2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

On my way to work I spotted some banners on the road advertising “KarimKTV @ YouTube”. I didn’t think much of it but decided to check it out on YouTube and after watching one of his videos I’m wondering what the consequences will be to his campaign. It’s a successful one that’s for sure since twitter has been buzzing all morning with people talking about the banners. I thought the banners were placed just around Salmiya but it seems they were placed all around Kuwait.

Picture by Abdullah

On Thursday two engineers from Mada came over and handed me a router so I could review and after using it over the weekend here are my findings. I’ll start the post with the speedtest results since I know that’s what everyone has been waiting for. I used speedtest.net for the testing and although I was originally planning to test using the servers in London, New York and LA, I ended up running into issues with the New York and LA server and so decided to add two more locations which are New Jersey and San Francisco.

I don’t know why the NY and LA servers were giving me such terrible numbers but I think it had to do more with the server than my connection since the connection worked perfectly again with their neighboring cities. The location of the WiMAX router does effect the speed of your connection. For example I live in Salmiya block 9 and according to a Mada engineer, Salmiya is one of their most focused areas so the speeds I’m getting are probably the fastest you can get. When I tried the Mada router at my office in Kuwait City, I was getting on average around 2.8Mbps tops. The engineer told me it had to do with the location (Kuwait City), the fact my office is on the 21st floor (connection starts dropping after the 15th) and the fact the windows were double glazed (bounces signals). A reader called Kevin tried Mada in Mangaf block 1 and his download speed was around 6.5Mbps. So location does make a big difference on the speed. I don’t play many games online but my brother who lives next door and leeches my connection does. He spent the weekend playing on his Xbox online and according to him he didn’t notice any difference going from DSL to WiMAX.

Setting up and connecting the router was a very simple process. You just plug in the power cord, wait a minute and that’s it. You can then either connect to the router via one of the two ethernet ports on the device or by wifi. I did face a minor problem when I wanted to log into the device so I could change the wifi password as well as setup other options. Underneath the device you have two sets of login information. One is supposed to be the default wifi password the other I assumed to connect to the device to change the settings but it wouldn’t work. It was around 11PM and I wasn’t sure if there would be anyone at Mada support to help but I called them up and someone answered right away and gave me the default username and password which was just “user”. I liked the fact that I didn’t have to go through a dozen menus on the phone just to get to someone from support and I liked the fact that I didn’t have to wait on hold either. This probably has to do with the fact that the service is still new and so not many people have subscribed with them yet.

Which brings me to the future. The Mada WiMAX service currently has no download cap for the next 3 months, after that they are still not sure what the download cap will be but they’re saying it will be at least 20GB and that they will be offering a package for people who consume more. 20GB a month means around 600MB a day which is too little and makes the device really useless. 600MB a day is suitable for users who just use their internet to check email, maybe visit a few websites and also watch a video or two on YouTube. Those kind of users aren’t heavy internet users and for them if it’s a 1MB connection or 10 it wouldn’t make a difference. The real people who can use and fully take advantage of Mada’s WiMAX speed are users like me who spend all their time online surfing through a ton of websites, watching a million YouTube videos while iTunes is busy in the background downloading all the latest TV shows and Movies, the Playstation and Xbox downloading game demos and the server downloading torrents. For me it makes a huge difference if the connection is 1MB or 10.

Which brings me to a potential future issue. The connection is really great right now but that’s because the service is only a few days old, how will it be a month from now or even a year from now? I am not sure. Mada has been around for awhile now catering for the commercial industry so that gives me a bit of confidence in them. But still, 20KD for 10MB is going to attract a lot of people specially with all the problems people have with the ISP’s introducing download caps. Personally I am going to take it day by day and right now the Mada WiMAX internet connection is the fastest connection I’ve ever had. I’ve already disconnected my DSL modem at home and replaced it with WiMAX, that’s how much I’m loving this connection.

Mada currently have a booth setup at Marina Mall right outside the Mac store Digits and they also have a booth at Mohallab. It’s KD20 a month and if you sign up for 3 months it’s KD60 but you get the router for free. Here is a link to their website [Link]

Mada dropped off their router for me to try out today. I just turned it on now and ran a speed test and got 9.3Mbps which is more than 4 times my current DSL speed. Actually considering the fact that my Qualitynet connection is currently limited to 512kb because I hit my daily download limit, Mada is currently around 18 times faster than my 2MB Qualitynet connection. Will do a lot of testing over the weekend and post my review early next week.

I saw the camera above on Gizmodo today. It’s a digital camera that’s waterproof and costs just KD10. Seems like the perfect thing to take to the chalet on weekends and it won’t cost you an arm and a leg. It’s a 1.3MP camera which doesn’t sound like much but it’s more than you need for Facebook or posting on a blog. It also shoots video but from what I read the quality isn’t that great. In case you drop it the camera floats on the water which is pretty cool as well.

Anyway here is the link to the camera on [Amazon]

Update: My friend just told me he got the Kodak camera above from Amazon for KD18. It’s 12MP and looks a lot cooler than the KD10 camera I originally posted. It also comes in 3 colors. Here it is on [Amazon]

I noticed a lot of readers want internet speeds similar to that of the US and Europe. Well personally I would settle for a connection speed similar to what our neighbors Qatar will be getting this year… 100Mbps. [Link]

Thanks Lunar

I got an email with details of a new Internet provider in Kuwait that’s providing WiMAX which is basically a wireless internet connection. The provider is called Mada and the email said they’re offering a speed of 10Mbps with no download limit and for just KD60 for 3 months.

