This article is about communication

Communication

Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...

s systems in American Samoa

American Samoa

American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa...

.

In 2009, American Samoa was connected to the Internet using the ASH undersea cable that increased bandwidth from 20 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s. The project used a defunct Pacrim East cable built in 1993 that previously connected Hawaii with New Zealand. The cable system now connects Samoa

Samoa

Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...

 to American Samoa and then to Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

 where it will connect to global submarine networks.

A second fiber optic cable connecting American Samoa is expected to be operational in early 2011.. The SPIN

SPIN (cable system)

SPIN is a submarine communications cable system that will connect the New Zealand to Tahiti and will connect several South Pacific islands along the way. The SPIN cable will be long and will have a 64x10 Gbit/s capacity. It should be in service late 2010...

 (South Pacific Island Network) cable system will link Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

 - Noumea

Nouméa

Nouméa is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian , Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians,...

 and Tahiti

Tahiti

Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...

 (640 Gbit/s design capacity). It will have several branching units for Norfolk Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa and American Samoa. SPIN is a French government funded project to connect France with its overseas territories.

The landing site for the SPIN cable will be near the Tafuna International Airport.

Telephone

Telephone

The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...

Main lines in use: 10,400 (2004)

country comparison to the world: 202

Mobile cellular: 2,200 (2004)

country comparison to the world: 210

Telephone system:

domestic: good telex

Teleprinter

A teleprinter is a electromechanical typewriter that can be used to communicate typed messages from point to point and point to multipoint over a variety of communication channels that range from a simple electrical connection, such as a pair of wires, to the use of radio and microwave as the...

, telegraph, facsimile and cellular telephone services; domestic satellite system with 1 Comsat

COMSAT

The Communications Satellite Corporation is a global telecommunications company, based in the USA, and with branches in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela and several other countries in the Americas. It is present also in Turkey...

 earth station

Earth station

A ground station, earth station, or earth terminal is a terrestrial terminal station designed for extraplanetary telecommunication with spacecraft, and/or reception of radio waves from an astronomical radio source. Ground stations are located either on the surface of the Earth, or within Earth's...

international: satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat

Intelsat

Intelsat, Ltd. is a communications satellite services provider.Originally formed as International Telecommunications Satellite Organization , it was—from 1964 to 2001—an intergovernmental consortium owning and managing a constellation of communications satellites providing international broadcast...

 (Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

)

international access code: +1.684 (in the North American Numbering Plan

North American Numbering Plan

The North American Numbering Plan is an integrated telephone numbering plan administered by Neustar which encompasses 24 countries and territories, including the United States and its territories, Canada, Bermuda, and 16 nations of the Caribbean...

, Area code 684

Area code 684

Area code 684 is the number assigned to telephones in American Samoa. The area code system is part of the North American Numbering Plan, NANP....

)

Radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

Radio broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 5, shortwave 0 (2005)

Radios:
57,000 (1997)

Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

Internet Service Provider

Internet service provider

An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...

s (ISPs): at least 3
Internet country code: .as

Internet Hosts: 1,923 (2008)

country comparison to the world: 141

Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 users: NA

Criticism

Despite the millions of dollars that governor Togiola Tulafono

Togiola Tulafono

Togiola Talalelei A. Tulafono is the Governor of American Samoa. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He had previously served as Lieutenant Governor, taking this position on January 3, 1997....

 spent into bringing fiber optic to American Samoa, the Internet is still as slow before. The two Internet service providers that anyone on the island is actually familiar with offer the same speed at the same prices. Before fiber optic, one can see speeds up to 256k for the public while paying $75. After fiber optic, the latency

Latency (engineering)

Latency is a measure of time delay experienced in a system, the precise definition of which depends on the system and the time being measured. Latencies may have different meaning in different contexts.-Packet-switched networks:...

may have changed but not the pricing/speed scheme which stayed at around 256k/$75.