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.

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.

I was hoping for a light phone with a great screen & Camera that has 4G, even though the camera was a little less then the 8X. Well it turned out to be more then a disappointment then anything else, this phone has a beautiful screen but every other component is cheap and horrible, cheap price doesn’t necessarily mean cheap quality but in this case it does.

Cons:

• Crappy 5MP Camera, I’m really bad
• Speaker – You can barely hear it and there is this metal grinding sound when it goes to high volumes
• Heavier then a better specified phone
• No real change for the Windows 8 software
• No real added value for Nokia
• Battery doesn’t last as long as the HTC 8X

Pros:

• Beautiful Screen
• 4G/LTE Speeds are good on the phone
• Cheap Price

I really want to stay on the Windows Platform, I’m enjoying more integration with my Windows 8 laptop to a degree and I want it to get better, but if you are looking for a cheap Windows phone to try out the software then this will do, don’t expect much for the camera and speaker. I will still keep the Windows phone, but I will probably trade this one in for something better at a later stage. My only problem with the option coming out from Nokia are the either bulky or too big.

There are two option from Nokia as a replacement, the Nokia 1020 which has the perfect combination except for the ridiculous camera popping out of the back with 41 MP which is just overkill. Then the Nokia 1520 has a 6″ screen which is just overkill with a 20 MP which is more then enough, but at the end both of these phones are just too big. Both of these phones won’t fit in a normal cup holder in a car and even worse when I place it in my pocket.

I honestly have no patience when it comes to the Nexus line, I do love the line from Google and usually its a clean slate, I just wish they had devices with the right kind of power to it and camera with in it. The Samsung Galaxy S4 is still an amazing device with a fantastic camera, honestly the best phone camera out there in my opinion, let’s see how this 8 MP camera with stabilization will be different.

Technical Specifications:

• Screen 4.95” 1920×1080 display (445 ppi), Full HD IPS, Corning Gorilla Glass 3
• Camera 8MP rear facing with Optical Image Stabilization
• Battery 2300 mAh & Wireless Charging
• Builtin speaker, 3.5mm stereo audio connector
• CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragonâ„¢ 800, 2.26GHz, GPU: Adreno 330, 450MHz
• Dualband WiFi (2.4G/5G) 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, NFC (Android Beam), Bluetooth 4.0
• 16GB or 32GB internal storage
• 2GB RAM
• microUSB, SlimPort enabled, 3.5mm stereo audio jack, Dual microphones, Ceramic power and volume buttons
• GPS, Gyroscope, Accelerometer, Compass, Proximity/Ambient Light, Pressure

Networks (North America)

• GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• CDMA: Band Class: 0/1/10
• WCDMA: Bands: 1/2/4/5/6/8/19
• LTE: Bands: 1/2/4/5/17/19/25/26/41

Networks (Rest of World)

• GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• WCDMA: Bands: 1/2/4/5/6/8
• LTE: Bands: 1/3/5/7/8/20

The main issue of the phone is that there are two models that work on the LTE/4G networks the D820 & D821 and the one I am picking up is the US Version which will work fine for now just to test out KitKat which is Android 4.4. I am annoyed that they can’t fit all the frequencies onto one single chip but this has been the case with most technologies initially and the same case with 3G connectivity. As for the screen it is a 1080p 5 inch cornered Gorilla Glass which is going to be interesting to see. The D820 works in the US across all their networks, and the D821 is for the rest of the world, and it will probably be on sale in the UK soon enough. The device seems interesting at $400, and compared to other phones its on the cheaper side, I’m looking forward to tinkering with this device.

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

All the Providers are talking about their 4G Coverage in London. Of course the 4G Services is only available to Contract numbers, not Pay As You Go or Top Up lines. In my case I have a contract line and upgraded to 4G contectivity with a max of 8GB per month for 36 GB per month, you can change from month to month, but only stay on 4G.

I was happy and thought I would get the same service as I do in Kuwait. At full signal I was getting 50+ MB/s which was impressive. Out of all the companies – EE, Orange, O2, Vodafone, & 3 – I read that Vodafone has the best 4G coverage in London as well as the fastest.

It seems their definition of coverage is similar to swiss cheese, lots of holes in the network. 4G was fine as long as I had 4G coverage, spotty would be putting it nicely. The coverage in London’s main metropolitan area is a disaster. Every building I go into, there is almost little to no coverage, and even when we are outisde it is max one or two bars. Rarely do I see full bars, I don’t know how they planned their coverage but Vodafone falls far behind Zain or any of our Mobile Companies in Kuwait. Zain has spoilt us, our expectations are too high.

With the introduction of Zain’s 4G Router people had options for their homes and remote locations. 4G has drastically changed people’s options, even with the caps it isn’t too bad. But at this point the links have gotten somewhat saturated still it’s faster then land lines, you get between 10 to 20 MB on a constant level when nobody’s online you might get 25 to 30 MBs.

For my case I can only get up to 0.5 MB on my land line so that isn’t an option and fiber has been promised since 2008 and I wouldn’t be holding my breath for that. WIMD has been the best and most consistent option for me, they are company who are genuinely trying to improve their services.

