How reliable is the wifi in the dominican republic (santo domingo)?

i'm thinking of coming to the DR (santo domingo) for a few months. i trade stocks online and need the internet to be very consistent to be able to do my job.

how reliable is it in your experience, eg how often does it drop / cut out and for how long? i'm in mexico at the moment and it rarely cuts out in addition to the power grid rarely going down.

thanks
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Depends where you live, what provider and what plan you have!
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@planner thanks for the reply - i plan to live in central santo domingo

i suppose i'm looking for a general idea on the wifi consistency, eg  in your experience; how often does the electricity go down, how often does the wifi do down?
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Consider two Carriers and a large battery back up. If commercial service is available place that up for consideration. This is your business and only you know your appetite for risk.



Hope that helps.



Bobby :)
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In Santo Domingo the two big providers are Claro and Altice.  Both are fairly reliable.  I personally and in business use Altice. I find them a bit more responsive and a bit less expensive.

You will need to check specifically where you will live in terms of what's available and as well check the electrical stability. Where I am we have generator backup.
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thanks for the replies planner and rfmaurone

how common are power outages and how often do they last?

i found that there were outages when i was in colombia but i could tether my phone to my computer to exit trades
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That depends totally on where you live.  You need to look to live only in areas with "A" circuit coverage. That means no scheduled outages but it will still happen if there is maintenance or an accident.

A "B" circuit can have  4 hours a day or every other day scheduled outages.  Then it gets worse from there.

Then we have outages when  power stations are closed for maintenance or there are fuel shortages etc.  IF that happens then  the outage durations depend very much on the circuit you are in.  For example right now on the north coast there are some serious power issues.  Almost all  areas are out  4 hours a day!  Some areas then get that added to their usual outages so may be 8 or 12 hours without power! You do not want to live in those areas.
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very helpful advice. thanks

i have 2 more questions if you have time

1 how common are power cuts in circuit A areas?

2 when the wifi is cut is it possible to tether my phone to my computer to use my 4G?

it's important because i trade stocks for a living and must have a backup options that works
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Power outage are very common, even in the A area.

Just buy a UPS and you will be fine. If you are living in a recent/modern apartment, very likely it will have power generator, otherwise all the apartments usually have an inverter so when it cuts with a UPS you will have power back quickly.

2) yes you can, but ups+modem connected to your UPS and you won't have to do that.

Claro is the best/most stable company in Santo Domingo, you can have fiber optic up to 300mb/s for roughly 100$/month. Since you trade anything higher then 20mb/s is gonna be sufficient wich shouldn't be an issue for you to get.

Compare to colombia the internet here is very reliable, especially Claro.
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Speaking generally to your questions:

We recently completed (March 2022) a month-long trip to the DR, but we pretty much did the "Great Circle" from SD to LR, to PC to LT to Cabrera to Cabrete to Puerto Plata and then Santiago, and then backtracked a bit.  We spent anywhere from a night to five days everywhere we stopped. 

Staying mostly at resorts, airbnb and vrbo, we experience periodic spikes in power pretty much everywhere -- that is, power drops for a few seconds to a few minutes,   Only once did we experience a lengthy power outage of about 3.5 hours, and that was actually overnight. 

As far as quality of internet -- at the major resorts, it all depending on the time of day.
  • in the evenings from about 5 pm to about 11 pm local, the wi-fi was stressed and slow.  We found streaming movies possible, but slow and with frequent pauses.  [Implying:  if you're trading US markets, you probably don't care about those periods.  If you're  trading Asia or the Middle East, it is probably a problem.]
  • After 11 pm local -- after most had gone to bed or at least shut off their computers -- wifi/internet was generally extremely reliable and reasonably fast.  Streaming was slick and fast.  [Great time for internet...if you're a night owl...but that doesn't synch well with trading US markets.]
  • In the mornings...say 5 am to 8:30 am, access was great and fast.  However, from 830 on, as folks woke up and went to check email and what not, speed declined up till about noon. 
  • From noon to 4:00 pm or so, internet access was pretty.  Lots of people checked out, and new wave of stayers not yet checked in = pretty good access.
All that said, there were a few days where we simply couldn't get wifi/internet to work at all.  We'd connect, but get nothing but spinning circles on websites.  [Time to forget about the world and have some fun, would be my advice.]

