A couple of weeks ago FASTtelco launched their new logo and it now matches the Ooredoo logo. Last year Ooredoo purchased FASTtelco and I was expecting them to kill off the FT brand completely, but I guess they decided to keep it as a stand alone brand and instead have it connect back to Ooredoo with the red circles. It works.
I was also checking their website (which is pretty nicely done) and I noticed how much DSL prices have gone down in the past few years. I’ve been pretty much paying the same thing for my WiMD connection the past few years which is KD385 for 10Mbps. But if I could get DSL where I live, for nearly the same price I could have 50Mbps for KD417 or the same 10Mbps connection I have but for just KD132. Such a big difference…
19 replies on “FASTtelco Have a New Look”
Seems as if there has been a general slashing of prices by the ISPs. Even KEMS is down… although they cap at 20 mbps
https://www1.kems.net/prices-packages/
Happy times ahead for chronic downloaders! 🙂
Kems will give you up to 50mbps for the same price.
Unfortunately, unless your area is wired for Fiber, good luck getting anything over 5mbps on ADSL (download speeds, forget about quick upload speeds on DSL, as SDSL is basically non-existent for consumers).
The ISP’s are unfortunately all FOR PROFIT, and as such, try to push the fastest connections to consumers, without taking into consideration the infrastructure limitations that are unfortunately the responsibility of the Ministry of Communications.
Unless the copper wiring, which frankly has probably not been touched since initial layout, is redone, consumers in certain areas (Salmiya, for example), will be stuck with painfully slow DSL.
Been paying 120KD per year for KEMS jetnet 15 MBPS for the past 4 years – got it on offer in one of the infoconnects. Expect price to go down every year when I renew but they retain the same price (because otherwise its still more expensive).
How is the routing with KEMS? Wondering if you play CS:GO, Overwatch, or League of Legends by any chance. I currently share a connection with the multiple tenants in my apartment building, however, I am looking to branch out and pay for my own dedicated connection.
I do understand that all ISP’s are equal when it comes to customer service (not great), however, it seems that proper routing will be the biggest differentiator for me in selecting one.
Wael,
I have a 10Mbps normal connection in Salmiya. I get a constant speed > 9Mbps.
Obviously I am not comparing it to Fiber but just saying.
Have had a 10 MBPS connection from KEMS for over three years now. Constant DL speed of 1.0 – 1.25 MBPS, which is par from a 10 MBPS connection. Never had an outage or even a decline in speed so far, touch wood. Customer service has always been prompt and helpful, the very few times I did have to call them.
The last time, I spoke to them about upgrading my connection, the guy very frankly told me not to go beyond 10 MPBS in Salmiya, because the copper would not support. It was commendable that he did not over-sell.
I think they should have kept their old branding (even though ooredoo bought them) they can still have their own identity but owned by another company.
I already do not like ooredoo’s branding and seeing another company with similar look and feel is just annoying.
It does a good job of tying Ooredoo and FT together but I think the branding is weak. It’s annoying how the “f” in the circles is lowercase but for some odd reason “FAST” is in all caps in the actual name. There’s a few other issues (like how the letters fit in the circles). It’s annoying.
I agree with patrick, the new brand is weak. i do not like it, maybe if they had kept their old brand but used the ooredoo red colors?
new branding is much stronger than the older one by far
Wondering if anyone could help me with a personal query relating to internet access.
My apartment building currently has a Siemens Fiber ONU (box) which supplies internet to all tenants. Would it be possible for one of the ISP’s to set-up a dedicated internet connection to only my apartment through the same box? I have heard that each box maintains more than one output, so I’m optimistic.
In the event that this is possible, which ISP provides the best routing to DXB and the EU?
The one box you have is from the ministry, so you can just ask your ISP to jumper the connection from that box that goes to your apartment – it is not a big ask.
As far as the routing is concerned; since everyone uses FOG as their primary, you are pretty much stuck.
The good news is FOG terminates at UAE, so you should have very good pings to UAE.
You can find out more about FOG at –
https://www.submarinecablemap.com/#/submarine-cable/fiber-optic-gulf-fog
If you want custom routing, it is available but only for corporate accounts.
If you have an ONT box, you need a “SWITCH” which you can extend multiple different connections (subscriptions) under the restriction of having to deal with the same provider assigned to the switch.
So I guess I’m relegated to FT – thanks dude!
What exactly is ONT box and how can i know if its installed in my building? though i don’t see anything like a router in my building.
I want to purchase ooredoo FT internet but they keep on asking if i have ONT box in my building or not, please let me know about this and where can i get it?
Question… What’s the difference between this service and what you guys are talking about versus paying 6KD for 100GB/month with Ooredoo? I’m not that familiar with this…
Hey Malcom,
Having a dedicated connection to your household through Fiber to the Home (FTTh), circumstances permitting, is way more beneficial for a multitude of reasons. Some being, but not limited to, the following:
1. Guaranteed speeds, regardless of the time of day, or load on the network. If you pay for 50Mbps, you’re going to get ~50Mbps on fiber. With 4G / LTE, you are relegated to the mercy of the telecommunications company. You have no control over what tower your device connects to, and your speeds will wildly vary throughout the day.
2. Much better latency to servers. This is greatly beneficial for those utilizing applications which require a constant stable connection such as VoIP, gaming, video conferencing, etc. With 4G / LTE, your latency is usually nowhere near as low as that provided by Fiber, due to all information being transmitted over airwaves.
3. Better stability. With Fiber, you are piped directly to the node, which provides much more reliability. With 4G, even the location of your device makes a massive difference in signal strength.
For the average consumer, however, the 4G / LTE devices are more than adequate. Due to the majority of consumers going the 4G / LTE route, the Ministry of Communication seems to not be paying as much attention to the telecommunication infrastructure (antiquated copper lines, no FTTh in the majority of areas around Kuwait) as they should be.
Furthermore, due to a Telecommunications Regulator only being instituted in November 2014, telecommunication companies are not most likely not sharing the custody of towers around the country, making for spotty mobile connections.
Due to the influx of consumers going the 4G / LTE route, towers are being overloaded with connections, and as such, it seems that connection reliability has gone down the drain with it.
Hey Wael, Thanks for that thorough explanation. I’ll have to find out if they have that service in my area. I primarily use Amazon Firestick to watch tv shows & movies, but recently it barely ever works.