It seems I wasn’t the only one noticing that as of the last few months my Zain LTE Router is no where near what it used to be.

People may say that 4G does it for them, its good for quick browsing and going through normal internet usage, but not heavy duty lifting, not major downloading or gaming what so ever.

Below is the full comment of Tenthfire that really broke down all the issues I was facing as well as details that I honestly didn’t delve into.

I am very disappointed with Zain LTE this year with their approach on their internet. If you check the highway their advertisement was “extremely fast speed and good for gaming” or some similar words.

This year Zain LTE decided to buy cheaper routers compared to last year. These new routers are extremely worse than because that their range is 2/4 compared to the one 1 year ago. The router malfunctions more and the chip is much worse than before. I have to say that 0 tests were made on the router.

I will try not to go into details, but if you play League of Legends, Dota, WOW, Diablo, etc do not get this router as it is extremely unstable.
Last year being one of the first people to have Zain LTE in the country with the modem + 80GB limit (now increased to 300G in 2014) I will tell you my experience.
Usually my ping in gaming is 180-1000. Mostly 180-400 which is extremely unplayable and you get frustrated.

I managed to figure an IP that had a more stable ping than others and managed to configure my router with minimum traffic and to get IP, getting 130-140 ping.
On 2014 they changed router and chip and also programmed their servers in an extremely poor way where it rejected people with old routers / chips. This caused a massive amount of disconnection and customer service have no way of helping you. The people on customer service have no idea how internet work or what the basics of latency are.

Anyways on 2014 I got a new contract hoping that their internet will get better. They increased the limit from 80GB–> 300GB which is amazing.
Zain LTE, however, after a few months starting in March decided to cancel 3G service , so now all cell phones are forced to get 4G LTE.
There is an increased pressure on 4G LTE and the server is extremely over used. The speed went around 3GB / slower per 4 months.
I am sad to say that now the speed of Zain LTE at 3.14.2014 with tests is 5-12 GB/ second on download and less than 10GB in upload from the normal standard which was 40GB+.
IF you buy a normal DSL your ping / internet will be more stable and faster.
I have done some tests on certain IP : 149.147.19.119 37.37.162.104 37.36.132.137 31.203.192.129 37.203.192.129 37.39.173.140 188.236.211.62 188.236.37.152
and many more.

I also made a list of the problems Zain 4G LTE service is having from 2014 (especially Feb and March):
1. Assigning two people the same “IP ” (usually when several computers connect to a router they are given different “IP”).
This is bad, because if that person with the same “IP” downloads something your speed will get slower and if you’re gaming you will lag.
2. Disables Youtube Comments and enables Safety Mode.
This is an extremely annoying problem only seem from their filter / internet problem. Youtube loads extremely slow as well and a lot of problems.
3. Unable to browser specific websites from an “error” which can be solved by turning off your router for 30 seconds – 2 minutes.
This gets annoying when I have to close my router to access sites like XXX website because the router is “stuck” and it happens a lot. Sometimes it gets me an error while going on google. This is only with their service. I have tried normal DSL and other internet services which are much better.
4. As I said before their router radius is extremely low and signal level affects ping.
Radius is usually 0.5 floorX 0.80 floor (LXW) meaning it is worse than any other types.
5. Router shutdowns if you download 3 things simultaneously.
Lets say I download 3 from Itunes 3GB each I can crush my router and their server. It will build up some level of “clog” on that IP address that it will be slow. You will need to change your IP address.

Their simple network structure is sad and if I was to rate it from 1-10 I would give it 0.
I do not recommend this internet for any person who wants a stable network or for gaming. I do not recommend 4G LTE from any company as it is extremely unstable and fails to bring minimum international standards. Calling this network 4G LTE is a simple joke.
This is only 1/5 of the server problems I see. If I was to include more problems on their server and networks it would be extremely cruel.

How they can solve most problems:
1-Fix network stability ( I believe a multi-million dollar company can figure out how to do this).
2-Do not overload yourself with people when your network is extremely weak.
3-Offer certain configuration for gamers.
4-Fix disconnection problems.
5-Find a better engineer for your routers and their components.
6-Do more testing on your routers before buying them from China.

I use Michelin for a number of my cars, and the one in Shuweikh also carries BF Goodrich, and there service honestly is excellent, they are quick and effecient. Now that they have this service, I think its fantastic if I want to change all of my tires, I will just have them come to me instead of going to them.

They also provide emergency road side services but the only item is they are only available from 8am to 5pm Saturday to Thursday, and most people usually are in need of road side services after 5pm. This is an additional service to what Michelin does usually so I think its an excellent option.

Another item to point out, they will install for your tires you purchase from them or from others, so if you have race tires that you brought from the US like we do sometimes or other sort of tires, they will install it and balance it without any issues. For 10 KD that is a very reasonable fee. The number is on the leaflet above, and ask for Saleem, he is very helpful.

When you have a chance visit the Bayan Winter Blast this coming Saturday!

This is one of the very exciting times for me of the year, I love going to GulfRun, getting all the cars ready and just talking shop with so many people is always crazy. Now the count down is here and we are at the final stages before heading to Bahrain.

The Car Show is on the 10th & 11th of January @ 360 Mall with a lot of amazing machines to see. Can’t wait to get to the track, seriously excited about it.

Long waiting lists, months in advance to book, this is the process that everyone heard about when the peacock reopened after being shutdown for years. For the longest time The Peacock was the best Chinese place for a very long time, and people would fly in just to taste the amazing food. Over the years the taste deteriorated towards the end but they said with the launch of the revamped hotel the staff were for the Peacock were top knotch.

