Archive for June 26th, 2007

When it comes to entertainment in Fiji, options are far and few between. Besides the usual clubs and movies, there’s precious little that can keep you occupied on the weekend, save for rugby matches and pirate pr0n dvds from your mates.

As for free to air TV, because there’s only one channel, the ‘channel up/channel down’ buttons on your remote are pretty much useless. The paid channel Sky TV has its moments such as MTV, though why they don’t have a dedicated music channel and instead only show MTV at certain hours of the day is beyond me.

An alternative is in the works however, with the announcement that Unwired Fiji, one of the local ISPs here will be offering Streaming Services that essentially is streamed TV along a broadband connection.

Now while the article paints a rosy picture of the future of Streamed TV, forgive me for not jumping up and down with joy. I have about as much faith in local ISPs as I do in Paris Hilton being a virgin. I’m just not buying it.

From my previous posts about the local ISPs (Connect, Kidanet) it’s obvious how much I love these guys.

And what of Unwired Fiji? What about them?

I like their adverts thats for sure Classy, to the point, and obviously of overseas standard. Though I guess I needn’t mention the fact that Unwired is in-fact an Australian company.

Their bandwidth however, leaves much to be desired. During peak hours, connection is somewhat of a hit-and-miss affair i.e. you’ll be so pissed at not being able to make a connection that you’re more then likely to take pot shots at your $99 modem with whatever you can grab hold of.

It’s ironic that as a company with the catch phrase “No Wires, No Wait, No Worries”, they actually do have a waiting time when using the line during peak hours. Go figure.

Each modem from Unwired also comes with a hidden mini-game that starts when you hook up the modem to your pc, and discover that the receiving signal isn’t strong enough for you to make a connection.

Thats when stage 1 starts. The quest to find the mythical pedestal on which to place your modem to get that link. Bear in mind that the whole game is pretty much a stage 1. If you’ve found the sweet spot, but your pc is in another room/doesn’t have enough line, then you can pretty much say you’re fucked.

After which you’d go buy a signal booster.

So if Unwired does actually bring their streaming services to Fiji and along with it a fatter bandwidth, then great. No more “Hunt for the Golden Pedestal” games.

But for now, I’m better off being stuck with them pirate lovers, Connect.