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■ MAY SMART BUYER

NET CONNECTIONS

INTERNET
CONNECTION
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SB.May 3/4/2000 16:37 Page 4
MAY SMART BUYER ■
Moreover, the quality of a ser-
vice can always deteriorate or
improve over time. The Better
Business Bureau of New York
can blithely advice, “If you are
dissatisfied with the services of
your current Internet Service
Provider, there are many more
to choose from. Switching may
be more cost effective than con-
tinuing with a service provider
with poor service.” That works
fine for those who live in Egypt,
Lebanon, Bahrain and, to a cer-
tain degree, Saudi Arabia. In
the other Middle Eastern coun-
tries that have exactly one ISP
each, one may well ask “What’s
there to compare?” And con-
clude that the only possible out-
come of dissatisfaction with the
sole ISP is to disengage from
the Internet completely.
M o re and more, however,
that is not an option. Anybody
wh o ha s s e nt a n e ma il o r
browsed the Web—through an
o ffice or school connection,
through a friend’s PC or even
t h rough an Internet café—is
immediately bowled over by
the speed of communication
and infinite amount of content.
These most basic of facilities
are already compelling reasons
for having Internet access. Con-
sider what else are considered
common facilities over the In-
ternet: file downloads; real-time
chat; hosting your own Web
site; conferencing (audio or
video); buying, or even selling,
goods and services; and Inter-
net telephony.
A subscriber’s willingness to
use the Internet for these tasks,
however, depend on the cost,
reliability and speed of Internet
access. In the United States
and in some coun-
tries in West-
e r n Eu-
34 May 2000
NET CONNECTIONS
rope, Internet access is in-
creasingly a commodity—as re-
liable as a dial tone; so abun-
dant that some ISPs have made
it “free” to seed the market
for their higher-end
services. In the
Middle East,
we kn ow
of sub-
scribers
who don’t
b r ow s e be -
cause the ex-
p e ri e n c e o f
w a i t i n g fo r a
graphic-heavy
page to download
is uncomforta bly
akin to watching a taxi meter
tick while you’re stuck in heavy
t r a ffic. Small economies like
composing a message in Word,
and using an email program
only to send it, are widely prac-
ticed.
B y n ow, t her e f o re , you r
counterparts in the United
States are being told that their
first task is to define what they
will use the Internet for and es-
timate how much they are pre-
pared to pay. After that, their
choice of an ISP should be
based on how well the latter
differentiates its services from
those of competitors—how
much more extensive their
menu of offerings is, how well
they execute and how much
lower they can peg their prices.
Business users in particular are
being asked to consider formal
contracts with thei r ISP of
choice for the guaranteed de-
livery of such tailored, mission-
critical services as Virtual Pri-
vate Networks (VPN) and man-
aged extranets.
How
binding
is t he
guarantee
a nd h o w i m -
portant is the ser-
vice? Cisco re p o r t s
that “one major carrier
po ste d i ts V PN per f o r-
mance information on the
World Wide Web and offered a
5 0 p e r ce n t re b a t e of f th e
month’s charges if a customer
experiences an outage of one
minute or more during the
month on its dedicated access
service.”
As a subscriber in the Middle
East, some of you will be able
to use this SmartBuyer guide
in the same way. Others will
have to take our buying advice
as a post-sale checklist against
which to measure your satis-
faction with your current ISP. If
they fall short on these crite-
ria, you might want to use your
findings as a way of persuading
them to do better. Or do more.
We’ve listed a few of the more
common higher-end services
under the criterion “facilities or
tasks required”. Note, howev-
er, that this is a highly truncat-
ed list when compared to Cis-
co’s services portfolio that we
had discussed in last month’s
Middle East Focus.
As we had said then, dereg-
ulation will have to occur in
both the telecom and the ISP in-
dustries before we can expect
the higher-end, differentiated
services from our ISPs. At the
PTT (Post, Telepho ne and
Te l e gr a p h n e t -
works)
lev-
www.DITnet .co.ae
el, this will directly lead to the
upgrading of the cable lines
through which data traffic will
flow—whether it’s more of cop-
per or the better fibre optic. At
the ISP level, competition will
make ISPs aim for the higher
profit margins that differentiat-
ed services will yield. Until that
time we’ll limit the scope of this
guide to basic Internet access
because at the moment it’s
practically all that is on offer
and is still scare enough in this
region to be premium-priced.
1. Availability of Access/Relia-
bility of Connection
The more intensive and mis-
sion-critical your Internet us-
age is, the more complex the
set of questions you must ask of
your prospective Internet Ser-
vice Provider. Locate yourself
on our two charts: the first that
is primarily based on the type
of user, and the second that
lists the applications that you
will run on the Internet.
If, for example, you are a
home user who will send email
and browse but will not be like-
ly to run multimedia applica-
tions, then we recommend dial
up access through an analogue
modem. As such, you should
ask your ISP what their mo-
dem-to-user ratio is. Empha-
sise that the ratio you’re inter-
ested in is the number of users
vis a vis the number of modems
they have in their Point of Pres-
