Does anyone know when Suntel is going to commence their Wimax services?…I heard they are going to introduce the 512kbps package for around 500Rs. If anyone has some regarding information please post a reply, as I’ve been dying to get a broadband connection for years, since ADSL is not available in my area and Lankabell and Dialog are yet to cover this area with the wimax network.

It seems like waiting for few more months would be worth it!, as more people are jumping to WiMax space. Lanka Bell too will be introducing Wi Max soon and they have already started test runs as per my knowledge. So when they too come up with, it’s all of us who will benefit with improved QoS and reduced tariff. And of course SLT will have to really wake up and run else people will start switching at a rate as most of them are not satisfied with the ADSL QoS. We are going to get into a new era of broadband competitions which is good for the consumer.

You are correct. I hear Dialog finds many such cases like yours.

It is stupid of anybody to use WiMax to provide connectivity within a city. Line-of-sight is a must for any wireless link. It is for rural areas and not for Colombo, where with the high population density ADSL has better chances.

Why our operators offer these wrong solutions. Everyone else use CDMA for mobiles, we use it for fixed. Everyone trusts DSL for cities, we run after WiMax as if there is a severe shortage of Copper wires here. Are we mad or what?

Not sure whether you are serious. I assume so.

Dialog offers three packages 1 MB, 2 MB and 4 MB. (actually four but two has same bandwidth of 2 MB)

If Jean has got the 1 MB package I would say 850 kbps is pretty good. Jean does not mention when this speed is available peak or of peak, and if it is peak I would say one doesn’t even have to look for an alternative. Just sign on the blank with closed eyes.

On the other hand, if the promised speed is 2 Mbps or 4 Mbps one has to think twice.

Still Dialog can be a better deal.

Say SLT ADSP promises 2 Mbps and delivers 220 kbps; Dialog promises 4 Mbps and delivers 850 kpbs. Irrespective of what is promised, 850 kpbs looks more attractive. (if it is peak) Who the hell wants 220 kpbs?

Does anyone have better data for a fair comparison?

Is anyone seriously testing broadband QoS in Sri Lanka?

Indika Amarasinghe,
Boralesgamuwa

Fist time i saw on the paper that dialog has introduced WIMAX broad band in srilanka. Then i went to their branch and came to know that its covers Batticaloa town from their tower only 2KM. my home is 2.5KM from the tower.

I paid the payment and got the connection after a week the technical team came and fixed the WIMAX they put an antenna top of my roof

in Batticaloa this is the fist time broad band i was waiting over years.

And according to the speed its MIND BELOWING man its cool its downloading 850Kbit/sec its damn speed

I love it a lot any way SLT guys still putting the posts to fix their ADSL but my point of view is dialog is cool and faster

I hope Dialog will open their main broad band tower in Batticaloa as soon as possible. Because it’s already built but didn’t give connection yet.

Enjoy WIMAX

You know this and I know this. But I wonder if the average consumer does. The point is that for many on SLT ADSL fed up with a service that is difficult to fully describe without the use of expletives, Dialog’s Wimax offers are too good to pass up. However, the marketing campaign does not, in any way, suggest that coverage is limited by factors such as LoS that are beyond Dialog’s control. What is promised in the ads is 4Mbps connectivity and broadband so fast that it is blowing everyone away.

If we chide SLT for not delivering what they promise, the same yardstick must be used for Dialog which in some cases (and I know of at least two others in Colombo 7) which promises broadband that it cannot deliver, at least, for the moment.

A tech team visited me again yesterday saying that there was another tower up somewhere in Nugegoda, but they still couldn’t get a signal. I would imagine this to be a problem with all the houses in my housing scheme, which number around 20, of which I know at least a dozen are on ADSL and would like to switch, but hearing my story, have decided to wait until Dialog can actually deliver what it promises in the media. Ditto with my office in Colombo.

Sanjana

Any wireless connection needs line of sight. What most probably would have happened is an obstacle between your place and the WiMax transmitter. So even though theoretically the area, is covered there still can be unserved pockets. Operators can do little to avoid such situations.

Though Dialog claims this on their website:

“WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) - an implementation of the IEEE 802.16 standard based wireless technology providing metropolitan area network connectivity of high throughput, broadband data and quality voice services in networks covering long distances and wide ranges, WiMax ensures compatibility and interoperability between broadband wireless access equipment, thus enabling the deployment of broadband wireless networks based on a standardised platform.”

in my Delkanda residence, they couldn’t even get a single strength of one bar from their WiMax antenna. This also surprised and embarassed the sales agent, who said he was assured total coverage for the Nugegoda area.

Clearly, the Dialog Marketing Dept. jumped the gun on this, as I got them to come over the very day in which they had placed a full page ad for WiMax in the English dailies with no mention of any limited coverage.

Hope Dialog gets its act together and soon. SLT ADSL is simply the pits.