Tag Archives | internet

Dr. Inaya Ezzeddine, What Do You Know About Momo?

By Rami on March 2, 2019 in What the fuck!

The internet was buzzing over the past week with articles about the “Momo” YouTube character that was enticing kids to hurt themselves, and threatening to kill them if they don’t comply. I personally was concerned about it since my 5 year old boy watches YouTube sometimes, but a few searches later on google I learned that it was a hoax, and in fact several articles were published on popular news outlets in the last two days to inform people about it.

However, just when everyone started to know that this whole “Momo challenge” thing is false, ex-minister Inaya Ezzeddine felt like pitching in by calling the ministers of Interior, Educations, and Telecommunications to take the necessary measures in order to ban the Momo “game” in Lebanon. Okay madam but what game do you exactly mean?

From a doctor turned minister, everyone would expect smarter statements. But just like a typical know-it-all Lebanese, she decided to contribute to the mass panic without even a minimum knowledge about the topic. And what’s with the fake belief in the power of censorship? An educated doctor in our age seriously believes you can actually ban things on the internet? How about simply providing some internet safety tips instead? Lebanese politicians are seriously so cringy that they make you feel uncomfortable even when they mean good!

Still, the worst is yet to come. Wait for Joe Maalouf and company on Monday night when they discuss the issue on their upcoming episodes!

Ogero Announces Its Fiber Deployment Timeplan

By Rami on November 23, 2018 in Telecom

If you regularly visit Ogero’s website then you probably have noticed that they recently published their plan for deploying the fiber network (FTTX) around Lebanon.

Over the next three years and until min 2021, the time-plan shows that at the end of each quarter a number of areas will start benefiting from the FTTX project. Still, the schedule seems to be subject to change since the exchange office I am connected to was set to be done by Q4 2018 but I noticed today that it was delayed along with several other area till Q2 2019.

I personally can’t wait till my DSL line gets on board the Fiber project because my internet connection speed has been unbearable for almost two years now, and the last time I tried to complain once again to Ogero’s support I got a mediocre argument and funnily enough, they requested that I ask my ISP (IDM) to follow-up on my problem with them instead of me doing it personally. (Because logic!!)

Anyway, you can stay up to date with the time-plan on this link and don’t forget to keep your fingers crosses.

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

By Rami 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!

Ogero Website Finally Got a Makeover

By Rami on December 26, 2017 in Telecom

Ogero’s website finally just got a very long due makeover! I’m personally used to paying my landline bill online and I absolutely hated how hideous it was… the design was so outdated that one can even doubt the information that were available there were left from the nineties.

Anyway, so I wanted to check my bill today and was surprised with the new version (right now in beta). The website has several new functionalities now such as more controls to the members area allowing subscribers to activate/deactivate phone and internet services, in addition to of course paying bills and viewing previous invoices. Moreover, an online directory has been made available to search for a subscriber’s phone number.

And for those planning to apply for a DSL subscription, a simple form can be used to check the maximum speed supported by their phone line.

Still, some little things can definitely be improved such as making the directory design homogeneous with website look and feel, and changing the way you select a phone number when paying a phone bill because it is a bit confusing right now, but all in all I’m quite satisfied with this new upgrade.

A mobile app is also expected to be released soon by the way, so stay tuned if you prefer to manage your account on the go.

9 Lebanese Startups Among The Arab World’s Top 100

By Rami on October 3, 2017 in Lebanon

Forbes Middle East released its list of the top 100 startups in the Arab World and Lebanon earned 9 spots with Anghami coming 2nd in the overall ranking thanks to $29M in funding. UAE based startup Fetchr was ranked 1st with a funding of $52M.

Here’s a list of the Lebanese startups that were mentioned (Full list available here):

#2 Anghami – Music streaming platform
#23 Scriptr – IoT application platform
#25 Falafel Games – Develops and publishes massively multiplayer online games
#31 Sqwirl Lab – Startup studio
#39 Energy24 – Alternative Energy storage and generator
#65 Blink My Car – Car care app
#72 Risk+ Solutions – Financial intelligence and risk management solutions
#77 Loop – Electric scooter sharing technology
#85 Myki – Cybersecurity

With the all the telecom infrastructure upgrades we are promised, I hope we get to see even more Lebanese projects and startups in the coming years.

