Pitcairn
Power & telecom standards in Pitcairn
Connectivity Overview
Tempest Telecom offered satellite-only service in Pitcairn. Iridium satellite Internet and Voice access was available for communications in rural areas without infrastructure.
Pitcairn uses 230V at 50Hz. Power outlets are type I and telephone jacks are RJ-11.
Dial-up Internet Access
Dial-up access was not available in Pitcairn. Satellite Internet was the recommended alternative.
WiFi Hotspot Access
WiFi hotspot access was not available through Tempest in Pitcairn.
Adapters & Power
Travelers from North America will need a power plug adapter. European Type C/F adapters are widely compatible.
Standard RJ-11 jacks are used. Most international modems will connect without an adapter.
Pitcairn at a Glance
- Capital
- Adamstown
- Phone Code
- +64
- Voltage
- 230V / 50Hz
- Power Plug
- I
- Phone Jack
- RJ-11
- Currency
- NZD
- Dial-up
- N/A
- WiFi
- N/A
About connectivity in Pitcairn
Pitcairn Island uses 230V/50Hz with the Australian/NZ-style Type I outlet. The phone jack is RJ-11. The country code +64 is the New Zealand range (Pitcairn shares the NZ numbering plan).
Pitcairn Island is one of the world's smallest permanently-inhabited territories, with a population of approximately 35-50 residents descended largely from the 1789 HMS Bounty mutineers. The island has no airstrip and no scheduled commercial passenger transport; supply ships arrive several times per year. Commercial Internet reached Pitcairn through satellite-only links in the 2000s and remained satellite-dependent for many years; Starlink arrived in 2023.
Tempest Telecom served Pitcairn essentially only through Iridium satellite phones, given the absence of any other commercial connectivity infrastructure during the operational period. The customer base was the small handful of researchers, supply-vessel crews, and the territorial administration.
Modern Pitcairn has Starlink connectivity (from 2023) supplementing earlier satellite arrangements.
Tempest's services across Pitcairn, 1997–2012
Tempest Telecommunications operated international connectivity services in Pitcairn between 1997 and 2012 under a unified prepaid account that absorbed multiple service types onto a single customer credential. Customers in Pitcairn 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 Pitcairn from approximately 2001 (post-bankruptcy relaunch). Thuraya coverage did not extend to Pitcairn; Inmarsat BGAN data terminals filled the broadband gap from late 2005.