Ever wanted to have a landline, but also want to have it portable and not want to bear the cost of using a mobile phone + have internet?
Mada now have a new ISDN service which they gave us to try out.
Its pretty cool, especially for small businesses, that want both the portability of working at home and yet have their business lines with them where they go. However cost wise it might be a little too expensive (i’ll have a price breakdown below). In my area in Egaila I got around 8 Mbps of internet speed and a crisp phone line audio.
The only downside of the service is that you have (or pay for) internet which is the expensive part about it.
The line costs you 30/year which is same as what you have to pay for a normal landline (+60 KD installation – I think). However you have to pay for an internet subscription to be able to utilize the landline functionality. I.e. you have to pay 30 + either 90 KD for 3 months or 240 for a year, which is a little too expensive IF you already have an internet connection. (if you don’t have one and want internet as well its a good deal) however if like me I already paid for 2 years worth of internet from FastTelco paying for an additional 10 Mbps (variable rate) connection is a little expensive.
NB: You also have to check if your area is covered and that they provide you with good enough throughput (they have a limited-time return policy + geographical area coverage map to give you a heads up if your area is covered before subscribing to the service).
Who should get this?
1. You don’t have a fixed landline and you make a lot of local calls
2. You need an internet connection and you don’t have DSL or DSL speed is restricted by the poor copper cables
3. You’re a small business and would like to work from home in the weekends.
How it would be better ?
It would be perfect if they give you two devices! One (the biscuit) portable hotspot and the Mada Soho on the same subscription. I.e. at work you use the fixed hotspot connected to your phone and when you go home/cafe switch that off (call forward the landline number) and use the biscuit portable hotspot, it would be the perfect small business combination!
Comments 4
كنت ماجذ من عندهم بو 10 ميجا بس عمره ما وصل الخمسه ميجا بس كان يمشي الحال
توني خذيت من عندهم الي حده 2 ميجا سيء للغاية و بطيء يعني اشتراك زين بو سبع دنانير لما تتخلص السعه اسرع منه
كلمت الكول سنتر علشان اشوف حل اسوي ابرجيد ولا ارده
جوابهم راحت عليك ماكو شي تقدر تسويه
عن نفسي بعد هالصدمه من هالشركة حتى بو 10 ميجا اذا انتهى ما راح اجدده
شركه تعبانه ومعاملتا اخس من الخدمه
طبعا عن تجربتي الشخصيه محد قالي
Dear all
It’s really the worst customer service I ever saw, not to mention the speed which never reach 2 mb in al zahra, despite their false claims, they didn’t dare to come and test it themselves, this is going on for 6 months and same lame excuses.
Author
That’s quite unfortunate. Would you like to describe your issue further so that we can forward it for someone at Mada ? Have you tried having the device right next to a window, different rooms? Wimax is a little different than GSM you have to look for the best location and the best signal. One of my friends has it in AlAdan and in order for him to get a good signal he’s put it on the roof of his house and connected through cable to another access point in another part of the house. Have you tried LTE by any chance?