Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Dubai Expat Help Forum

[beagle]

Hi,

My partner and I will be moving in a couple of months from Amsterdam to Dubai. We have been hearing these stories about restricted internet access, Etisalat and no Etisalat areas. Can anyone tell me how it all works? What do we have to do in order to get full, high speed, NO restrictions access to internet? what are the best providers? Are they area dependent? any information will be very useful. Thank you.

[sage & onion]

You have 2 choices of Internet Access;

Etisalat - Restricted

DIC / Du - Un restricted (Almost) at this time

Areas where DIC/Du is available mostly on new developments such as Emaar / Nakeel

[^ian^]

Can anyone tell me how it all works? What do we have to do in order to get full, high speed, NO restrictions access to internet?

In all honesty.... if that's the most important thing to you... don't come.

Internet is up the clanger here, it's slow, unreliable, restricted... regardless of whether you're with Du or Etisalat.

[xty]

High speed & unlimited, you'll get one with relatively cheap fee (from 149 to 349 AED, from 256Kbps to 2Mbps). If you don't access adult-related, VoIP-related, some file sharing, and some social networking websites, then you'll be fine. If you are techie and know "the workaround" then you'll be Ok (no restriction everywhere).

[jabbajabba]

<STEPS UP TO SOAPBOX>

You have two providers;

Etisalat:

Etisalat pipe all of traffic thought a proxy. This proxy then blocks anything they deem as being against family values - such as the evil realms of flickr, myspace -- this also means you cannot surf p0rn.

They also block skype for no other reason then it means a lot of folk won't use their phone service for international calls. The new beta version works, but will no doubt be blocked when they work out the algorithm.

There network is a mess, weird way out their routing, service up and down, priority is given to http traffic so you cannot online game unless you enjoy frustration. And worst of all way overpriced compared to the rest of the world.

Think of it like a dial up service hosted by your local church and you won't be far off the experience.

Du:

I know nothing of Du - they are not available in my area. But I know they are unfiltered, but to be honest I am not sure for how long.

[beagle]

Wow! Thanks a lot guys! Sounds terrible! I love the comment about the dial up service hosted by the local church! HIlarious! So ok in all seriousness! We are moving really soon and this thing is really worrying me and unfortunately neither of us are real tech'ies! I have heard something about a VPN something about creating a VPN in your home will somehow circumnavigate the restrictions? Can anyone give me more info on this in laymans english? Anyone has the patients to explain to this damsel in distress?? Help![/quote]

[scot1870]

I live in the free zone and internet speed and reliability has hardly ever been an issue, download speed 3 times faster than what I had in the UK for the same package.

The VPN thing would almost certainly be illegal, though the person who hosted you would most likely take the flak so if you can find someone dumb enough all power to you!

[bert]

where exactly are the free zones?

[scot1870]

Dubai Internet City, Dubai Marina, The Greens, The Lakes, Emirates Hills, Arabian Ranches are some off the top of my head. The new, west end of Dubai mostly.

[Dr.D]

Dubai Internet City, Dubai Marina, The Greens, The Lakes, Emirates Hills, Arabian Ranches are some off the top of my head. The new, west end of Dubai mostly.

Freezone = place without local ownership restrictions and relaxed business requirements.

Freehold = place where perpetual ownership is available to non-local people.

It's important not to confuse the two for obvious reasons.

Many Freehold places are still bound by Etisalat, but quite a few (especially Emaar) developments have agreements with Tecom/Du to be the sole supplier of services.

Either way, both will be blocked as soon as Du starts moving into areas where Etisalat is also operating.

[tomtom69l7]

Is myspace, youtube, AIM, or Wikipedia blocked?

[mighty.one]

Internet speed is great in the Jumeirah area, well thats what i found anyway.
I've got a question:
I want to use the internet on my laptop in a wireless zone[when i am not at home]. Does anyone know any places/cafes EXCEPT places that use Izone as that seems to be pretty pricey?
Any ideas?

[muneerkm]

Open all blocked websites with IPoken

http://www.iptoken.com/
and enjoy..

[bonk]

What do we have to do in order to get full, high speed, NO restrictions access to internet?

Stay where you are .

The TRA (Telecom Regulatory Authority) dictates the censorship policies, for now they're implemented inconsistently which is why you get some areas with less restrictions. Don't expect it to stay that way.

You can get around blocked sites with a VPN (Virtual Private Network), or another proxy, or install some software. All are illegal but commonly used.

Except for p<3n, proxy (includes translating sites and archive.org), israel sites; Etisalat are usually good at unblocking when requested.

Is myspace, youtube, AIM, or Wikipedia blocked?

No except for pictures, no, don't know, no.

[The Major]

We are living in Downtown Burj Dubai (Emmar) for the past 6 months and our connection with DU has been excellent. Nothing (as yet) has ever been blocked or restricted.

[mighty.one]

We are living in Downtown Burj Dubai (Emmar) for the past 6 months and our connection with DU has been excellent. Nothing (as yet) has ever been blocked or restricted.

Im thinking of signing with du. all i here is good things about them

how are they for price?

[The Major]

We are living in Downtown Burj Dubai (Emmar) for the past 6 months and our connection with DU has been excellent. Nothing (as yet) has ever been blocked or restricted.

Im thinking of signing with du. all i here is good things about them

how are they for price?

