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Tag Archives | 3g

Touch Now Offers Residential Data Plans at Discounted Prices

By on October 26, 2018 in Telecom

Remember how bad was my internet at home? Well it never changed (thank you Ogero), so I eventually switched to using data plans by Touch and Alfa over a 3G router I have and was paying up to ~$100 depending on my usage.

However last week I noticed that touch now has residential internet plans at the following rates:

  • 25GB for $35
  • 50GB for $59
  • 100GB for $109
  • 150GB for $159
  • 250GB for $200

You can check the offers here. Prices are not inclusive of VAT and are definitely better than what you pay for mobile plans (20GB at $46 for example), and they’re of course more expensive than what you get from ISPs but it’s not really fair to compare a mobile operator to an ISP.

The only drawback though is that it seems to be compatible with Touch 4G/4.5G routers only wich cost between $70 and $135, whereas I would have preferred to be given the ability to use my own router. Moreover, I wish they had free traffic quota at night.

Anyway, if you also have problems with your home internet connection, then it’s good to know that plans by Touch are not more affordable now until the DSL infrastructure is hopefully fully upgraded.

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Ogero New DSL Prices Finally Approved

By on June 8, 2017 in Telecom

Remember the new DSL prices that were proposed by Ogero earlier in May? They were finally approved by the cabinet yesterday with a slight modification and should be effective in a couple of weeks once the decree is published in the Official Gazette.

As I mentioned before, people who will benefit the most are those who live near any of Ogero’s exchange offices since their phone lines can handle better speeds. Others will unfortunately have to wait up to two year until the phone network is upgraded.

As for the minority who is blessed with connectivity using fiber optic cables, the below rates apply.

The above prices are of course only applicable to Ogero subscribers, so we should soon expect other ISPs to announce new competitive packages.

Finally, with respect to mobile data bundles, telecom minister Jarrah also announced that E1 prices will be reduced as well which only makes it logical for 3G and 4G data plan prices to decrease as well, so let’s cross our fingers!

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Lebanon’s 4G speed test

By on May 15, 2013 in Lebanon

huawei

I was luckily among the people who were selected for the trial phase of the 4G network, so I got my dongle from Alfa yesterday and below are some random tests I performed today after I got my connection activated.

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As you can notice the speeds and ping delay are less than what one would expect on a 4G network but that might be due to my location since my reception meter was half full, so I’ll soon try to repeat the test from another place.

Note that Alfa 4G currently covers Beirut only and will slowly expand to other regions, same as what happened when 3G was launched.

Update:

I performed two additional tests near Tayouneh today and got the below speeds.

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touch’s 3G consumption glitch

By on May 7, 2013 in Lebanon

touch 3g consumption

I just noticed many people are complaining about incorrect readings they’re getting for their 3G usage  following the upgrade that touch did for their plans.

Truth is all those who renewed their 3G subscription prior to May 7th got an increase of 50, 250, 500 MB on BOTH of their usage and limit, depending on the plan to which they’re subscribed, to ensure they still work by the old quotas since the increase will only be effective for renewals as of today. So if you’re a touch user, the 3G consumption you’re reading are actually correct.

Update:

I just noticed my 3G usage was reduced by 250MB which means that touch granted the extra quota to everyone regardless of their plan renewal date. So I either got things wrong this morning, or touch simply just responded to their clients complaints about that glitch.

touch 3g consumption 1

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4G pilot phase in Lebanon

By on February 13, 2013 in Lebanon

As per minister Sehnaoui, the pilot phase of the 4G service will start by the end of this month including 200 students and 200 specialists as in the case with 3G back in September 2011. And I just hope I’ll take part in this testing phase like last time!

Alfa by the way is currently offering an interactive platform at ABC Achrafiyeh where’s they conducting some live experiments to show people how fast can the service be, but note that the devices they’re using are probably the only ones on the network right now.

via LBCI

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Nicolas Sehnaoui’s promises for 2013

By on January 6, 2013 in Lebanon

Nicolas Sehnaoui

Telecom Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui posted on new year’s eve a list of goals he’s looking to accomplish in 2013 in the form of predictions (à la Michael Hayek).

