Stealth Otter

Has anybody tried the Mobily Connect dongles? They have a Connect 42 dongle which allegedly gives up to 42Mbps...if I got anywhere near half that speed I'd be a happy bunny.

550SAR for the first month and then 350 per month for unlimited download.

northbadawi

You can expect to be happy... sometimes... inshallah.
And of course if you will stay closely to mobily antenna tower and in open area.
I use 21Mb mini router, inhouse, 300m from antenna, currently speedtest shows ~3Mb and I'm happy.
Because close to midnight it will go down. And in Friday evenings it almost unusable.
But is the best option you can get here.

Stealth Otter

Thanks
I didn't think the speed would be anywhere near 42Mbps. I'm using GO at the moment and only get about 1Mbps

nottmbantam

Don't use a dongle - use Mobily WiMax in the house, got a 2mb router, and pretty much get that speed most times.

Out and about, mobily 3G on the mobile phone gives a decent enough connection, tethered to the laptop.

typical

WiMax is definitely more reliable if you're in the coverage area, but the speeds can be much better with 3.5G. Not sure about 42Mbps, but I've seen above 5.

Stealth Otter

Thanks - I'm using the GO Wimax at the moment which is supposed to be 2Mb as well but fluctuates a lot (usually when I want to use Skype!). I think I'll give the Mobily Wimax a go when my contract runs out.

Just interested to see whether the Dongles will give a higher speed overall

northbadawi

Wimax depends of place where you are. You can ask try&buy: return in 24 hours if it doesn't work in your location.
I use Wifi minirouter for home network, it supports up to 5 devices. Speedmeter shows currently 3.5Mb (I found a place in house where signal is strongest). And it is portable even more than dongle, you can even keep it in your pocket or bag and have internet around you when traveling. Of course it doesn't work when you go out of the city.
If you catch a promotion you can save on monthly fees. I pay 350sar each month (350 for 1 + 1free).
In fact if you ask in the outlet they do not suggest you anything. Check their website yourself permanently and when you see good deal then go to the biggest mobily outlet and demand for it. It is recommended to show them printout because they do not know about the promotion or anything else.

Geo79

I've used Mobily Wimax (2Mbps) for the last 9 months and it's ok. I've just signed up for another 16 months which currently costs SAR2,060 (SAR2,520 if you don't have the Wimax hardware).

Not sure what happens if you buy Wimax only to find out that you don't have coverage where you live though!

Mobily dongles are ok for basic web browsing but for skype, downloads etc, it's very poor and I was always getting diconnected and very frustrated with it.

Good luck!

nottmbantam

Mobily give you a few days grace to test it and return it if you don't get coverage. Might only be 24 hours actually. There was coverage map on their website, but not been on there for awhile, don't know if they still have it up.

Stealth Otter

I'm pretty sure Mobily has a map, it's not where you'd expect it to be on the website though (which is what I expected to be honest). GO have one as well and had a 24hr return if you've got no coverage deal...it took them pretty much 24hrs to activate the router so I'm not sure how much success you'd have in taking one back.

nottmbantam

Mobily was up and running immediately, literally plug n play. Had one in Jeddah and then once I got back to Riyadh, I got the 2mb router. Couldn't just upgrade the old one, had to buy a new one, but wasn't that expensive

I pay for three months at a time ( 665sr ) , and I think when I've paid for two lots of three months , I get a month free.