Viya has announced it now has a large inventory of Mobile Data Hotspot Devices available in its St. Thomas and St. Croix Customer Experience Centers. Viya is inviting all current Internet account holders (business and residential) to enroll in a lottery to receive a free back-up mobile data hotspot provisioned with a new, temporary Restoration Mobile Data Rate Plan.
The company is still working very diligently to restore wired Internet service to all homes and businesses across the territory. It will begin going into the active restoration phase of bringing its customers back online with wired service in the upcoming weeks. Viya invites the public to visit its new Viya Restoration web page: www.viya.vi/restoration to follow along as it brings nodes and neighborhoods back online. In the meantime, it would like to provide as many of its customers as possible on St. Thomas and on St. Croix with alternative means to access Internet.
Viya began construction over a year ago on a brand new, state-of-the-art, multi-million-dollar 4G LTE Wireless Network. This network was originally scheduled to launch just weeks after Hurricane Irma hit on Sept. 6. While Viya suffered catastrophic damage across all three islands to its wired network, the damage to its new cell sites was not as severe. Recently, it has been able to repair its cell towers and open 4G LTE Wireless service to customers first on St. Thomas and now on St. Croix.
The company has taken time and care in developing new, temporary ‘Restoration Mobile Data Plans’ for mobile hotspot devices on this new 4G LTE Network. It has crafted these plans to offer to its current customer-base a temporary Internet solution as it continues to work to repair the wired network.
Current Viya Internet Speed (Viya speed received on HFC network prior to Hurricane) is 6Mbps for $50/month or 12 Mbps and up for $60/month
New Restoration Mobile Data Speed is *6Mbps for $50/month or **12Mbps and up for $60/month
*Speed will be reduced to 256kb if threshold of 3GB of data is reached per day and/or 20GB per month.
** Speed will be reduced to 256kb if threshold of 5GB of data is reached per day and/or 30GB per month.
Lottery (current Viya Internet customers only)
Carefully read the information below on enrolling in the lottery program to obtain one of these devices and plans:
- In an attempt to distribute these devices as fairly and in as organized a fashion as possible, Viya has developed a lottery system. This lottery is open for entry now through noon on Wednesday, Dec. 6.
To enter, please fill out a simple entrance form one of the following ways:
- Visit www.viya.vi/lottery
- Stop by a Viya Customer Experience Center and register
- Sign up on the Facebook page: @ViyaUSVI
**Please note: a person must have a valid Viya Internet account number to enter.
- We will be drawing names and assigning 150 appointments per island per day, beginning Monday, December 11th, as long as supplies last. This controlled number is to prevent excessive wait times and cumbersome lines. We are limited to how many orders we are able to process in a day so have devised a system to control supply and demand. Customers with multiple Viya services will receive one lottery entry for each service they have with us.
- Chosen customers will be contacted at the contact number or email address provided on the entrance form. Viya will send TWO (2) notifications to your specified means of contact prior to your scheduled appointment date and time. Upon arrival at your appointment, please be prepared to pay a $79.99 equipment deposit for an Alcatel LinkZone mobile hotpot. This deposit will be returned to you once your previous wired Internet service is restored and the equipment returned in working condition.
Viya strives to provide our customers with the best service possible. We understand the difficulties you have all faced in the past number of weeks and appreciate your patience during this Restoration process. Again, Viya would like to assure you that we are, and have been working hard at bringing back a stronger and better fiber network than before and look forward to bringing you full restoration plans and schedules for reconnection by neighborhood in the upcoming couple of weeks.
Visit www.viya.vi/lottery for further information.
