Mobile Internet access [GPRS/EDGE] rates for Kuwait: Dec-08
(click for larger pic)
Now since the dust has settled with VIVA coming into the market with its services, and free incoming calls, the race is now on for competitive add-on packages that mobile phone companies are now offering. Zain, Wataniya and VIVA are all offering mobile internet access [GPRS/EDGE] services. Do not confuse this service with 3G video calls. The GPRS/EDGE service will only allow you to browse internet on your mobile phone. You can also use this feature on your PC/Mac to browse the internet by connecting via the mobile phone.
All 3 companies are offering two basic options, monthly subscription based and pay-as-you-go[PAYG]. PAYG rates are same for all the providers at 1fils per KByte, which means that an email with attachment of say 1Mb would cost you around 1 KD to download. A song/video that you download off the net on PAYG plan will shred your wallet. Ofcourse this is targeted to minimal users.
With monthly subscription plans there is the question of price.
- Wataniya is offering unlimited GPRS/EDGE at KD 14 flat [240 Kbps].
- Wataniya is offering unlimited GPRS/EDGE at KD 28 flat [512 Kbps].
- Zain is offering the unlimited plans at KD 13.5 [384 KBps]
- Zain is offering the unlimited plans at KD 28 [7.2 MBps]
- VIVA is offering the unlimited plans at KD 27 [7.2 MBps]
Although VIVA has advertised their service at 14.4 MBps but they do not have the service at that speed. If you purchase the package from VIVA the rates might change when 14.4 Mbps connection is available.
The confusion is also with the speed that each one of them is promising from 14.4 Mbps to 7.2 Mbps download rates. Well the truth is that these speeds are not guaranteed but achievable and that too if you enable compression. What that means is that with compression on, you will have low quality images and/or cached data downloaded from service providers.
Download the comparative plan chart above.
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