I’ve heard from a reliable source that 2Connect is about to release three internet access packages: 256k, 512k and 1MB.
The information I have suggests that the 512k is going to be priced at BD45 and IT IS GOING TO BE UNLIMITED!
We have still got to receive confirmation of the status of the other two packages (my source tells me that there is a chance that the 1MB package is going to be limited, and if that is the case it is going to be rather unfortunate.)
I have emailed Peter K the CEO of Batelco again this morning requesting an update on their promised packages which should have been announced on August 14th. I will share his reply with you when I receive it.
August 30th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
Check out in Australia..for home users they are coming up with
24MPBPS uncapped - AU$30 Per month !! Watchout this space !!!
August 30th, 2006 at 12:47 pm
sounds promising,
i can’t wait =)
August 30th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
Again, Mr Admin, This CEO is bullshitting us and he is not telling the truth, he promised for those packages to be released in mid of August, and now we are almost in September. I don’t think 2connect will have unlimited packages, because batelco don’t have them!!!
August 30th, 2006 at 6:07 pm
Good news, hopes are up
Thanks for the info.
August 30th, 2006 at 9:04 pm
Excellent news ;), I have good feeling about this.
August 31st, 2006 at 6:03 am
wow ,, the day i get the unlimited package , i will throw a party ,, anyways it is a real good news,, hope we get it soon ,, INSHALLAH
August 31st, 2006 at 6:34 am
Good news I guess…
I just hope it’s not a false glimpse of hope nor will they ahem… be muppets controlled by money.
August 31st, 2006 at 10:25 am
guys 1mb will be unlimted bitween 60 to 80BD
majed from 2connect told me this
August 31st, 2006 at 10:57 am
BD 60 to 80 is way too much, they should be smarter than this, that’s if they’re willing to be competitive! We don’t need another dumb in the market.
August 31st, 2006 at 11:09 am
Great news ..
actually i got the same news (confirmed) earlier but i couldn’t post it dunnno why .. anyways..
the packages are cool 512 for 45 and unlimited .. 1m is 80 and unlimited but there is a limited one for 40bd
inshalla i’ll get one soon
August 31st, 2006 at 11:10 am
and yeah … they gave us the magic word!! UNLIMITED!
August 31st, 2006 at 1:06 pm
80 O_O.
Daylight robbery.
August 31st, 2006 at 4:51 pm
Mr Mahmood
We know that CEO of Batelco is your friend , but when every one knows that this site is yours , he wouldn’t tell you any thing real , because you will publish it .
Take my advice , don’t trust him any more , becuase when some one say that half of Bahraini People are thieves , what can we should tell him ?
We don’t want to hear his news
August 31st, 2006 at 6:26 pm
any news about the 256 package?
September 1st, 2006 at 12:40 am
Thats very positive news. No doubt I would promptly shift as soon as available,
However, Should this happen Im sure that batelco would take some competitive actions to defend its market share
After shifting we should never go to back to batelco no matter what . We must never let batelco be the only supplying company again. Otherwise batelco might put limits again as new speeds appear
September 1st, 2006 at 12:45 am
However, 60-80 BD is way too much, unless youre sharing with several people that is
September 1st, 2006 at 2:31 am
Expect batelco to lower their prices and re-introduce unlimited packages as soon as new ISP begin offering their services.
I think this will happen even one day before new ISP start, i dunno if the TRA will allow it though
September 1st, 2006 at 7:58 am
Peter K’s response, by the way, was that he cannot divulge more information than Batelco has applied for new high-end packages and it is within the process with the TRA at the moment, and due to Batelco’s legal actions against the TRA (that apology thing) he cannot comment further.
So both parties are toeing the line at the moment and we’ll just have to wait and see. If Batelco did apply for approval on or around Aug 14th, then we should hear back by mid-next month.
In any case, the pricing offered by 2Connect are encouraging, however the BD80 for an unlimited 1MB is opportunistic to say the very least. This offer is not competitive in any way, it is due to Batelco’s pricing structure alone that they have put this price, rather than wanting to be competitive.
Do we need to remind them of how much other companies in the Gulf charge for the same service? Or how much other countries in the world do?
September 1st, 2006 at 10:10 am
i guess you are right regarding the high price of the high end 1mb package .. but other offers are pretty reasonable compared to even batelco’s previous unlimited packages.. i’m in the precess of getting it .. the 512 thingy .. wish me luck guyz
btw
128k (unlimited): BD 26/-
256k (unlimited): BD 36/-
512k (unlimited): BD 45/-
1meg (unlimited): BD 80/-
1meg (limited): BD 40/-
here are the packages…
enjoy …
cya ..
