Search: “fasttelco”

This is the list of torrent sites sent out by the MOC to the ISP’s to block (here is a link to yesterdays post in case you missed it). On my offices FastTelco connection most of them are already non accessible.

www.demonoid.com
www.extratorrent.com
www.fulldls.com
www.meganova.org
www.seedpeer.com
www.nfo.co.il
www.piratic.org
www.worldnova.org
www.power-portal.to
www.smartorrent.com
www.thepiratebay.org
www.torrentazos.com
www.torrent-base.dl.am
www.torrentlounge.com
www.torrentplaza.be
www.tvtorrents.com
www.xphilez.com
www.zakatron.com
www.zonaemule.com
www.zoozle.de

Thanks MX5

Marzouq and I had a chance to check out InfoConnect before the doors open to public tomorrow:

The good:
Qualitynet is offering huge price cuts in addition to ‘extras’ that will only be offered when you subscribe/renew at InfoConnect. In addition to a ‘Sky DSL’ service which possibly means two way satellite service (as UCC). They also are offering a raffle for a Mini (might be one of the ‘extras’) with Al-Ghanim.

TechSys has a ton of new products from Planet and Silverstone, from HTPC/High-End cases, quiet/ultra-powerful power supplies to affordable networking products like smart switches and ip-cameras.

Lastly, E-Government is in full effect this year; Bahrain and Oman’s governments showing off their e-capabilities alongside Kuwait’s MOI, MOC and PACI. There are Several Kiosks, payment devices and even a decked out BMW Police Car on display.

The bad:
No Zain (they have their own event in April?), No Zajil, No Fasttelco, and not even Wasel (new Internet Company). For those looking to get a new deal on their EGO or DSL lines… You might be out of luck with the big players sitting it out. However, Zajil has already slashed prices with 3mb going for less than 850kd for a year’s subscription.

The ugly:
Aside from the cheaper yet still over-inflated pricing on the same old items… There is not much that InfoConnect has to offer. Without the Internet companies using February as a time to introduce their new offerings… you might as well take a stroll down any Ibn Khaldoun for the same experience.

The reality is that InfoConnect is a second rate bazaar with local stores trying to unload the remaining stock from their warehouse. Everyone from ElectroZan, Yousifi, Al-Ghanim Electronics and Sony are busy selling Televisions and DVD players than showing off new technology.

On the bright side, this might be a good chance to pick up that TV you have been thinking about. In addition to the electronics… there is an endless supply of Phone stores, two bit computer shops and Chinese stands selling items which can probably be found for cheaper in Hawalli.

I put up some pictures on my Flickr page [here].

-Posted by K

I will be posting tomorrow the ISP cost comparison.

Here is an updated list of current DSL pricing:

As I have said in the past; I wouldn’t suggest signing up with United Networks or FastTelco due to their incapability to deliver promised speed, provide sufficient support or maintain a stable network.

The most enticing ‘offer’ (we still pay too much) is the 4mb connection from Qualitynet at 900KD. As you would be looking at a download speed of roughly 400+ KBPS. Although, I am not sure if most telephone lines are capable of handling that speed. Come to think of it, ISPs could offer a 1000MB connection knowing that your telephone line will tap out at 3MB.

With Info-Connect 2008 only two months away, I would suggest extending your subscription until you can make use of the offers there.

K.theKuwaiti conducted a survey on Kuwait ISP’s by asking people what provider they were with, how much they were paying and what download speed they were getting. Using the results he plugged them into an Excel sheet and calculated which ISP gives you the best bang for the buck.

So what is the best deal? Turns out its Qualitynet followed closely by Zajil. Fasttelco came in last. For a more detailed analysis check out K’s post. [Link]

Lexicon emailed me this link to a clip on YouTube of this Egyptian guy called Yehya. Yehya likes to take pictures with famous celebrities and he has over 1600 pictures so far, this video clip is of him on the Jimmy Kimmel show and its extremely funny. Fasttelco users might have trouble viewing the video since its on YouTube. [Video]

Here is another really funny commercial. Since YouTube still doesn’t work right on Fasttelco just right click and save as the link to download it onto your computer. [WMV 1.5MB]

Although Fasttelco have removed the YouTube and MySpace block, a ton of other sites are still blocked including LiveJournal.com!

These are the current DSL prices in Kuwait for a 512KB connection.

Qualitynet: KD24.5 a month (You need an NBK account for this price)
UnitedNet: KD25 a month (Yearly contract paid montly)
Fasttelco: KD70 a month (KD50 if paid 1 year in advance)

Just a note, Fasttelco had the lousiest sales guy when I called, really crap. UnitedNet don’t seem to have a website which I think is very ify Turns out they do have a website but google doesn’t know about it. With Qualitynet if you don’t have an NBK account then you need to pay the full year subscription in advance or you will have to pay the monthly fee of KD38.