I think around dhs300 per month, Ok I think for a service that is reliable and unrestricted.

[beagle]

Open all blocked websites with IPoken
http://www.iptoken.com/?a=muneerkm@gmail.com
and enjoy..

Is "earn money affiliate program" kind of thing allowed in this forum?

Nothing wrong with it that's how I saved enough money to buy that bridge in Brooklyn.

Thank you so much. This will be of real help.

[beagle]

We are living in Downtown Burj Dubai (Emmar) for the past 6 months and our connection with DU has been excellent. Nothing (as yet) has ever been blocked or restricted.

Im thinking of signing with du. all i here is good things about them

how are they for price?

I think around dhs300 per month, Ok I think for a service that is reliable and unrestricted.

I just came back from a visit and everyone says about DU- great marketing, lousy netwrok. Interesting to hear that you are not experiencing the same.

[gtmash]

We are living in Downtown Burj Dubai (Emmar) for the past 6 months and our connection with DU has been excellent. Nothing (as yet) has ever been blocked or restricted.

Im thinking of signing with du. all i here is good things about them

how are they for price?

I think around dhs300 per month, Ok I think for a service that is reliable and unrestricted.

I just came back from a visit and everyone says about DU- great marketing, lousy netwrok. Interesting to hear that you are not experiencing the same.

I believe he was talking about their internet service.

[jabbajabba]

scott - VPN is not illegal fella. Its a bread and butter component in business coms.

I am lucky in that I can open up a vpn tunnel to work and then set up a proxy for browsing.

My speed still sucks - I have a so called 1mb connection and I have tried everything to get the speed consistent. Sometimes its not to bad and other times its just pure lameness. I really resent it when I have to hit the pause button on all youtube vids to allow it to get enough cache to play the vid in its full without stopping to get more data.

I am so looking forward to having a decent connection again. I use stumbleupon and at least 2 out of 10 sites are blocked. I open up a proxy connection and look at the blocked out sites and there is no contentious material at all. Half the time it looks like they may have had a ring tone download banner which showed a bit to much cleavage two years ago and its still blocked.

Why on earth is flickr still blocked as well - come on RTA catch up with the rest of the world.

Lameness at its lamest level.

[beagle]

We are living in Downtown Burj Dubai (Emmar) for the past 6 months and our connection with DU has been excellent. Nothing (as yet) has ever been blocked or restricted.

Im thinking of signing with du. all i here is good things about them

how are they for price?

I think around dhs300 per month, Ok I think for a service that is reliable and unrestricted.

here some prices with DU. Any idea if the provide srevices in Sharjah too?

What do I get?
1M/256K (download/upload) high speed internet
Unlimited Access
Always ON connection
Free email
24/7 customer care support
What do I have to pay?
Installation fee 200 AED
Monthly fee 249 AED
What do I get?
2M/256K (download/upload) high speed internet
Unlimited Access
Always ON connection
Free email
24/7 customer care support
What do I have to pay?
Installation fee 200 AED
Monthly fee 349 AED

[The Major]

We are living in Downtown Burj Dubai (Emmar) for the past 6 months and our connection with DU has been excellent. Nothing (as yet) has ever been blocked or restricted.

Im thinking of signing with du. all i here is good things about them

how are they for price?

I think around dhs300 per month, Ok I think for a service that is reliable and unrestricted.

here some prices with DU. Any idea if the provide srevices in Sharjah too?

What do I get?

Em, not sure the Internet has arrived in Stone Age Sharjah!!

I think Du/Tecom is only availble in certain areas - ie Emmar Developments!

Can anyone else confirm this?
1M/256K (download/upload) high speed internet
Unlimited Access
Always ON connection
Free email
24/7 customer care support
What do I have to pay?
Installation fee 200 AED
Monthly fee 249 AED
What do I get?
2M/256K (download/upload) high speed internet
Unlimited Access
Always ON connection
Free email
24/7 customer care support
What do I have to pay?
Installation fee 200 AED
Monthly fee 349 AED

[gtmash]

We are living in Downtown Burj Dubai (Emmar) for the past 6 months and our connection with DU has been excellent. Nothing (as yet) has ever been blocked or restricted.

Im thinking of signing with du. all i here is good things about them

how are they for price?

The thing is you cannot choose to sign up with them for internet. Etisalat and Du have carved up areas between themselves, monopolising the internet/phone services in that area. Essentially, Du services the freehold properties and Etisalat gets the rest of Dubai.

[The Major]

Em, not sure the Internet has arrived in Stone Age Sharjah!!

I think Du/Tecom is only availble in certain areas - ie Emmar Developments!

[sage & onion]

Em, not sure the Internet has arrived in Stone Age Sharjah!!

I think Du/Tecom is only availble in certain areas - ie Emmar Developments!

I think you are mostly correct, Emaar + any other developer who had gone with DIC / Sahm, my experience is that the speeds vary enormously depending on the time of day you are connected. I would much rather have Etisalat, unfortunately we do not have a choice.

[beagle]

So who are the internet providers in Sharjah? You scare me. We just signed up a contract for an appartment in Al Nadah. Don't tell me I have to go through a dail up....

[The Major]

I assume Etisalat, (& don't expect much from them as they block everything) don't know anything about Sharjah except that its depressing!