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Lebanon Is Finally Getting The Much Needed Internet Infrastructure Upgrade

By Rami on June 23, 2015 in Lebanon

lebanon internet speed june 2015

I just stumbled upon this really good news about the Ministry of Telecommunications’ plan to upgrade the internet infrastructure by using fiber-optic cables to connect Ogero switching centers to residential and business premises.

The current infrastructures utilizes a fiber-optic network to connect centers together but relies on old copper wires to carry out internet data to the subscribers. The problem with these old wires is that they can handle transferring a maximum of 8Mbps depending on how close to the switching center you live. That’s why 1/3 of internet users in Lebanon cannot get more than 2Mbps to their homes since they simply live too far away from a central office!

The upgrade project will take 5 years to finish as per minister Harb and should allow internet speed to reach 100Mbps. So until that time, expect to encounter a lot of digging around the streets and just pray for the whole thing to finish on time without any major interruption.

Why is our internet getting worse?

By Rami on July 18, 2014 in Lebanon

Following the ministry of telecommunications’ announcement two month ago about the broadband internet packages upgrade and price reductions, you would expect the average speed across the country to be significantly better and our global ranking to improve a bit. But unfortunately, this doesn’t seem like the case since a lot of ADSL subscribers are complaining about their connection!

netindex lebanon

The chart above from netindex.com proves people are right. While July was supposed to witness the new plans taking effect, it is instead turning into the worst month for our internet with the lowest speed in over a year!

If Boutros Harb knew the upgrades were not feasible then he should have simply just reduced the prices instead of messing the speeds for the sake of coming out better than his predecessor Nicolas Sehnaoui.

It’s very clear that the top priorities for the minister right now is to work on upgrading the infrastructure to provide households with better speeds as well as supplying internet providers with more E1s to cater for their subscribers.

Slashing internet prices in Lebanon is still not enough

By Rami on July 1, 2014 in Lebanon

Following the announcement of the ministry of telecommunications on their plan to lower internet prices and boost speeds last month, we all thought it would now be affordable for us to get the high speed connections we always wanted, and this was proven true after some ISPs started rolling out their plans with 4Mbps subscriptions for as low as $19.

However, it doesn’t seem like this sufficient for us to enjoy the newly offered packages. According to this excellent article by Matt Nash from Executive Magazine, the real problem now lies in the copper wires connecting our homes to the central offices. Apparently, these wires can handle transferring a maximum of 8Mbps given that you live near the central office in your area, and the speed of course decreases as the distance to your home increases.

This is in fact so bad that basically around 1/3 of internet users in Lebanon cannot get more than 2Mbps to their homes since they simply live too far away from a central office!

So I believe the biggest challenge facing the ministry right now is upgrading the existing infrastructure which can cost up to $1 billion if we decided to go for optical fiber. And until then, the maximum speed we are able to get will remain much less than what average users enjoy in other countries of our region.

ISPs started rolling out their new DSL plans

By Rami on June 24, 2014 in Lebanon

I’ve been waiting for the new DSL plans to come out ever since the ministry of telecommunications announced the price reductions last month, and I finally got an e-mail from IDM this morning informing me that my subscription has been upgraded from 1Mbps / 10GB to 2 Mbps / 50GB for the same price ($27.5).

This was indeed some great news since my speed has doubled and my quota has increased five times, however, I found it odd that users were not given the liberty to choose among the offered plans but will instead have to wait till the 1st of July to place their change requests. For example, I could have chosen to settle for the same quota I had before for $12 only, but IDM and other providers definitely look to keep their revenues the same so they are subscribing us to the plan that matches whatever we’ve been usually paying.

A friend of mine is also subscribed to IDM’s 4Mbps / 25GB plan at $77 and was upgraded to the unlimited 4Mbps plan at $82, whereas he could have simply chosen to settle for the same quota he previously had at $27.5 and spared a whole $55 a month!

So make sure not to proceed blindly with whatever your ISP gives you next months, but rather take a look at all their offered plans to choose what suits your needs, and chances are you’ll definitely end up saving some good money.

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