Saint Martin: la copertura

Cosa vogliono dire i numeri di Saint Martin

Contano due numeri e solo uno è quello che citano tutti. La velocità tipica, 22.3 Mbps, dice com'è un buon momento.

Il decimo percentile, 3.6 Mbps, è quello che vale la pena leggere. È la velocità nel decimo peggiore della giornata, quando la cella sopra la stazione è piena e tutti intorno a te ci sono dentro. Un paese con mediana alta e pavimento basso funziona benissimo, fino al momento in cui ti serve davvero.

Se il viaggio dipende da videochiamate o hotspot, pianifica sul dato delle ore di punta e non su quello tipico.

Cosa succede in Saint Martin quando la rete è congestionata

La congestione non è un guasto, è un martedì sera. La domanda è cosa può farci la tua eSIM, e per quasi tutte le eSIM da viaggio la risposta è niente: un accordo all'ingrosso per paese, una rete, e nessuna via d'uscita se non comprare una seconda eSIM da qualcun altro mentre sei in mezzo alla strada.

Qui il traffico Orbislo passa da Orange Caraïbe, Digicel, Dauphin Telecom, Free Caraïbe e UTS. Quando la rete su cui sei peggiora ti spostiamo su un'altra, a metà viaggio, senza che tu lo chieda, e te lo diciamo dopo invece di interromperti sul momento.

Saint Martin: operatori mobili

• Five networks: The regulator's shutdown table for Saint-Martin lists five mobile operators: Dauphin Telecom, Digicel, Free Caraïbe, Orange and UTS. Dauphin Telecom and Free Caraïbe never ran a 2G network there.
• Free Caraïbe: Free Caraïbe began selling mobile plans in the French Caribbean on 17 May 2022. At launch it had 10 mobile sites on Saint-Martin covering 97 percent of the population with 4G, with 2 more sites planned to reach 98 percent.

Saint Martin: reti più vecchie

• Digicel switched off 2G on Saint-Martin on 1 July 2025, and UTS has also ended its 2G service. Orange began with Peatree Hill, Rambaud and Marigot on 19 May 2026 and scheduled the switch off everywhere on the territory for 26 September 2026.
• Orange plans to close its 3G network in 2028, and the other operators have not announced a 3G date. The regulator warns that a phone which cannot carry calls over 4G, known as VoLTE, will stop making calls once the older networks close.

Saint Martin: il 5G

• Spectrum for 5G was awarded on 25 July 2023. Dauphin Telecom, Free Caraïbe and Orange Caraïbe received frequencies in both the 700 MHz and 3.4 to 3.8 GHz bands, and Digicel received 3.4 to 3.8 GHz only.
• Each winner took a 50 MHz block in the 3.4 to 3.8 GHz band in return for coverage commitments, and the remaining 180 MHz went to auction on 1 June 2023. The whole 700 MHz band, 20 MHz duplex, was auctioned on 18 April 2023.
• Free Caraïbe's licence runs from 25 July 2023 to 24 July 2038 and can be extended to 2043. It paid 2,000 euros for 5 MHz duplex at 700 MHz on Saint-Martin, and nothing for three extra 10 MHz blocks that put it at 3620 to 3700 MHz.
• Within five years of the award, half of Free Caraïbe's larger sites, and at least 2 on Saint-Martin, must use the 3.4 to 3.8 GHz band to offer at least 100 Mbit/s per 10 MHz block with latency of 5 milliseconds or less.

Saint Martin: note sulla rete

• Free Caraïbe's licence names five areas of Saint-Martin that must get voice, text and fast mobile internet within 36 months of July 2023: Concordia, Colombier, Oyster Pond, Cul de Sac and Quartier d'Orléans. Operators must share new masts built for these areas.
• Hurricane Irma on 6 September 2017 destroyed 90 to 95 percent of buildings and infrastructure on Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy, took down GSM antennas and broke a submarine telecom cable. When the mobile network returned it was saturated, and restoring service took several weeks.
• After Irma the fixed networks, previously strung overhead, were rebuilt underground through Tintamarre, a company set up from November 2017 to build and run buried ducts for the three fibre operators on the territory: Orange, Dauphin Telecom and THD Tel.