Its not like i have any choise. As i understand it, most towers have either DU or Etisalat.
This is a duopoly. You have three choices: Du, Etisalat, or nothing. You always have a choice. If you don't like the situation, .....well...tough.
I dont understand how you can get apx 8 mpbs. according to DU's homepage, they maximum upload speed is 1??
Don't pay attention to what they say online. Once you come here and start to learn about the way things are done, you'll quickly realize that the online world is 10-15 years behind here.
My "actual" upload is about 500 kbps - when I transfer a file. I think I've gotten an actual speed of over 5 mbps only once - when transferring from my home to my office in the UAE. My "actual" download is about 4 mbps, with the max I've ever seen being about 8 mbps.
Is the bottleneck EMIX? or where is excatly that bottleneck? I doubt that UAE generates that much load actually.
Yes, the bottleneck is EMIX (in my opinion). The "intranet" within the UAE is quite good. They've laid their fiber (why not - everything is new!). The issue is getting out of the country/region.
As for load, I disagree. many major organizations have made their regional (MENA) home here. While I'm not suggesting they have relocated their entire corporate servers and services here, they have made significant investment in servicing their staff and clients. In terms of usage vs. population, I believe the UAE is above most countries. In terms of actual usage vs. actual usage, the UAE is below many other countries, as the population isn't that enormous.
No, im not convinced that it is that straight forward as you write.
And as for the limit in UL in the first place. this is properly due to historic reasons more then any relevant reasons.
These upload limits used to be used for providers to make sure that lines where only used for "normal" traffic and not for content delivery, webservers etc etc
Who would use a private line now for such purpose anyway? A dedicated server isnt that expensive these days. Even if a small percentage of the customers did, it would generate less traffic than a few *heavy usage* customers who like to use NG's and similar services.
Im not sure of the pricing structure for local providers and their peers, but in any case, uploading 20GB (photo backups) to an overseas server will still be done, only difference is if it takes a long time (bad customer experience) or is relatively fast (good customer experience)
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If you are this interested in coming to this market and being involved in IT issues, you really have to start to understand the local provider(s). You have two groups - closely aligned with government entities - that have pretty much carte blanche on whatever they feel like doing. Pricing. You have essentially no choice. I've never been in a physical location that offers a choice between Du and Etisalat (anyone?). Therefore, you are locked in - and the government just doesn't seem to care that you are being overcharged.
This isn't Europe or the US. You shouldn't expect anything - not even what's stated online.
-md000/Mike
