Internet Speeds - RT in-house vs. STC 4G

There is a huge variance in mobile internet speeds depending on your location in camp in relation to the tower.

The areas near the commissary/surf house tend to have decent covee. Some areas on the north end near the beach have poor covee. My house only gets Mobiley in 1 room, STC is a bit better but still weak. Others have stated the opposite depending on their position in relation to the tower.

Another thing to bear in mind is that the wireless providers impose a 'fair use limit' for how much traffic you download. I was frustrated by the slow speed of the company provided internet (1 Mbps for me). So I got the fastest plan for a 4G router from Mobily. Fair use limit for that plan is 17 GB per week. Unfortunately, I can only get 3G reception on camp (still 6 Mbps, so much faster than Aramco wired internet. And Mobily imposes a 2 GB per day limit on 3G connections. Impossible to download a 5GB Mac OS X update. So now we use both Mobily and Aramco net (expensive).

Thanks for all of the replies. It took a while, but I am finally set up on Aramco Internet. Right now, the connection speed for both Aramco and STC's 4G mifi (limited at 3G on camp) is about 4.41mps vs. 4.26mps, respectively. The STC mifi performance, however, fluctuates based on the time of day and where the router is place in my particular house.

Ironically, the upload speeds for the Aramco net were much lower than STC - 0.63mps vs. 1.08mps. This may again have to do with the time of day.

I didn't have much of a chance to ask my neighbors for a couple of reasons: 1) both houses around me are SDG buildings and 2) I went on leave right after I asked for internet, and I just got back.

Anyway, any consistent speed will do. Is there any talk of Aramco upgrading any the residential internet sometime?

Any update on this topic?

Hey guys,
I've been in DH since 2011 and have tried EVERYTHING. I left to boarding school in 2015, but come back for the summers (like RN)
Aramco ADSL2+ is very slow unfortunately. I did a lot of research because I was driven insane.
Long story short, the government has outlawed Data fair usage caps on 4G LTE Broadband plans, So I used it for a month (with my money) an it is blazing fast (STC QuickNET fluctuating between 40-60Mbps down). However, my father hates STC (because of their previous throttling) and doesn't believe me, and doesn't want to spend any money on it, so its only a one month thing. Funny thing is LTE (Wireless connection) has less latency/ping (ms) than DSL (hardwired connection).

Aramco's ADSL2+ network is throttled to 6mbps down and 765kbps up. You can verify this in your modem settings.
Aramco's network is powered by the Integrated Telecom Company, and upon communication with them, they wanted Aramco to provide Fiber-to-the-Cabinet, but I believe the company chose not to invest in broadband network infrastructure (ITC has been lobbying for about 2 years now). In most modern DSL connections (20-30Mbps) the Cabinets are powered by Fibre (DSLAM Exchange) but in Aramco, according to ITC, the outdated broadband infrastructure uses a Coaxial Cable connection in the DSLAM exchange to connect DSL connections (this bandwidth is spilt among the users of Aramco DSL). There are multiple DSLAMs across camp, and using the calculator and my DSL modem interface, I am roughly (1400m / 1.4 Km) from my DSLAM exchange, and via ADSL2+ the attainable rate I should be able to get is ~16Mbps down and 1Mbps up (even more if maybe I can convince housing maintenance to renew my copper telephone lines). Aramco's new DSL modems (D-Link) can be accessed at 192.168.1.1 (pass/username: admin). However, for some reason AramcoExpats is blocked on DSL.
I called Aramco IT Helpdesk (904 on camp) but they don't really help. I went to the Community Internet office in Al-Mujama, and they told me to go to STC, Zain or Mobily. (now very expensive due to the law against throttling).
FTTH provided by STC is only available in the Hills, and they enjoy fast speeds (unto 200mbps) and low latency. Rest of DH relies on Aramco DSL or 4G broadband.
Every single one of my friends in Dhahran for the last 7 years I have been here (Including myself) have complained over and over again about the internet connection and options in Dhahran. My father pays $40 USD a month for it, as does every other Aramco DSL user, I honestly would except better service, plans and options for the price, its not free after all. In addition, due to Aramco's proprietary telephone network, I can't order STC


Does anyone else in this forum have any experience regarding this issue?

Some tips I learned over the years:

Use Ethernet if possible, use WPA2-PSK Security
Check your DSL modem for ADSL2+ or other modulation systems that are fast.
Power Cycle your DSL connection every now and then.

Edit: Also ensure that you have proper line splitter filters for DSL (Phone and DSL) to separate the frequencies at every telephone jack that is used. This reduced interference.
Despite this, until Aramco decides to upgrade their infrastructure however, it is going to be slow at the ISPs end, as it has ben. for the last decade or so.

Wondering what the latest is on internet speeds on camp. Has everywhere been upgraded to fibre?