Home Broadband

I am a user of Afaq wireless from STC .I live in Dammam Housing / Askaan , Dammam , KSA . My dad got Afaq wireless at the start of feb ‘09 . Now I have some questions based on my experience of Internet that I want other ppl’s opinions and updates as well.(I was a straight 3 year user of Du UAE broadband 2mbps service ie. max as well as constant download speed of 240kB/s which was great and worth 350 dhs~sr/month)

1. Afaq Wireless : from my experience its relatively new . Its a ‘internet on the move’ 3g gsm chip service. They have provided me a huwei e960 router free (worth 1200 sr) as they had a promotional offer. Internet is 300 sr/month unlimited download.

Info: Hard to find online. No mention of Afaqwireless on STC website.

Service : Disappointing. 7.2 Mbps (ie 921.6 KB/s download speed) out of which max speed I have got is 100 KB/s and that has happened only 3 times since I got it. Plus it disconnects between 4-8 hrs. Avg speed 50 KB/s ie its worse than a 512 Kbps DSL connection. Plus sometimes it shifts between 3g(7.2Mbps) to 2g which is very slow.

Questions: I want to know if anyone else is using this service and how’s their experience? If I want to cancel service next month what kind of charges will I incur ? How many days does STC take to cancel? Can I return the router so I do not have to pay router charges? Is it good for online gaming via ps3 or xbox360? whats the difference between afaq wireless & jawal net (are they the same) ?

2. Jawal Net : all info I got from STC website and other webpages . In terms of technicalities its the same as Afaqwireless .Price is more though. 350sr/month.Does not have any promotions on website as of now.

Question: All the previous questions & Is it fast?(I have read and heard its fast and better than mobily connect but have no first hand experience).How fast in dload speeds? how is the Connection .Does it also disconnect often?

3.Mobily connect: Same in technicalities as Afaqwireless & Jawalnet. Price 350sr/month .
Service :I got a friends mobily prepaid huwei e220 modem(a small usb dongle) and used it in my house. It was very slow in the afternoon(Friday) but around midnight onwards it reached amazing 240KB/s speeds (ie it became like a 2Mbps connection which is really nice. According to my friend who lives in middle of Dammam ,he sometimes gets 400 KB/s.) Then next day I kept receiving 80-120 KB/s speeds throughout. Problem though is that it keeps getting disconnected every 1-2 hrs .Sometimes it also goes into 2g connection and becomes slow and I have to move it around and reconnect.

Questions: all that were asked previously & How good is mobily connect compared to all the connections? Does it always disconnect this often?

4.Wimax (broadband @ home): a wireless broadband service provided by bayanat under Mobily which gives 2Mbps. Price 250~300sr/month.

Service: Though I have never experienced it , a friend (who is working ) got it and therefore uses it only during night and weekends .He says it provides avg 240 KB/s (sounds like 2Mbps) and max 400 KB/s (sounds fishy?) .He also says the signal doesn’t disconnect and remains constant.

Questions: All the previous & Is the speed really true what my friend says and does the signal never disconnects and remains constant ? So is it the best?

5.STC DSL : a landline service .various speeds. Two types. STC line and other ISP / STC Shamil DSL. Price of 2mbps = 310~350 sr/month.

Service: 2 years ago in 2006 I had applied for STC DSL line .STC said it wouldn’t take more than 2 weeks. After 2 weeks I called them and they said it will get done . After a month they said it will get done. So again I persisted & they finally said that they are putting underground lines for Dammam Housing / Askaan and that’s why its taking time. Finally after 2 years (2008) my father contacted STC and they said yes it will get done. Move on to 2009 and my father finally had enough of it and sought to cancel and re-apply .STC told him to go to their office. He went and cancelled it and upon reapplying for DSL they told him it cannot be put in Dammam Housing / Askaan as there are no lines and cabinets and other weird non-understandable explanations. Me and my dad later concurred probably there aren’t yet any underground lines. So my dad so the offer for Afaqwireless and he just took it. The STC guy came next day itself to put the service.

Questions: All the previous & Does anyone have knowledge that STC DSL ‘can’ be put in Dammam Housing / Askaan ? Does it remain constant like my mentioned Du UAE internet service ? If no then what kind of speed and connection problems are there?

6.Orbit Satellite : Satellite internet Service. 2 Mbps is Very very expensive. No idea about service. Just heard its unrestricted internet access.

Question : Is it worth in anyway?

Please Guys do not mind the absurdity of the questions. The reason I have asked in such a way is so that when someone enters a search