There is a petition currently circulating twitter asking the Ministry of Communications to break the ISP monopoly. Not sure if it is going to do any good but its worth a shot and just takes a minute to sign. Here is the [Link]
Update: While on the subject, check out this post on Z District on a conversation that took place on the KEMS Facebook page [Link]
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Mark and Nat, a married couple who are living in Kuwait. Mark is a creative director at an ad agency while Nat runs her own design studio called Push+Pull.
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Boy should that be done in Lebanon!
Lebanon is like still far far far far away from everything else in the region. 512KB connection has an 8GB per month limit!! http://www.idm.net.lb/products/dsl/plans.asp
this dirty game is played by almost all companies here in Kuwait unfortunately not just ISPs..
I wish we had a law that forbids this practice so that we can sue their ***, bastards
I want to rip them apart! I really do! Making assumptions of what we are using the net for and specifying what we are using the net for! This wasn’t there when we were told about their packages!
Thanks for posting it mark, in my opinon, Every little bit of thing counts. Anything could help and the more people know about it, the better. Also, check this out guys http://binibrahim.com/cap-scam/
Hope i helped.
I would’ve signed that in a heartbeat except I know that it’s the ministry of information that’s the reason behind this (70% of what the ISPs pay for the price of bandwidth all goes to the MOI as fees/taxes and it just gets passed down to us)
Kulay .. wtf !
The specific issue is ‘ISPs capping the bandwidth’ not justifying generic pathway of flow of money.
If the ministry has to upgrade infrastructure, then its time. It cannot dodge the obvious, when the internet users have tripled in a decade’s time and the infrastructure is still from the stone age.
Its time we unite our voices.
I was just pointing out the main reason in this chain event cuz expensive bandwidth leads to ISPs trying to squeeze as much as they can of their allotted bandwidth which led to heavy congestion and voila we ended up with crappy caps
Is there any limit on the number of users being subscribed with a single ISP, as it very evidently seems to be a limit to their bandwidth.
Any regulations on that!
not at all
Dude, do you think if MOC reduced bandwidth prices, these greedy ISPs would reduce their prices? In your dreams, they will do nothing but enjoy the cut in operation costs while maintaining the same prices for sky-high profits!
I’m glad people are not forgetting about this Important issue
Mark as I’ve told Marzooq, This needs to be stopped!
Companies are taking advantage of people and no one is doing anything about it.
The least we should do is stand together against this kind of bullshit.
If we had a proper watchdog that would regulate the internet in Kuwait for the interest of us and the internet, we wouldn’t have had this issue.
This time do not sit down and watch your right to use the internet get controlled.
Let do something about it.
Hammer the government with calls, Hammer the companies with your dissatisfaction. Do what ever you can to make your view clear.
We Will not accept this kind of regulation!
KEMS said that “10%” of users are abusers. So why should the remaining 90% be punished because of the actions of the few? That’s a Saddam policy right there!
On the issue for fuel, that ignorant person needs to know that fuel in Kuwait is subsidized from the government because the Kuwaiti citizens have a right in sharing and enjoying this natural resource.
CHEAP FUEL IS NOT A SERVICE, ITS A SHARED RIGHT! BONGHOLE!
actually the correct term would be oligopoly.. not monopoly..
well put.
I can’t believe they just referenced zdistrict as an abuser! Isn’t there some privacy law against just putting it online!!?
And business (and the government) in Kuwait are a joke…. “customer service” is an unknown term to them. They’re lucky we don’t have intense competition or companies who actually value their customers and their reputation.. these idiots have no chance of surviving. They should thank their lucky stars they’re in a business I (and many others) cannot give up in this day and age, otherwise I would have boycotted them till I feel their new offer feels like I’m ripped THEM off!
Marzouq from Z district continually posts about all the stuff he’s illegally downloading, including screenshot of his torrents running. When he did this, he made that information public, and they can use it however they want because it’s on the internet, so no, it doesn’t have anything to do with privacy laws in this matter.
He’s one of the “abusers” who helped cause the caps to start in the first place.
yousef5 it seems you don’t really read what I do or what I watch! But I also have tv show subscriptions in iTunes which add up to a lot of Gigabytes! So that too will be capped! I also play a lot of online games and the latest patch for one of the games is 6GB.
