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Post by the_only_way_is_up on Feb 25, 2012 12:38:12 GMT
Is the Internet provided by aramco wireless and how much does it cost per month?
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Post by SunkissedTexan on Feb 25, 2012 13:06:05 GMT
Yes, wireless is installed within the first 2 weeks of moving into camp (a very long 2 weeks, but hey it reminded me of what I did with my life before internet came.)
And, I think its free? Both my husband and I are aramco employees and nothing got docked from our salaries (maybe it did from my husband, I never asked and he never complained.)
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Post by David_and_Nita on Feb 25, 2012 15:02:03 GMT
They deduct $40/month for the high speed internet service. There is dialup internet that is free but we never used it.
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Post by Hadia on Feb 25, 2012 16:26:55 GMT
If you got high speed internet in two weeks time, you were lucky. We did not have that experience. By the way, we were told that it would move us up in the priority list if we had our own wireless router. Glad we had bought one before departing the US, so that it had the 110 plug and all, and so that we were ready to go. Same with Vonage system, arrived with it activated and ready to go. And yes, it's $40 per month for the internet service. It shows up on the itemized phone bill for the employee. We are lucky enough to have a house with fiber optic, and our internet works very fast - no complaints. We were never able to get the dial-up to work, by the way.
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Post by Texas on Feb 25, 2012 16:38:18 GMT
Hadia,
I do indeed appreciate your postings as they are very helpful for the new comers. It is always good to have new updates especially from the new arrivals as things change over time and the old advise might not necessarily be valid anymore.
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Post by cemrn on Apr 12, 2012 21:35:12 GMT
That is a good point I am sure situations change over time. Updates are good. I know there are many topics you can search but sometimes up to date info is helpful. I imagine some things stay the same as well
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Uman
Senior Member
Posts: 161
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Post by Uman on Apr 13, 2012 0:25:42 GMT
I should be located at RT.
What should a newbie like me bring with me in regards to internet connections. Should I bring a wireless router? Cable..? My computer of course. Cable to hook up to a digital TV? What else is needed to set up for a medium term stay(3-5 years).....printer I can probably get away with.....but I really need to be internet ready from day 1.
Thanks in advance.
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Post by Twofeets on Apr 13, 2012 13:14:41 GMT
Upon arrival (or soon after) you will have access to dialup internet in RT.
Request high speed as soon as you are able (online). Their high speed is only DSL 2.0, but its the only option Im aware of at the moment. I have friends in Khobar and Dammam who have faster connections, but I dont know if its available here (certainly not through Aramco).
When they arrive to install your DSL they will provide a wireless router (usually a Thompson). Everything else you will need to bring yourself or buy once here. Some people stick with the Thompson, some prefer to use their own routers (Tech support should help you with this).
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Post by azraeil on Apr 14, 2012 6:51:19 GMT
IT will provide you with the Thompson Router (Wireless Router + DSL). It costs USD40 a month and will give you speed of up to 2Mbps (good enough for Skype etc). Some 1000 houses in the Dhahran Hills are equipped with FTTH (Fibre to the Home) which will give you speed up to 21Mbps
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Post by GroveWanderer on Apr 14, 2012 9:41:46 GMT
Theoretically that is true, but according to the people I spoke to in Communications about this, the fiber optic connections in Aramco are no faster than the ADSL.
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Post by azraeil on Apr 14, 2012 10:38:08 GMT
I have FTTH and I can assure you it is much much faster than the previous ADSL that I had. Speedtest says 21Mbps and actual file downloading, I do get close to 2 MB per second (Mega Byte) which is equivalent to 16 mega bits per second. It is especially true when you are downloading multiple files as the download speed on each download is maintained (i.e. if one file is downloading at 400 kilobyte per second, then the second will download at 400 KB and the 3rd and so forth until it reaches the 3 MB limit.)
So if you're downloading a file, you can skype away while the wife is doing facetime with the in-laws etc.
You can't do that if you're on ADSL. The download speed is divided on how many downloads you're having, so if you're skyping, the file you're downloading will get significantly slower if you're on ADSL.
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Post by Twofeets on Apr 14, 2012 13:50:43 GMT
The DSL is ok for 1 machine, but there is a huge slowdown if running 2 or more at the same time. My wife and I both like to play online games. Our normal ping is already 250sh when we're both online. If we try to download a file at the same time it jumps to 750-1000+.
To put that in perspective, with our broadband line back home we could both game, download music, download a movie, all at the same time and keep our ping under 150.
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Post by Hadia on Apr 15, 2012 2:35:42 GMT
Okay, I don't have specific speeds to report, but I can say this from a layman's view: we have the fiber optic in our home, and it is lightning fast, compared with the DSL cable we had in the US before we moved. We use it for all the usual high-bandwidth applications, like web, Skype, Vonage, streaming TV, kids' games online, FaceTime -- and we never have to ask one person to stop what they're doing so another can work, too. I am grateful that the house we were assigned just happened to be one of the fiber optic houses.
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Post by GroveWanderer on Apr 15, 2012 6:18:28 GMT
Then I was "mis-informed" by Communications. I have asked a couple of times about the chances of getting FTTH and on each occasion I was told that a) there were currently no plans to install it in my area and b) there was no point anyway, as it wasn't any quicker than the ADSL I already had.
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Post by Paul_Martha on Apr 15, 2012 8:03:42 GMT
After all the internet discussion, I am a little confused. If we plan to live in Dharhan, do I need to bring anything except our computers to KSA? Sorry to be so elementary, but I am not so technical when it comes to internet details. Thx.
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