3G in Lebanon pilot users

Operator: Alfa

Mansourieh, El Metn - Mount Lebanon

Note: Connection keeps switching back and forth between 3G, 3.5G, Edge and sometimes WAP without any change in location. I Beirut the connection is much more stable than here.

Tested on Speedtest.net, device(N97 Mini) connected to my PC.

working for me on Alfa
I tried it in Biyada poor connection
And in Beirut, Hamra very good connection but rarly a 3G connection most of the time it's HSDPA showing H letter download speed is 500-1000 Kbps (with HSDPA)

I'm trying 3G on Alfa network. This is a list of my recent speed tests:



The connection keeps switching between 3G and HSPA, sometimes EDGE.
Skype voice-calling was of great quality but the calls kept dropping.
Wi-fi tethering worked fine.

I highly doubt the speed will remain the same when 3G becomes available for public use.

Oh and did anyone try the http://www.alfa3gsurvey.com website? I'm getting "Dear user, you are not authorized to take this survey. Thank you".

Ger wroteI'm trying 3G on Alfa network. This is a list of my recent speed tests:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/453616/3G.png

The connection keeps switching between 3G and HSPA, sometimes EDGE.
Skype voice-calling was of great quality but the calls kept dropping.
Wi-fi tethering worked fine.

I highly doubt the speed will remain the same when 3G becomes available for public use.

Oh and did anyone try the http://www.alfa3gsurvey.com website? I'm getting "Dear user, you are not authorized to take this survey. Thank you".

Your figures are interesting Ger.

I live abroad and have been using 3.75G and 4G networks in various countries for the past few years and have never seen the type of latency that you have posted.
I have had the chance to test the Alfa network on my last visit to Lebanon (last week) using a friend's Sony Xperia phone, and the speeds were horrible. It went over 1Mbps on VERY few occasions with latency never below 200ms.

Can you share your setup? including if you're aware of any HSPA repeater or indoor network near you? ;)

Alfa 3G pilot here! just got it today :D

Ill do a speedtest and post it.

Edit: Test results
Network type keeps changing from 3G, HSPA and EDGE.

In kB/s

In Kbps



Edit 2: from Laptop through portable wifi hotspot (wifi tether)

I've got my Alfa 3g sim card earlier and tried it on my torch. The first thing I noticed is that all the applications that need BIS did not work (such as BBM, Windows live messenger...) although Browsing and whatsapp worked perfectly. I also couldn't make calls over 3G since my phone does not support Video Calling.

The connection was as everyone mentionned earlier as it kept switching between 3G and EDGE. I hope they can fix this issue as soon as possible.

Also this is a speedtest from Batroun :



And about video calling, did anyone had the opportunity to try it?

AymanFarhat wrote

Kassem wrote

johnishing wrotethis is frustrating.. i looked everywhere for a speedtest similar thing that works on nokia E71 and i cant find any

does someone know where i can find a usb dongle ? should i go to alfa again and get a free one ?

How about using your cell phone's browser? Go to http://www.speedtest.net/ and give it a try.

It doesnt work on Nokia's Browser nor on Opera mini It tried, to test the speed you can get 3G from your mobile to your pc through tethering either using an app called Joiku spot(wireless) or just make sure you have the USB dongle for your Nokia phone and have Nokia Ovi suite installed, then you will be able to get 3G connection via the "One Touch Access" feature. Hope that helps!

Thank you i'll try the Ovi suite right away and give feedback.

UPDATE:

turns out the Nokia PC Internet Access is only accessible to windows up to Vista/
http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/old-nokia-for-business/old-software/old-internet-connectivity/old-nokia-pc-internet-access

still I have the Joiku spot thing to try. looking for a torrent to download it now :P

hey guys ! I just picked up my 3G line from MTC today
the problem is that the phone kept on switching from 3G TO 2G and sometimes gprs without any location change !
the good thing is that even though it did show gprs and 2G the speed was the same all the time !
tried it on my blackberry torch it wasn't that good I wouldn't blame MTC since blackberries have limited capabilities since this 3G service doesn't include BIS
Tried it on my iphone it showed way better performance.
trying to tether it now using a nokia phone 5800express music but i can't get it to work.
and i have 4 questions :
- can we videocall users from alfa ?
- how can i know how much mbs did i use ?
- why all of you have alfa ? is mtc this bad ?
- if anyone wants the line I'll give it for free just msg me

Hello guys.

My Alfa 3G connection is fine.
It varies from HSDPA (H sign, download >800kbps) to UMTS (3G sign, download= 500-800kbps) but sometimes gets back to EDGE (E sign, download = 100-300 kbps), on my Galaxy Ace.
I tested it in Badaro (Beirut) and at AUB.
The best speed I got was 4Mbps, but I noticed during the speedtest that the speed increases with time, and since in speedtest it's only ~8 sec for download test, I think that the download speed can be higher than that.

By the way, I try the Viber (VoIP) application, it is amazing with 3G.

My friend gets sometimes HSDPA+ (H+ sign) on her Galaxy SII, at AUB.


I have these questions:
1 - Did you get any $ with the new number to test voice/video call? I didn't
2 - How much does the video call minute cost?


// Hint: disable 3G (use only 2G networks) to save battery if you're not using internet but you want to receive the push notifications