What you use the internet for DOES NOT MATTER! These policies are illegal! If someone sells you a product they should honor it, its not a bait and switch situation! They sell you one thing and give you another item!
+1
An abuser? I remember when he paid over 1200KD for a 7mbps connection a few years back .. Zajil happily took his money for unlimited usage .. now that they can’t handle the speed, they labeled him as an
abuser?
This cap isn’t going to stop the downloading of illegal content .. that is easily available at every corner. This cap has detrimental effect on the overall usage of the internet moving forward. The new internet is all about digital distribution, video streaming, remote backups and cloud computing .. and guess what, we just got locked out.
And FWIW, Marzouq also posts about purchasing blu-rays and games .. When available (and accessible) he readily purchases content.. some of which even got confiscated by the MOC.
http://www.zdistrict.com/2009/12/27/myus-com-bluray-shipment/
http://www.zdistrict.com/2011/01/13/star-wars-the-complete-saga-on-blu-ray/
http://www.zdistrict.com/2010/12/11/24-complete-series-a-must-have/
With the prices we pay we should be getting unlimited bandwidth AND higher speeds. Not less.
Sh*t’s majorly overpriced.
true..
both side have a point.. yet they did use posts by ppl to justify their actions.. why give them the reason?
+1
+1 @yousef
the best way to solve the FAP issue is to lower your bandwidths. For example what the use of having 4 MB , 8 MB .. when you cant download anything at such speeds? its like you have that much speeds only to browse the web, check emails? . So whats the minimum speed to browse the net? 1 MB? 2 MB? .. if all of us lower our speeds, it would mean the ISPs would start loosing business. They should give it a thought.
I think the concept of FUP is good if implemented correctly. To punish everyone is ridiculous. Plus, the caps need to be more realistic to today’s normal bandwidth requirements.
Is the guy downloading 20GB/day hurting me? I am sure he/she is. Does that mean you treat me the same way you treat him???? This is where it gets tricky.
Today I downloaded 10 movies ( HD 720p ) + modern family season 1 and season 2, that’s about 26 GB in 1 day + skyping + youtubing
I’m in Egypt :p
I’m gonna download as much as I can before I come back to Kuwait lol
“We are all suffering from HIGH PRICES of ISP’s in Kuwait.” (not all, I’m happy with the CAP thing :) )
“It will be better for the overall ECONOMY.”
ROFLMAO, I suggest you people take some economic courses before taking any step further. It is clearly obvious that the KWD (and al hamduallah it is) is the TOP currency in the entire world, hence, foreign investers will have to spend MORE money (pay more dollars because KWD > $USD) to invest in Kuwait, but $USD > Chinese Yen so investers pay less money if they chose to invest in china so which is cheaper with MORE investment returns? Investing in China or Kuwait?
As I previously mentioned folks, take some economic courses before people laugh at you.
Personally, I’d rather have an APPRECIATED currency (KWD > other currencies) with a monopoly than a strong competition with an DEAPPRECIATED currency (KWD < other currencies), ISP's are not that bad in Kuwait and you guys are OVER exaggerating in my opinion…..
Unless you’re working for the ISPs, why would you want a monopoly/duopoly/oligopoly? Consumers always benefit from a well-regulated competitive marketplace, as opposed to a cartel.
Perhaps you should read some Milton Friedman and brush up on YOUR economics knowledge
Did you get that from a text book?
1. You implied that investing in China is better than investing in Kuwait, because of the currency relationship.
You are assuming here (and assumptions can really mess things up) that currencies are :
a) stable in movement
b) interest rates are stable
c) regulatory conditions are the same.
China could COST you more than Kuwait if one of these assumptions were unfavorable :)
Also, ever heard of HEDGING? Going through other currencies to hedge the strength of the Kuwaiti currency?
2. and, if your happy with the prices, others aren’t.
P.S.: considering the background of people that you said will be “laughed” at.. I’d understand their comments. What I would laugh at is over inflated egos.
Did I read somewhere that KEMS isn’t capping Oil Companies with which it has a tie-up?
I have a KEMS-KOC line at home… I wonder now if I’m exempt from this capping crap?
You read it correctly sir! If you have a connection from KEMS via the KOC/KPC deal then they aren’t applying the Caps to you!