Ali
September 1st, 2006 at 4:02 pm
guyz stop dreaming!!! Any new company can not compete with Batelco, I am sure they will have some constraints such as you have to provide them with your credit card, or you need to pay 6 months in advance and so. Or worst case, they will make their packages limited, like what Orbit did when Batelco started providing the limited packages!!
September 1st, 2006 at 5:34 pm
HAY U, STOP BEING PESSIMISTIC.
Any sensible businessman would not accept batelco’s “bribery” because competetion is a good thing for the contender.
The “nwe kid on the block” would steal all of batelco’s customers and leave batelco out in the rain.
Think about it.
If your rival was going to give you a one-time-fee of … let’s say 100k BHD to shut down your company.
Would you do it?
I would not - the long term holds a far far bigger reward then that.
I believe it’s called rational thinking? :P.
September 1st, 2006 at 5:51 pm
thx zodiac for the info, any idea when those packages will be out
September 1st, 2006 at 6:45 pm
any idea about setup fees?
September 1st, 2006 at 8:27 pm
hmmmm
great news but i think the prices are too much
since i’am now on 512k BD25 Package, and that company offers 128k unlimited for BD26 , i don’t think it’s worth converting ; because i have the speed of 512k ; for about 20-25 days a month and the rest @ 64k
they really should consider lowering thier fees a bit , saybe 128k for BD15-20 , 256k for BD20-25 , and 512k for around BD30 , and 1Mb for not more than BD50.
really waiting for more info
September 1st, 2006 at 11:23 pm
i have a feeling kalaam will be next to offer services
September 2nd, 2006 at 9:44 am
Hope so Moh’d, so what u guys recommend changing to 2connect or wait till more ISP are opened (maybe batelco will have better offers by then).
September 2nd, 2006 at 3:31 pm
The story so far:
As posted before, no provider will see a need to seriously undercut Batelco as the system is not truly competitive. Allow us desk top dishes and then see how it changes.
For the first time, we received the dreaded email advising that we had reached our 75% threshold and it was like having your first car accident. In fact we have only 1 gig left.
GDN today; Bahrain is ranked highly stupid for being unaware of spyware. True to some extent, with the average user tolerating painfully slow computers without realizing there is a problem. It’s therefore no wonder Batelco can get away with their own public abuse, because unlike the users of this board, the masses are just not that savvy.
We received an astonishing record 1,280 spams in just one day during this month, many malicious. Suddenly, in 2 days our ‘up/download’ reached more than 10 gigs until I was called to check why the net ‘appeared’ to be slowing down. I quickly cleaned up, but am still none the wiser as to which spyware was doing the damage. As misfortunate as it is and as careful as we can be, it is our oversight and we cannot blame Batelco. What we can accuse the provider of is daylight mafia extortion! Charging BD10 per gigabyte over limit is just beyond belief. A policy of Kick ‘em when they are down, why not?
Secondly: Without choice we all had to change billing cycles and pay the new rates. Many of us were required to pay a month in advance. Think how much revenue this generated for Batelco and the interest accrued on this amount. Talk about scams, well that must have been the biggest ‘apparently’ legal scam to hit Bahrain this year and they got clean away with it.
Thirdly: Be careful! You have a problem; you are never sure if it’s your machine or Batelco’s server, so you go to http://www.help.com.bh. In fact Batelco openly encourage you to do so. By clicking on the 100 mb test file and stupidly letting the entire file download in order to take an average, you are in fact using up your limit. If you had to do this a good few times while checking your system due to criminally induced problems, you would find yourself paying Batelco wadjid amounts each month over your package fee. It’s better to go and download something useful and at least benefit.
A peaceful public rally encouraging all Batelco mobile users to self impose a radio silence for one month would certainly make them stop playing greedy games. After all, you can pick up an MTC prepaid in seconds and use that for calling if you must.
September 2nd, 2006 at 10:58 pm
Does anyone know when these packages will be released? or if they are already out there, how we can acquire them??
September 3rd, 2006 at 6:44 pm
they are already released .. i contaced sales person and he provided me with the info and he asked about my address for their technicians .. gave him that … still waiting for them..
