Damn internet again!

[Asterix]

What is it with this country and the internet?

Yet again a cable has been damaged in the Med and everything completely shuts down - this is the third time in a year that this has happened (with the comedy moment last year when the 2nd repair ship wreched the work the first repair ship did).

We pay around 30 times the cost of the internet in Europe and the US and at best it is patchy, at worse bloody abysmal. Why, after all the previous problems and with the extortionate fees we pay, doesn't this country have redundancy measures? Come on guys, it's basic civil planning for Pete's sake!

I've been cut off for the last 3 days (Etisalat's issue) and now I've got it back it barely loads Google, let alone trying to download/upload large files from/to FTP sites.

1st world country my sweaty, hairy arse.

Apparently it could be another few days or maybe a week. All bandwidth is going to critical services - well, my company needs stable and fast internet to function - it's critical to me. I struggle through with only a crappy 4mb line as they have no intention of fitting fibre optics in my area for at least another decade. Oh, it would only cost £5 = AED 30.00 in the UK for a 8mb line - here? AED 449.00 for a randomly working 4mb line.

wkers.

[Asterix]

I find it insulting tbh.

The authorities tell us how advanced they are and that we're lucky to live in a tip top, first class city when even the basic comms are unreliable and then they have the audacity to fist us over the cost and then block VoiP etc... (I get the pron/religious thing - don't agree but I get it)

I know what I'll do, I'll switch over to a competitive company that will offer far better value, much better stability with improved service delivery standards.

...Ah...

[Asterix]

Hitch78 said:

Gentleman Geoff said:

I nearly threw my laptop in the pool the other day.

Anyone reading this in the UK would lose all sympathy with you at the point of reading that comment!

Should have been followed up by, '...so I instructed the maid to tell the pool boy to fish it out'

[Asterix]

oilydan said:

I have a 1mb connection now (used to have 20mb in the Ranches) and I can't even get the 'Page not found' page to load.

I had to spend the evening talking to Mrs Oilydan the other day. Feck.

How much was the 20mb line?

Going on the current ratio I'd guess around 1.2mil AED a month!

[Asterix]

oilydan said:

About AED800 IIRC

14 times more expensive than the cheapest in the UK (O2 unlimited 20mb line = tenner a month)

Rape Time!

[Asterix]

Hitch78 said:

Have to admit ours is fine, but then I do live in the Truman-Show-esq Lakes where they tend to keep things like this running fine to stop us cast members from trying to escape and ruining the show.

Not that I'm paranoid of course...........






















.....who said that?!

Ah... The Lakes, or rather 'Hilton Keynes' as I prefer.

Edited by Asterix on Tuesday 27th April 10:46

[Asterix]

Just done a speed test.

Upload - 0.05 mb/s
Download - 0.04 mb/s

Ping - 1092 ms

What a joke.

[Asterix]

I've spoken to Etisalat twice over the last few days and they assure me that my line is now working properly and it is soley down to the majority of bandwidth going to government and business.

I work from home so maybe Al Barsha is deemed to be unimportant.

Btw - When I do Etisalat's normal line tester (download their e-support software) it runs at over 400kbs download which is normal.