Job Discussion Forums

jmsauer · Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 2:54 pm Post subject: DSL Internet in Riyadh

Last September I called up STC and asked if I could get DSL. They told me yes, so I signed up with an internet service provider AwalNet. When it didn't work AwalNet told me the problem was with STC. STC then informed that DSL wasn't actually available at my location yet, but would be in three months (after I had already paid for and activated a years internet subscription with AwalNet). I patiently waited and sucked up the loss. When the DSL line finally came through, I still had technical difficulties but I wasn't able to get through to a human being at AwalNet for two weeks. The phone just rang forever no matter what time of day. I got ahold of the corporate office who gave me an extension of someone in the sales department who got me going. Two weeks later the service went down again and once again I was unable to get through to anyone to help me.

So I took a cab down to their office. There was no one at the front desk so I marched on to the back office and started looking around at all the computer screens of the lazy slackers sitting at their terminals. I found one guy with a smutty picture up and went ballistic in the office about how they have time to look at smutty pictures, but not to answer the telephone. I demanded a full refund for my entire subscription dating all the way back to September. After threatening to call the religious police, I got handed a cash refund on the spot. It was a uniquely satisfying experience.

Anyway for those of you in Riyadh who want DSL, here's the deal. You gotta pay STC for the dsl service first. It's 300 riyal installation plus 30+ a month (depending on the speed you want) and may or may not be available at your location. It's best to double or triple check it's actual availability. Then you need an internet provider. They will sell you the modem and dsl line splitter for about 300 riyal and then sell you a subscription package for X months. The Awalnet service is good for having an unlimited connection to the web, but the intermittent lag is not good for some applications (gaming). The biggest perk to AwalNet is that they appear to be the only provider who will suspend your service over the summer at no charge. But good luck ever getting ahold of technical support. If you do have a problem you'll need to ask for the corporate branch and then ask them for some direct extension numbers to various departments and you might eventually land a human being on the line who can help you out.

Now it appears STC has an in house internet provider service. That's what I'm gonna switch to. I'll post my experience with them later.

Cheers

Cleopatra · Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 3:38 pm Post subject:

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

I know... the techs somehow knew that you were female... Cool

If it makes you feel better, I just signed up a week ago for 1.5K DSL here in the US with one of the supposed major providers - Qwest, and have had nothing but problems. The telephone tech people are far far away... likely Bangalore... and only know how to tell you to reboot the modem... which, of course, you have already done before you called. Each call involves 20-30 minutes hold time while they "consult." Today a real tech is supposedly coming for the second time.

The first tech that showed up lowered my speed from 1500 to 650 to supposedly avoid interference on their lines... and yesterday, my download speed was 9. Late yesterday evening, the speed came back and I'm holding my breath to see how long it lasts...

VS

Cleopatra · Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 4:02 pm Post subject:

ALPH · Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Posts: 87

Canada ? England ? I'm Irish and proud of it. And I am delighted you have discovered some advantages to living in Riyadh Rolling Eyes

Long may you reign

Cleopatra · Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:10 pm Post subject:

ALPH · Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Posts: 87

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

ALPH · Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Posts: 87

bje · Joined: 19 Jun 2005 Posts: 527

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

You must get the STC DSL connection before you bother with a service provider. It can take years.

It is worth considering buying cards rather than paying a subscription. You buy a certain number of days or hours for a certain price, and thus are allowed to try out various providers.

Of course if you come to KFUPM you get broadband for 75SR a month all inclusive :D

jmsauer · Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 6:17 pm Post subject:

Update:

Went to Jareer bookstore. Purchased a 3 month subscription to Saudi Net (STC's in house net provider) 128k connection for 420 riyals it comes with an extra 2 weeks as a bonus. I used the same speedtouch four port dsl modem that I had from before. All I had to do was log into the modem from the browser window and reconfigure the modem for the new user name and password.

Its a much better connection than the Awalnet connection was. Its faster and no intermittent lag.

Jareer had a wide selection of subscriptions from different providers.

Cheers

Cleopatra · Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 6:43 pm Post subject:

Maybe Awalnet is too popular for its customers' good? Perhaps their lines are overloaded, which might explain the difficulties you've experienced.

BTW I've just paid my phone bill, and the charge for 'renting' the DSL line was SR 100 a month, as I thought.

EFLUndercover · Joined: 26 May 2007 Posts: 82

I am considering a teaching position in Riyadh for February 2008. However, I am finishing the last few classes of my master's degree online and therefore would need immediate access to preferably a broadband Internet connection.

My question is:

What would be the best procedure for me to follow in order to resume Internet access upon arrival to avoid any delays in resumption of my studies?

Cleopatra · Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 1:23 pm Post subject:

If your apartment has a phone line, you can start using dial-up right away. From what I hear, it's actually much improved and is quite fast these days, probably due to the fact that fewer people are using dial-up now that DSL is so widely available. Your phoneline may not be set up for DSL, so you will have to wait until you get the Iqama (at least a few weeks) to apply for it. Otherwise, most workplaces have good internet connections.