Comments on: Wataniya’s Wnet not really unlimited

By: Jesse

Jesse — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:35:30 +0000

Wow, I’m late to this thread. I am one of the 92 customers cut off, and probably one of the angry customers who stormed in (though I thought I was a little more restrained than that implies).

The whole sordid story is posted on my blog, but here is a quick summary:

No warning, we were cut off, then told they didn’t want our business. So we went to Zain, which is meh, but at least we know the rules, and have a way of tracking our total (up *and* down) volume of data usage.

Wataniya stinks and I will do everything I can to steer people away from them. They told me the account was cancelled permanently and blacklisted. So when I went back the 2nd time to get my refund (3KD instead of the 22KD I was told), and they told me they could reactivate my contract, I said too little too late. Now if they would buy out my costs for Zain hardware and sign up fees, I might consider it (they wouldn’t of course). All I can say now is that they screwed me big time for using what was advertised to me as an unlimited data plan and they have lost a customer permanently (as well as every person who asks my advice).

By: LunarDream

LunarDream — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:11:51 +0000

A E R O
I wish my dl exceeds 25 GB per week. It just doesn’t even pass 4-5 GB per week. I’m still waiting for their official announcement and see what legalities they have up their sleeves. Already filed a complaint for the weak signal (hardly a bar and unstable HSDPA connection) and I’ll wait to see what they got for me. Can’t imagine what’s next.

By: A E R O

A E R O — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:42:31 +0000

FYI, Wataniya is reconnecting those 92 high download customers. The fair usage policy is in effect for Zain and Wataniya alike. At W. the speed is reduced if the download exceed 25gigs in the first week. So make sure you stay at 24 per week and you’re getting 96 Gigs per month :) I guess people who download over 100 gigs probably have some business going in the kitchen :) I’d love to have that many movies :)

By: LunarDream

LunarDream — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 04:33:28 +0000

UPDATE:

I just went to Wataniya last night and met a really understanding guy in the legals Dept. and he was understanding and got most of my points and we had a very smart and easy conversation and he was convinced by most of my claims and points. It turns out that they are suffering from the open cap on the bandwidth and they want to follow Zain. it turns out that my total dl is 140 GB, which in 5 month amount ==> in fair logic of using 30 GB per month policy, they own me a 10 GB difference!!!! LOL so, they asked me to wait since within two days they’re announcing their new policy and the new cap for download and will reactivate our lines and they’re being easy with everbody about canceling because according to him, they had some angry customrs storming in, and they want to cut the bad publicity the’ve already gotten from this incident. I’ll wait and see what’s up with and decide to continue or not.

By: joud

joud — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:28:38 +0000

So do u guys recommend zain’s 7.2 service - assuming that one stays under the 30gb download limit ?

By: Bo-Bader

Bo-Bader — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:33:04 +0000

In my opinion, if you offer high speed internet access (3.5 or more) you expect people to use it for more than just browsing webpages. People who use such service usually need it to download a lot of big files. Limiting the bandwidth should be clearly states to them even if the limit is 1 TB/month. This just show you how undertrained Wataniya employees are and how bad the management is. That’s why I never use their services.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:33:34 +0000

AERO, Wnet’s fair usage policy is similar to “some” ISP’s around the planet, mostly in third world countries were they still cap downloads. In Kuwait we are lucky that ISP’s like Qualitynet, Zajil, Fasttelco and UN follow policies similar to “most” in the States which is true unlimited bandwidth.

By: A E R O

A E R O — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:04:25 +0000

Wnet has a fair usage policy like most ISP’s around the planet. Even if 100 Gigs is a hell of a lot of data for less than a month, people should be free to download. In the end, it’s just a question of fair usage to all, even if it might sound unfair to a very few…

FYI. A user in Salmiya block 3, street 5 for example can only affect users in that immediate cell tower area. It’s true that a user who is alone in his cell area will not affect anyone around him/her, no matter how much he/she downloads!

By: LunarDream

LunarDream — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 21:17:57 +0000

Guys
nobody since day 1 of contacting Wnet and asking to come ever and sign a contract ever talked about a 30 GB limit per month (actually, they never even mentioned a limit). I have the contract and read very very carefully and it did mention fair usage policy but then, there’s no mentioning of certain actions/penalties regarding downloading over than the limit (which is also no mentioned for us, the users). I kept asking them like 20 times during the whole contract signing and the installation with the salesperson and the Wnet call line, and they told me exactly ”unlimited download” because I was very careful in knowing this, since I knew about Zain and its restricted donwload policy. The guys at wataniya never called or warned me over the 5 monthes I’ve been with them, telling me that I’m maxing the bandwidth. Second thing, using the wireless network is local, I mean to each area and block has its own towers and its certain bandwidth. So it’s just totally utter bullshit that they say that I personally living in Al-Shuhada affected the guy using Wnet who lives in Sabahiya or Salmiya for example. That’s utter bullshit. They’re just making up excuses for their lame service, which they even charged us during the fall of the internet in the past month and were the last to restore the net service on Kuwait. Wataniya fell behind Qnet during the times when everbody left FT when they blocked the Kazaa/P2P ports (early 2002) and Qnet had this mass of users rushing and join, accepting them without optimizing to a bigger bandwidth to serve this new mass of users.

Question: after using like the net for so many years, downloading tera’s after tera’s of net content, since when we started hearing of a fair usage policy by ISP here in kuwait ? I mean, I know a guy who might have a backup for eMule (no shittin, he got everything, I mean everything) and I never heard him being warned, disconnected or charged for excessive downloading. BTW, he’s been a Qnet user all the time. I myself was a one, till I moved to the crappy S.Surrah. I think I’ll be back to it.

By: nxman

nxman — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:53:42 +0000

all unlimited internet world wide is subject to fair use policy. in W-net & Zain its 30Gb per month.

By: Rakan

Rakan — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 14:43:30 +0000

Didn’t know that eheh i just got United cuz my cousin has it and it works mighty fine with him and now me too. I dont wanna jinx myself, but so far so great.

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 10:14:16 +0000

Cuz they are ranked the worst ISP in Kuwait.

By: Rakan

Rakan — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 10:01:54 +0000

Mark + Abood79: no i’m not.. they’re good, i’ve been with them for about 8 months and not had any troubles with them whatsoever, i have a 512k connection and its been this way ever since i subscribed.. why are you two freaking out ?

By: A E R O

A E R O — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 09:37:38 +0000

True, that is why Wataniya is suggesting that these users move to alternative internet connections such as DSL or others. Capacity and bandwidth is always a concern to any internet operator, mobile or not. It is a hard choice, but it is unfair that a few should hamper the majority of users.

I believe the 92 users were called, if not all were contacted, it is probably because W didnt have the right contact info (old or wrong phone #, etc.) The 92 were invited to come to W headquarters to explain their unusually high usage and to try and find a solution.

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 08:01:20 +0000

Wnet is not better or faster then Qualitynet’s DSL. DSL has a much faster latency and is much more stable and consistent then Wnet.

Also why weren’t these 92 users given a warning or told before hand that their connection would be cut off?