BTW it’s kinda some wireless .. maybe a wimax hybrid ..
anyways here is their site
http://www.2connectbahrain.com
btw i asked kalaam people .. they said not yet .. but i think they have something up their sleeves ..
mena as well on the way .. but not sure will it be adsl or sat .. as I asked them they said dsl .. but the sales man gave me the prices sheet (for business) .. where it was saying 2way sat ..
peace…
Ali
September 3rd, 2006 at 7:00 pm
What do you reccomend, getting 2connect or waiting for kalaam or mena??
September 4th, 2006 at 7:09 am
The question should be “is there an out clause” in all of these contracts you enter into with telecomms? If there is, then it doesn’t really matter. If you select one and then after a few months you find that their service is really not as good as you expect, then it should be easy enough to switch to any other without too much downtime.
And if one thing is demonstrated by the Batelco fiasco, it is this: no loyalty. If Big Company doesn’t show its customers any loyalty, why should the customer do the opposite?
Think of Number One: You.
September 4th, 2006 at 7:30 pm
Just come off the phone with someone I know in Kalaam. Answer “Maybe, but it will take some time”. MTC might be quicker, you never know. Whoever, unless they got their own sat up/down, there’s always going to be a bit of Batelco in the backside somewhere and the bottleneck.
September 4th, 2006 at 7:56 pm
so zodiac. u called 2connect and waiting for their technicians to come fix the service for u and u never asked them about their prices huh? (judging from the fact that u didnt share this piece of information with us).
September 4th, 2006 at 8:04 pm
ok.. sorry.. im blind!
so how “limited” is the BD40 1mbps?
at these prices i think i’ll stick to my limited 1mbps for a few more months. the only 2 advantages in their packages seem to be the 256k for BD36 (BD4 decrease in price from batelco’s old packages. WOW!) and the BD80 1mbps unlimited (but im not that desperate and i dont plan on sharing it with the whole towm).
September 4th, 2006 at 8:31 pm
well…
i guess 1mbps with limit is fine for some ppl .. but not for me unfortunately .. as i tend to download/upload ..a LOT..
got 2 forums .. 1 blog to cater for ..
and i love to download anything that comes into my mind ..
and yeah .. i play online games ..
and do some video and audio conferencing..
and even if i don’t use up my limit …(which is impossible btw).. i do feel uneasy whe i’m concered about ..a “LIMIT” .. it frisks me ….
and yeah .. i was so loyal to batelco.. i have two adsl lines .. one at my father’s house .. one at my flat .. two mobiles ..
been loyal for years …(never shared the connection .. and i never will ,,i’m too bandwidth greedy to do such thing..) after all that .. all of a sudden som batelco genious comes with that idea .. and robs me of my rights .. i’ll switch allegiance any day i get the chance..
[peace] — through war
Ali
September 4th, 2006 at 10:10 pm
Zodiac, What is the set up fee from 2connect? We all know about the subscribtion fees, but we have no idea about their set up fee and conditions, so can you align us?
September 4th, 2006 at 10:29 pm
thank god i for this nice update
ive been annoyed with all this BS !!
i got my speed 2 days ago and now i have 400MB 0_o !!
i was planning on leaving the country ASAP ! and i will by the end of this month,at least i have my 1Mb unlimit
im sure 100% i didnt use the limit they gave me,imagine in 2 days all is gone
i even had my router and pc shutdown today from 2pm till 8pm,and 600Mb was gone,400 is left ! i dont know how can this possibly happen
ill check this 2connect the first thing tomorrow morning,i really want to go to bateclo and fight and cut the service
thanks for the update =)
September 5th, 2006 at 7:41 am
m@ster check your download sessions from Batelco shop site. Look for repeated sessions. I have contacted Batelco for the same reason and they realized they have a problem with their billing system.
September 6th, 2006 at 9:27 am
I hope this come true for 512kb/s 45BD isn’t that bad cuz we used to pay 50BD for bateclo few months ago while the 1mb/s is way to expensive, to be honest I won’t pay 80BD for even 2mb/s.
The thing that really annoying me that I’m using 1mb/s at the moment and it will be really hard to get only the half speed but I found I’m using my 15GB limit in aprox. 20days and the rest with the 0.0064bit/hour shit since we got 4PCs and 2 labtops in our home so I will be really a happy panda once I get my magicly UNLIMITED internet.
Cheers folks!
September 6th, 2006 at 11:07 am
Well I’ve contacted 2Connect and their salesman informed me to wait for few days more, packages are still not ready!
