Internet Access at Red Frog Beach Club

Owner Ivan Ho, one of our neighbors on Turtle Beach, wrote the following to the blog:

I agree we did not have enough time to make our choices. My question is: why are they charging me $1,000 for internet allowance. In the original contract it says we would have internet access. Ryan can not tell me the difference between the two. All he says is that RFB had to pay for all the equipment for the internet. I understand that but the villa is to have internet access at no additional charge. Does anyone know anything about this?

Mick @ Lot 83 had this response:

As for the Internet, we don't remember this agreement specifically. I do know that Ryan said the cloud was over the whole project and of course, we would need a router in each villa (which we bought in our villa selections). I would expect there to be a monthly access charge since RFB is paying for Internet access through their ISP. We will check and see if we can get this clarified for you. We may also hire an attorney to look over the contact again and give us his interpretation of what we should and should not get.

Ryan Bullock's response to my e-mail request to clarify the Internet Allowance was this:

Yes, you purchased the internet allowance for your villa, and that allowance includes a router that will distribute the wireless signal throughout your Villa. I will try to clarify what exactly is meant by the “Internet Allowance”.

Basically, we have invested in the infrastructure in order to make internet access available to all of the villas on the project. There was no internet access on this part of Bastimentos island before Red Frog Beach, but we “created” that access for our clients when we made the necessary arrangements with Cable and Wireless and when we invested in the installation of a communications tower that would distribute the signal throughout the Property and to all of the villas, condos, etc. In order to take advantage of that access clients must have an antenna and a router installed for their unit, and this is what is included in the Internet Allowance.

There will be a monthly access fee for internet service, but I do not know exactly what that fee will be. We may ultimately be able to offer different connection speeds at different rates. I anticipate that the fee will probably be something around $60 per month.

I hope that I have been able to answer your questions. Please let me know if there is anything else that I can explain.

I still find the definition of Internet Allowance a little confusing since he does not specify if this charge includes any monthy service and, if not, when will the monthly service charge start? (Maybe Ron @ 11 knows since he is living there.) I have asked for a clarification and will post it when I hear back.

It was not my understanding that all Internet service would be free and would expect to pay for monthy access as with any of our vacation properties, but I can't speak to what RFB agreed to with Ivan's family.

Mick @ lot 83