ence (POP) in your area. Oth-
erwise they may give a ratio
that counts the num ber of
modems they have nationwide.
This won’t be as good an indi-
cator of how likely you are to
get a busy signal as a modem-
to-user ratio based on your lo-
cal access telephone number
would be.
The fewer the users who
s h a re an ISP’s modem, the
more likely each will be able to
connect to the Internet regard-
less of the peaks in the usage
patterns during the course of a
day. 10 modems per 100 users
is normal. If their ratio is less
t ha n t hi s , i t m ay b e
w o rt h w h i le t o a s k
whether the ISP enforces
maximum session times
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SB.May 3/4/2000 16:38 Page 5
during peak hours (like the ear-
ly evening when most home
users log on).
If you are a business user in
the process of negotiating for
dedicated or broadband access,
examine the ISP’s operational,
not planned, network topology.
By doing so you will “under-
stand how vulnerable the net-
work is to outages, how much
capacity is available when the
network is more heavily loaded
than usual and, most impor-
tantly, how well the provider
understands network engi-
neering.” A dedicated line is
many times more expensive
than dial-up access and its
name suggests that, since you
don’t have to share, you will
always have access to the In-
ternet. As you are connected to
the ISP, however, so the ISP has
external network links to the
rest of the world. If they have a
single external connection,
that’s a potential single point
of failure.
A c c o rding to Cisco, “com-
munication networks are typi-
cally configured in one of these
three topologies:
Hub and spoke, where traf-
fic tends to go to a central lo-
cation because the traffic fol-
lowed the 90/10 rule—ie, 90
percent of the traffic is local,
10 percent is remote. This ar-
chitecture, while useful for cor-
porate networks, is not gener-
ally suitable for the backbone of
a Service Provider because it
creates both a bottleneck and a
single point of failure.
Mesh, which is built by hav-
ing each switching/routing de-
vice connect to two or more
other switching/routing de-
vices. The advantage of a mesh
topology is that it doesn’t cre-
ate a bottleneck and it provides
for alternate paths if a network
outage occurs. Mesh topologies
are common in long-haul fibre
networks.
Ring , the simplest topology
that creates two paths between
any devices attached to the ring.
If communications on the ring
is disrupted, the ring will wrap
the traffic at the failure point
and send it back around the
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■ MAY SMART BUYER
NET CONNECTIONS
Number of Internet Users
in the Middle East (February 2000)
Subscribers Est. Users Est.
per Account Internet Users
United Arab Emirates 160,000 2.5 400,000
Saudi Arabi 80,000 3 300,000
Bahrain 15,000 2.5 37,500
Qatar 18,000 2.5 45,000
Oman 20,000 2.5 50,000
Kuwait 40,000 2.5 100,000
Egypt 55,000 8 440,000
Lebanon 65,000 3.5 227,500
Jordan 25,000 3.5 87,500
Syria 4,000 5 20,000
Morocco 15,000 3.5 52,500
Tunisia 22,000 5 110,000
Yemen 3,000 4 12,000
Sudan 2,000 5 10,000
Libya 1,500 5 7,500
TOTAL 525,500 1,899,500
source: Internet Arab World
ring the other way. Rings are 2. Speed of Throughput makeup is emphasised.
implemented extensively in Using only speed of throughput It might help to think about
metropolitan and interoffice fi- to decide on an Internet access I n t e rnet access options this
bre networks and are common option should be as easy and as way: the situation used to be
in long-haul fibre networks like wrong as using a CPU’s mega- either/or. Either the ISP offered
the mesh.” hertz speed as the only criteria analogue dial-up access, which
Apart from the points of fail- for selecting a PC. Well, it’s as offers a significant cost saving
ure, or lack thereof, it’s impor- wrong but it isn’t as easy. First, for him because he provisions
tant to know the performance no option delivers a single, fewer ports than users. This
capabilities of your ISP’s exter- steady throughput rating. Sec- works if all the customers he
nal link to the Internet. Your ond, there isn’t a clear gradation assigns to a port “do not need
connection to the Internet can of throughput speeds from op- simultaneous, continuous ac-
only be as fast as the slowest tion to option. Third, there are cess to the network”. Or the ISP
link in its path. Again, accord- options within options (like the allocates an entire T1/E1 or
ing to Cisco, “It is not effective four xDSL types or the many T3/E3 line to a single customer
to have a T1 leased-line con- types of dedicated access). who is willing to pay the pre-
nection from your campus to Fourth, these options are a cu- mium price for not having to
an ISP if the ISP is connected to rious mix of the technology it- share. Speed of throughput is
the Internet via a T1 connec- self, how they are deployed, t h e re f o re a variable 28.8 to
tion or less, especially if the ISP even how they are sold—which 56Kbps if you were a dial-up
supports several customers. is why an option user or 1.544Mbps to a whop-
Generally, higher connection can j u mp ping 45Mbps
speeds allow a service provider from one
to accommodate many users g ro u p i n g
and operate more efficiently.” to another
O r, according to a wit, “Yo u d e p e n d-
don’t hook a garden hose to a ing on
fire hydrant. The limit is the gar- which
den hose, not how much water element
the hydrant can put out.” of its
May 2000
SB.May 3/4/2000 16:38 Page 6

