It’s been two years since I started using WiMD for my internet and yesterday I went and renewed my connection for the third time. I have a 10Mbps WiMD connection which I love since I’ve rarely ran into problems with it and when I did they were usually fixed right away. My only other option for a reliable internet connection is DSL but my phone line can’t handle anything higher than 2Mbps. The issues I’ve ran into with WiMD are varied but the biggest one is when my connection speed dropped overnight from 10Mbps to under 1Mbps. After coming over and investigating it turned out that a new building had been constructed down the street from mine and blocked my direct line of sight to the WiMD tower. I was lucky enough to get my issued fixed just by moving my receiver on the roof higher up and further to the edge but I’m not sure what I would have done if I couldn’t do that.
Other than that issue my biggest issue with WiMD over the two years has been their prices. They were expensive. When I first subscribed with them it cost me KD523 for a year while the second year was slightly better costing me KD480. But, yesterday when I went to renew my connection it turned out they had lowered their prices substantially and I ended up paying a much more tolerable KD310 for 10Mbps.
KD310 signed me up for their 10Mbps connection with a 200GB download limit every month while the previous two years I had subscribed to their unlimited package. But according to WiMD’s records, the maximum I used the past year was 150GB a month so a 200GB limit was more than I needed. After two years I would still highly recommend WiMD as an alternative to DSL in areas where the DSL speed is severely limited by old infrastructure. You just need to make sure you have a direct line of sight to their tower.
21 replies on “WiMD Internet – 2 Years Later”
I’ve a 6Mbps connection and I have frequent problems with Social Media websites (mostly Facebook & Instagram). Whenever I’m home and I try to browse thru Facebook or Instagram, I get frustrated and end up switching to LTE on my iPhone which gives much better results than the WiMD connection. I contacted their customer support and they fix it temporarily but the problem re-appears in a day or two. Sometimes within the same day I would get varying results with Social Media websites.
Yesterday after a long phone call with their tech support, they didn’t even open a support ticket and the engineer insisted that I plug the cable coming from the antenna directly to a laptop (bypassing the router) to isolate the router being the culprit. I am an IT person and can do this, but I don’t want to and I don’t have the time to do this. If they think the router is the problem they need to send someone to confirm that as the router was also provided by them.
Btw, what router are you using? I’m using a Netgear one which has a crappy interface.
I have the netgear one as well, I used to have a different model but they swapped it out for me over a year ago cuz I think the older one wasn’t working well with their connection.
Did you ever noticed any browsing issues with Facebook or Instagram with WiMD (like images/videos not loading or taking too long to load)?
That’s an obnoxious amount to pay for something that requires your intervention IMHO. Especially when there are choices out there. I’m referring to the Fibre optic connection though it may not apply to you if they haven’t put it in your building.
I got an unlimited 4Mbps connection for 25KD annual from Gulfnet (Offer during the annual tradeshow in dec at Mishref) and its given me true speed. Infact if I coughed out 75KD, I would have got the full speed on my line which is 25Mbps! I realize you’ve already upgraded but fish around your building and see if the MOC Fibre channel box is around – you can take it up later. They’ve installed it in most buildings I’ve seen at Salmiya and Salwa.
As I mentioned the only alternative I have is 2Mbps DSL so paying 25kd a month for 10Mbps is honestly a steal for me.
why wasn’t mada a consideration ?
Because I was getting around 2Mbps last time I tried them out
Mada is the best service, only when it works! if there is rain it stops, humidity, dust, heat drop, rise, basically its a seasonal quality service that depends on luck mainly….seriously no quality standard what so ever
Mada is T E R R I B L E
They installed it in my area and it straight up didn’t work. 0 bars of signal after they promised me it would work. When I told them I had no signal they basically blamed me, made me drive to their HQ during working hours myself and give it back and then almost refused to refund (It was in the first 3 days).
The worst customer service I have ever experienced.
Been on Zain 4G for a year now and have no complaints. It averages at around 25 mbp/s but on heavy network load it can go down to 10 mbp/s and I’ve never personally seen it go lower than that. At 24 KD a month that comes out to 288 KD a year and the cool thing about it is that its a hotspot and I can take it with me wherever I got, which I’ve done a handful of times. It sucks for gaming because of the latency, but for daily browsing and download its awesome, especially since they raised the cap to 300 GB per month. I was even surviving on the old cap of 80 GB a month, so the free cap upgrade has been a nice touch on Zain’s part!
Oh their cap is 300gb? That makes my 200 seem silly!
If I am gonna pay 300 kd for internet. Then there better be no download limit. Their prices where more fitting to corporate than personal use. why do they still lag so far behind. 10mb connection in america is a poor’s man connection. And 300kd is still alot of money for just internet.
I am using mada by the way. Not because it is good. But its faster than what my building can handle, which is only 1mb. And mada is affordable to me. But their connection isn’t always reliable and the speed varies alot. I might consider a low speed wimd down the line.
Zain 4G nothing beats it when it comes to speed.
and its more affordable than Wimd
I have Zain 4G (LTE) and WIMD. 4G is definitely faster but much less stable. Wimd will give me the advertised speed constantly, 4G will jump up to a super high speed, then stop, then go back up… If I’m playing a game or streaming the interrupting is unacceptable because you disconnect from whatever you’re using.
Have had this Wimd for over two years and they suck BIG time! Their customer service is soo bad I don’t have words for it! Beware people! Now on Zain 4G which is just slightly better but at less than half the cost it is OK.
Much better prices ! thanks Mark for this news
maybe for most users Zain 300 gb would be great (if you get good coverage inside the house). For streaming, downloading, not so much. I use around 1.5tb a month. Wimd is expensive but rarely failed me, and I had not so good experience with mobile carriers internet services (daily caps/monthly caps/latency/inconsistent service/high traffic hours/dealing with monthly bills, etc).
until we get fiber in our area then I think for me wimd is the best option.
other countries have 1 GB that wont cost half this shitty internet companies that will disconnect
I have / had ZAIN and VIVA and MADA, viva is slow and choppy, I did not renew MADA because it is so slow, Zain is great speed and since they uped the limit to 300gb it’s great but for how long.
When I down load a TV show I get download rate of 3 meg on zain, Viva is about 300K. I have ran tests with both at the same time same location both home and work.
still hate the censorship on them all.
My kids at home enjoy a 4mb ADSL connection which is more than enough for an iPad with youtube and some games which needs a connection to play.
currently am using a 4G internet from one of the telecommunication with a 300GB/a month and it is pretty fast (average speed on torrent is between 750 to 1.2)
i’ve tried Wimd before and they’re fantastic in terms of everything except the price as you’ve mentioned.
🙂
Well my Internet is currently down. This is my second year with wimd, my apartment doesn’t have a phone line and I had a lousy time with viva before this. Wimd is usually reliable but needs a reboot every few days, and when it goes badly wrong (about once a month) the support is friendly but lacking and certainly not what I would expect from a ‘premium’ service.
Well who knows when my Internet will be back, but I really would not recommend it to anyone if they have any other option.