Introducing myself - Berthold Reimers

Hi everyone,


I wanted to introduce myself. I just bought a house in Coson - across the street from the Wyndham Hotel.  It is a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom, pool, inverter fully furnished. I am planning on moving there permanently in 2 years but meanwhile I will be going back and fourth. I hope to spend at least 25% of my time there until I move in with my wife.

I intend to keep the job I am doing in the USA. I manage a radio station basically from my laptop and I do not see why I can't do it from Las Terrenas.

I have been monitoring the discussion about internet providers and I am debating between Claro and CV Hot spot. It seems that the specific location of the house determines which provider works best.

About me: I have an Executive MBA from Baruch - Zicklin School of Business (NYC) and worked as a manager and director for the past 35 years.  I am good at finance (spreadsheets) and Operation. I love futbol (soccer), I value education, good conversation, health and physical well being. My wife works out every day. I have 3 daughters and 2 sons. The youngest are twins (boy and girl) 25 years old. I am looking forward to waking up and not having to put on a coat on - It is cold today in New York City/  and walking barefoot in the sand.

Berthold

Welcome to the forums!  Great introduction!

Hi Berthold - welcome to the forum!


We live in the hills up above you! In fact, I can probably see your roof from here.


Claro fiber optic might be an option, but CV Hotspot doesn't have fiber this far west of town - or they didn't last summer when we inquired. We had a CV microwave dish on our roof until last month when we switched to Starlink. We are so much happier with Starlink's speed, performance, and reliability! We had 2 days in November with no internet. And the end of that second day when I finally got in touch with someone, we found out they had suspended our account for non-payment. The bill had been paid, and proof of payment was sent just like every month, but they had misapplied it. In December, we had 5 days without service. There was some issue with the dish, but it took 5 days for someone to come take a look at it!



Starlink service here is just 2900 DOP per month, so it's even cheaper than CV (3495/month for 20 Mbps dish connection) and so much faster! I'm typically clocking more than 100 Mbps and have seen it at over 200. Latency is the only issue I've heard from other users, but for the streaming and browsing we do, it's not an issue - we aren't gamers and don't use video conferencing!


Let me know if you have any specific Coson/LT questions!


Denise

This is great information. I wonder if Starlink is available for Bonao mountain area. We are planning on buying some land this year and want to connect all the dots before pulling the plug in the USA.

I believe it's available in most areas outside of crowded cities!

I believe it's available in most areas outside of crowded cities!
-@planner


Is it not available in the cities, or just impractical to find a place to mount the dish without obstacles?

This is great information. I wonder if Starlink is available for Bonao mountain area. We are planning on buying some land this year and want to connect all the dots before pulling the plug in the USA.
-@FranciscoCornelioJaquez


if you go to the Starlink website, you can put in your location (Google Maps + code is easiest here) and it will tell you if service is available. All it requires is a clear view of the northern sky!

There is also the issue of using a VPN service; necessary if you wish to watch 'merican TV. I think our VPN service causes more issues than anything else. Starlink has been more or less stellar.

StarLink works everywhere.... that's the point... satellites !!


In Cabrera it's a snap and we aren't exactly mainstream here !!

The issue in city is where to put it maybe? Not sure and really not needed here. Glad it works for all of you!!! I have recommended it to several people and businesses.

@berthold24


Hello Berthold,


My name is Nick Boork. I lived in Santiago DR back in 89-90 during which time I met and married my wife Yngris.

She is from the DR and we're looking forward to retiring there in about 5 years. We bought an apartment for my mother in-law in Santiago and are now renting it. We're currently living up in Michigan now so I totally get the appealing idea of not having to put on a coat! I love to scuba dive and snorkel. Be great to meet you down the road.

Welcome to the Expat Form!