Job Discussion Forums

[boundforsaudi]

I've never had to pay by the GB, but according to the schedule below, after the intallation charge, I'm guessing it's going to cost me about $150/month for a couple or three hours a night on the internet, for very slow DSL. Assuming I can get it in Salalah. Ouch! That about right?

Hey, has the new Dhofar University got bandwidth anything like SQU? Do they offer hospitality in their computer labs to visiting scholars from across town at the teachers' college? Sometimes I just have to have a really good fix of bandwidth, not to mention free.

http://www.omantel.net.om/services/residential/internet/adsl.asp

[veiledsentiments]

I read it to say 1000+ kbh, which is not 'very slow' by my standards - that is the fastest that is available in my city in the US (unless you want to pay big bucks for a commercial contract).

It also says that the maximum monthly charge is 39 OR... with no time limit that I can see. It is not clear whether that 39 max includes the 12 OR monthly rent or not. So, it seems that worst case it is about $130 for unlimited usage. Not exactly cheap... perhaps get dial-up at home, which is very affordable and do most of your surfing at work under their system. (or at the other place you mentioned...)

VS

[boundforsaudi]

Look again. Residential is 128 Kbps up and 384 Kbps down. Very slow. For SBC's slow DSL package in the US I'm paying $15 month for unlimited download at 1.5 Mbps.

Not counting 25 OR = $70 for installation, 39 +12 = 51 OR/month = $132.47/month as a maximum. I just have a hard time estimating whether and how much my bill would be less than that. Can somebody check my math?

384 Kbps = .0000447 GBps.

Since I'd max out at 39GB,

39GB/.0000447 GBps = about 10 days of constant downloading before I'd max out.

But let's say I only download two hours a day. That comes out to only about 10 OR usage fee + 12 OR monthly rental = 22 OR = $57/month. But it's still SLOW.

[Stephen Jones]

You would probably only download three or four GB a month.

The price is probably better than Saudi. Here we get "broadband" at 64Kbs both ways! Costs about $75 a month, and is still would be a lot cheaper than the dial-up I'm using now.

[dmb]

Why is broadband so expensive in the Gulf? I pay about $6 dollars a month for unlimited use here in Turkey.

[veiledsentiments]

Oh yeah bound... I see... I was just looking at the money in the chart. I'd say for that price and that speed, just get dial-up. Besides you will have tons of free time with little or nothing to do. Use the other systems for a 'speed' break.

VS
(BTW, I pay $37.23 per month for unlimited 1.0 here)

[Gordon]

If we're comparing here. I pay about $50 US for high speed (54 Mbps) here in Japan.

[rikyo]

Trust me, if you use the net a lot in Oman, it's REALLY expensive to go dialup; and it's SLOW SLOW SLOW. 384KB is slow, but it's a whole lot better than "56K".

It's the gulf, ok, not the US. You can't compare here with there, just look at what you can and can't get.

We don't go crazy downloading with ADSL, but do a fair bit, and our bill is usually about 16 rials TOTAL; usage so far this month has been less than 4GB. We do, however, use it a lot time-wise, through necessity. Remember, 180 bazia per hour might not look like much, but if you multiply it by, say, 4 hours (in which time you can download hardly anything at 56K) and then 30 days you end up with 21rials.

And here just not gonna get anything faster, residentially. Go ADSL, if you're living close enough. Expect it to take at least a few weeks for connection (ours took a month).

-- rikyo.

[Wander]

I tried following the Omantel link and got an "Out of disk space" error message. Looking at Omantel's home page, there's a frame containing the same message. That speaks volumes! Oman is medieval and if we don't like then we can always return to the Free World for fast data rates and vacuous consumerism

[veiledsentiments]

I don't think I'd quite go so far as to say that Oman is medieval. It is just that cheap high speed internet for teacher surfing is not terribly high on the country's priorities... and I'd say that they are pretty sensible...

VS

[Wander]

The country's economic prospects are stifled by archaic practices of institutionalized corruption. India gave up that sort of thing and its economy boomed. Oman looks pretty medieval to me ... but still pretty!

[veiledsentiments]

Personally, after dealing extensively with the bureaucracies of a few Middle Eastern countries... and for years with the same in the US, I would say that Oman is the least corrupt and most efficient I have ever dealt with.

VS

[rikyo]

I think you might have a rose-coloured view of India, Wander. In my experience, of course.

veiledsentiments said:

[Stephen Jones]

We have an Indian teacher who arrived last week and has been saying how surprised he was at Saudi inefficiency,.

"Well," I said, "some things work better than India, and some things don't."

"Oh, no!" was the reply. "In India you just slip 5% under the table and everything works!"

[kevmar]