September 6th, 2006 at 11:48 am
Then what this bullshit all about talking about the packages?
September 6th, 2006 at 12:10 pm
I can’t believe how pathetic this is getting. We are actually celebrating UNLIMITED packages. 2connect are now charging BD 45 for a 512K connection. What a rip off. When we get unlimited downloads at speeds of 16 Mbps for £25 / month *, I’ll be celebrating. Peter K is a waste of good office space. As long as his pocket is filling up he is happy to continue ripping people off. Please note I have carefully selected my words, if I saw Peter face to face I wouldn’t be so nice. Sorry it has to be this way but this is how I, along with most of Bahrain feel and you must know.
*http://www.bulldogbroadband.com/residential/products/broadband/index.asp
September 6th, 2006 at 7:20 pm
Rameen, We are in a country where everything is so expensive, corrupted and f***ed up!!! Enjoy your time and UK , and never ever think about coming to Bahrain, because you gonna spend a lot of money for shitty services and food!
September 6th, 2006 at 11:03 pm
celebrating unlimited internet for BD 45 @256K ?
When people are waiting for a lower price intenet package, they wake up to a more expensive one with a feature (like speed) they dont mind living without !
they always look to the offers available in UAE for example.
September 6th, 2006 at 11:08 pm
someone please give us info about setup & install fees , and how much the contract period should be at least ^_^
September 7th, 2006 at 11:15 am
I hate Batelco, I have to agree with everything you have said, I didn’t realise what Bahrain has become until I returned from the UK. Everything seems to be taking a turn for the worse. It’s so sad that this is the only thing Batelco is contributing to.
Every business is about making money otherwise why would they exist, but there is another part that is just as important and that is keeping your customers happy. We pay through our noses for the services Batelco provide and we are not amongst the highest paid in the Middle East / World either (far from it in fact).
September 7th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
I spoke to a representative of 2Connect and he refused to commit to a date or price or even the number of packages they will have on offer. He said that they are “thinking” of entering the market in one or two months and they have not fixed their prices yet.
I emailed their ADSL sales lead (Majed) this morning for explanations and a meeting, he is yet to reply to my email.
I’ll update you with details when I have them.
September 8th, 2006 at 6:02 pm
If their prices going to be more than batelco or same as but slower then why bother shifting? I wont shift unless i get a value compatible with the price.
We dont need another batelco
September 9th, 2006 at 12:18 am
I agree.
September 9th, 2006 at 12:38 am
well .. i guess i’m sorry guys ..these are the info i got from their sales .. and since then .. i’m writing back to them and no reply ..
i guess it was false alarm .. or they will review their prices ..and might intrduce… a limit
September 9th, 2006 at 5:20 pm
waw
had no idea all you guys are into this as much as i am
i suggest u take a look at this site
http://www.anticap.co.uk/
uk has been through this drama in 2003
but with dedicated work, now in 2006 they have 10mbits unlimited as cheap as dirt and services up to 30mbits
now i only want an unlimited 512kbs is that too much to ask for
i think wimax is our saviour, unless batelco owns the air, wireless technology is our only way out of this, two access points would be more than enough to cover the entire country, then the dream would come true
eh till that becomes a reality, i’ll go enjoy my last coupla kbs on prison break -.-;
god bless you all
September 17th, 2006 at 7:53 pm
Batelco sux, guys all month my internet is 64kb/s and it only becomes 1mb/s for a week or so and they say the pakage is for a hardcore gamer a hardcore gamer uses way more than 15gb. btw i knw someone who works in 2 connect and i heard that they will launch on ramadan.btw prison break is cool:p
September 25th, 2006 at 7:43 am
Just an FYI that the mentioned company in this blog posting will offer wireless internet services to the people here in this country at (very) competitive prices. As for launch date, rollout, etc. is under wraps but implementation phases start in the next few days.
Final package pricing releases are yet to be known even by staff so don’t go by any unofficial statements on pricing. Infrastructure is reliable and robust, nifty power toys from Europe.
Don’t loose hope, the mentioned company will be offering residential internet in Bahrain, a matter of rollout and service to go live. WoW/etc. there is something in here for you all as well, something worthy to consider soon… just a bit more of your time and patience
Ramadan Kareem!
September 25th, 2006 at 10:53 am
can’t wait!
September 26th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
nisma3 minnik inshalla ya bystander
October 1st, 2006 at 11:10 pm
This is what the so called competition has come up with. What a joke.