So I just called them up and this is what I got from the salesman:

– Cost is KD20 per month
– Speed is 10Mbps
– If you subscribe for 3 months you get the WiMAX router for free
– There is a download cap of 20GB a month BUT, if you sign up within the first week starting today then you won’t have a download cap
– You can sign up from their booths at either Marina Mall or Mohallab

I am going to pass by tonight and see if I can get more details. I am curious to know if I sign up today will I have no cap as long as I renew or just for the 3 months. The download cap would be a deal breaker for me. You can call them up on 1801888 or visit their website [Here]

I just found out that Habchi and Chalhoub will be opening up a bunch of their brands at the new luxury expansion of The Avenues. Some of the brands they will be opening there are Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Tods, and Lanvin. The LV store is going to be the largest LV store in the Middle East. I’m not sure where the biggest store currently is, I’ve been to the one in Beirut, Bahrain and Dubai and I think Dubai’s is the largest right now.

Should be cool but sadly the launch is still far away since as you can see above, the expansion is still under construction. They’re expecting to open sometime at the end of 2012.

Remember when back in February there were rumors floating around that internet providers would start implementing download limits? Back then I spoke to Qualitynet support and was assured that “I could relax and download the whole Internet if I wanted to and I would be fine”. Then, two weeks ago when they added the fine print on their DSL page saying “Terms and Condition & Fair Usage Policy Apply” I called them up again. Support told me this was just a temporary issue because of a cable cut.

But now it seems they’ve changed their stance on this sensitive subject. I just called them up and they told me that even though they still haven’t received an official letter from management with details on what the limits are going to be, we should expect that there will be a limit in place soon.

Unconfirmed user reports have placed the limits as the following:

– 2MB DSL users will have 2.8GB daily limit, 19GB weekly limit or 85GB monthly. Once you surpass your limit your connection speed will drop to 512KB.

– 4MB DSL subscribers, one subscriber says Qualitynet told him they will be limited to 139GB a month while another said Qualitynet told him it’s 85GB as well.

Not sure what to say about this, I find this a bit depressing. Please Qualitynet don’t cap our bandwidth!

Note: ALL ISP’s in Kuwait will be applying caps, it’s not just Qualitynet.

Update: According to a reader in the forum KEMS will start watching for bandwidth abusers starting tomorrow. They won’t be setting a cap but if they notice a user abusing their bandwidth then those users would have a cap applied. The reader couldn’t get an exact figure from the KEMS support guy on what counts as abuse.

Update2: I just got an email telling me about a NEW internet provider called Mada. They are offering WiMax, 10Mbps in Salmiya area (I guess might be higher or lower other areas), NO DOWNLOAD CAP and it’s KD60 for 3 months. They have a booth at Marina Mall. I was there last night actually and saw the booth but didn’t know what it was. This is their website [Link]

Cocoa Room is officially launching tomorrow with a breakfast menu and p0ach managed to get a sneak peek. He’s got tons of pictures and everything just looks incredible. Check out his post [Here]

As I mentioned they will be starting with breakfast now for a few weeks and later introduce the full menu which will include some mouth watering items. I can’t wait!

Note: Cocoa Room is located right next to Slider Station

I was heading home from my late night walk when I spotted a large palm tree on fire and I managed to capture the incident on video. This happened in Salmiya on the corner of the roundabout next to Farah. The flashing light at the end of the video is a fireman telling me to stop recording. [YouTube]

Ruby’s is one of my favorite places to eat and I noticed they’ve added new items on their menu and also increased their prices slightly. They now have 4 salads, 4 sandwiches, 4 pasta and 4 burgers. They’ve also added some breakfast items as well. I took a picture of the front of the menu which you can see [Here]

In case you missed my original post on Ruby’s here is the [Link]

Note: Ruby’s is NOT Ruby Tuesday.

Update: Here is their full menu as PDF [Link]

On weekends when the parking fills up at The Avenues people start parking in the areas surrounding the mall including climbing up onto the curb that runs along The Avenues from the rear. So, it’s understandable why The Avenues or the municipality decided to build a fence surrounding the curb to stop cars parking there.

But, what I don’t understand is why make it so ugly and why make it so high? As you can see in the pictures the fence is so high it’s actually taller than some cars. If you were walking and wanted to cross the street you wouldn’t even be able to step over the fence because of how high it is. It doesn’t make sense.

Why build a fence that high or that ugly. I’m sure there must be a hundred better looking options.

Update: According to Avenues this fence is NOT being built by them. The Ministry of Works and the Municipality are in charge of it and The Avenues have already complained and made suggestions to them but since it’s not on their property they don’t have any control over it.

There must be a better way to dispose of a dead camel.

Picture by Thomas

Patrick from Projekt Cyan was at the movies in 360 Mall yesterday when he noticed a section Cinescape had setup with information and visuals from the start of Cinescape (previously called KNCC) around 50 years ago till today. They had old ticket stubs, a logo history and even some old 3D glasses that they used to give out (although if my memory serves me correct the 3D glasses I got when I watched JAWS had black and white stripes all over.) The pictures are pretty bad quality since they were taken by phone but it should give you a rough idea of what’s on display.

In case you previously missed it, here are two links with pictures of old KNCC theaters:
The Original Al Hamra Cinema
Old Cinemas in Kuwait

My previous post on the KPTC double decker buses reminded of some pictures I had taken awhile back. I was at junkyards when I spotted a bunch of old KPTC double decker buses parked together in miserable condition. It looked very sad just surrounded by junk and filled with junk. Below are some pictures I had taken on that trip.