| This page has been visited | times since being posted on 16/March/1999 |
ATTENTION (9/Mar/1999)
On Thursday 07 January 1999 the rumor first started of an unlimited rate plan during a talk shown in the linked log below. Since then, all information received points to this being absolutely true. It appears Etisalat have been making upgrades to their systems to accommodate Unlimited usage by many more users. It also appears they have for quite a while now been setting up the infrastructure to implement the plan at about Dhs. 400/month.
The fact that Etisalat has have never refuted this Unlimited Rate Plan should give heart to all who have waited so patiently. In our personal opinion (for all it is worth), we are looking at this happening towards the end of the Dubai Shopping Festival.
The information or should it be said rumor, of a fixed monthly unlimited rate first started in Jan. '99. Read what transpired right here.
Articles from 1999 in Gulf News about Internet.
Mar 13: Off the mark From Ms J. Marlowe & Answer queries From A Reader | Mar 9: Etisalat survey From Ms S.S | Mar. 8: Empty boasts From Mr. S. Al-Suwaidi | Mar. 7: Ill served From Mr. S.R. Shenoy & Change mode From A Reader & Wasted hours From Ms A. Knaap & Helpful net From A Reader | Mar 6: Incorrect From Mr. R. Mani | Mar 5: Visitors penalty From Mr. I. Hatch & Weather or not From Mr. A. Hamad
Article in the Gulf News Monday, March 1, 1999 by Wes Wright. Users' modems 'to blame' for Net woes. Etisalat, responding to criticism from customers, says it is not responsible for delays and other problems. Reply from R. Patros, Mar 4: Users all wrong | Reply from Mr. A. Hamad Mar 5: Weather or not | Reply from Mr. S.R. Shenoy Mar. 7: Ill served | Read sLumming with sLag. Check out his excellent Technical rebuff to Etisalat's claim that its users' modems are to blame. (click on the This Month link on his page)
3 Mar: Etisalat better From Mr. J. Galang & Still problems From Mrs. S. Shadrach & Lower rates From Ms Shamaila & Outstanding From Mr. N.K. Depala | 18 Feb: Caught in web From Mr. A. Partridge | 13 Feb: Improve Net From A Reader | 9 Feb: Hit nail on head From Mr. P.S. Seshadri | 8 Feb: Make access to the internet cheaper, faster From Sheikh Saqr bin Zayed bin Saqr Al Nahyan | 7 Feb: Internet blues From Mr. V.H. Das | 5 Feb: High Net fees From Mr. S.D. Salman | 1 Feb: Net no go From Mr. M. Abdulla & Overloaded From Mr. Y. Shalabi | 10 Jan: Worse to worst From A Reader | 6 Jan: Bad to worse From Mr. M.J. Leon | 4 Jan: Snail's pace From Mr. R. Pendse | 2 Jan: Can do better From Mr. Mohammed Qu | 1 Jan: What we want From Mr. B. Brown |
Write you own Letter to Editor at Gulf News or Khaleej Times
Letters To The Editor
Make access to the internet cheaper,
faster
From Sheikh Saqr bin Zayed bin Saqr Al Nahyan,
Dubai.
I am an admirer of Etisalat's continuous drive to introduce latest services, as soon as they become available internationally. It is understood that new technologies are expensive and inefficient for the first or the second year, but Internet service has passed that stage two years ago. It seems, to me and I hope I am wrong, that Etisalat's management of Internet service lacks understanding the essence of Internet.
Last year, I went with a UAE friend to an Internet café in London, to look at service offered there to users, during day's working hours. We were amazed by the performance at which we were able to surf the net. Downloading files of reasonable size with graphics did take, almost one can say, zero wait time.
We asked users and café staff if they face, invariably, line disconnection. Nobody seemed to understand what we were asking about. That brought back to our minds bad memories of how frustrating it is to use Etisalat's service of the net.
Since introduction of Internet service till today, so many users have complained in the pages of your respected newspaper, with regard: 1) Low file downloading performance. 2) Proxy censoring non-objectionable sites according to the UAE law. 3) Frequent line disconnection. 4) High subscription rates compared to the U.S. and UK rates. None of the four issues has been resolved to subscribers' satisfaction.
It was said that one has to either have a computer with a Pentium II processor or equivalent with a 56 kb modem, or better still an ISDN connection from Etisalat used at low peak hours, to have a good Internet service performance. That prescription, I have seen, is not the remedy. It is not acceptable to see entrepreneurs, researchers and students' enthusiasm frustrated because of expensive and poor Internet performance, wasting valuable long hours of research time. It is clear the bottleneck is without Etisalat's Internet set-up, and not within most up-to-date end-users.
