Tag Archives | 4g

Touch Now Offers Residential Data Plans at Discounted Prices

By Rami on October 26, 2018 in Telecom

Remember how bad was my internet at home? Well it never changed (thank you Ogero), so I eventually switched to using data plans by Touch and Alfa over a 3G router I have and was paying up to ~$100 depending on my usage.

However last week I noticed that touch now has residential internet plans at the following rates:

25GB for $35
50GB for $59
100GB for $109
150GB for $159
250GB for $200

You can check the offers here. Prices are not inclusive of VAT and are definitely better than what you pay for mobile plans (20GB at $46 for example), and they’re of course more expensive than what you get from ISPs but it’s not really fair to compare a mobile operator to an ISP.

The only drawback though is that it seems to be compatible with Touch 4G/4.5G routers only wich cost between $70 and $135, whereas I would have preferred to be given the ability to use my own router. Moreover, I wish they had free traffic quota at night.

Anyway, if you also have problems with your home internet connection, then it’s good to know that plans by Touch are not more affordable now until the DSL infrastructure is hopefully fully upgraded.

Ogero New DSL Prices Finally Approved

By Rami on June 8, 2017 in Telecom

Remember the new DSL prices that were proposed by Ogero earlier in May? They were finally approved by the cabinet yesterday with a slight modification and should be effective in a couple of weeks once the decree is published in the Official Gazette.

As I mentioned before, people who will benefit the most are those who live near any of Ogero’s exchange offices since their phone lines can handle better speeds. Others will unfortunately have to wait up to two year until the phone network is upgraded.

As for the minority who is blessed with connectivity using fiber optic cables, the below rates apply.

The above prices are of course only applicable to Ogero subscribers, so we should soon expect other ISPs to announce new competitive packages.

Finally, with respect to mobile data bundles, telecom minister Jarrah also announced that E1 prices will be reduced as well which only makes it logical for 3G and 4G data plan prices to decrease as well, so let’s cross our fingers!

touch 4G new ad

By Rami on December 21, 2014 in Lebanon

speedy and amigo

Speedy and Amigo’s previous ad was one of the coolest ads in 2012, and I think it’s great to see touch maintaining their originality in this new one.

via @chemali

Alfa 4G new ads

By Rami on October 28, 2013 in Lebanon

Lebanon’s 4G speed test

By Rami on May 15, 2013 in Lebanon

huawei

I was luckily among the people who were selected for the trial phase of the 4G network, so I got my dongle from Alfa yesterday and below are some random tests I performed today after I got my connection activated.

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As you can notice the speeds and ping delay are less than what one would expect on a 4G network but that might be due to my location since my reception meter was half full, so I’ll soon try to repeat the test from another place.

Note that Alfa 4G currently covers Beirut only and will slowly expand to other regions, same as what happened when 3G was launched.

Update:

I performed two additional tests near Tayouneh today and got the below speeds.

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4G pilot phase in Lebanon

By Rami on February 13, 2013 in Lebanon

As per minister Sehnaoui, the pilot phase of the 4G service will start by the end of this month including 200 students and 200 specialists as in the case with 3G back in September 2011. And I just hope I’ll take part in this testing phase like last time!

Alfa by the way is currently offering an interactive platform at ABC Achrafiyeh where’s they conducting some live experiments to show people how fast can the service be, but note that the devices they’re using are probably the only ones on the network right now.

via LBCI

4G soon in Lebanon

By Rami on November 1, 2012 in Lebanon

According to this article in Annahar today, telecom minister Nicolas Sehnaoui announced that live 4G tests will start on Novemeber 16 at Beirut Digital District, and the service will be commercially launched on April 23rd 2013 in selected areas.

It’s definitely about time we get 4G, but I admit I wasn’t expecting we will be getting the service anytime soon given how slow such projects go in Lebanon! I also hope its commercial launch is not going to witness the same mess that happened when we first got 3G.

Anyway, you can read about Sehnaoui’s announcement here and watch him tonight talking about it in Talk of The Town on MTV.