Etisalat Charges too much.
Have you been reading how the Dubai Police are going on and on about Cyber Crime ? Well, the biggest crime of all is the Etisalat Internet charges !
We want a reasonable UNLIMITED rate like all Internet providers all around the world have.
What can we do about it?
CLICK HERE http://etisalat.charges.too.much.net CLICK HERE

Go straight to the Open Letter to Etisalat. Email Etisalat and tell them.
Please note that the channel #Dubai home pages are sponsored by your patronage of the above link.

Does your browser get stuck trying to connect to the Etisalat Proxy?

Have you ever read the Acceptable User Policy (AUP) of Emirates Internet? Nothing mentioned about Hacking, Denial of Service, spreading a Virus. Did you know they say it is unacceptable to "To post any advertisement or commercial solicitations to any newsgroup, e-mail mailing list or Forum." Why I wonder. What if it's acceptable to the forum? ( Not that it usually is). This is what Etisalat's Terms and Conditions look like. This is what a proper AUP looks like. (14 Mar '99)

Here is the reply from Emirates Internet if you complain about Denial of Service: Click here for the full log. (14 Mar '99)

I have no idea what I am talking about but I have been told that if your modem chipset follows the 56k K-FLEX standard you get the best connection to Etisalat. Anything else (especially the X2 standard) and expect to get disconnected often ! Wonder when they will upgrade their modems to either the K56flex™ or the v90 standard. Also Emirates Internet does NOT support Multilink, or as they say it is not enabled. Now why would they not enable it? (updated 13/Mar/99)

Protect yourself from back door access to your computer like from Back Orifice, the most common IRC related problem. Here is the cleaner for BO and Netbus. Other sites are ISS Security Alert Advisory (Jan 3 1999) Also use McAfee 4.02 to keep yourself protected from all this. (Jan 30 1999)

Some New stuff on Internet in Saudi Arabia is finally available! Started on 15.12.1998, there are already 39 Licensed Internet Service Providers. Based on comparisons with neighboring countries, the number of Internet users in KSA is estimated to reach: 115,000 in 1999. Amazingly they have set up their own chat server irc.isu.net.sa on port 6667 connected to IrcNET.

Microsoft's Arabic Help

October 1997 Internet Connect Time is Money : Cut your Internet costs!

So you thought Johnny Carson retired?
Read sLumming with sLag. We thought we could be funny till we read him. An "up to date" on the happenings in #Dubai Check out his excellent Technical rebuff to Etisalat's claim that its users' modems are to blame. (click on the This Month link on his page) (Mar '99)

Etisalat are upgrading their proxies and you will find your browser often getting stuck at the automatic proxy. Get around this by using the manual proxy of proxy4.emirates.net.ae on port 8080 since at the moment this is faster that proxy1. Still, don't expect miracles from Etisalat. (10/Dec/98 - updated 13/Mar/99)

The rumor started today that Etisalat have been compelled to reduce their internet charges from forces beyond. What we are hearing is a reduction by half to Dhs 3 per hour. Can it be true ? (26/Apr/99)

Did you know that dedicated ISDN lines do not go through the proxy server? (17/Apr/99)

Anybody been hearing of Etisalat having purchased expensive new hardware in view of setting up a firewall to block access to specific ports in their battle against Net2Phone and Iphone and other such similar software? They appeared to be testing on Friday 16/April/99. This would mean they could then block Ports instead of just IP addresses. Anyone understand what is going on? (17/Apr/99)

Dubai's IP addresses Blocks 194.170 and 195.229. are about used up. Whoever tells us 1st what the new IP Block is gonna be, gets a Snicker Bar from us. (25/Mar/99)

As we've all heard from way back in early 1998, Cable TV is expected from Etisalat. That means Cable modems should follow. Anyone heard anything ?

Using an ISDN external modem. Read this. You could be getting less than you expect. (23/Mar/99)

Did you know Etisalat had a List of approved Modems. We didn't. (22/Mar/99)

Interesting how up to date Emirates Internet's Download page is. It was Last updated : August 18, 1997. It links to versions of software now so out of date one almost feels like crying. But then, we knew we were in for that when we subscribed for our Internet connection didn't we? (13/Mar/99)

Users' modems 'to blame' for Net woes ,so the Gulf News p.3 article said on on Monday March 1, 1999. "Etisalat claims that most problems customers have in connecting with the Internet are caused by their own modems and not by the Corporation. Other complaints, including slow response times, could be because of Internet congestion at those sites accessed by customers." Interesting.Then further on it says, "We have investigated complaints that have appeared in Gulf News regarding access problems (line disconnections) and found them to be related with the modem being used at the customer end. Some of the modems available in the market are not able to handle an automatic downgrade of the link speed while on-line, thus causing the disconnection." Going further into the articles reveals, "As per our statistics, 75% of our users are getting a response in less than one second and 20% in less than 5 seconds. Regarding file downloading, the slowness depends on various factors, including web host and traffic on the associated network and, not necessarily, on the proxy, or local network." Wonder if this discussion board thread sheds any light. So, like us do you feel they are pulling the wool over our eyes? Put your comments here. 4/Mar/'99

The rumor is now gaining momentum that not only have Etisalat considered the Unlimited Plan, but they have been working hard on setting up the infrastructure and decided on a rate in the region of Dhs. 400 per month. We are also expecting this launch during the Dubai Shopping Festival. That means REAL SOON! Read how the rumor started here. ! 7/Jan/99 (updated 9/Mar/99)

ISDN lines getting stuck at the proxy, downloading slower that a sleeping snail? Got an answer ? We Do.

OLD ALERTS & other old headline news !     Meanwhile, don't forget, BIG Brother is WATCHING!