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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 Super Ultra Fast Speeds – It All Started But When The F*** Will It Be All Done?

By on July 12, 2018 in Telecom

When I started facing interruptions with my internet connection last summer, I never expected the problem to persist for a whole year with no solution in sight so far.

Although I am an IDM customer, the problem was attributed to some faulty cables/equipment on Ogero’s side, and the latter claimed they cannot do anything about it until the active cabinets project that was promised in the beginning of 2017 reaches my area. Come to think of it logically, the thing is similar to owning a car with the manufacturer simply refusing to repair it for you because they have a new model coming out next year!

But guess what, more than a year later the situation is even worse with the below poor readings on my modem for more than a week now.

So it’s 2018 and I am getting less than 0.01 Mbps as a download speed.

We have been hearing promises for much better speeds ever since a new director general was appointed at Ogero, and except for the publicity stunts they stage every now and then to show us 100 Mbps speeds around some places in Beirut, I personally haven’t seen any sign of real progress. If anything, my experience shows short sighted vision and a lack of proper planning from their side, I mean how on earth can you cease support on your existing infrastructure when you have hundreds of thousands still connected to it?

Ogero have been trying to change their image for a while now starting with the rebranding work they did, getting more active on social platforms, and getting engaged with so called “influencers”, but nothing will really change it unless they put their words into actions, and until then they will always be regarded as one of the “daweiyir dawleh” that simply work by the “daweiyir dawleh” standards!

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Ogero is Now Offering Residential Fiber Connection in Hamra and Achrafieh

By on September 2, 2017 in Telecom

You’re so lucky if you live in Achrafieh or Hamra because Ogero announced two days ago that they started offering fiber connections there, and you can apply to the service by sending an email to thepeople@ogero.gov.lb.

I don’t imagine the procedure to be very straight forward because it certainly involves changing the wiring and Ogero didn’t provide any further explanation about that yet.

Anyway, while this is a big step forward for the residents in these two areas, you can’t but think about the big gap being created among the users of the same phone network, and you can clearly see it in the comments on Ogero’s page. Some can’t benefit from more than 1 or 2Mb connections and others can’t even have DSL installed at their premises, while others on the other hand are benefiting from open speed plans and now fiber connections…

And let’s not forget also the problems that need miracles to be fixed such as mine which has been trailing with IDM and Ogero for more than 5 months now. At some point I’m starting to think it will only be solved once I move to Beirut!

The solution for all of this is certainly an infrastructure overhaul, but given how slow our governments tend to be with fulfilling promises, I really hope we get to see this during our lifetime.

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OGERO #UnleashTheSpeed – Test Results in Achrafieh

By on April 13, 2017 in Telecom

Today marked the third day in Ogero’s “Unleash the speed” tests for subscribers in Beirut, and among the exchange offices that were included today is the Achrafieh exchange office, so I passed by one of my friends there in the area to test the “unleashed” bandwidth myself!

I eventually used speedtest.net and picked a server in Lyon that I usually use to test my home connection. I performed numerous tests and was impressed by the download speed which was consistent at ~6.5Mbps (3 times the subscription original speed), however the ping latency varied from 90 milliseconds as shown above up to 300 milliseconds, it’s worth noting though that ping to local servers at Cyberia and Connect was consistently less than 50 milliseconds.

Assuming the subscription fees will remain unchanged or hopefully decrease, the speed upgrades are much welcome but the latency thing should definitely be reduced to provide a better experience for online gamers. Aside from that, the ultimate challenge for Ogero will of course be to cope with the increasing demand on bandwidth once they remove the speed caps for all subscribers. People are currently barely getting the speeds they are subscribed to, so increasing line speeds without having the necessary bandwidth to cater for the users is going to be pretty disappointing.

Anyway, I don’t want to be pessimistic about the upgrade plan, but let’s just keep our fingers crossed until it is all done.

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The New Connect Ads Are Spot On

By on March 31, 2017 in Telecom

It’s almost the end of the month, and as per Ogero’s new Director General Imad Kreidieh our internet speeds are supposed to double or triple by tomorrow! However, unless he is a magician, I really don’t see how the speeds are going to increase with the current rotting telephone network… I have mentioned it several times before, as long as copper wires are still used to connect households to central offices I really can’t see the connection quality getting better.

