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Samoa’s early internet history contains competing claims about when service first began. A documented gateway installation in March 1998 provides a more precise account of how connectivity worked, even though it does not settle who made the country’s first internet connection. An account published by BTW Media draws on a field report by Leslie Allinson, then information technology manager at SOPAC. During a visit from 7 to 14 March 1998, Allinson recorded Telecom Samoa establishing a shared gateway through which separate internet providers could reach an international connection. The distinction matters. Telecom Samoa was building the route used by providers rather than planning to sell internet access directly to retail customers. The design could accommodate up to three providers, and the arrival of a second provider was described as the reason for the gateway work. According to the account, Telecom Samoa approached SOPAC for equipment planning and installation assistance. SOPAC also trained staff from Telecom Samoa and the two providers. Lesa and Computer Services Limited could serve customers through dial-up services, while Telecom Samoa handled the shared international route. The installation was far from a simple switch-on. Work began during the week of Monday 9 March. Allinson’s report says the gateway became operational at 5 a.m. on Thursday, following a switchover that took 12 hours rather than the planned four. The account identifies difficulties at both ends of the connection. Telstra needed to publish new routing information at the Australian end. In Samoa, a cable connecting the gateway router to a Nokia multiplexer had incompatible connectors, and the supplied wiring diagrams were incorrect. The multiplexer connected onward to the earth station. A planned increase in link capacity from 64 to 128 kilobits per second also failed during the work described. The report anticipated a change in the connection interface, but the account does not establish whether that replacement was subsequently completed. There is concrete evidence of an early institutional user. The report recorded that the Apia Observatory’s network had been restored and was uploading satellite images to Samoa.net. It also preserved Samoa.net’s dial-in number, 25300, and settings for email, web hosting and network addressing. Those details demonstrate an operational service without establishing how many people subscribed or how reliably customers connected. The claim to a national first remains less secure. BTW Media notes references to a Pacific Internet service established in 1996 and later abandoned, Lesa’s own dating of its ISP services to 1996, and a later academic account describing Samoa.net as the first dial-up service in 1998. These accounts may be describing different milestones. The defensible conclusion is therefore narrower than a single anniversary date: by March 1998, Samoa had a documented shared international gateway, separate retail providers and an identifiable institutional use. That record explains an important stage in the country’s internet development while leaving the earliest connection unresolved.
Samoa’s early internet history contains competing claims about when service first began. A documented gateway installation in March 1998 provides a more precise account of how connectivity worked, even though it does not settle who made the country’s first internet connection.
An account published by BTW Media draws on a field report by Leslie Allinson, then information technology manager at SOPAC. During a visit from 7 to 14 March 1998, Allinson recorded Telecom Samoa establishing a shared gateway through which separate internet providers could reach an international connection.
The distinction matters. Telecom Samoa was building the route used by providers rather than planning to sell internet access directly to retail customers. The design could accommodate up to three providers, and the arrival of a second provider was described as the reason for the gateway work.
According to the account, Telecom Samoa approached SOPAC for equipment planning and installation assistance. SOPAC also trained staff from Telecom Samoa and the two providers. Lesa and Computer Services Limited could serve customers through dial-up services, while Telecom Samoa handled the shared international route.
The installation was far from a simple switch-on. Work began during the week of Monday 9 March. Allinson’s report says the gateway became operational at 5 a.m. on Thursday, following a switchover that took 12 hours rather than the planned four.
The account identifies difficulties at both ends of the connection. Telstra needed to publish new routing information at the Australian end. In Samoa, a cable connecting the gateway router to a Nokia multiplexer had incompatible connectors, and the supplied wiring diagrams were incorrect. The multiplexer connected onward to the earth station.
A planned increase in link capacity from 64 to 128 kilobits per second also failed during the work described. The report anticipated a change in the connection interface, but the account does not establish whether that replacement was subsequently completed.
There is concrete evidence of an early institutional user. The report recorded that the Apia Observatory’s network had been restored and was uploading satellite images to Samoa.net. It also preserved Samoa.net’s dial-in number, 25300, and settings for email, web hosting and network addressing. Those details demonstrate an operational service without establishing how many people subscribed or how reliably customers connected.
The claim to a national first remains less secure. BTW Media notes references to a Pacific Internet service established in 1996 and later abandoned, Lesa’s own dating of its ISP services to 1996, and a later academic account describing Samoa.net as the first dial-up service in 1998. These accounts may be describing different milestones.
The defensible conclusion is therefore narrower than a single anniversary date: by March 1998, Samoa had a documented shared international gateway, separate retail providers and an identifiable institutional use. That record explains an important stage in the country’s internet development while leaving the earliest connection unresolved.
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