October 1st, 2006 at 11:19 pm
guys whats taking 2connect and other companys to set a date to start with this news services can any one tel me please
is it true that the TRA delaying other or what thanks
October 3rd, 2006 at 11:22 am
The mentioned company’s implementation team is already in-country having arrived last weekend, infrastructure being rolled out. Can’t comment on TRA’s interfacing with the mentioned company, but the team is here and so is the equipment and install/config ops have begun.
Have a nice day!
PS: Re TRA, they are having an internal reshuffle.
October 3rd, 2006 at 11:26 am
remember google wifi mesh network in SF? this is now being set up around Bahrain, load balancing being tested, etc.
October 4th, 2006 at 5:53 pm
my guess id bystander is german and he is linked to 2connect in some sort, either ways, its always nice to have an insider, and bless you for keeping our hopes up!
October 4th, 2006 at 6:45 pm
guys when do u think thy will start offering internet and is true the prices will be as batelco 50/40/30 BD
October 7th, 2006 at 7:05 am
bystander….any news?
October 13th, 2006 at 7:53 am
i contacted them .. gazillion times.. no reply .. as if they did something .. and they are now ashamed.. well .. did they? .. still looking forward to anything other than batelco .. i guess .. this site is almost dead now.. as we are accepting .. the reality as it is.. as usual .. every body is banging the hammer on the citizen’s head.. with more and more hammers.. i guess we got numb .. and feel pain no more..
[Peace]
keep the hope flowing in ur veins..
October 13th, 2006 at 4:04 pm
I was hoping this month we’d get some news..maybe they are waiting till after Ramadan…I hope its before 2007. Hurry up!
October 21st, 2006 at 3:51 pm
Hello Fun Loving People, geeks and everyone else!
Some surprises coming your way during Eid or maybe a day after Eid. Connectivity masts and receivers are being set up since last night around a part of Bahrain, the team is working around the clock to bring you something worthwhile.
Red tape in this country isn’t helping but they’re working around it. Initial locations will be posted in here, bahrains’ blogs, mtv and forums. Looking forward to beaming to your laptops, PDA’s and other wireless devices very soon.
Cheers!
October 22nd, 2006 at 1:02 am
YAHOOOO!!
hopefully it’s gonna be realized finally …
inshall it’ll be 2 Eids in one …
[peace]
October 22nd, 2006 at 3:27 pm
Bystander,
and the price to the consumer is…..?
October 24th, 2006 at 12:00 pm
it seems that the mentioned company has internal resistance within. Juffair and surrounding parts were meshed up with hi-speed wifi internet for free since yesterday morning (drive past exhibition/adliya/al-fath mosque with your wireless devices or from your homes… min speed is 128kbps to a max of 1mbps). The mentioned company has not been professional in their terms of service with the implementation team.
Off records, this mentioned company has not just let down partners within the company, an implementation team from the UK and shareholders but they’ve let down many many consumers who’ve they’ve been bragging about their internet service. No implementation team or partner can work with such a company until they first clean out the house… starting with their business development manager who has shown much resistance. At the end of the day it’s the users who’ve taken a hit again with so much of false hope.
The implementation team is still in country but will be departing within a week to ten days. If anyone of the consumer’s are interested in meeting with the implementation team to figure out other options of hi-speed connectivity in Bahrain, considering the equipment is already here, please post back here, will try to get their numbers with permission and post it over here.
(It wasn’t TRA this time, it was the mentioned company who screwed up everyone because of their internal “issues” and red tape approach to technology)
October 25th, 2006 at 12:31 pm
again .. dissappointed ..!!!
poor us between the anvil of batelco and the hummer of decieving greedy companies …
god help us ..
[peace]
October 25th, 2006 at 7:36 pm
the person who is responsible for this situation at 2Connect is their so-called general manager, a french-canadian who is also supposed to be the business development manager - Francis Pepin (xxxxxxxx).
the only reason why today our hope as end users and consumers of the internet in Bahrain is smashed, is because this guy ordered the hi-speed mesh network to be taken down by late Monday night. His reasons are vague…
[ed: removed phone number]
October 25th, 2006 at 8:14 pm
I smell something fishy …..
October 28th, 2006 at 2:33 pm
see update here:
http://boycottbatelco.com/?p=71#comment-16712
November 1st, 2006 at 3:46 am
I have to say I have really enjoyed reading your comments. Overall, interesting.
Several points for you, don’t jump to conclusions and don’t listen to useless romours.
