Major Internet Upgrade Planned for Qatar
Customers May Experience Limited Disruption in April, as Speed and Reliability are Enhanced
Headline1
Qatar is set to benefit from an advanced upgrade to its national Internet network this year, as Qtel continues to implement its “Broadband Qatar” strategy.
Speed, reliability and penetration are all set to improve as a result of the upgrade, which will involve the deployment of a range of new technologies, as well as physical and technical improvements to the network of cables and hubs that support the Internet in Qatar, both domestically and internationally.
During the upgrade process – which will begin on April 1 – customers may experience limited disruption to their Internet experience. However, the upgrade process is only taking place during off-peak hours, and disruption will only last for 30 minutes at most, to minimize the issues for Qtel customers.
“Our customers will see the fulfillment of the next stage of Qtel’s Internet strategy, which aims to deliver one of the best networks in the world to the people of Qatar. All the elements in our strategy – from bandwidth enhancements through to speed upgrades – will see significant developments in the coming weeks and months, resulting in a transformed Internet experience for the people of Qatar,” said Adel Al Mutawa, Executive Director, Group Communications, Qtel.
“Although we anticipate short-term disruption in the first few weeks of April, our network engineers have developed a precise project plan which should significantly limit the extent to which our customers are inconvenienced,” he added.
The upgrade process should be completed within the month of April. Enhancements to specific Qtel products and services will be announced following the upgrade process.
http://www.qtel.com.qa/NewsFull.do?News=15401
No comments!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Dlightswitch. Yes, I do. Sorry, thought that was clear from my message.
bleu - "he writes in press-release style". Ouch. That hurts.
Dlightswitch, I'm sure he does, he refers to their products by the official name, like "Mozaic TV+", he also writes in press-release style.
EJBQatar, do you work for Qtel? Or do you just love them for some reason?
Unless they laying more cable, putting better exchanges in, aren't they just playing with packets in these off period maintenance slots???
Hi Bleu,
It's not really a case of expecting projects to fail - a major network upgrade means you can do more for residential customers, Mozaic TV+ customers (hi Xtian001!), corporates, etc.
The order in which these new or improved services are delivered for specific customer groups might change, but the capacity is there to deliver benefits for each of them.
However, if you announce products or service improvements, then you need to also announce availability, any technical restrictions, pricing, etc. It's just a lot more practical to announce these things closer to the date when they will be available - and when people can benefit - than when you're starting the upgrade process.
I'd like to think this is all fairly transparent communication - Qtel is giving customers notice, committing to specific off-peak times to minimise inconvenience, and committing to keeping the disruption to 30 minutes at most.
If there's anyway this could be more transparent, please let us know and we'll try to address it.
Would those on Mosaic service benefit from this "upgrade" too? We've heard from Qtel that the routers or the system itself is only set up to provide 512 kbps. That's why if you have Mosaic now and want to get 1mb speed, it is impossible.
I hope Qtel doesn't disregard Mosaic subscribers if and when they do upgrade.
Give Qtel the benefit of the doubt. You don't have a choice anyway ;)
http://www.lifeonthespot.com
EJB, I would say that transparency is something QTel doesn't believe in (just like any other company), let's say they have a plan to do 10 things, they don't announce it, and announce a "disruption" without any details.
The main reason I see is that they expect some things to fail and not work at all, so if they only get 1,3,7,8 working, we get an announcement "Thanks for waiting during the disruption, QTel announces 4 new services", and they just ignore the "failed" projects.
Just to clear up the confusion, the specific product and service enhancements are set to be announced after the network improvements are complete, which should be after April.
Hopefully, it will be good news for everyone, particularly regular users of Qatar Living. However, we've learned not to announce specific product improvements until after the technical work is complete, since people often expect the new services to be immediately available.
For people who think this is spin, all we can say is wait and see. This is a major investment and mobilization, which will deliver significant benefits for the people and businesses of Qatar. It will be interesting to revisit this discussion in June...
they better move fast...
vodafone & meeza signed an MOU...
I was in a country where there is no OFC passig by and the net was connected via sattelite, still had a better speed n connectivity. This guys have the submarine cables passing by its seas ..lol
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Listen to Many..Speak to a few.
I was waiting for this improvement in internet speeds from a long time.
I am right now using 1 mbps and paying 300 riyals.
I hope they double the speeds.
i hope everything goes well.
I dont mind little hiccups in service throughout april
Speed is been enhanced?
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HE WHO DARES WINS
LOL why do i get this feeling this is more like an April Fool's joke!! Lets wait and see.
Good Fortune always comes knocking at your door...when you are sh*tting in the toilet!! :)
_[]~SMoKE~[]_
When ict announced opening bids for a second provider, I expected to see AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, Orange... not only vodafone.
I totally agree with you ngourlay.
They can provide shit service in April, and make the excuse that they made improvements. "What Improvements?" "Oh its better now"
Things like this make me hate Qtel.. Making bad excuses and broken promises..
But hey, I could be wrong, lets hope so!
no details, thus marketing droid lies
releasing the story allows qtel to have shoddy service all through april, with the excuse that they're making improvements. the improvements aren't specified, and don't exist.
I suspect this ruse was invented after several drinks at the irish harp and hastily scrawled onto the back of a fag packet. "Heh. Dave, you'll love this idea. Pure evil. The boss will fecking love it."
a few years back they doubled everyones speed for free...the minimum used to be 256kbps and not is 512kbps...hopefully they do that again...i have a feeling they will