Internet in Lebanon - General Questions

I watched the interview and arround the 40th min he talks about that subject he said he will use dsl over the 4g and 4g+ network but for that to happen Internet price shouod go down(im assuming mobile internet) and he will be asking the government for the permission to decrease the price.
I will dig further into what he means by saying that and try to explain more
For more info go to future tv website the show is called interviews and go to the 40th minute maybe

I've had enough of Sodetel's FUP, I dipped from about 200 KB/s to 75 KB/s (when only one device is connected, ethernet cable too).
What do you guys recommend I do, I'm from jnoub. Are there any better options springing up?

We will still be dreaming of better internet...
I am currently in the Gulf, Qatar...
been having fibre for the past 3 years and the 4g connection is amazing...
I got an 65$ monthly subscription, 8 GB internet, unlimited local calls, 100 minutes international numbers... with carry-on from month to month...
i will be visiting Lebanon next week, and was looking for an internet provider online.... the ISP expecting to Lure customers with a connection up to 512Kbps.... comon'

zahi_k, "8 GB internet" is your monthly quota?

I feel like at this point, as Lebanese, a good internet connection is way more appealing than a bikini model.

I just saw @Zahi_k's connection and started drooling... What's happening to me?

I would rather have unmetered 5 or 10Mbit than 100GByte quota on 100Mbit.

Does anyone have an idea what kind of speeds/quota we would get if fibre optic lines to our houses were rolled out?

hussam wroteI would rather have unmetered 5 or 10Mbit than 100GByte quota on 100Mbit.

Does anyone have an idea what kind of speeds/quota we would get if fibre optic lines to our houses were rolled out?

fiber plans are useless if they have limited quotas

It's funny how the ministry is looking to improve DSL prices/quality when hundreds of "talabet" for landlines aren't even fulfilled.

Has anyone else here been experiencing high pings this past week or is it just me? and if it's just me what could be the issue?

ali_m3 wroteI feel sad when I read all these comments and this thread gets longer and longer. I just saw someone post some info on the internet in Qatar and i might as well share my experience as i am currently living in Qatar.

On 100Mbit fiber optics for the past 3 years (of course no quota) and i don't even remember having restarted my router once. I pay around $150/month for this service which includes a 150 channel 4k iptv box. For the past two months, i was given a free trial of 1Gbps speed (and yes i was able to download at around 110MB/sec)

As for mobile, on 4G+ and i get 1GB weekly data for $6/week. Speeds hover around 75Mbit/sec. Local calls are cheap and international calls are sometimes free depending on how much you recharge your mobile.

The above is not rocket science, its only investing right in the economy. Something Lebanese politicians don't understand.

Sorry, but to say "it's not rocket science", did you ever run ISP business? Just to say "it is not rocket science", you should have a little insight in this business at least, except just being customer and touching a little of top of the iceberg.
Ooredoo(Qatar telecom are not only in Qatar, it has customers around the world, oil money investments i guess) subscribers are 50 times more than population of Lebanon. It is N1. This adds huge flexibility in reusing old equipment, much better ROI on such assets.
Qatar GDP per capita $93k, it is somehow represents purchasing power. Lebanon - 9k$.
And last point, in Lebanon telecom companies (mtc & alfa & ogero) are main income source for government, because, sorry no oil. So they are hoovering all profit, that should be invested in infrastructure.
As simple last nails in the coffin, in Lebanon it is less than 1% of customers who are able to pay $150/month for internet. Plus unfortunately geopolitically Lebanon are in worst situation than anyone. War torn syria, state of war with southern neighbor, no major sea cables passing nearby, this cause drastic increase of backbone price.

Plenty will pay 150 dollars if they weren't feeling ripped off by their ISPs. Why would someone pay a company that proved it doesn't deserve customer trust 150 dollars?
Before Ogero clamped down on private ISP operations and cheap yet illegal bandwidth from Israel and Cyprus was available, how many of those ISPs were offering good plans? Noooone.
All those ISPs would have kept people at 56Kbit per second till today if it were not for the Ogero. And yes, I remember the 32kbit and 56Kbit days in the 90s.
All Ogero did was raise the bar and private ISPs whined this was cutting into their profit.
Those same companies would cry today if Ogero offered fast fiber optic connections ;)

First of all NOT Ogero decide to lower prices and anything about prices. It is done by MoT/minister/parliament, you just failed on basic point "All those ISPs would have kept people at 56Kbit per second till today if it were not for the Ogero.". And i removed long rant i wrote, because it is pointless. I can disprove almost any phrase in your post.
Read background of phrase "Sutor, ne ultra crepidam" and term ultracrepidarianism, it is exactly about your post.

ali_m3 wroteI am not discussing economics nor am I pointing out that an ISP is easy to run. And I am surely not discussing politics. All am I saying is putting a proper internet network in place is not the toughest thing to do. Had there been less corruption in our country, we would surely have much better internet in Lebanon (and other stuff as well). I even hear that fiber network is already in place. SO what is stopping it from being used? There are many countries other than Qatar, with a GDP that can be compared to Lebanon that have good and stable internet.