Oh and don’t compare services in Bahrain to bulldog. I know everyone working there and I can tell you this for a fact: If you want to move to the UK, I’ll give you 15mbps unlimited connection for less than you pay for a 256kbps here.
Bahrain, sadly for all of us, is not a hub for connectivity. IP Transit is obtained from Europe, US, and East Asia (usually Hong Kong). Peering is new and will take a long time to be established because incumbents don’t want it (see Ripe 52 presentation given by me).
Next year, if things go our way, we’ll participate in four landing points in the Middle East that should enable us to do a lot more with IP Transit and change the face of our country. But that’s next year and next year is too far.
Finally, I have no idea how you guys got Francis’ phone number (actually I lie. I have a pretty good idea how) but the decision not to launch servives in Juffair on that date was not his. Your informaiton is incorrect, lacking, and if I find out who leaked this bull***t I swear to god I will whip them from here to hell and back!
Please no one call him or annoy him. He’s a good guy and he works his ass off for over 15 hours a day trying to get you guys a better service! He doesn’t deserve this!
If anyone of you has even considered not listen to romours and finding out how many fights we have fought for Internet in Bahrain and how many times we’ve gone up against the powers that be to make things right and fair, you wouldn’t be saying this.
As to Mr. Bystander, I think I have a pretty good idea who you are. In fact, I think I met you in Elite Hotel a few days back. We’ll see.
November 1st, 2006 at 12:39 pm
someone at cite-emea Thank you for removing phone number. He’s the Marketing Manager. Majed is the Business Development Manager.
Fahad.
November 1st, 2006 at 8:06 pm
no worries Fahad.. any time!
– mahmood
November 1st, 2006 at 8:58 pm
well ..
this means ??!
nothing is being done ???! ..
november came .. and i guess it’ll go .. and nothing is changing .. every now and then .. something happens to keep us .. interested .. to lure us .. and nothing is in the bait ..
yalla .. why would the internet be any difference than anything .. everything is like this nowadays..
[peace]
November 1st, 2006 at 9:03 pm
Have u guys any idea when batelco bd5 package will release/start? Any fix date! (sending this comment 4rm wap)
November 2nd, 2006 at 11:28 am
Nothing is done? You sure about that Zodiac? Come on guys, it sounds like I seem to know what’s going on! Has anyone considered asking?
Mahmood, always thanks and congratulations on the news about your other site.
November 2nd, 2006 at 11:55 am
Hey! i was out in Juffair last night over by Ramee International and i had set my pda on wireless mode hoping to tap into some low-signal wifi network just to send an email across, and instantantly i found a tiny popup saying FREE WIFI so obviously i connected to it and i got connected to it and then up comes a page saying Free WiFi, powered by Air 2 Air UK (www.air2air.co.uk).
Anyways it was a great time of doing all my work, at the resteraunt using the service @ 256kbps for free! I drove back to my appartment and opened my laptop and i got instantly connected to air 2 air wiki network. Wooot!
And then i checked with some of my friends over at Lari tower just near the US Naval base and they told me they\’d been using free hi-speed wifi by the same air2air page for the past 2 days or something and i heard its all around Juffair now.
I think this is 2Connect or Kalaam Telecom, either way they\’re using some company called Air To Air UK to do the set up, but forget all that, head to Juffair with your wireless devices, laptops, pda\’s etc. (oh btw. great Acer & Dell laptop offers over at Home Electronics right now) and switch on.
Me? im postinig this from juffair near Hotel California, well outside it, using the free wifi network by air2air uk
(Thank Goodness i live here in Juffair, ill use it 24/7 to do all my work from home instead of going to the office without even having to use my home adsl line from those theives at batelco… without having to worry about exceeding bloody threshold, now batelco can go and stick their tresholds up them where the sun dont shine and whoever is running the Air 2 Air UK wifi Network, Kalaam Telecom or 2Connect can now start business for home consumers in Bahrain!
November 2nd, 2006 at 12:00 pm
Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe
Wow, news gets around fast
Fahad.
November 2nd, 2006 at 12:05 pm
hey!! are you Fahad Shirawi? linux geek at 2Connect? or Fahad Marhoon the office manager at Kalaam Telecom? Eitherway thank you to you and your air2airuk, whichever company it is! When can we subscribe?
November 2nd, 2006 at 12:06 pm
By the way guys, just so you all know, the system is currently set on open login. This means that if too many people log on, the service will get slower. It’s currently in trial mode. The trial will be modified over the next few days so you get the free service for 2 hours a day!
