Trinidad and Tobago
Power & telecom standards in Trinidad and Tobago
Connectivity Overview
Tempest Telecom offered dial-up internet access, WiFi hotspot access and broadband ethernet access in Trinidad and Tobago. We also offered Iridium satellite Internet and Voice access in Trinidad and Tobago for communications in rural areas without infrastructure.
Trinidad and Tobago uses 115V at 60Hz. Power outlets are type A, B and telephone jacks are RJ-11.
Dial-up Internet Access
Tempest Telecom provided local dial-up access numbers in Trinidad and Tobago at $0.155/minute. Travelers could connect using any standard modem with an RJ-11 telephone adapter.
WiFi Hotspot Access
Tempest Telecom provided WiFi hotspot access in Trinidad and Tobago at $19.95/day for unlimited browsing.
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.
Trinidad and Tobago at a Glance
- Capital
- Port of Spain
- Phone Code
- +1-868
- Voltage
- 115V / 60Hz
- Power Plug
- A, B
- Phone Jack
- RJ-11
- Currency
- TTD
- Dial-up
- $0.155/min
- WiFi
- $19.95/day
About connectivity in Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago uses 115V/60Hz with Type A and Type B outlets — the North American standard despite the historic British colonial heritage. The phone jack is RJ-11. TSTT (Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago, post-1991 from the predecessor Telco operations), now operating as Bmobile, holds substantial fixed-line market position. Digicel Trinidad and Tobago, founded 2006 as part of the Caribbean Digicel expansion, competes in mobile and broadband alongside Flow Trinidad and Tobago (the Liberty Global Caribbean brand).
Trinidad and Tobago's commercial Internet emerged in the mid-1990s through Carib Link and several regional ISPs operating over TSTT's PSTN infrastructure. Per-minute metered dial-up dominated the late 1990s. The country's position as the Caribbean's largest oil-and-gas producer and second-largest English-speaking economy generated business-traveler and corporate connectivity demand from the energy sector through the 2000s. ADSL and cable broadband rolled out through the 2000s; mobile data dominates current Internet access.
TSTT introduced cardphone units in the 1990s with chip-card cardphones becoming standard. The Trinbagonian prepaid international calling-card market through the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s served the substantial Trinidadian diaspora — concentrated in the United States (particularly Brooklyn New York, which hosts one of the largest Trinidadian populations outside Trinidad), Canada (Toronto), the United Kingdom, and Venezuela (historically, before the post-2015 reverse migration). The country's tri-ethnic demographic structure (Afro-Trinidadian, Indo-Trinidadian, and significant Chinese, Syrian-Lebanese, and Venezuelan communities) sustained calling-card brands targeting multiple destination corridors.
Tempest Telecom served Trinidad and Tobago through dial-up POPs in Port of Spain. Iridium satphones served the substantial offshore oil-and-gas sector (Trinidad is the Caribbean's largest oil-and-gas producer, with extensive offshore operations off the east coast), the Caribbean shipping lanes maritime industry, and the LNG-shipping logistics customer base.
Modern Trinidad and Tobago has expanding FTTH in Port of Spain and San Fernando with mature 4G LTE coverage nationally.
Tempest's services across Trinidad and Tobago, 1997–2012
Tempest Telecommunications operated international connectivity services in Trinidad and Tobago between 1997 and 2012 under a unified prepaid account that absorbed multiple service types onto a single customer credential. Customers in Trinidad and Tobago 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 Trinidad and Tobago from approximately 2001 (post-bankruptcy relaunch). Thuraya coverage did not extend to Trinidad and Tobago; Inmarsat BGAN data terminals filled the broadband gap from late 2005.
Nearby countries in Americas
Paraguay · Peru · Puerto Rico · Suriname · Turks and Caicos Islands · United States · Uruguay · Venezuela