For those who don’t know, minister of telecommunications Nicolas Sahnaoui unveiled the 3G packages we’ve all been waiting for today.
The main package will be 500MB for a $19 monthly fee.
A smaller 100 MB package for $10 exists as well for those who don’t need extensive data.
Nothing has been mentioned about more data extensive package or if there will be a package suitable for those who need a laptop 3G connection via a dongle only.
Each extra MB of consumption will be charged at 4 cents/MB.
The service will launch on November 1st in Beirut and Mount Lebanon on both carriers Alfa and MTC and will be available for both prepaid and postpaid lines.
Sahnaoui also announced that 4G will be available in Lebanon starting Summer 2012, allowing speeds up to 100 Mb/s, after the initial phase of the fiber optics infrastructure upheaval ends.
What do I personally think of the proposed plans? The $10 one (if true) doesn’t make sense. I’d rather pay double to get five times the allowed quota. But is 500MB enough with 3G? I hardly think so. It’s very easy to burn through them without knowing due to the great speed the service provides. On the bright side, the cost of an extra MB isn’t that much so it might help a little.
However, does the claim that Lebanon’s 3G is the cheapest in the region hold up? Let’s look at 3G prices in KSA:
1GB for 50 Riyals (20,000L.L. or about $13.5), 5GB for1 100 Riyals (40,000L.L. or $36), Unlimited for 350 Riyals(140,000L.L. or $93)
So we definitely do not have the cheapest 3G in the region.
However how is 3G? I can answer that question.
After testing the service for four weeks, I can attest to its reliability – especially in Beirut – on alfa. I was getting speeds no less than 2 Mbps in Achrafieh and faced next to no data interruptions using my iPhone’s hotspot feature to connect to my laptop. I’ve gotten download speeds nearing 300 KB/s, which is more than what I got using 3G in Spain. For reference, a 350 MB episode of the Vampire Diaries took me about 20 minutes to download, which is almost unheard of in Lebanon.
Cynics have been saying that the 3G speeds the 4000 testers were getting are good just because you only have 4000 testers. However, after speaking to an alfa representative, he confirmed that they were not deploying the whole bandwidth they had for those 4000 testers so it could be that when 3G becomes available for the public, speed degradations will be rare.
3G coverage in Jbeil, however, has been very spotty. I didn’t manage to get 3G almost anywhere I went in the city and the moments I did get 3G, download speed was horrible, knowing that Jbeil was one of the covered cities during the testing period.
Tripoli, which wasn’t on the map my carrier alfa provided me with, had great 3G coverage, with speeds averaging 1.7 Mbps as well.
It is interesting to note, however, that I managed to get up to 5Mbps on 3G in Sodeco area in Achrafieh:
A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares 
How exactly is 10$ Lebanon not cheaper than 13$ KSA ?
I am sure there should be some other countries that are cheaper but KSA is a bad example to disprove the claim.
Unless you mean cost effective? which is a different claim altogether…
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I obviously meant cost effective. It’s also cheaper if you look at it as price per MB.
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Yes that’s what you meant but that’s not what he said š
I’m just being silly, it’s your blog you can say and mean whatever you want…
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Well, whatever he said is wrong :p There’s no way $10 for 100 MB can be cheaper compared to $13 for 1000 MB :p
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Yes there is a way you just don’t want to admit it.
I use on average 20 to 30MB per month… To read my mails and look up addresses/places whenever I am on the go or lost (so just some text browsing a few times per week). The amount of mail I receive will not grow because I am on 3G so I know I will still use about 30MB
So I will subscribe to the cheapest option I can get…. which is …. wait for it …. 10$
Just because you won’t use it that does not mean it is not the cheapest available!
I bet there are more people who need a casual internet connection and don’t care about being always online tweeting all day who will go for the cheapest subscription they can get. You just don’t hear much from them because, surprise surprise, they are not online tweeting all day fromt heir phones hehehehe :p
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I am currently using WAP for 2.25$ for 20MB which are enough for me do read mails, weather, chat a bit, and send free sms from online. That is better than the 10$ for 100MB
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It depends on your phone. WAP is nowhere near enough for any smartphone.
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Thank you for this nice report on 3g testing. What do you think will be the future of wap at Alfa?. I am also using wap on my HTC desire hd and it is ok for my needs outside wifi areas.
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No word on wap. Hopefully it will get a speed and quota upgrade as well.
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Well again, it depends on the handset that you have.
When I had Nokia E72, I never exceeded the 50 MB GPRS limit.
Then I got Nokia E7, my consumption increased to 70-80 MB per month.
Then I got the iPhone 4 which is seriously hungry for data, and now my consumption has increased to 110 MB per month.
But IMO, I find the prices & packages to be quite fair. I would totally loved it if we got 1 GB for the 19 USD. But i wont complain about the current packages
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Precisely. Consumption depends on phone. I know my iPhone burned through the 4GB of testing like they were nothing.
You know what I think about the packages :p
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500 mb for $19 is not that bad considering wain kinto w wain sirto. It’ll only get cheaper from this point on. yay Lebanon.
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Perhaps so. But the buildup towards the price revealing made it seem like it would be way more cost effective.
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Pingback: Lebanon’s Alfa Telecom Announces 3G Packages « A Separate State of Mind
INDIA IS BEST IN INTERNET AND IS CHEAP, I GET 10 GB IN 15 $, OR 2 GB IN JUST 4 $ IN 3G HIGH SPEED
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