I know I know, you guys are going to start complaining now and next thing I know my mobile number will be on this page and lots of pissed off people will be calling me. But hold on a second and consider this: Two hours of free service every day? Someone is being VERY nice here! And it insures everyone gets a fast connection. If this control is not instituted, someone will either have to pump in a lot of bandwidth for a free trial, or someone will have to have a crap slow service. Which would you rather?
By the way, the low end of the accounts being launched in Juffair is cheap enough so that you could sign up to one even if you don’t live there!
Fahad.
November 2nd, 2006 at 12:12 pm
give us a link to signup please!!! can\’t you put a better main line than what is on now, i think for 256kbps you must have a main 2mbps pr 1mbps line. can\’t you put a better line like 4mbps or 6mbps? then we can all use 512kbps for those 2 hours easily, better speed within that time!
How much does it cost to signup for these packages? When the trial is over… when will you be launching officially?
Oh yes.. and for all those who are into wardriving around bahrain, you could tap into the encrypted wifi networks using netstumbler (www.netstumbler.com) and airsnort (airsnort.shmoo.com). Practically the whole higway from almoyaed tower to where the isa town stadium is, well there are about 74 wifi networks of which 90% are open, mostly 3com and linksys routers.
have fun
i know i will atleast for the rest of this day.
November 2nd, 2006 at 12:34 pm
Linux Geek? :p I like Linux, but I’m not sure I’m good enough to be a geek! I just use it the same way I use any other OS. Windows, Mac… It’s all the same.
November 2nd, 2006 at 12:36 pm
:p We can and will put a better line but come on guys, we are just trying the equipment out! It’s not really in operation yet!
November 2nd, 2006 at 12:45 pm
PS. We are testing to see weather condition effects, penetration into apartments, load balancing, latency, roaming handoff, and so on. Once that’s done, we’ll take them down for about a day, weather proof the connectors, reset the service, and properly launch. I think a few days of trail is fair enough and a launch is coming very soon.
No promises, but I think maybe during the Regional Ripe conference being held at the Diplomat hotel on the 14th of November. By the way, if any of you are interested in Internet Technology and issues, you should register. It’s free.
Fahad.
November 2nd, 2006 at 4:27 pm
ehm ehm… it seems .. that there is something on the ground afterall .. well.. thanks guyz .. wish u all the best … i’d love to see it in operation sooon inshalla…
[peace]
November 3rd, 2006 at 2:31 pm
Time to collect some feedback. For anyone who tried the network, how is it?
Fahad.
November 3rd, 2006 at 7:39 pm
Network is absolutely good! great uptime and awesomeconenctivity even while using my iTunes. I was down there with my team of players and we tested the encryption out, very nice! soid job done on that too, a big pat on the back of your lead engineer, Mr. Henry and whoever who coded the encryption on the wireless application that is running the mesh network.
Fahad, what i want to know is (and no im not going to give you a call, it doesn\’t work that way) are these subscription accounts going to be capped or uncapped, be transparent please because im sure we do not want another batelco! I think we can all agree that we don\’t want another Batelco called 2Connect which places thresholds on the accounts and what is your pricing plans? Time to play fair now and treat users well
So what have we?
November 3rd, 2006 at 11:47 pm
good question … asked on time ..
November 4th, 2006 at 12:34 am
Here’s my honest response (although I’m not giving pricing out yet guys. That will be launched in good time):
We are going to have both capped and uncapped service so no worries. If you are a light user, why pay for uncapped when you can get a cheaper service? If you are an even lighter user (like someone who currently doesn’t live in juffair but goes there from time to time and wants and account for his mobile device) we’ll even have x number of hours a month that can be purchased. Once the service covers all of Bahrain, I doubt many will use this type of service, but it will still be there as there are tourists who might want to sign up and after all, we are a business.
Our prices will be fair and reasonable given our cost overheads. The more customers we have (and we’ll have a public counter put up as soon as we can), the lower the price for everyone will be (with additional benefits to those who sign up first).
The service will be very flexible with people able to get faster service for a day for example and then go back to their normal service (i.e. You guys will be in control and no more having to ask for an upgrade and waiting for a certain company we’d all like to boycott to do anything about it).
