Back online!

Etisalat managed to get us up and running today, so now catching up on a couple of weeks of internet starvation! More to come......

Etisalat saga

I have been neglecting my blog lately as we have moved house and I still have no phone or internet connection. It's a long story maybe for another time.... watch this space!

Footy channels!

After having subscribed to TV through the phone company 2 weeks ago, I have been calling Etisalat daily to find out why I am not getting the free World Cup footy channels promised. Finally last night they appeared! Yippee! So now I can watch the world cup in glorious HD....can’t wait! I also have a 3D feed, but I think I need a 3D TV for that to work?

Triple Play

Many of the homes in Abu Dhabi are now served by a direct fibre optic connection, right into the villa or apartment. In the UK Virgin claim to have a fibre optic service, but in reality the fibre only comes to a termination point in the street somewhere and from there it is good old copper that has been in the ground for probably 40 or 50 years that is delivering the broadband service.

I have a fibre router (from Huawei - a Chinese manufacturer) on the wall of my apartment, rather like this one....






The fibre connectivity allows Etisalat (one of only 2 telecoms companies in the country) to provide “Triple Play” (voice, internet, TV - all IP) over a single connection, with high speed internet services. So, as they had an offer on which included all the World Cup footy for free (!), I decided to upgrade to 30mbps triple play. They have been and installed it, although the TV channels have yet to appear. The internet though, isn’t bad.... here is a screen shot of the speed test...




So, nearly 23 meg over my wireless network. Not bad!

You can get faster from some providers at home, where the internet market is much more mature - and for much less money too. It will cost c.£100 a month for triple play. Fortunately, my work will pay the broadband costs, some makes it doable.

I’ll let you know how I get on with the TV.......

Thank god that's over

Had a bitch of a day today. Left the house at 6.45, got back home about 21.30 - not bad for a day at the office! Had to finish a tender proposal and hand deliver it to Etisalat - I hope it was worth it!

I think if I go home to the UK and continue to work these hours I will definitely win the employee of the year award, 'cos no other bugger will be working as long!

Leave 6.45 tomorrow for Bahrain, back Tuesday evening about 10pm.

Etisalat saga

For those who don't know, Etisalat are the incumbent phone operator in the UAE. They are government owned and until fairly recently had a monopoly (there is now competition from Du, but with only mobile coverage in Abu Dhabi). Like most places out here, their customer service experience is pretty low.

When we moved (or as they say here, shifted) to our our apartment, Etisacrap installed a new FTTH (fibre-to-the-home) unit on the wall of our front room, as we had requested internet access (4Mb, same as we had in our villa). As the apartment was serviced by FTTH, I was told that we could upgrade to 16Mb. "Great", I thought! I work a lot from home and my company pays for the Broadband bill, so as soon as the internet was up and running I called to ask for an upgrade. Broadband out here is an exorbitant price, 4 Mb is Dhs449 (£77) a month and 16Mb is Dhs549 (£95) - probably about 3 times the price in the UK. So, on the 15th of May I called for the upgrade. I didn't think much about it for a while, but then I realised after a while that, actually, it didn't seem to be any faster! I did a speed check and sure enough, it was the same.

On 23/5 I made a complaint to Etisacrap. They said I have already upgraded to 16Mb. I said yes, I know that, but I'm not getting it! They gave me a complaint number.

8/6 speed still the same. Complain again. I have been getting charged at the new rate since 15/5. They give me a new complaint number.

15/6 speed still the same. Complain again. They give me a new complaint number.

18/6 speed still the same. At the end of the month I will get my first bill at the new rate, and am unlikely ever to get a refund I guess.

I wish I had never bothered.

Crap.

Etisalat and the Mosque

The two subjects in the title aren't linked by the way - sounds a bit like an Enid Blyton story book. No, I called Etisalat on Monday evening to upgrade my broadband. We have fibre-to-the-home at our new apartment, so we can get 16mb broadband, so it has to be done, right? (question directed to males of course). Went through all the details and they said it should be activated in 48 hours and I can call back to check. Haven't bothered until today (Friday), but ran a speed test and seems no change so I called them. Surprise surprise, nothing has been done. No record of my conversation with them or any upgrade order. Fantastic. So went through the whole thing again and now I'm told it can take up to 4 days. I should expect a phone call. We'll see.........oh, and 16mb is going to cost Dh549, so that's like £100 a month! Fortunately my company will pay it. Seeing as I am their only employee in Abu Dhabi, it's cheaper than renting an office!



So, the mosque. We are now 2 tower blocks away from the nearest mosque. Great if you are Muslim, not so if not. Although, to be fair we have got used to it and even now sleep through the 4.15am prayer call! And you live in an Islamic state - just deal with it! On a Friday as well as the prayer calls - 6 in total (if you are lazy and can't get our of bed at 4.15 you can do the other 5!) - there is the Friday sermon piped out from the mosques. On Fridays, as this is the day 90% of the population are off work, the mosques are packed. The one next to us has an overflow area outside for praying and on Friday this too is packed. Therefore people get as near to the mosque as they can and pray there. So below is a picture showing them praying in a car park, under the shade of shop fronts and basically anywhere they can. You have to admire the commitment to their religion and the way it drives their whole way of life.

The mosque is behind the tower on the left, with it's outside area in the middle on the left.

We are in....

Well the move went relatively smoothly and we are now in our 2 bed flat in the City. I have to say the removal company was very good. I think you tend to set yourself low expectations out here, but they kept all their commitments and even made a courtesy call in the evening to ask if everything went well. Good job. So here's their plug...

http://www.delightpack.co.ae/


We are already finding the new location better, with Caz walking to work and I'm able to get to my calls in the City more easily. The only nightmares were Etisalat (phone company) and ADDC (utility services company) - the first setting up our broadband wrong and me doing a lot of running around and making long phone calls to get it up and running; and the second because it took 2 hours with their customer services to open an account, and then only after agreeing to pay AED131 (c.£25) outstanding bill from the previous tenant! I shall be passing that on to the landlord!

It's still a bit hectic sorting everything out, so more later......