Posts Tagged ‘internet in sierra leone’
More Good News – Fibre Optics Landing In Freetown Today!
September 2nd, 2011 | 
Author: Wahoo! I’m so excited about this particular event! It’s been long in coming and boy! we’ve been thirsting for it! Anything for increased internet speed is welcome in all quarters! The formal commissioning of the fibre optic landing commissioning was held today at the submarine ACE landing station in Lumley. This will put in place the necessary structures for the landing of the submarine fibre
Those present included the information Minister, Alhaji IB Kargbo, World Bank representatives, members of the ICT Council and others from various Commissions and Agencies
Advantages
I feel very happy and excited about this mainly because we have languished in slow or non-existent internet territory for far too long. Some of the advantages this will bring include:
- High internet speed
- Moderniztion of telecoms sector Read the rest of this entry »
Incoming search terms for the article:
Slow Internet Is Such An Embarrassment
Talk about embarrassment ! I experienced some today quite frankly I had the “blushes” over an issue I can’t control – internet speed in Sierra Leone
I was in a 3-way conference call with a client and an webhost and I needed to access the site of the webhost to fix something. Folks, it took me 4 minutes… and even that I wasn’t logged in properly. I mean 1 minute silence on the phone is bad enough but 4 minutes… wow that’s like an eternity, my goodness! To my other companions who are based in America, they must have thought I was in a village somewhere in the jungle…and it truly felt like that..
Incoming search terms for the article:
NATCOM Sierra Leone Celebrates 2 Years
For those of you who don’t know NATCOM, well they regulate the Telecomms Industry in Sierra Leone i.e. they ensure that mobile phone companies like Zain, Africell and Commium are kept in check. /tge also oversee, radio
Recently they fined Zain for breaches in contract or raising prices without notifying consumers. For me, it was one of those moments, I rubbed my hands with glee! Yep! because Zain, towards the end of last year, increased thei price of their Unlimited Internet Access package from $80 to about $300!!!!! YEESSSSSS! Insane, but this is Africa. After few, phone calls, I was told it was done to stop the overloading of their server and ensure handset users enjoyed smooth service. Felt like flushing my Zain phone! I mean what are they like! But I’m sure, NATCOM fined them for other offenses. From what I know, the matter is in court.
And to this day the extortionate price remains. I guess I should not be complaining since I moved from Zain to Sierratel, long before this. But this affects me too as there was mass migration to Sierratel, thus the reasonably fast internet speed I was enjoyind dipped and hasn’t recovered since. Even if I wasn’t so directly affected, I’ll still write this, as I absolutely dislike the way prices are put up here with no recourse to any authority or consumer body.
In addition to Zain, they have been successfuly catching and arresting folks conducting illegal mobile phone and radio activities.
The chairman Mr Siray Timbo highlighted all thier major achievements which include, newly refurbished premises, establishment of Cyber Crime Task Force, the setting up of Approval Laboratory and the establishment of 6 Zonal offices in all the headquater townships.
For me this industry affects me a great deal as I use it to blog and do business. So more
Incoming search terms for the article:
Much Better Internet Access With SierraTel!
As you can see, I’ve not posted for a while mainly because I was having severe internet problems! 
Last week I just got fed up with the desparate situation it caused me to find what other options I had.
I had a meeting with Zain customer service on Monday 17th Aug and as I expected, they were of little or no help. I checked the speed on some of the personnel’s laptop and it was a paltry 1.0 KB/ps or less!! Can you believe that? They also explained to me that, there’s no way I’ll be able to watch videos online - I had to accept it!!
Read the rest of this entry »
Incoming search terms for the article:
Posted in Sierra Leone Development, Sierra Leone News, Telecomms In Sierra Leone | 
Tags: internet, internet in sierra leone | 
No Comments »
Internet In Sierra Leone
Ok, I thought I should post this so you know the current Internet prices PLUS service offered here in Freetown.
This section is close to my heart – after all, I use the internet service to update this blog.
Internet access is so expensive here, it’s a joke! Especially, when you consider how *crappy* (Excuse my french) most of the services are.
When we arrived in Jan, 2008, there was no credible internet service apart from Comium, Iptel and maybe some others I don’t know. Zain had still not launched their Edge GSM service. I initially went to an internet cafe (FGC) to test for about a week. I couldn’t even download a simple photo let alone watch a video on Youtube. It was so slowwwww….I could literally count about 20-30 cars through the window before the page I wanted loaded!!!!
They assured me that if I bought a monthly bundle it’ll be better. Being desparate, I spent $300 ($200 for their dodgy equipment and $100 for a month of surfing at home). One of my worst buys as I had to physically carry the “antenae” and see if I could catch their signal!! Imagine?? In fact, I was stationed in the balcony most of the time.
Anyway by February 2008, Zain launched and this is what I’ve been using from home since – it cost $80 / month! Yup! (Excluding $190 startup for their “equipment”) In my opinion, it’s the best among a BAD lot if there’s any such thing.
Needless to say, there are 3 ways you can surf generally:
Internet cafe - Definite No No ….unless you’re desparate. An hour costs about Le 2000 – Le 5000 but because it’s so slow, you’ll end up spending that just to get on Yahoo frontpage!
Surf from Home - Companies such as Zain and Comium are offering this for around $70 – $80 a month but you have to pay for the equipment which will normally cost between $150 – $250. There’s no FREE trial here so if you invest and you don’t like it, tough! I use Zain for now. Sierratel seems to have joined the competition. As of this week, my hubby is testing them in his office and I’ll update blog as to our findings.
Business Packages - IPtel seems to be the best and is used in a number of offices. To use it cost whopping $195/month PLUS equipment. This equipment includes a dish which makes surfing with them faster.
So that’s a jist of what surfing is like in Salone – expensive, slow and unreliable especially in the rainy season!
Incoming search terms for the article:
Posted in Sierra Leone News, Telecomms In Sierra Leone |
Tags: freetown, internet, internet in sierra leone |
4 Comments »
Become A Friend On Facebook
Follow Me on Twitter
Subscribe to My-Sierra-Leone-Life via RSS