My marketing manager will probably have words with me for giving away too much which our competitors will use to catch up to us, but you know what? Let them! The more choices are out there for customers the better! We’ve never been affraid of competition and we aren’t about to start
By the way, we found a slight issue with the network. Nothing serious but our SSID is being broadcast much farther than any wifi device can respond to. So right now, people in Adliya for example might be trying to connect to the network and are totally unable to. Will be fixed soon.
November 4th, 2006 at 12:38 am
November 5th, 2006 at 2:00 pm
Your SSID isnt only getting broadcast to Adliya, its going all the way to the Diplomatic Area!!!
But anyway… where do I sign up?!?!?!? I’ll camp out! ok maybe not… but i’ll be there!
and i’ll spread the word!
But i’m more concerned with when u’ll get coverage to other area? I don’t live in Juffair :/
November 5th, 2006 at 5:52 pm
I know I know!!!!
We have to fix it fast 
Otherwise people will be frustrated by the inability to log on.
Fahad.
November 6th, 2006 at 12:19 am
oh by the way, just out of curiousity, will you cover the eastern parts of our closest neighbour? could come in handy $$$ lol
November 6th, 2006 at 1:51 pm
CITC (the regulator there) wants to see incumbents from around the world get licenses and not operators the size of 2Connect so they made it a lot harder for us on the 15th of Oct. However, they where very mistaken to think harder means impossible
We’ll be there. I just hope we can be there before 3.5GHz auction they are holding.
In any case, CITC made another mistake. They had good intentions but they made a huge mistake. They saw what happened in Bahrain with so many small operators coming in to leach money out of the country rather than invest into developing it so they made the correct decision in requesting infrastructure development to be part of the license. If you don’t develop, you are out.
However, they where scared small operators would make a mess of things so they required an incumbent to participate. Even Batelco doesn’t qualify on their own. So now, incumbents from around the world are getting free shares and money from everyone in return for the use of their name to go into Saudi.
They aren’t really interested in the Saudi market and they aren’t really going to be involved. They’ll just leach the TELECOM operators for money. So now, an incumbent operator is part of the costs of market entry.
What CITC should have done is studied Europe and the US. It wasn’t the Bells of the US or the BTs and Duetch Telecoms of Europe who brought costs down. It was people like Colt. People who invested into their own fiber all around Europe to offer competing products. It was smaller players with a vision and the determination to see it through.
November 23rd, 2006 at 2:29 pm
so… em… we been waiting patiently for over 2 weeks since the last update… any news? any updates?
cmon, please? *kitten from shrek eyes*
November 23rd, 2006 at 2:44 pm
2Connect Internet Services - Coming soon, near you; in the year 2XXX.
argh o.-
November 23rd, 2006 at 5:44 pm
Yeah what happened to it wont take long before you have a decent area covered?
November 23rd, 2006 at 7:29 pm
this site is coming to an end… see main page.. and batelco will always rip off users while other ISPs like 2Connect is all just talk, good luck Bahrain!
November 25th, 2006 at 9:54 pm
Naddooi I have to say this: I LOVE Puss in Boots! I’m a cat person and my msn picture is of a cat!
That said, we’ve just received the new antennas and our guys are actively changing them on all our Juffair gateways. We expect to have this done very soon and to run a two day site survay trial right afterwards. If everything looks great, we’ll commercially launch service in that area. We have also ordered more gateways and are working on the backhaul system for the other areas we committed to deploy right after Juffair. If there are no delays, I expect we’d have at least one more area covered over the next three to four weeks with others to follow on it’s heels!
We have also ordered some high gain antennas (within regulation limits of the TRA in case anyone from that particular organisation is reading this and wondering). It might take a bit of time to get type approval on them (again from the TRA), but once they are there, even people in areas around our main coverage cities will be able to deploy those and connect. Obviously there is a cost to those antennas and we’ll sell them at HALF our cost to customers (we subsidise… read on and you’ll know why). Once we have coverage in that area, we’ll buy them back for the same amount and move them to new customers just out of the coverage area and so on. If a customer wants to keep his high gain antenna, then he keeps it but I don’t see why a customer would.
The expected timeframe for a customer using such an antenna to get coverage without it is between 2 to 3 months depending on exactly where they are.
Fahad.
P.S. I love the Internet!
November 26th, 2006 at 9:41 pm
You give us hope but in the end - I have feeling this’l turn into a case of :
“MASTER, MASTER, WHERE’S THE DREAMS I’VE BEEN AFTER?
MASTER, MASTER, PROMISED ONLY LIIIIIEEEEES!”
:P.