25 June, 2009

Daddy Knows Best


My dad returned from China yesterday. So I went to see him and welcome him back. After some small talk he reaches into the still packed suitcase on the floor and yanks out a bag with an Astro Boy Silhouette.

Dad: Here you go.
Red: What's that?
D: Somethings I got for Baby Tameem. There is a T shirt for you too.
*unpacking*
R: Gee dad! ASTRO BOY! Love that! cute small clothes! I love the T Shirt too. But it looks a bit big?
D: BIG? Says who?
R: Well look; you got XL. I would need L.
D: Who says you're a size L?
R: Huh? I do!
D: No you're not! You are XL, if not XXL even!
R: Wait.. What the?? How can "I" be XXL?
D: I wear XXL sometimes.
R: That is your call! I am M or L. This shirt is big!
D: No you are NOT! You are an XL and this T shirt fits just fine!
*goes to toilet, door closes*
...

21 June, 2009

Handicapped Internet for a Premium

It is no wonder why telecom companies make zillions in this world. From over charging sms rates and data rates to internet. The biggest legal scam ever.
Batelco just released their new pricing. Some will say that these are good. But they are only good when compared to Bahraini rates, which are a rip off anyway. In real life, it is bad. Very very bad.
The rates, if you are still in the dark:
SpeedPriceMax Usage
10MBBD8050GB
8MBBD6040GB
4MBBD5025GB
2MBBD3020GB
1MBBD2515GB
640kbBD165GB
256kbBD102GB

How about that?
In a discussion on Facebook in the Bahraini Internet Society's group, I posted this (with correction):

Some of you may know that I host a gaming show at Ithnain.com. So from a videogamer viewpoint: These speeds are useless.
Speeds and ping rates prevent us from playing online properly with other players. Simply the devices and software are not designed for our slow "speednets".
We are falling behind on productivity. As an example: There is a device called OnLive, which will be an always connected gaming console. Its minimum (I repeat: Minimum) speed requirement is (real) 1.5MB. I said real, not "up to". That is the minimum.
Average performance is suggested at 5mb. (Wikipedia)
By looking at this device alone we can see that we are no longer going along the rest of earth. Even Facebook, Vimeo & You Tube find it hard when I upload videos and I must use the "basic" uploader for our "slow" speeds. I have 1 Mb at home and 2 mb at work.
Netflix are renting movies online by straeming them in Hi Definition. This would be impossible in Bahrain. When will it be possible? Probably when a strong family business man or a royal makes a similar site and orders Batelco to increase speeds to accomodate this.
These new Batelco speeds and prices are appalling. The prices would be right if you multiply the speeds by 10. ie: 100mb for BD 80, and so on. Don't get me started on the threshold. I do know that a few (very very few) companies abroad have thresholds but they are much, MUCH higher than these weak limits. Threshold should be to prevent you from making your PC a server or a torrent seed point, not to stop you from using the damn connection!
If this situation is not fixed and soon, we could find ourselves in the next two years with unusable websites and services.
You've been warned.