I have had a 20 MB subscription with them since they first opened over a year and a half ago and after about a year it would get as far as 14 MB and wouldn’t come close to 20 MB. That was after February when my subscription was renewed. The service would go down every once in a while but no longer then 30 minutes at most and their support is very responsive. But that happens at most once a week sometimes the whole month is fine.

In June of this year I was contacted by WIMD Sales for my 20 MB Subscription to reduce it to the 15 MB Subscription since they couldn’t retain the 20 MB Speed, and they refunded my the difference right away, even discounting the period from February until June which is very surprising for an ISP. So instead of the 1250 KWD that I paid, they refunded me the difference of 400 KWD down to 850 KWD even though it has been four months since the subscription started. Then on top of that since June onwards my connection which would hit between 16 to 18 MB on downloads consistently without any issues.

They do have some technical issues but they are working through it and the issues aren’t repeated, they are growing their bandwidth because the service speeds in my case has improved. And their service has been constant, unlike what I have seen from Mada who came out strong out of the gate but invested in the wrong technology and failed to improve upon it, ending up with some very crappy services. In my opinion WIMD has excellent service and for some people I know they have had bad experiences because of their location, but in my case honestly it has been fantastic and I hope they keep this up and gain more subscribers because of it.

I thought this was a serious video for a few seconds, but I was totally wrong, this is hilarious and so true. The difference between the iPhone 5 & 5s is almost nothing, but it is still selling like crazy.

Nokia is coming out strong with their new Lumia line up and thanks to Jacqui for bringing to light the details of the Lumia 625. I have the HTC 8X which I think its fantastic and it lasts over 24 hours which is odd for a new phone, and whats great about it is that it has never hanged and is something that can’t be said of either the iPhone or Android. The Windows Phone hasn’t had an update since WP 8 and it doesn’t look like any updates are coming along any time soon only the hardware. I don’t have a major issue with Windows Phones, the status updates need to updated as it currently sucks but everything else is pretty good. The new hardware brings 4G into the mix, the 625 looks great except for the camera, and the 1020 has a ridiculously large camera which makes the phone slightly oversized, and the 1520 is too huge. I want a 4G Windows Phone which is light, and a great camera which would be the perfect Windows Phone, but Nokia’s new line up looks impressive.

Nokia Lumia – 625

• 5MP Camera – Not That Great Expected Better
• 4G
• 4.7 Inch Screen – Pretty Good

Nokia Lumia – 1020

• 41 MP Camera
• 4.5 Inch Screen
• 4G

Nokia Lumia – 1520

• No Exact Details
• 6 Inch Screen

HTC Desire 600 – Dual Sim

• Display: 4.5-inch Super LCD2 display at qHD resolution (960 x 540 pixels)
• Camera: 8 MP camera with auto focus, LED flash with 720p Recording
• SoC: Qualcomm® Snapdragonâ„¢ 200, quad-core, 1.2GHz
• Memory: 1GB RAM, 8GB internal storage + microSD (up to 64GB)
• OS: Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean with Sense 5, upgradeable to Android 4.2.2
• Battery: 1,860mAh battery (non-removable)

Price: TBD

HTC One – Dual Sim Specs

• Display: 4.7-inches, Super LCD3, 1080×1920 pixels (469 ppi pixel density)
• Camera: 4-megapixel Ultrapixel camera, 1080p video recording, HDR video
• SoC: 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 and Adreno 320
• Memory: 2GB RAM, 32GB internal storage + microSD (up to 64GB)
• OS: Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean with Sense 5, upgradeable to Android 4.2.2
• Battery: 2,300mAh battery (non-removable)

Price: $790 (Only Available in China)

Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 I9150 Specs

• Display: 5.8-inches, 540×960 pixels (190 ppi pixel density)
• Camera: 8-megapixel rear camera with 1080p video recording
• SoC: 1.4GHz dual-core CPU
• Memory: 1.5GB RAM, 8GB internal storage + microSD (up to 64GB)
• OS: Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
• Battery: 2,600mAh battery (non-removable)

Price: $380 (Only Available in India)

At this point I think I see about 80% of people carrying two phones at one point or another. I have been carrying two phones for a few years now, and every time I look at Dual Sim phones they are usually very crappy phones or not available. Recently I have been looking around and the only viable dual sim phones are the three above with the Desire 600 being the weakest one. The HTC One Dual sim is an impressive Dual sim since its the same as the normal one but with two Micro Sims, and they are all Micro Sims. Then there is the Samsung Galaxy Mega i9150 which its impressive specifications and one very large phone, almost 6 inches, bigger then the usual phone. Two phone are top tier phones while the Desire 600 is a mid level phone, its very hard to find high spec dual sim phones, but these two are very viable but the only problem is that the HTC One Dual is only available in China, the Desire 600 was available in the UK but can’t find it anymore and the Samsung Galaxy Mega is only available in India. One other note about Dual Sim phones is that they only come in 3G, there haven’t been any chip boards developed with dual 4G in mind, it might be another year before that happens but still out of the bunch these are the only ones. Searching through ebay and amazon you get to find out every once in a while but you won’t find a good dual sim easily.