I personally have been feeling very frustrated with my DSL connection for quite some time now due to speed and latency degradation in the evening. In fact, I can rarely enjoy online gaming anytime before 10 or 11PM… which recently got me thinking of switching to some wireless internet provider. Using 3G or 4G would definitely be the optimal solution but the bundles are quite expensive for home usage and lack of free night traffic is a deal breaker.

Aside from their witty ads, I have been hearing some positive feedback about Connect and I’m considering checking if they can allow me to test their connection where I live before committing to one of their plan, and I will definitely subscribe in case their service was stable throughout the day.

Another possible solution could be to talk to your neighborhood’s “hayda taba3 l cable” who basically provides you with internet by installing a wireless atenna/access-point on your building’s roof. Even though no one really knows where they get their capacities from, they surprisingly provide good speed an latency. A guy I know in Dekwaneh for example gets <100ms latency to google.com which is pretty decent in Lebanon. The drawback however is that the service gets totally fucked during winter time…

Anyway, I will let you know how it goes with me!

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PM Hariri Vows to Make Internet in Lebanon 20 Times Faster

By on December 23, 2016 in Telecom

 

Speaking at the third edition of the Global Business Summit yesterday, Prime Minister Hariri claimed that one of the priorities he set for his new government is to increase the internet speed in Lebanon by 20-fold.

His promise is a bit vague to be honest and no further explanation was given for us to know what exactly is going to increase 20 times, is it the average internet speed that households are currently gettings (20 x 2Mbps) or is it the overall capacity provided to ISPs in order to enhance our connection quality?

We all know there was a plan by minister Harb in 2015 to overhaul the current infrastructure in order to allow us to benefit from better speeds, but the upgrade was set to be completed in 2020… and knowing that Hariri’s government is supposed to only serve until the next parliament elections in 9 months, I’m not really sure how is he going to fulfill his promise while slow-speed copper wires are still used to connect us to central offices.

Anyway, when it comes to internet, I prefer to remain a bit optimistic because we really need a better connection so bad, not only for personal use but because the infrastructure upgrade will definitely have a positive impact on our economy. And in all cases, no matter what the government plans are, I hope they start by getting rid of Abdel Menhem Youssef first!

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Here’s How Netflix Fails in Lebanon

By on January 12, 2016 in Lebanon

netflixhome

Soon after Netflix launched its service worldwide I quickly signed up for a free trial to see how good will the streaming be over our lousy internet connection, and I was unsurprisingly very disappointed with the experience.

I have a 2Mb connection, and I was never able to stream a show in HD, the maximum resolution I was getting was probably 360 or 480p despite setting the playback parameters in my account to only play shows in HD. A friend of mine who has a 4Mb was also failing to load anything in high quality. And judging by the figures Netflix posted on their data usage, the results seemed pretty reasonable since 1 hour of HD streaming consumes up to 3GB, so there’s no way you can get that quality unless you probably have an 8Mb subscription.

netflix

Therefore until the internet infrastructure gets a massive upgrade here in Lebanon you’re better off without a Netflix subscription. And even if you managed to get a super fast connection, you should know that the Middle East’s catalog is different than that of the USA and lacks some of our favorite shows like House of Cards for example due to licensing issues. To get over that you’ll have to resort to using some VPN service all over again to cheat the geographical restrictions.

So basically just ditch the idea of subscribing to the service and keep that torrent client installed in your PC for the time being.

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You Can Finally Netflix and Chill in Lebanon!

By on January 6, 2016 in Lebanon

Netflix_Web_Logo

Netflix just announced today during a keynote at CES the launching of its service in more than 130 new countries including Lebanon! So yeah, you can finally “Netflix and chill” now 😉

The only way to have Netflix in Lebanon and other Arab countries prior to this announcement was by signing up to some US VPN service, but as of today you won’t have to go through the hassle of doing that anymore.

I personally really love their content and used to abuse my brother’s account in Dubai everytime I went there, however the only and most important concern here in Lebanon is whether our shitty internet connection will be able to stream the service in HD. The only way to figure out is by signing up for a free trial which I’m gonna do right away!

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Lebanon Is Finally Getting The Much Needed Internet Infrastructure Upgrade

By 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.

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