Deceiving Paris II

Posted on by Mustapha

The way the government treated the DSL matter shows that it is not serious about reforms.

The objective of any government reform is to make life easier for the consumer. This is done by encouraging more competition to push down the prices and increase the quality of services, and by unburdening the tax-payers from large and inefficient government-run operations.

So when one reads today’s Daily Star article: “DSL: A government achievement or ‘disaster’?”, one gets the impression that the government at best doesn’t understand the meaning of reform and at worst is playing the international community for money by providing something that looks like reform but is simply a repackaging of the old, money-wasting ways.

As the Daily Star reports, the DSL release is bungled, the penetration rate is still the same at a shameful 15%, the government is effectively monopolizing the sector it touted as “open to competition”, and worst of all, the service is slow compared to other countries. A telecoms expert called the release a “disaster”. Ogero should take note.

It is perhaps against the instincts of a Minister who after all comes from a “progressive socialist” party, to seriously reform his sector. This is why our Minister of Finance should intervene under the backing of Prime Minister Seniora before the international donors start losing confidence in this Government’s will to reform.

0 Responses to Deceiving Paris II

  1. Well on DSL
    i took the 1 meg connection for the winter house, it s the fast thing i got in lebanon.
    However they stated it is ADSL +2 which is an unfortunate lie. It is not ADSL +2 but simple ADSL. The ADSL +2′s speed goes up to 8 meg in europe !!!!

    On the other site, Ogera (not the ISP)started to sell HDSL going to 2.3 meg/s up and down. They are not allowing such services to the usual ISP which is unfair competition.

  2. I don’t reside in Lebanon but as long as the government maintains a state monopoly on uploads, the country’s IT structure will always be under par.

  3. There is a difference between line speed (mbit per second) and download speed (mbyte per second). 1 mbyte/sec = 8 mbit /s. So Frenchy with your 1 mbit connection you should be able to download with a speed of 125Kbyte/sec. It would be interesting to know (since I am signing up in Cornet Chahwan) if you actually are able to reach that speed. Any idea?

  4. You can go to http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ to test your bandwidth from/to sites in the US. You can also try http://www.speedtest.net/ to test from/to global sites. Have fun and don’t let these sites suck up too much of your time.

    On the main topic though… It’s typical of Lebanese government work. What did anyone expect? I’m all for the gov because of Saniora and the unthinkable alternative, but once they are back in full power, I’d want to see the house cleaned of the old politcos and see some competent new blood come in along with oversight, responsibility, etc… don’t think it will happen… I’ll just enjoy Lebanon on my visits to family, but live somewhere else. Sad, but gotta look out for #1.

  6. Kheir… man that is fast. Would be interesting to see what it is with DSL in Lebanon. Anyone tried it yet who cares to shre their results? For a laugh, maybe someone should post the results of dial-up in Lebanon.

  7. Download Speed: 5912 kbps (739 KB/sec transfer rate)
    Upload Speed: 487 kbps (60.9 KB/sec transfer rate)

    I’m in New Jersey, but I am using cable not DSL.

  8. mustapha,
    i’ve been suffering from the internet connection in Liban for ever! And i’ve tried all kinds of connections, dial-up, cable, wireless. And all different ISPs, but the results were always disappointing. High cost, slow connection, but most annoyingly, never a stable one! You would be lucky to get a 20-day-per-month-connection at best.

    Using speedsky site, i get a 256kb download and 46kb upload through my DSL, and i’m paying around 50$/month. I used to pay 60$ for wireless and hardly got 110kb download…see the difference?

    But since I’ve had DSL through OGERO, things are much better! For the first time ever i can watch streaming videos and download files wih a reasonable speed at affordable prices.

    It is true that the prices are still the highest in the region, and that the quality aint the best, but trust my word, compared to the old internet connection, we are living in heaven nowadays!

    I’m talking from a customer point of view of course, not from operator’s one. But frankly, shouldn’t private ISPs have thought abt these problems before making contracts with OGERO?

    Besides, how come some ppl are pro government monopoly regarding electricity
    but want complete privatization when it comes to internet??!! Ennu make a point, either this or that!

    Agaian, the service should be much better, but we can’t deny the fact that there has been a HUGE development, at least from a consumer point of view….

  9. Keep complaining boys… when an alternative to these political fiascos is offering help to reform and modernize our society, you prefer to keep these old shmucks in office.

  11. internet connection in lebanon sucks ass big time. so slow. and it is amazing how some people try to defend the goverment and its services eventhough the goverment is fucking them in the ass,one question to those who try and defend the gov. are you getting descent internet access do you have descent electricity (24h/day), NOO you don’t so shut the fuck up and stop backing this stupid gov. this fuckin country is still living in the ice age. I wonder what people see in Lebanon. all I see is ZERO services from the gov. NO goddamn security. filhy streets (except for downtown)or CENTERVILLE as you call it ,and by he way it is dumb. all you see is people smoking hookas and getting high. I ve had it with this country. I hope all lebanon disappears in the sea..

  12. Lebanons internet blows still. Most areas aren’t even offered DSL Ogero makes alot of promises it can’t keep. I live in Aaley and we still dont have DSL here so as you can imagine im going crazy i currently use internet i guess you could called pirated or something. Sad part is i’d actually pay for the damn DSL if they would offer it where I live

  13. I was in lebanon the first time this summer no wifi couldnt use my i touch and i get 101 mb down from cable vision in nyc and 20 mb up for 70$ same with verzion fios 2mb for $200 with a bandwith cap of 8gb suck i never heard of a bandwitch cap its supposed to be unlimited all over the world so if you have a bussiness in lebanon and watch to watch your bussiness from your house with 10 cameras you cant do none of that