Etisalat's Internet rates, for a normal telephone line connection, for a 30 days month, 720 hours, are 14 hours for Dh84 basic flat rate, plus 706 hours x Dh6 = Dh4,236, that makes the total Dh4,320. Meanwhile Internet rate in the U.S. is about $25 a month of unlimited hours of service, and the UK rate is £15. Those are the prevailing commercial rates of service providers, some are with less than Etisalat's one hundred thousand subscribers and with no monopoly rights. Sky high rates plus inefficient service of Etisalat, are not acceptable.
Major benefits of the net are only realised through popularity of using it as a business means to realise transactions, and helping students and researchers do their job. I think, Etisalat should provide it at the U.S. or UK prevailing rates, if not at cost. Because majority of researchers and students are not financially rich, and their role in the country's future advancement is pivotal. Just like road and bridge construction indirectly benefit a country, so is Internet service a bridge to the future and should be charged as such.
Etisalat motto "communication is the
future" or "Etisalat is the future"
impresses me greatly. But what would make that motto a more felt living experience is
providing Internet service at internationally competitive rate of performance and charges
today.
<End>
Reproduced with the permission of Gulf News Received on Thu, 18 Feb 99
17:05PM GST
DISSECTION
Some interesting facts, but let's not go to far and try and compare the rates here with the US. Comparing with the UK is pointless because they also pay a local phone charge.
Let us start with a quote this from "Etisalat lines up Sprint to put UAE on the Net," CommsMEA 5 (July 1995), p. 1.":
Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat), the state-owned monopoly telecommunications service provider, tendered for a turn-key ISP site in early 1995, and awarded the contract to Sprint.
Prior to the contract award, Etisalat reported that it had received 3,000 inquiries regarding Internet service, and Etisalat’s chief engineer indicated that the service would be considered a success if only a third of that number signed up.[168] However, 1,500 subscribers had already signed up for service and paid their connection fee two months before the service became operational.
So we see right from Day One their subscriptions outpaced their forecasts. At last count it is known that Etisalat has over 70,000 subscribers and it is estimated as probably over 90,000 now and growing fast. Quote: "From the introduction of Emirnet service in August 1995, the network has grown to support almost 90,000 subscribers from every Emirate. The subscriber base could easily double in the next 12-18 months. "
Then let's move to compare with rates in the region. Most intriguingly one of the highest charging countries for any "new technology" phone services is Saudi Arabia, and their subscribers access to the Internet is by far the smallest and newest in the region. The charges of the state company is about $1 per hour including local phone charges, or almost 40% cheaper than in U.A.E. Even more interesting is that a private service provider Sahara Network, King Saud Street, Dammam, charges a flat rate of about $100 per month for Unlimited usage! That is at present 1/10th the charge in the U.A.E.
Let's have a look now at Kuwait. The service provider http://www.moc.kw/ charges for Unlimited usage per month $150 for students, $215 for normal users, and $315 for businesses. A new provider http://www.quality.net has even better rates than the state telecom's company with a flat $115 per month unlimited. And again, you have http://kuwait.net also charging $150 per month unlimited usage .
A country that is facing as much financial difficulties as Lebanon has a provider at US $40 for unlimited use, and another at $55 Unlimited
It quickly becomes apparent that the problem of providing lower rates is not one of it "not being cost effective" or "profitable" to Etisalat, since the costs of other providers in the region are not less. It is also obvious that frequent disconnections and slow download rates are not the users problem since people here use the same hardware as those in neighbouring countries.
So what can be the answer?
After a lot of in depth searching, this is the conclusion we reach.
Etisalat simply do not have the qualified and technically proficient manpower to run their internet section. A lot of their resources have been and are spent on setting up and manning expensive proxy equipment, and monitoring the movement across them. That is why their systems are slow. They also appear to lack sufficient bandwidth from here to the next hop server overseas.
For them to provide unlimited access would mean a surge in Internet Usage. They are not capable of handling it yet. Since they release no information on the timetable of their future plans, it becomes a waiting game for us to see what develops next.
This is what Etisalat's Survey was all about. If you missed it, you can still see what it looked like.
Did you take the time to tell Etisalat what you think about
their service before March 15th, 1999.
To get a view of how the page might be filled in click here.
After you finished the Survey, this is what you would have seen:
Emirates Internet Dis?-Satisfaction Survey
Thank you for your feedback.
Please note that the 3 hours free usage
is :
- valid for Emirates
Internet subscribers participating in the survey.
- for usage in the month of March '99.
- for usage beyond the 14 hours of minimum usage.
Note : Dial N' Surf customers are not entitled for the free usage.
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