Internet Access in Saudi
 

I'll be living on a compound (Sharbatly - Jeddah) and wondered whether WiFi will be available there. Do the compounds have this service as part of the pricing or do they provide information about services available and then the resident chooses? I'm worried that I'll arrive and have no private access to the internet, e.g. from my own villa.

Re: Internet Access in Saudi
 

I don't know but I expect you'll have to sort out a mobile dongle for yourself! If you rented a house over in the uk you'd have to sort wifi out yourself! You'd have to pay for it too. It takes minutes to go to mobile And top up a dongle.

Re: Internet Access in Saudi
 

Hi LaLadyT,
Sharbatly does not have WiFi as standard in the villas. There is a phone point in each and at the recreation center you can use their pc\s or buy WiFi access to use in the vacinity.

Many of the residents however have, I understand had their own WiFi installed without problem.

Are you with JKS by any chance? :confused:

Tazz

Re: Internet Access in Saudi
 

Interenet services in KSA are restricted (in Riyadh anyway). ISP's go through KSA firewalls which effectively block any website deemed to be immoral.

Nothing is private.

Re: Internet Access in Saudi
 

Really!! And the uk is any different?

Re: Internet Access in Saudi
 

Thank you for the practical advice everyone. It's good to know specific details about the compound and procedures in KSA without making assumptions.

Re: Internet Access in Saudi
 

in saudi arabia porn sites, most dating sites and some anti govt. sites are blocked. You will get used to the " this web site is blocked link". Now this does not mean that your personal privacy in communication is being invaded, as in you can have a video chat with bf/gf anywhere and it can be private with no issues or invasion of privacy.
As far as the internet goes, you can get high speed internet cheaply, either via landline, which has DSL with STC ( saudi telecom) or a wireless modem, that you plug in and simply operate via mobily.

Also if you want to access restricted site, you can subscribe to proxy websites, this makes you able to access whatever you want.
regards,
tareq

Re: Internet Access in Saudi
 

Even google searches with 'innappropriate' words can be blocked.

Re: Internet Access in Saudi
 

Don't know if you managed to sign up to anyone yet LaLadyT but I arrived in KSA just over a week ago and am set up with mobily on dsl for now on SGV compound.
The fastest connection I could get is 512kb and I've just taken it on a monthly basis for now with unlimited download.. It's quite expensive though, 332SAR per month for a very slow connection by western standards. 3G services are available with much better connection speeds however you'll need your iqama befoe you can sign up to these (hence my 1 month thing on dsl)
I'm looking to try the Go 4G service once I get my iqama through, anyone else tried it? is it reliable and what kind of speeds do you get?

Re: Internet Access in Saudi
 

I'm using the GO wimax service at the moment -2 mbps, which is ok but in Riyadh people are getting far better results with the Mobily 42mbps offerings (averaging around 8mbps). STC have a similar service too.

Re: Internet Access in Saudi
 

Thanks for that :) Is the Mobily one a wireless service?

Re: Internet Access in Saudi
 

The Mobily "unlimited" service is limited to 1GB/day, and when I was using it, the bandwidth would reduce to 500k as soon as you reached 500MB of daily use.

I tried Mobily, STC and Go, and while Mobily had the best signal where I am, it's unlimited policy made it unusable for watching iPlayer, so I keep on STC now, have the 42MB Quicknet dongle. I get anything from 1-10MB bandwidth depending on the time of day. STC's unlimited is not throttled or capped.

Go was no good for me, and they also cap usage on their unlimited accounts.

- Been lurking for a while, thought I'd contribute :zzz:

Re: Internet Access in Saudi
 

Thanks for popping your head up then Stig :) I'll be mostly using my connection for video chat back home and downloading movies etc, so STC may well be he way forward for me too :thumbsup:

Re: Internet Access in Saudi
 

I should add that if you are not concerned too much about the cost, the 5GB bundles from Mobily (SAR200) are not throttled and if you can't get decent STC bandwidth this could be an option, albeit potentially expensive.

I use the 5GB Mobily bundle on my Android phone, and can use it as a backup wifi access point if the STC dongle is playing up (they can be a bit flakey) and I'm watching the football or formula 1 live...

One thing about the STC Quicknet dongle is I have found them to be incredibly sensitive to where they are positioned. Connected to my laptop I struggle to get any bandwidth, but with a USB flying lead, I found a sweet spot on the sideboard that gives a great signal, I guess it is some kind of corner effect focussing the signal due to the adjacent walls.

[Note: Please excuse the geekery, I work in IT]

Re: Internet Access in Saudi
 

Nothing wrong at all with geekery!