On the other hand, a similar list was also compiled by Forbes for the top 100 Arab companies and 4 Lebanese banks made it to the list (Bank Audi, BLOM Bank, Byblos Bank, and Bank of Beirut).

Banque Libano-Française New Mobile App Commercial

By Rami on September 30, 2017 in Ads

It’s not everyday that Lebanese banks make funny commercials. This one was made for Banque Libano-Française’s new Mobile app (MyBLF 2.0) and the actress portraying the client is absolutely hilarious!

Make sure to watch the video till the end.

Beit Misk – The First Smart City in Lebanon with Fiber To The Home Infrastructure

By Rami on September 20, 2017 in Telecom

Beit Misk was pronounced over the last weekend as the first “Smart City” in Lebanon after Ogero enabled internet connectivity over fiber optics to the residents there.

Earlier this month Ogero announced it will be offering residential fiber connection to the people of Hamra and Achrafieh but it came as a no surprise to have the Beit Misk residents getting it ahead of everybody else since the project developers took a fiber infrastructure into consideration during construtions, which eventually made Ogero’s job easier to provide this service there.

Speed tests conducted by Chairman Imad Kreidieh during the launching event in the presence of minister Jamal Jarraj reached ~900Mbps which is quite impressive, and I believe it would be great if households there got >50Mbps connections.

Still, the ultimate challenge is of course to provide the same service to Beirut and the other major cities in Lebanon, and I really hope to see some tangible results in the near future.

So Did Your DSL Speed Improve?

By Rami on August 3, 2017 in Telecom

It’s been three days now since the new plans recently announced by Ogero became effective, and with them came the “open speed” packages which allow subscriber to benefit from the maximum speed their phone lines can handle.

All other ISPs have updated their existing plans well, and the most flexible ones are offered by IDM and Cyberia. Others like Sodetel and Wise have less options, but no matter what provider you are subscribed too you can get a decent plan for ~$20.

I have tested the speed upgrades at a friend in Achrafieh who is now getting ~3.5Mbps instead of the 2Mbps he was originally subcribed too, and at my parents in Kaskas area who are now getting ~6Mbps (The latter spoiled my kid by the way because YouTube videos were loading pretty fast on is iPad! 😛 ). On the other hand, people who live relatively far from the exchange offices will be limited to 1 or 2Mbps.

I personally was quite excited when the plans were originally announced in May, but unfortunately shortly after that I started experiencing disconnection with my home connection that lasted several hours everyday, and extremely low speeds whenever I get lucky and my modem connects. So I followed up with IDM (my ISP) and Ogero to troubleshoot the problem for over a couple of months until I was recently informed by Ogero that the problem is due to a defected cable in my area which cannot be replaced anytime soon, and that I have to deal with my current connection until further notice.

This is quite frustrating to be honest since the monthly subscription we pay for our landlines is at minimum supposed to cover the technical failure that might occur on the network, and that should of course include main cables feeding a whole area…!

Anyway, until a miracle restores my connection, I am currently considering switching to a wireless solution such as Connect which recently updated their plans with higher data caps.

Ogero New DSL Prices Finally Approved

By Rami 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!

New OGERO DSL Prices Announced by General Director Imad Kreidieh

By Rami on May 11, 2017 in Telecom

Imad Kreidieh, the general director of OGERO, announced on his twitter account last night the new DSL prices that should soon be offered to the public once approved by the cabinet and they are as follows:

2Mbps / Ulimited – 60,000L.L
4Mbps / 40GB – 24,000L.L
Open speed / 50GB – 30,000L.L
Open speed / 100GB – 45,000L.L
Open speed / 150GB – 60,000L.L
HDSL / 100GB – 100,000L.L
Open speed / 200GB – 75,000L.L

Note that open speed means as much as your phone line can handle. And according to the tests OGERO is currently conducting the speeds are reaching up to 10 and 12Mbps for people that are close to the exchange offices. As for free night quota, Kreidieh claimed it will not be available at this stage.

Needless to say, any price reduction to the DSL service is good to us, and I believe these new prices are quite fair. What I also wish is to have the process of switching from one ISP to another made easier since it takes up to two months right now.

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