Ok, this is a strange turn of events. Flickr is now no longer blocked by Fasttelco!

What the hell! Not only have Fasttelco blocked Flickr but it seems they have blocked other photo sites including stock.xchng! Stock.xchng is a site I check every now and then whenever I needed some HiRes images for work. The site is like Corbis and Photodisc except its free. I was just trying to check it now and I got the Fasttelco block page, what losers.

I am at work and I am online using Qualitynet dialup again. It turns out that although Fasttelco brought back online most of its services yesterday night, their Kuwait City users will remain without Internet for another day or two. All phone numbers starting with 24 still do not have Internet access.

What a day, my Internet stopped working last night and I figured it was something with my account. Today morning I came to work all ready to check my email and turned out we didn’t have Internet here. At first the word was our internal server was down but then the word reached to us that everyone in Kuwait was having Internet issues. As many bloggers have posted it turned out that there was a fire in the building hosting the servers of the 3 main ISP’s in Kuwait and this disrupted the service. Things are better now though and both Qualitynet and Zajil/KEMS have their services back up. The bad news is that our agencies ISP, Fasttelco, got hit the worst and according to TivoGuy they had most of their stuff burn down. Fasttelco has assured us though Internet would be back up in 3 days time but I think it might take longer.

So until we get Internet back up I will most probably be connecting online from work using a qualitynet dialup account like I am doing now. Its a bit retro but better then nothing.

One interesting thing I realized was without Internet I did stuff I used to do before when I never had Internet. For example I read 3 newspapers today morning and then spoke to Nibaq on the phone for at least 20 minutes… the longest I had spoken to him on the phone since back when we were in high school trying to setup a Duke Nukem multiplayer session!

DSL prices in Kuwait have gone down recently. Both Qualitynet and Fasttelco have double the bandwidth. It started off as an offer but it seems they have decided to keep this permanently. This is how much 512KB will cost you in Kuwait

Fasttelco
512kb down / 128kb up
1yr Subscription Price: KD360 ($1232)

Qualitynet
512kb down / 256kb up
1yr Subscription Price: KD380 ($1300)

Both providers are reliable, I use both of them, one at home and one at work. Sometimes a site could be blocked by Qualitynet and not by Fasttelco, and sometimes its the other way around, they mostly come out even. So if you are new in Kuwait and looking for a decent connection, get a 512kb DSL connection, the 256kb is too slow, and the 1MB too expensive, 512kb comes in nicely at around KD30 a month.

I just purchased an internet card so I could get online from work. Our internet is still down and this is the first time I use a dial up connection in a long time. KD1 got me 15 hours of internet using Fasttelco which I think is really cheap. The connection though is veryyyy slowwww, I hate dial up. I still remember when I used to get kicked out of BBS’s because of my 2400 baud modem. Nibaq and I used to connect our computers together and he would send me pictures of the Texas A&M chick, each picture would take over 5 minutes to download from him because of my slow modem..

Yesterday night I passed by the Qualitynet branch in Eureka. My first experience, they are nice friendly people. The guy tried to help me out as much as possible but due to the fact I was a Shownet customer and had a Satellite/DSL combo, I have to go to the main branch in Khaleejeyeh Complex. I did finish most of my paper work though. At one point he was calling this one guy who had more info about my situation, and he was like “I hope the guy answers, there is a big game today”. I was like big game? what big game? He was like Barcelona and Real Madrid are playing. I found that very funny and luckily the guy did pick up. I am sure if the guy hadn’t picked up my first impression about Qualitynet would have been much different.

The reason I went with Qualitynet was the price. For KD32 a month, I get a 512KB connection and a free DSL modem. This is with a 1 year contract which you can pay in monthly installments. I was planning on going with Fasttelco at first though. I had spoken to an FT salesman at Al-Ghanim Electronics, the guy told me FT had a double your bandwidth option also. It would cost me the same price, KD32 if I paid the bill online. Disdavantage is I had to pay KD20 for a DSL modem but the advantage was, this one a month by month contract not a yearly one. After leaving the salesman at Al Ghanim I decided to pass by the main FT office. When there I asked them again about the double your bandwidth option, they told me it existed but ONLY if I did the yearly contact which I had to pay the full amount all upfront. He told me if I wanted to go month by month I would only get a 50% increase. That meant 384KB instead of 512.. not enough. So, I decided to go with Qualitynet.