/groups/phuquocislandvietnam/

Phu Quoc Tourism Website: phuquocislandguide.com

Provincial Website: kiengiang.gov.vn/index1E.jsp

Hi,

For some reason I never got notified when someone answered in this thread..

I'm still looking for a place to set up the business though. Ho Chi Minh is most likely going to be the easiest place to do it, I have also been looking at Nha Trang and Vung Tau, simply to get closer to a beach.

But as I wrote above, we really need a glitch free internet, which I suppose is hard to get if you are not in an office building in HCMC.

Can anyone recommend a real estate agent on Phu Quoc? Maybe he/she has more detailed information about the redundancy offices there can offer in terms of internet.

Magnus

why are you so inclined on setting up a business on Phu Quoc?

I just wrote that above "simply to get closer to a beach."

We are not dependent on any other infrastructure than Internet and Electricity, so why not set it up in a nice place.

Skip Phu Quoc.  Although the beaches are nice, the place is dead 6 months out of the year due to the monsoon and wifi/electricity will be affected.

Have you considered Da Nang or Hoi An?

Well-"Expat Warrior" you are wrong-the electric and internet cable was connected last year-not this year.How do I know??Because the company that did it (Prysmian) had their office in our bar in Ha Tien.And it's simply not true to say that Phu Quoc is "Dead" for 6 months of the year.Obviously you have never been there.Of course it is quieter in the low(wet) season0but it certainly isn't dead.And how exactly does a monsoon affect an undersea cable??

@ExpatWarrior:
No I have not had a look at Da Nang or Hoi An yet, but I did look at Nha Trang as an alternative.

And nice and quite is precisely what we want.


@Oasisbarhatien:
Is the electricity and Internet now stable on the island, or in Duong Dong? As I said above, that's basically the only thing we are concerned about infrastructurewise, and that simply has to work, otherwise we need to find another city.

@@Oasisbarhatien - Sorry, i meant last Tet , And "dead" is relative, and of course i have been there both in the dry and wet season, but as a tourist not as a sexpat/expat/bar owner/etc.  During the wet season, a lot of businesses are shut down, constructions at its peak, it pours hard at times, and the mosquitoes are horrible. When i was  there about a month ago, certain parts of long beach did not have power but Duong Dong town did have power.

To me, the internet is slow, but "slow" is relative as well.  You can do a simple benchmarking of wifi/internet speeds by visiting speedof.me.

@Magnus_Sweden - Definitely look at Danang, one of the most beautiful beachside cities in the world, before choosing phu quoc.  Also, there is an swedish expat couple on the island and they run a coffeeshop/lounge called "The Embassy".  You can contact them via facebook and ask them business related questions directly.  I am sure they will help a fellow countrymen out

FYI: the internet in all of Vietnam is not reliable as the main underwater cable keeps breaking.  You can read more about that here: http://tuoitrenews.vn/society/27677/vie … n-4-months

@ExpatWarrior: Danang looks like a very good fit actually, I will investigate that further.

Yes I know about the problems they have had with the main underwater cable. But hopefully they have learned a lesson from it and can now reroute traffic to the cables going to Europe. But yes, that is a risk and I need to research that a bit more. We are not going to be too dependent on bandwidth though, we will have bigger issues with latency. Which of course is quite high to Europe anyway, but still not too bad for us.

But thanks for your advice about Danang (and the mosquitoes on Phu Quoc !

Even with the new undersea power cable, power is shut off by the power company around once per week.  Not all areas are affected and Long beach seems to be worse than Doung Dong in general.  typically, on these days, the power will go off around 9 am and will be restored around 5 in the afternoon.  The internet is not affected.  Viatel have their own issues though.  I had 15mbs fiber installed and for the first few months, it was out once a week.  Up to 90mbs is available....and I have verified the speed.  The outside fiber infastructure is horrible....the worst I have ever seen.

Dave