Prediction 2013 #1- Improve the 3G quality with the Deep Indoor Expansion

Prediction 2013 #2- Deploy 4G in the main cities

Prediction 2013 #3- Start the Fiber To The Homes (FTTH) tender process and start connecting users to the Fiber Optic network

Prediction 2013 #4- Equip the remaining 130 co’s with DSL capability

Prediction 2013 #5- Allow and tariff VDSL technology to allow higher speeds for the 75% living under 2km from the CO

Prediction 2013 #6- Launch an International Tender on the management of the 2 mobile operators

Prediction 2013 #7- Finalize with Cyprus the purchase of 700Gb on the Alexandros cable

Prediction 2013 #8- Double the caps on 3G for the same price

Prediction 2013 #9- Start connecting the Heavy Users to Fiber Optic network

Prediction 2013 #10- Deploy the active cabinets that will allow 25% of people living further than 2km from the CO to get normal DSL

Let’s hope they all come true!

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More on the data requested by the Information Branch

By on December 5, 2012 in Lebanon

I just noticed Elnashra has published some classified communications between the interior miniter Marwan Charbel and prime minister Najib Mikati showing the data the Information Branch has requested following the assassination of General Wissam El Hassan.

In all of those documents the Information Branch is requesting the below types of data from the two mobile operators in Lebanon (Alfa and Touch), while there’s no mention of any ISP such as Cyberia, IDM, and the alike.

  • List of websites we visit along with all the information we submit to these websites including usernames and passwords. (It’s relatively difficult to obtain these information if HTTPS is enabled)
  • Copies of exchanged e-mails and chat sessions.
  • Recordings of calls made through VoIP applications.
  • List of downloaded apps.
  • Call detail records
  • SMS records.

So unlike what has been circulating in the past few days, and judging from the content of these communications, the Information Branch is only interested in data logged by mobile operators and not ISPs. In addition, there was no explicit interest in obtaining Facebook credentials as the media was reporting.

Anyway I still find it disturbing to know that mobile operators might not be only keeping track of visited websites, but also of submitted information, e-mails, chat sessions, and even VoIP calls recordings! And it seems like they’re really doing so since the telecommunications minister never claimed those records do not exist and instead is just rejecting the Information Branch’s requests.

P.S: I found it weird that some communications were dated August 18th 2012, and got received by the office of the prime minister on the same day, even though they’re requesting data from the period starting September 13th 2012 and ending November 10th 2012. It’s like asking for data from the future!

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4G soon in Lebanon

By on November 1, 2012 in Lebanon

According to this article in Annahar today, telecom minister Nicolas Sehnaoui announced that live 4G tests will start on Novemeber 16 at Beirut Digital District, and the service will be commercially launched on April 23rd 2013 in selected areas.

It’s definitely about time we get 4G, but I admit I wasn’t expecting we will be getting the service anytime soon given how slow such projects go in Lebanon! I also hope its commercial launch is not going to witness the same mess that happened when we first got 3G.

Anyway, you can read about Sehnaoui’s announcement here and watch him tonight talking about it in Talk of The Town on MTV.

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Cedar tree planted into wireless devices

By on April 2, 2012 in Lebanon

No it’s not like really planting a cedar tree into some electronic device! But a research team at the American University of Beirut discovered that cedar tree shaped antennas are ideal for use in some wireless devices.

The team found that the geometry of the cedar, based on repetitive triangular parts, allows a cedar-shaped antenna to operate at multiple frequencies, which makes it suitable for many types of wireless devices such as mobile phones.

Karim Kabalan, professor and chairman of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was the mastermind behind the design, after two years of searching for an antenna that would be easy and inexpensive to fabricate and innovative, veering away from the usual rectangular and circular shapes. Source

The Lebanese Phalanges should be credited for the design though, it looks pretty much like their schematic cedar.

Thanks to @mkdubai

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