As others have indicated, there are many factors at play, from your local wifi capability from a resort or host, to the ISP/Provider in the DR, even back to whether there are issues moving the data internationally. 
  • Fundamentally, if you're a day trader with the potential to lose thousands of $$$ or more with data delays of even a few seconds == I don't think the DR is the place to be.
  • I'm told that in some of the upper-end enclaves in Puerto Rico -- created to serve the high-tech movers there as a result of the favorable tax regime -- the internet access is ubiquitous and blazing fast...because the customer base/residents demanded it as a Go / No Go in the purchase process.  Those places all have backup generators, and some have multiple generators.  But, all the generators in the world won't help when the international ines/links are down. 
I'm not a trader myself...I tend to be a buy and hold forever type, with maybe a little jumping in and out if I see a stock turn into a stinker due to sudden events, or . 

But, if you're coming to the DR no matter what...would you be able to shift your trading strategies a bit to accommodate the occasional internet outages you're likely to experience in the DR, no matter how careful you are???

My opinion is that no matter how good your local DR internet is, you are ALWAYS going to be lagging the US, Europe in data timeliness...it's just the nature of the beast.  USA and EUROPE are simply going to have advantages of your, speedwise.   I'd suspect data to/from Asia and the ME would be roughly equivalent data lags to that of the DR, but I am only speculating. 

So,,,perhaps choose trades where success doesn't rely on split-second timing and/or instant responses.  You know better than I what those might be. 
  • To offer just one example -- you could make longer trade options to sell or buy that are more dependent on long-term trends and moves, rather than trade options where you must be executing within seconds to make a bundle...or to avoid losing a bundle.
  • You could also simply reduce the number of trades you commit to.  Fewer trades to track = more likelihood you'll get the data you need in time to make a proper decision. 

And of course, do pay attention to the local internet service where you're staying.  PIck the best service possible, of course.  Just understand that there's no one, and no place on the island, that can/will guarantee US-level internet access and speeds.  Then, you just work around it as best for your needs.

If you trading style simply can't be adapted...I'd strongly recommend finding one of the high-tech enclaves in Puerto Rico that have far superior, and more consistent, internet service than what you're likely to find in the DR.

Best of luck.

Jim
ExpatRusher

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I strongly disagree with the last post.

Yeah if you are staying in a resort... you will get shitty internet,that's part of staying at a resort wich I highly doubt is your intention since you will be living in SD.

I swing trade for a living and been here for a while and can guarantee you the internet with claro is very good if you live in a big city (ex; santo domingo, Santiago, Punta Cana) I think internet service might have been down for me less then a day in the past 8 years.

Internet is not an issue in DR/SD - But electricity definitely is. I am not sure if you are renting a airbnb or going long term but simply ask if they have a generator or very good inverter and you will be fine (UPS is 100% necessary, I would recommended getting it at Pricesmart (costo equivalent))
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I Find the internet quite reliable in the main areas - not resort areas or small towns.

I live in an "a" electric zone and have for some time. We rarely get outages.  When we do it's a scheduled weekend maintenance or an emergency, meaning an accident or a transformer blew. 

I have my main internet and a backup portable device and my mobile data which can be tethered.

If you live in am "a" circuit area and have an inverter and batteries or a generator, you will be fine.
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Does anyone know if the internet is separate from the power.  For instance if there is an electrical outage, does the internet stay available provided one has a generator? 


Or are internet outages still likely if one is not in one of the major cities (Santo Domingo or Punta Cana)?

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@planner agree

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Does anyone know if the internet is separate from the power. For instance if there is an electrical outage, does the internet stay available provided one has a generator?
Or are internet outages still likely if one is not in one of the major cities (Santo Domingo or Punta Cana)?
-@Costa Norte


Normally if you have a generator or battery backup you have internet.  It requires a major large area outage to lose internet!

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