Barbados
Power & telecom standards in Barbados
Connectivity Overview
Tempest Telecom offered satellite-only service in Barbados. Iridium satellite Internet and Voice access was available for communications in rural areas without infrastructure.
Barbados uses 115V at 50Hz. Power outlets are type A, B and telephone jacks are RJ-11.
Dial-up Internet Access
Dial-up access was not available in Barbados. Satellite Internet was the recommended alternative.
WiFi Hotspot Access
WiFi hotspot access was not available through Tempest in Barbados.
Adapters & Power
North American (Type A/B) plugs are compatible. An adapter may not be needed for US travelers.
Standard RJ-11 jacks are used. Most international modems will connect without an adapter.
Barbados at a Glance
- Capital
- Bridgetown
- Phone Code
- +1-246
- Voltage
- 115V / 50Hz
- Power Plug
- A, B
- Phone Jack
- RJ-11
- Currency
- BBD
- Dial-up
- N/A
- WiFi
- N/A
About connectivity in Barbados
Barbados uses 115V/50Hz (unusual frequency for a 115V country) with Type A and Type B outlets. The phone jack is RJ-11. Flow Barbados (Liberty Latin America) and Digicel Barbados compete in the country's telecom market.
Bajan commercial Internet emerged in the late 1990s through Cable & Wireless. Mobile data dominates current Internet access.
The Bajan prepaid international calling-card market through the 2000s served the substantial Barbadian outbound diaspora — concentrated in the United Kingdom (one of the historic Caribbean Windrush-era communities), the United States, and Canada (Toronto).
Tempest Telecom served Barbados through dial-up POPs in Bridgetown. The Caribbean maritime industry, the offshore financial-services sector, and the cruise-tourism economy sustained Iridium demand.
Modern Barbados has expanding FTTH and mature 4G LTE / 5G coverage.
Tempest's services across Barbados, 1997–2012
Tempest Telecommunications operated international connectivity services in Barbados between 1997 and 2012 under a unified prepaid account that absorbed multiple service types onto a single customer credential. Customers in Barbados drew from the same balance for pre-paid international voice calling, RADIUS-authenticated dial-up Internet roaming, metered Wi-Fi hotspot access, Iridium satellite voice, and Inmarsat BGAN data terminals. An attempted kiosk-payment federation (PATN, 1998) extended the same architecture to public Internet terminals but failed to reach scale.
Iridium satellite voice was available in Barbados from approximately 2001 (post-bankruptcy relaunch). Thuraya coverage did not extend to Barbados; Inmarsat BGAN data terminals filled the broadband gap from late 2005.
Nearby countries in Americas
Antigua and Barbuda · Argentina · Aruba · Bahamas · Belize · Bermuda · Bolivia · Brazil