The main reason I'm switching is for internet, they have a promotion now of unlimited 3G for 299LE, my last vodafone bill for the 3G card was over 2000LE. So I will switch internet anyway, since I use it for work.
Would like to change my phones over too if the number can stay the same.
What have you heard about them Vader? It's the first time I have heard bad about them.
Posts: 409 | From: Betelgeuse | Registered: Oct 2005
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Well my experience was that etisalat were really good - phone and USB modem thingummy.
But for some reason performance has gone down the toilet in the past 6 weeks approx.
However, I have at this very moment got my usb modem stuck on the end of a mop handle dangling out over a wall and have got a decent signal for now!
No reason you shouldn't have 2 phones and just 1 USB thingummy. I've actually found it rather useful having both a vodaphone and etisalat phone.
Posts: 5593 | From: Egypt | Registered: Dec 2005
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To make my skype phone calls from it when my TE Data was down, I had to go to the 4th floor of my block of flats, fab reception and clarity of phone calls, but with no electricity connection the laptop battery powered out. But if I can manage to capture this signal from the end of the mop handle, maybe I won't have to this week...
Posts: 5593 | From: Egypt | Registered: Dec 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Shanta Qadeema: However, I have at this very moment got my usb modem stuck on the end of a mop handle dangling out over a wall and have got a decent signal for now!
Which network is that ? not voda I hope..
Posts: 3219 | From: Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone. | Registered: Nov 2005
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We get poor signal in our flat on anything except etisalat and mobinil. But I think they all use the same tower in our area and it's just that some phones work better. My old reliable Siemens can get a signal in our reception on voda, but my fancy pants Treo only works in the bedroom near the window lol
I have one of those Linksys wireless routers with a voda 3G card plugged into it. I have to keep it near the window in the bedroom to not drop to analogue mode (GPRS).
Anyway I'm not sure what to do after reading etisalat's fine print on unlimited plans (6GB limit per month or they drop your speed). and I just cannot afford vodafone's policy of needing vaseline if you go over the plan limit.
I may start bothering city officials to get some phone lines buried in our city so we can get DSL, who knows how long that will take Posts: 409 | From: Betelgeuse | Registered: Oct 2005
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My average is about 10GB per month give or take. I use alot of VOIP for meetings which goes over a VPN directly to a Cisco phone network back at the main office in the US. Also when in Egypt my son uses the VPN to connect to his school database in the states.
Just doing minimal work stuff only, with no web surfing at all, and not letting anyone else in the family use it, I was seeing 200MB per day which is about 6GB per month. If I throw in a couple days of web design and testing my usage will triple in those days, due to the nature of web design.
Yeah just having the connection on will increase the counters too, they count send as well as receive. So if your pulling down 5MB per day, they will also count the 500KB it took in upstream communications to get that 5MB, so now at 5.5MB total heh.
It reminds of the old days of dial up with all the silly limits.
Posts: 409 | From: Betelgeuse | Registered: Oct 2005
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Well I just downloaded a 150MB file (+ 60MB and 30MB of it which both stopped mid-download) but this is a heavy day for me.
The 150MB that succeeded took 37 minutes using the Etisalat modem thingy - averaging around 67kBps. The fastest it got was 134kBps and the slowest (without dropping) around 5kBps. Yesterday I was pushing 200kBps! If I'd tried downloading it on the TEData I would still be here tomorrow because it does drop the connection and I would have been continually resuming. So, even with the two aborted part-downloads and the 10 minutes of 'signal fishing' with the mop - it was still worth putting the Etisalat on that file.
So, if you can manage to get a decent signal from your USB modem, then I guess its worth it if you do a lot of internet work. I think I'll go in and check the packages they've got now when I go and pay my bill.
Oh yes and I forgot to mention the intermittent power cuts we get which cut the router off for the DSL line several times a week - so all things considered get yourself a USB modem thingy - whether its Etisalat or Vodafone (not sure what their packages are - maybe I should get one of those as well )
Posts: 5593 | From: Egypt | Registered: Dec 2005
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Yeah, the only issue for me on etisalat is the fair use thing, with 6GB limit per month and lowering the speed to 64kbps (almost like dial up) when reaching that limit. But that is still better than selling my first born to pay the vodafone overusage charges. heh
Posts: 409 | From: Betelgeuse | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Ford Prefect (not perfect): I may start bothering city officials to get some phone lines buried in our city so we can get DSL, who knows how long that will take
If its anything like us then don't hold your breath!
For me with no choice about DSL, Etisalat is the best option even though as SQ says service last 6 weeks had been intermittent. If enough of us complain perhaps we can get it back as before.
Posts: 3809 | From: Paradise | Registered: Mar 2003
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