Job Discussion Forums

MESL · Joined: 23 Aug 2003 Posts: 291

My landlord wants to charge me an outrageous deposit for an Internet phone connection. Any way I can a satellite connection?

Cleopatra · Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 8:36 am Post subject:

Sorry, but what do you mean by an "internet phone connection"? Don't you just need a standard phone line, an internet card (available from Jarir or many other places) and you can use the internet in the same way as you make an ordinary phone call?

As for satellite connection, as far as I know it is illegal, but those with sufficient "wasta" can get it easily enough.

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

The first thing to do is to get a normal telephone line. You can actually get two for the price of one at the moment. Then you either get an internet card or better, pay an ISP SR90 as a monthly fee.

If you pay 10SR a month you can get a 25% discount on internet phone calls, so you will be paying SR3 an hour.

That still adds up. so if you are lucky you might be able to get DSL. This is on 24 hours, thougn the bandwidth you get in Saudi is nothing like what you get in developed countries. You would pay SR120 a month to the telephone company, and then whatever your ISP charges, which can be as low as SR99 a month. You will of course have to pay a few hundred riyals for the DSL modem However you will need to go to www.stc.com.sa to see if your telephone exchange has DSL

Satellite links (which are technically illegal but then so is satellite TV- and unless you use them to distribute porn to the students are unlikely to attract attention) are the most expensive, though you do miss the Saudi censorship proxy (frankly not that important). http://www.orbitsatnet.com will give you details, though you will have to have a TV connection to Orbit or pay extra. They demand a SR500 one off connection fee and a SR1000 hardware depositi as well as four months up front, so you are talking of an initial investment of around SR3000. However I filled in the online form, but nobody has contacted me, and the local Orbit dealer never even mentioned the existence of the service when I went to renew my TV subscription.

What exactly is your landlord offering you? Do you have to use a central switchboard to get a telephone line?

MESL · Joined: 23 Aug 2003 Posts: 291

I can't use a card because my compound has one of those systems that requires dialing 9 to get out. I went to the phone company. They said, "Your compound doesn't have any more lines. Ask your landlord to apply for an extra line." (The compound technician tells me this isn't true.) My landlord wants a 1000 deposit before he installs the line. 3000 for satellite. That's pretty steep, too.

Cleopatra · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 1:18 pm Post subject:

Are you quite sure a card won't work?

I was told the same about the place I was living, which also needed you to dial a '9' for an outside line. However, by changing the computer settings so as to put (if I recall correctly) two "spaces" before the 9 in the dial-up connection, I was easily able to use the Internet cards.

jeddahteacher · Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 291 Location: Arabia

With a Nesma internet card the procedure is to put a comma after the nine, a space and the phone number on card and it will connect. Connection speed rarely goes to 24000, so I I used tools to get rid of animations, etc.
Cheers,
JT

MESL · Joined: 23 Aug 2003 Posts: 291

It's been a while, but if I recall, a computer science teacher was helping me, and if I recall, we tried the 2 spaces, but I'll try it just in case

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

The money the guy is asking for is quite reasonable, and you would pay more or less the same if you got connected off your own bat.

To connect while dialling the 9 set up the connection with the required number and then go to dialling rules. You'll eventually come across a check box for the prefix necessary to dial a local number.