Dear Editor,

Vast developments in technology have provided us with the ability to communicate with each other. But while many are able to utilise the benefits that technological advancement brings, some residents in the district of Lime Hall have been left behind in the age of pre-technological darkness.

The number of internet providers has grown considerably over the past decade and so has the type and mode of internet provision from Cable and Wireless (now LIME) to Claro, Digicel and Flow. These companies spend millions of dollars reminding us that they provide “superior internet service” with islandwide coverage that can’t be beaten. But if this is so, why am I constantly told, upon requesting to be a part of that same superior islandwide service, that “coverage is not provided in that area”? LIME is Jamaica’s largest internet provider but it seems that they have also run out of the “superior internet service” as the residents of Lime Hall are told that there are no ports available.

Had Lime Hall been situated in a deep rural area of Jamaica, the shortcomings would be understandable. However, the district is no more than 10 minutes away from St Ann’s Bay, the parish’s capital, and boasts all other amenities that characterise a developed area, such as cable television and landline telephone services, so why not internet too?

As reliance on the internet grows, students who need to conduct online research to submit assignments, and job seekers who must rely on the internet to conduct extensive job searches or submit résumés, must plan ahead to visit the parish library in St Ann’s Bay – often having to wait extensively in long lines for the next available desktop.

The solution is simple and requires the immediate input of internet service providers to help the residents of Lime Hall. I therefore implore internet providers either to extend their data connection from their cell towers that are very much visible along the countryside (in the view of Lime Hall residents), or begin the provision of ports, each of which will serve multiple homes.

Serena Byron

Lime Hall PO

St Ann