As I called to make the booking for a few people it was about two weeks ahead to get lunch on the weekend and 4 weeks ahead to get a dinner for more then 6 people. So I just booked for a few of us to try it out and I was honestly very excited to go to. We walked in and got seated within 5 minutes and it is exactly the same setting that it was 10 years ago, just a few touches, some people like that it stayed the same I was hoping that they might have decided to changes things up but at the end all I care about is the food.

• Spring Rolls & Prawn Toast
• Crispy Noodles & Sweet And Sour Chicken
• Peking Duck

Very simple order, straight forward and every Chinese place has the same sort of items, and I remember ordering at this restaurant since I was a kid. The appetizers came out quickly but the main course took over 30 minutes to get to the table and they mixed up our orders with the table next to us.

Overall the taste of the food was a bit disappointing and too oily for my taste. I was expecting it to be a bit more refined then your hole in the wall type Chinese place. It just wasn’t up to par, and the waiting list to get a reservation is getting shorter, and in my case I canceled my next reservation. The service wasn’t that great, and the food was disappointing not what I was expecting for a place with so much history.

Wataniya has finally fully rolled out their 4G Network and they improved their normal Data network. With new life breathed into their network, it feels normal and useable at this stage. I have been using it for the last couple of weeks and every week I can see an improvement with more 4G coverage on a weekly basis which I’m liking very much.

On a normal test my speeds vary from 2 bars to 5 bars signal:

• 12 Mb/s to 43 Mb/s

These are respectable numbers and reasonably solid, not my connection spotify as I drive along the highway is pretty constant with no cut outs. I hope Wataniya keeps going at this rate to keep improving their networks. They did launch the new Galaxy Note 3 with the LTE Package and they are fully supporting Android Devices, they even just had a Google event with the people from Google talking about the new software and hardware developments coming along, very nicely done. Their network has a few spots around town the need to be filled but its a good effort on their end and we are finally seeing progress on their network. The funny part is that 4G is working only for Android devices and not Apple Devices yet, that will be coming along somewhere in mid to end of December for Apple, now who’s laughing.

The Parking initiative! Parking is an issue all over Kuwait and it seems even more at the colleges. This is how the great team of Students from the CBA thought of it for Injaz and honestly its a great idea. I love the ideas that come out of the students in the Injaz competitions and I wish they can become commercial and successful.

It’s a NEW VALET PARKING Service provided EXCLUSIVELY in Kuwait University-College Business Administration (CBA) !! Business started by students for students ! Be a member and don’t worry about parking & get to class on time … @e9f6li Wirta7 !!

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BBQ season is upon us and burgers are always the easiest choice for me. I am always on the look out for different meat vendors and this time around I found Premium Choice. I picked up some Rib-Eye Steak and some burgers, and the amazing Potato Bun that is very hard to find, they have other types of steaks available but this is always my preference.

I have to pick up fresh cut cheddar cheese for burgers, that honestly makes a world of a difference, I really don’t like using Kraft Cheese since they taste horrible compared to how well the meat tastes. And this meat looked really good, and the smell was killing me, I forgot about the rest of lunch and only wanted to eat the burger right off the grill. I prefer using a gas grill when I’m BBQing, in my case its the Weber, coal grills give amazing taste but it’s hard to control the cooking temperature of the meat.

I got the Potato buns out and they were perfect, at least now I will have a constant supply of good buns, the ones you can find in the Co-ops are ok, not great, they do the job but this is the burger buns that complements a good burger. Threw it on the grill for about 2-4 minutes to get it a bit toasted while I waited for the cheese to melt on top of the Burgers.

What I liked about Premium Choice is that everything was online on their website and delivery was quick. They do same deliveries if the order is done online before 5 pm, or it would go to the next day, but in my case I ordered around 10 am and got it by 1pm, makes for a very simple process. I had the Steaks one night at home when I felt like a steak and a salad, that Rib-Eye really hit the spot, nice and tender.

Link: PremiumChoice

Kuwait is one of the first conutries to roll out full 4G coverage, and we are tough customers, I honestly was very critical and abusing it when possible and it has survived my torment and still it is doing well.

4G in the GCC & UK are the same and I’m assuming the Europe would be the same as UK in regards to 4G specifications. But the coverage across Europe is spotty at best. I was in Germany and drove a good amount outside and inside of Frankfurt to see how it works, then there was Amsterdam which we extensively used their network. The connections weren’t that great, and sometimes very disappointing, surprisingly Amsterdam was much better then Frankfurt in terms of coverage.

4G Coverage in Kuwait is fantastic in comparison to Europe, it seems that Europe has fallen back in comparison to us. Our terrestrial data speeds are a disappointment in Kuwait and improvement does’t look like it will happen any time soon, they have been talking about Fiber for the good part of a decade now. But due to this lack of development the wireless data providers have stepped in and so 4G such as Zain, Viva, and Soon to be Wataniya are providing for what the customers are asking for.

Kuwait is even better then the UAE in this aspect, Etisalat has coverage but the speeds are honestly crap and even much worse when you head out of Dubai with little to no coverage, and Du is worse then Etisalat in this regard. It seems that we are more then a step ahead of Europe and Kuwait is leading the pack in GCC. And I have yet to see someone in the GCC to match our coverage and overall speeds, we are spoiled and I honestly hope we have more developments in regards to wireless & LTE internet.

Link: Flickr

There is a unique Expo taking place in Kuwait starting today. If you are a fan of any type of outdoor activity then this is an event that you have to visit. Anything and everthing to do with outdoor activity thanks to the guys of Q8Mobil and the sponsors of Outdoor Sports & Safari Expo.

On Display

• Off-Road Companies
• Four Wheel Machines
• Modified Vehicles
• Electrical and Outdoor Accessories
• Fishing & Hunting Equipment
• & More

Dates: 23 – 27 October 2013
Location: Mishref Fairgroudns

You should not miss out on this event, every member for the family will have something to see there.