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Ok I have big problem with Etisalat and their "services". I am frankly sick of these money suckers. Here is what happened:

2 days ago I added 220DHS to my Iphone's credit via my internet account. I called a friend of mine who is an expert of internet connectivity and I asked him if my wireless connection at home is safe for me to connect to without paying any charges and he said that he does it all the time without charge. So I connected to my own connection (provided my own password for it) and had access for the whole day without charge.

Then suddenly last night at 9pm my account went from 220 to 7 Dhs in a split second. As any outraged customer I began calling their iPhone section. I stayed up until 4am trying to reach them and nobody was answering. I woke up this morning and called them again and the person said that "sometimes your phone connects to internet instead of wi-fi"... to which I was stunned, because nobody told me that there is such a thing and because I am paying for my wireless connection and for Etisalat's services, I am expected and entitled to my own wireless connection wituout them sucking all of my credit out without notice.

I travelled to Vienna and used the airport's wireless(wi-fi) for 5 hours without a single penny going anywhere. When I come to Dubai and try to use the wireless connection, all of my money vanishes. This is the 4th time all of my money vanish into thin air.

Has that happened to anyone else? Any tips on how to get my money back?


P.S. I am sick of Dubai and their ways of getting every bit of cash off of you. I think etisalat has explaining to do!

If your friend is an internet expert go speak to him and he will explain why this has possibly happened. Etisalat are not charging you to use your wifi connection from your iphone.

You need to manage your iphone connections carefully. You may have applications that are set to use the data connection and run in the back ground. You need to make sure these are all set to use the wifi connection and not EGDE, GPRS or 3G connection from Etisalat.

Either do this or get an unlimited data plan from Etisalat.

Thank you for the reply. Unfortunately my friend does not work for etisalat, so I dunno what they are up to. I did a small test an hr ago where I stopped all services from Etisalat and used the internet and still its charging me. Dunno what to do.

How long have you been in Dubai? A week? A month? A case against etisalat? Now that's funny. If you think etisalat is money sucking, please let us know how much your lawyer takes you from so we can have a bigger laugh! I wonder much money and how long it will be before he tells you "Sorry, you don't have a case."

Bora Bora wrote:How long have you been in Dubai? A week? A month? A case against etisalat? Now that's funny. If you think etisalat is money sucking, please let us know how much your lawyer takes you from so we can have a bigger laugh! I wonder much money and how long it will be before he tells you "Sorry, you don't have a case."

Thank you for replying. I have been in Dubai for 10 years. Don't get stuck on the suing bit of my original post. My lawyer is a personal friend, but I am not going to sue them. I just want my money back, which mysteriously vanishes through thin air when I connect to my own wi-fi. If you have any substantive response to my problem, its welcomed.

Problem Resolved!

Smackdown5 wrote:Problem Resolved!

Tell us what the mistake was, so we can all learn from the damn issue, in case it affects any of us out there.

Spit it out.

RobbyG wrote:

Smackdown5 wrote:Problem Resolved!

Tell us what the mistake was, so we can all learn from the damn issue, in case it affects any of us out there.

Spit it out.

I got a software that sorted it out. In addition I disabled the 3G and Data Roaming Services. Now it is connected to my network and for the last 5 hrs of browsing, not a single dime has vanished. I wont recharge my phone until I make sure this wont happen again. (Maybe the problem was in the settings and VPN of the phone allowing my phone to use other network and data beside my own).

Smackdown5 wrote:

RobbyG wrote:

Smackdown5 wrote:Problem Resolved!

Tell us what the mistake was, so we can all learn from the damn issue, in case it affects any of us out there.

Spit it out.

I got a software that sorted it out. In addition I disabled the 3G and Data Roaming Services. Now it is connected to my network and for the last 5 hrs of browsing, not a single dime has vanished. I wont recharge my phone until I make sure this wont happen again. (Maybe the problem was in the settings and VPN of the phone allowing my phone to use other network and data beside my own).

Thats what I advised you to check!!!