Woodpark gets ‘fastest’ Internet speed from USF
Published:Wednesday | April 6, 2022 | 12:06 AMCarl Gilchrist/Gleaner Writer
WOODPARK IN St Mary Western became the first community in that constituency to receive the Universal Service Fund’s (USF) community Wi-Fi, with Member of Parliament Robert Montague hailing the “fastest” speed that the service offers.
At the launch last Wednesday, Montague said 15 other communities will benefit from Wi-Fi service, but most will not be free service.
“I am determined that all of my communities will have access to Internet; not all of these communities are going to get free access, you’re going to have to buy your card, scratch off, put it in, and you get on to the Internet,” Montague said.
“In Woodpark, Mango Valley and Hamilton Mountain, they will be getting Internet free at the hotspot,” he added.
Later this month, the USF will also launch free Wi-Fi access in Mango Valley and Hamilton Mountain, he later told The Gleaner.
A VERY GOOD MOVE
“Offering free Wi-Fi in the community is a very good move and the community welcomes it; the students, the old people, everybody really welcomes it,” Montague said.
He explained: “It’s the first community in the Caribbean to get Wi-Fi from the satellite. USF normally goes into a community which already has Internet and they just put their box and broadcast it, whether it’s FLOW or Digicel. This community doesn’t have FLOW, it doesn’t have Digicel, so they had to bring in the Internet signal by satellite. They put up a dish and bring down the signal and distribute it, so they end up with the fastest Internet speed. Nobody can give you 17Mbps download.”
Montague also hailed residents who he said rallied together to raise funds and repair the community centre that was damaged by a hurricane some years ago.
He also handed out several USF packages to students who were at the function.
The USF had set a target of establishing 189 community Wi-Fi hotspots by the end of the 2021-22 fiscal year, to enable increased access to Internet by the public.
Each of the 63 constituencies are scheduled to get three hotspots.
The establishment of these hotspots is in alignment with the USF’s drive to bridge the information gap by providing Internet access for all Jamaicans.