Tag Archives | telecom

Lebanon To Introduce Biometric Verification for SIM Cards?

By Rami on December 6, 2017 in Telecom

Registration of SIM cards and mobile handsets is nothing new in Lebanon as you are currently required to present your ID card and have a photo of you taken on the spot when buying a new SIM, and handsets registration was introduced back in 2013 before getting canceled a year later.

However, it seems like the ministry of telecom is looking to up their standards of verifying SIM cards by planning to soon introduce biometric information which I find to be quite weird. I mean I totally understand using biometric checks for ID card or passports, but why would you want to do the same for something that is “mobile” in nature and can easily transferred from one person to another? The only logical explanation is that someone is simply arranging yet another corrupt deal. We’re nearing the end of year and they probably need to have their budget fixed… but then again, who are we to doubt their intentions! 😀

Anyway, what concerns me the most is why should we be forced to provide these critical information to two private companies who’s networks have been infiltrated by Israel a few years ago? (Anyone recalls the cases of Charbel Qazzi and Tarek Rabaa?) Such information about us should only be possessed by the government. And whoever thinks such measure will easily help identify suspect terrorists in the country is probably missing the fact that there a million other way to communicate securely other than using a SIM card…

In all cases, you can check this report by LBCI about the matter. If this thing gets into effect, you will be given a deadline to register your SIM at authorized centers, otherwise your phone line will be deactivated.

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.

Touch is Into The Money Lending Business Now?

By Rami on July 8, 2017 in Telecom

To all those who run out of credit before their line cycle is over, Touch recently added a new service to its prepaid Magic lines called “Advance Credit” allowing their subscribers to get an advance credit amount once their balance falls below $1, and it of course gets paid back once they recharge their line.

It sounds all nice until you know the rate at which the advance amount should be paid… A screenshot on Facebook shows that for a $3 in advance, $4.2 get deducted once the subscriber has enough credit again. That’s a whopping 40% in interest and it sounds more like usury to me…

Even banks are not that rude with their offerings… With such rate this must be Touch’s most profitable service right now! But then again, no matter how awful you think their tactic is, you wouldn’t expect less from a company operating in a monopolized industry.

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!

OGERO #UnleashTheSpeed – Test Results in Achrafieh

By Rami 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.

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.

touch Lebanon – Text & Talk new ad

By Rami on February 15, 2013 in Lebanon

3anjad kholsit iyyeim l missed call?

Another similar cool ad for Text & Talk also started showing on TV today but hasn’t been upload to touch Lebanon’s YouTube channel yet.

Update:

Here’s the second ad.

4G pilot phase in Lebanon

By Rami 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

Nicolas Sehnaoui’s promises for 2013

By Rami 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!

MoT to start collecting all mobile subscribers information

By Rami on December 7, 2012 in Lebanon

I just heard an announcement on the radio that all mobile subscribers will be soon required to submit their personal information (a copy of their ID + a recent photo) to the ministry of telecommunications in order to keep track of who’s using each an every mobile number in Lebanon.

Mobile shop owners will be responsible for collecting the information of those who buy new phone lines, while existing subscribers will have to submit their information within a few months from now, and their lines will be automatically deactivated if they failed to comply with the deadline (I’ll update the post with the exact date as soon as I know it).

I guess this will be so annoying especially when you decide to sell your phone line, since you will have to make sure the buyer registers it under his name so that you don’t hold responsibility of anything he/she does with it!

1 2 Next →