Getting online

Hello me61ok

you can't set it up in advance by yourself, you have the following options;

- come to saudi arabia, get your residence permit "iqama" and then approach the internet service providers.

- have your company set your a connection prior to your arrival.

as for the companies, I believe the there are around four basic providers;

- STC
- Mobily
- Zain
- Go

all of them have decent services (which made me tear of my hair and end up bald) and they are your best options.

welcome to arabia.

Thanks for the heads up on this. Will check with my employer whether Internet can be set up in advance for me.

Mobily now offers a wireless modem service for SR 500 down payment thats valid for 3 months and then a monthly fixed subscription of SR 85 for unlimited access. They provide the modem free of charge and it does NOT need a land line connection.

STC offers its regular Afaq DSL service using its own land line for SR 99, SR 149, and SR 199 per month based on speeds ranging from 256, 512, to 1024 respectively.

I use the latter and its good except for the total dependency on the land line. A friend uses the former, recently subscribed, and it seems to be working very well.

In both cases, above, you will have to be here with a Resident Permit to avail them.

Excellent thanks aagain for the useful info.I have been wondering whether mobile or landline is the way to go out there.

I think you should go with GO.com.sa they are giving 6 month in 700 SR, 4 MB WIFI... no need to have any landline or wire....

ENJOY MAN !!

Hi Aftab,

I'm hearing alot about "Go", have you tried it out?

any user feedback? I'd really like to know.

Recently, I subscribed to Go... I live somewhere in the eastern north side of Riyadh and the signal was not stable... so I called them up to complain about it

they dropped by and replace the indoor device with outdoor one! it worked just fine I just need to hook it up to a modem to allow Wi-Fi into my place.


feedback so far... reasonable

anyhow, they advise me to replace it with the indoor modem once their service is covering my area

Just to add my 2 cents:

I'm with cyberia.  Didn't really seem to have any options because I got here and it's who my employer deals with (strange system--I had to pay through my job).  I had to buy my own wireless modem for 300SAR (at Jarir) and had to pay three mos. in advance which, as I recall, is 550 SAR for the highest broadband plan they offer.

Now it's 550SAR every 3 mos. upfront.

wow thats too much, puddy tat.
i only pay 149 SR per month for 512K AFAQ SHGAMEL ADSL through my land line from STC. They bull me monthly on my land line.

ive heard of people using wireless mobile but they seem to be having some difficulty with speeds and connectivity sometimes.

Musicman, the 500SAR payment is every three mos. so only 50SAR more than you're paying (and through my landline, too, which I don't have to pay for).

OK that makes sense, but I didnt have to pay for the Modem. STC provided it free together with software and installation.

Trust me, I was shocked that we had to buy our own modem here because in the USA, the modem is supplied, usually for small 'rental fee.' 

However, people here were shocked that I was shocked and said you always have to buy your own!

All in all you are CONNECTED and tyhats what matters at the end of the day. Lets all HOPE we can STAY connected for as long as we wish? Amen

I got my wireless boradband USB stick for 275 from Mobily. I don't have my Iqama yet but i got it in the name of a friend of mine who has his Iqama. The pre-paid package is......5 GB download limit for the first month....and then 1GB for 100 SAR, 3 GB for 200 and for 300 SAR its unlimited. About the service...well if ur getting good signals then its great...but u only get good signals if ur in a room with windows...other wise in the lobby of the same house/hotel u will not get any service. I've heard that the STC one is better but it was not available with the STC office despite my repeted visits . I don't know whether the Mobily provided USB modem will work if i put an STC or some other  sim card in it. But better get that universal external usb modem from any good computer software shop and then replace the sims if u don't like any particular service. Ciao!!

My neighbor uses GO and hes complaining and crying about the service. We live in the North of Riyadh on Exit 7.

I use Go,
It awseome if you compare it to other service providers related to download limits and things, another thing is they are coming up with some phone services soon, so i can jack up a phone to the modem also,
i got this when it was being promoted,
free modem, three months 2mb package for 650 with three months free. Ah a lot of money saved as if compared to STC same package costs 1500+...

ummmmm !