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Information Internet Kuwait

5G Prices Are Out

5G was officially announced late last month but this past weekend the packages finally went live. A friend who signed up for the service is getting anywhere between 150Mbps to 300Mbps depending on where he is which is pretty fast. From the three telecoms, Viva has the most affordable packages from the bunch and you can check them all out below:

Ooredoo
KD45 – 500GB (Free Access Point)
KD65 – 1TB (Free Access Point)
Minimum 1-year contract

Viva
KD45 – 1TB (Free Access Point and iPad or PS4 Pro)
KD85 – Unlimited (Free Access Point and iPad or PS4 Pro)
Minimum 2-year contract

Zain
KD45 – 500GB
KD65 – 1TB (Free Access Point)
KD100 – 4TB (Free Access Point and iPad or Xbox One X or PS4 Pro)
Minimum 2-year contract

Although the prices do seem high when compared to LTE, I’m paying KD25 a month for a 20Mbps Zain Beam connection. So KD45 for 1TB isn’t so bad when compared to that if I’ll end up getting speeds over 150Mbps.

25 replies on “5G Prices Are Out”

I have a VIVA post-paid data line, they throttle the torrents to Zero speed between 8 pm to 2 am, not sure if it is the same for 5G but it is definitely annoying.

150-300mbps? 300 should be the minimum. Also VIVA and Zain could remove the “free” gaming consoles from their plans and reduce the price, disappointed.

What kind of prices are these!!! Seriously that’s crazy, and two year commitment, WTF! WHY?

Crazy prices. Zain called me and offered me the 500 GB bundle at 45 KD, then they said we’ll give you the 1 TB bundle for 45 KD. But I told them it is too expensive, to which the employee replied “this is the market price, all other providers are offering their services for similar prices”. This worries me a lot because it seems to me like price fixing. I don’t know about Kuwaiti laws, but in some countries companies are prohibited from talking to each other with the intention to fix prices. This kills market competition.

I guess I’ll wait until the prices drop significantly. I am ready to wait even for two years because I definitely wouldn’t pay such crazy prices even if the service is fast.

The prices kinda tear us down between getting fast internet or get a car with equivalent instalment. ironically they will sell to a lot of peeps who don’t mind getting daylight ripped off just like on the release of new I-phones. so No, thank you I will wait until it becomes half of these rates which I speculate won’t be longer than 6 weeks.

It’s this kind of thinking I don’t get. just because something is expensive doesn’t mean it’s a ripoff yet people seem to have a difficult time separating the two things.

Because a new iPhone is $1000 it doesn’t mean you’re getting ripped off, it just means its expensive. Because 5G which is still extremely new and is just starting to roll out worldwide is expensive, it also doesn’t mean you’re getting ripoff.

Technology starts off expensive and then becomes cheaper as time goes by so eventually 5G will be cheaper once it becomes more readily available.

I agree on this. Its only a rip off if the seller was not truthful about the product or service they were providing, or if something is essential (e.g. medicine) and somebody artificially raises the price knowing you still have to pay it. With the Iphone, i think maybe what _sK is referring to is when people buy them for 400-500KD when they first hit the market, but that’s just a choice, the seller has his price, and some people are willing to pay it.

Its the same old story in Kuwait, people pay x for a product or service then complain its too expensive. Well, unless you stop paying those “ripoff” prices, sellers have no incentive to lower them. If you pay 500KD to be one of the first people with an Iphone X MAX, instead of waiting a few weeks, that’s on you unfortunately.

I’m hoping they’ll upgrade our speed. so like 20Mbps becomes 40Mbps for example and 40Mbps becomes 60 or something. I’d be fine with that.

Any idea if the speeds offered are again subject to number of users/time of day/peak hours etc or can we expect consistent speeds regardless of time of day / number of users etc.

They actually clarified this point in one of their FAQs. They said that the speed will fluctuate depending on the number of users at any given time. Because it’s mobile, as opposed to landline, there are a lot variables at play surrounding the strength of the coverage such as the density of population relative to the number of stations, the distance of the router from the station, the amount of obstruction getting in the way of the signal, etc.

Basically, it’s just an amped up version of 4G. Everything is the same but with higher speeds. And of course, the ability of Huawei to farm your data.

Not trying to justify the prices (especially with Zain, which is out right ripoff). But to give you some insight.

Most of the price you are paying goes to the 5G router which is insanely expensive and the cheapest one I found online is $1500 (750KD).

https://www.4gltemall.com/huawei-5g-cpe-pro.html

So either get one online for 750KD and it should work with your current internet sim card, or pay 45KD for a year (540KD) which is cheaper, plus it includes the internet subscription.

450KD over 24 months commitment is 18.75 KD. You may add 20KD for Zain’s 5G service, so that is around 40 KD. But they start at 45 KD which is a little too much considering you only get 500GB. What’s better is getting two of their cat-19 router 4G lte-a plans, your family can easily stream 4K with it and you’ll never run out of data. (unlimited and still cheaper than 45kd/month, combined). https://www.kw.zain.com/en/web/zain-online-store/buy-now?sectionID=5852

Also I know new technology is expensive and it will get cheaper, but for 45KD, they must’ve offered a 2TB cap. You can finish up 500GB with 5G in a day.

“You can finish up 500GB with 5G in a day.” I understand that it’s an exaggeration, but if your internet consumption remains the same it doesn’t mean that you’ll cap your data limit faster.

I was ready to jump the ship and get 5G, but man these prices are insane. I just checked my speed and I think that what I’m getting is respectable for now: 20Mbps up & 60Mbps down from the Zain Bolt router.

Considering people are more than willing to pay shit loads on new iPhones and iPads which tbh get barely any upgrades. Ffs you people are complaining but don’t even have phones that can make use of this tech. You know the drill, it’s too expensive so you use more of their older tech, one month later it becomes much cheaper and you just got played into a 1 year contract on your current service. Most new tech is expensive then price normalises and you people have lived long enough to know that so quit whining, you people would probably suck on your thumbs if taxes are enforced.

Hey Mark, I am thinking about going with zain beam.. How good is it for gaming , what pings do you get to european servers?!

Internet service providers in Kuwait are such a scam. They give us 4G internet on 3G speed and 5G on 4G advance speed and on top of that they charge high price 🤦🏻‍♂️

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