jinoman

Hi,

After several weeks of hotel stay, the time has come for us to move into our villa with our container arriving only yesterday much to our disappointment, 3 weeks delayed.

Ok, coming to the point, heard a lot about the big two service providers and not totally convinced if it would be worth my money for the kind of services I will be getting no matter how high end package I take. So, understand that VPN is an option here, A) faster internet B) access to UK programme .
How easy is it to get one here and which ones are the best for this location as I see there are quite a lot of providers in the market. And also how safe are these, is it true that they can be blocked anytime?


Appreciate your response and experiences in the matter...

Thanks
J

gottheTshirt

You still need an internet connection. Connecting through a VPN gives slower speed. For most of the time my internet speed is too slow to stream UK programmes, so I am limited to downloading from BBC I player. You also need a VPN for Skype.

I have been using the same VPN provider for the last 5 years in KSA, Qatar and Oman without any problems. You can find VPN providers on Google, typically around $10/month

jinoman

thanks gotthe Tshirt, looks like then don't have an option but to choose from one of the two biggies. Is there any recommendation for Muscat in terms of the quickest installation and reasonable service?

Would like to literally get hooked in, in the next couple of days...

hnd

Speaking from a purely personal point of view, we have gone with a package from Omantel. We use internet for virtually everything - streaming UK TV, downloading from BBC iPlayer, downloading all manner of other TV from various countries around the world, listening to radio on BBC iPlayer, obviously Skype, email etc etc - and for this reason have gone for pretty much the most expensive package which gives us (realistically) 50 mbps on a fibre optic cable (which is not available throughout a large part of Muscat - you'd have to check this out). This package costs us RO50/month which sounds a lot but we think its great value - especially as we don't have to subscribe to one of the dreadful TV cable companies.

The bug in the ointment, so to speak, was that it took SIX weeks for Omantel to connect us. This was a little over two years's ago, though, and we understand that Nawras can connect you far quicker.

Hope this helps

hnd

There is, maybe, another solution if you really want something quickly. Both Omantel and Nawras sell modems which would connect you as soon as you set it up. No idea of the cost I'm afraid but it's somewhere on google.

OriginalSunshine

Very few areas do fibre still.
Took us 6 years and no luck to get Omantel to come install their system.
We went with nawras wi max. Pretty slow though where we lived in an orange zone.
Skype never worked well as the connection via VPN was always shite.

jinoman

Thanks All, we will be moving to the Shatti Al Qurum area and hope they have the fibre optic covered there as it appears to be a diplomatic population generally there.

Would it b easy if there was an fixed line already in the villa but has never been used in the recent years? just trying to see if there are things that can help speed up the process. An would it best to go through the company signing as a gurrantor instead of taking the contract on my own name, so that I don't have to pay big deposits upfront.

OriginalSunshine

Don't know. We got stuck in Omantel system when there was a previous line. The tought we wanted to reconnect but as we obviously didn't have the passport details or contract number etc eye were stuck.