Everyone asks at some point early in our interaction “what’s the best cell service”. The truth is, it depends on who you ask.
We have two major providers on the island, Docomo Pacific and Guam Telephone Authority (GTA). There are a couple other smaller companies, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll stick with the big ones.
At this point in my time on Guam, which will be 20 years in August 2024, I’d say, they’re pretty much “six of one, half dozen of the other” . Each have their “dead spots” on the island. Sometimes one gives a little faster service than the other in terms of internet speeds. Personally, and this isn’t an endorsement (paid or otherwise), I use Docomo. Mostly, because they were the first ones that could get me wired up at my new house so I could get back to work. Since I first posted this in Jan 2023, I’ve decided to kick docomo to the curb. Read on….
During my early days on Guam, it seems like I switched every few months based on frustration and anger over poor coverage and customer service. Fast forward to the last day of 2022, and I can say both the major carriers have upped their game considerably. Each offer a full range of home internet and cellular services, and you can even get one of those old fashioned things called a home phone that we had back in the 1900’s. .
I can’t say one is better than the other. And since the two big dogs on the block want to be competitive, their prices are about the same too.
But, there’s a new kid on the block. His name is Elon Musk and Starlink satellite internet is now available for a fraction of the cost of “regular” internet service. I personally paid near $300 per month for the top tier docomo service. Now I have $230 more dollars to play with, as Starlink is only $70 per month. I will admit, at times, Starlink seems a little slower, but as more people catch on and local companies feel the bite of competition, things are sure to improve all around.
My suggestion is you ask people you work with and develop your own consensus on what’s going to work best for you.
One thing you’ll need to get used to is the internet just gets jammed up here. When everyone is online watching Netflix or YouTube, you will have some lag time on occasion. And if you’re a gamer, well, my condolences in advance. There’s no need to pay for the highest speed service, it’s not going to increase your gaming speeds, at least it didn’t for me. Bandwidth to and from Guam is limited, but you normally don’t have problems watching videos. You know, the important stuff
As always, if you have any questions or comment, feel free to reach out to me personally and I’m happy to answer questions and get you pointed in the right direction.