And yes why wouldn't people pay if they have reliable and trustworthy provider? In Qatar for instance, prices start from $80 (for 25Mbits) and go up to almost $500 (1Gbps). I'm sure that can be scaled to Lebanon and people will pay for whatever they need if they know they will have a good and proper service.

Fiber network is broad term. It can be single cable heading from south to north, and it can be cables to all major areas for FTTH. My guess, it is just fiber connectivity to major telephone exchange buildings. It will just improve DSL service.
About countries, i can give you example. My close friend is from Dominican republic, situation is somehow similar there (even they are in much better shape, and they can hook direct cable to US). Their GDP about 75% of Lebanese, but it is MUCH easier to lay fiber there and much easier to cover by radio technologies (3G/LTE). They have also US companies operating in country, 3 times more population. But also they are island (Lebanon in telecom terms island, can't hook to fiber over land), and they are plagued by electricity problems.
But no miracle, even with all this:
https://www.orange.com.do/web/internet/internet-en-tu-movil
500Mbyte/month - 5.44$US, while in Lebanon 10$.
3Mbit $67/mo (Wind Telecom) but in best traditions of US providers, it is unannounced FUP. They are even worse on this matters transparency than ISPs Lebanon.

hussam wrote Ok, it was the ministry of telecommunications which lowered prices. But this still meant that Ogero's plans were better afterwards and private businesses were forced (unwillingly) to compete. Even you pointed out here a few years ago that this move by MoT/Ogero was hurting private providers which you predicted would not survive.

I said for example when last time Boutros Harb increased quota 10x times, and he dropped price for ISPs in much smaller ratio (approx 75% from original price), is it fair you think?
Not that much forced, than it is just market automatically adapt and ISPs always mimic someone else prices.
And many of them in fact dead as i predicted. Not many people know that IDM acquired Cyberia and other big ISP(if not many), i am not talking that many small dudes went out of business. More poor, but well educated people may fall in trap of extremists, cause unbalanced pricing kicked them out of business, and they are unable earn now for living. Some tried to travel to Europe, but many returned.

hussam wrote Even when illegal bandwidth was available and used by prominent providers (including folks like Sodetel), why did those private companies not
provide higher speeds before they were pushed to do so? For the record, I don't believe I am pretending I know how to run a ISP company.
So yes, we would still be at ridiculously low speeds if it were not for MoT or Ogero or whoever.

There was rumors only, who used it. None of them will admit and i can't accuse them as well, i dont have any proof. But some dudes offered better prices/speeds in fact. And note what was said by officials on TV, all ISPs who was able to provide cheaper prices/higher speeds and exposed themselves - are severely punished by state now.

ali_m3 wrote And yes why wouldn't people pay if they have reliable and trustworthy provider? In Qatar for instance, prices start from $80 (for 25Mbits) and go up to almost $500 (1Gbps). I'm sure that can be scaled to Lebanon and people will pay for whatever they need if they know they will have a good and proper service.

If for majority Qatari it is not a big deal to pay $80 minimum and they can pay $500. LOL! Dream for Lebanese ISP.
While in Lebanon it is big deal even to raise price from $20 to $21, customers will rip you apart for this $1. I am not inventing it from my mind, one ISP with all this "scandals" decided to go fully legal, and he bought necessary services(it is monthly payments) from legal companies, but he needed to increase price $1 on each user just to cover losses. After that, guys in support need psychotherapist, as customers shouted to them, they feel now they left many families without water and bread, by taking last 1$ from them.
If purchasing power of Lebanese was same, i'm quite sure - you can see easily at least unlimited full DSL speeds and FTT* to some major areas.

nuclearcat wroteIf purchasing power of Lebanese was same, i'm quite sure - you can see easily at least unlimited full DSL speeds and FTT* to some major areas.

What you don't understand is that it is too late for something of that caliber. Lebanese people already developed a sense of distrust.
Let us assume that I offer to pay 150 dollars a month today to a legal provider. How can I guarantee that quality will improve? There is no customer protection or anything that forces ethics.
How many providers are willing to commit to a legally binding "minimal service availability" contract with a customer if that customer was willing to pay 150 dollars a month?

Actually let us not just rant on. Maybe we could get official statements from several ISPs that they are willing to sign such contracts with customers.