HOLY SH*T!!! Thanks man :D
I haven’t even used BitTorrent since this slick move by these ISPs. Now I can.
Yes I Can!
the guy has a point tho…if i pay for a certain service i shouldnt expect anything less! all service providers r dicking us i paid 254 kd for my internet and the speed i get is laughable..this is a complete rip off…and we cant do anything about it
slowly but surely the Kuwait internet sector is being exposed. You are right, they have been dicking us for the longest time now.
Hey Mark,
Could you please email me the number of the attorney who helped you in the Benihana case?
We’re planning to file a lawsuit and we need someone to advise us on how to tackle this mess.
FIGHT THE POWER!
woot!
Sue the power!
Now that’s gangsta ;)
شباب حالياً نخطط لحملة لمقاطعة الشركات والتوجه لشركة واحدة فقط, اذا كلنا التزمنا بالمقاطعه وكلنا اتجهنا لشركة وحده بنجبر باقي الشركات لكسر سياسة توحيد الاسعار.
http://www.nationalkuwait.com/vb/showthread.php?t=193997
3afya 3alayk wallah
WEYAAK!
All ISPs cap, even FastTelco; it’s in their terms of use page and if they don’t apply it now, they’ll wait for you to shift over then screw you like Qnet & KEMS did.
Stick to your current provider and sue them.
The plan is that all of us stick with a single ISP so the rest of them are forced to compete.
exactly..
Moc isnt responsible
The companies pretty much do what they want as nobody in the moc can do any damage to them , and the ones who can are the companies friends ,, dont needto explain more
Source some low end maneger who works there
signed
It’s on twitter…that would cut down the number of people that can sign it. It would have been smarter to use a free online petition website that doesn’t require a twitter account.
exactly, not everyone has or wants to have a twitter account.
guys, there a monopoly on your life.. not just your stupid IP.
Wake Up
Dear Mark,
Would you Kindly Make a new post with the following message on your blog.
Dear all,
I have contacted both ISPs that I deal with, 1) quality net 2) united networks about this cap.
in the past I never had a problem (last few months) as I do not download a lot, to my surprise I had to Upgrade a few Mac’s in my Household and also download Xcode from apple’s website
as you all know these are large updates and not to mention i had to update my iPhone/iPad and also my droid phone and tablet.
so i called them up and asked them about the cap and what not. I even tried to speak to a manager about this with no luck
I asked the helpdesk: “check my IP address and see where its downloading from? its downloading apple updates! is that abusing your system?” (quoting what they said on their websites etc) and guess what? he was confidant that I was!!!! imagine that?! I was like “how is that abusing your network? why am I paying x amount for? to browse?” I can do that with a 64k connection I don’t need to have a duel link for browsing.
I calmly said “listen if you had someone in your company that knows what he/she is doing please pass this msg to him/her .. if you want to cap out the net at least make a filter on your system to bypass system updates, apple, Microsoft, linux etc.”
So what I’m going to be doing is as follows, my internet renewal should be soon, next month from what i know. I will be downgrading my speed from 4 mb (I live in Mishrif and thats the max i can get, using 2x2mb bonding from Qualitynet) to 512 or might even go less and go with the monthly subscription or pay as you go.
What I would like to see;
Everyone reading this should do the same and tell others to do so
What would we get from this?
We will stand for our rights, and i’m hoping that a lot of us will do so, doing so will drop their profit to 1/4 of what they are getting on monthly/yearly bases I think that would show them that WE control them and not the opposite.
I know a lot wont bother doing so, but if we don’t make a huge impact then there is no chance for us to get anything anymore I’m sick of companies controlling us and knowing that we can’t do anything about it.
Lets unite this time guys and gals lets show them what we are capable of!!
If anyone is willing to make a website just dedicated to this it would be an amazing thing this way MARK would not get effected if he posts something like that. Please repost this on any other blogs you know of, also tweet etc we would like to spread this message all over Kuwait.
P.S this is not just for Qnet/United this is for ALL ISPS in Kuwait.
Finally !!!
its time to let our voices be heard!
I hope this reaches to the Ministry people.
I pray that they can help us.
I just got off the phone with KEMS. The least we can do is all voice our concerns with the complaint department with backed up valid arguments as to why these caps are rediculous.