MAY SMART BUYER ■

NET CONNECTIONS

i f you h ad a ded icat ed,

point-to-point leased line.
Just to give you an idea of
what throughput like that
means: leased line services
are usually sold by Tier 1 to
Tier 2 and 3 ISPs for them to
re-allocate among their cus-
tomers.
The other options—ISDN,
ATM, Frame Relay, xDSL—
are being introduced to pro-
vide gradations between
these two extremes. The ob-
jective is to give the cus-
t o m e r th e “ f e el ” o f t h e
speedy leased line without
having to guarantee the ex-
clusivity that mak es the
leased line so expensive.
Dial-up analogue. S a y
you’re a sporadic user of the
I n t e r n e t . You d ia l - u p
through a modem that pro-
duces audible tones repre-
senting the data you’re trans-
mi tting. These tones go
along an analogue line that
sends it to your local tele-
phone exc ha nge wh ere
t h e y ’ r e digi tis ed befor e
they’re sent to a higher-lev-
el switching centre which
then sends it to the ISP
through digital trunk lines.
The process of converting
analogue to digital con-
tributes to the stately pace of
56K bp s ma xi mu m. That
bandwidth speed is almost
never achieved unless you
subscribe to a switched 56 or
X.25 switched service.
ISDN. An Integrated Ser-
v ic e s D i g i t a l N e t w or k
(ISDN) is likewise a dial-up
service but there’s a Termi-
nal Adapter (TA) rather than
a modem at the subscriber’s
end of the line. The signal
between the TA and the lo-
cal telephone exchange is
digital rather than analogue
resulting in the speedier
64Kbps if one channel in the
li ne is us ed. If the sub-
scriber’s TA and the ISP’s
equipment support channel
bonding or aggregation, an
even speedier 128Kbps can
be achieved
Frame Relay/A TM. Un-
like a physical leased line,
Frame Relay and ATM are

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SB.May 3/4/2000 16:38 Page 7
virtual circuits. They emulate the
functionality of a leased line by
cleverly allowing a network to
be managed. “An ATM network
can provide different quality of
service levels and an ISP can
take advantage of this capabili-
ty to offer a range of appropri-
ately priced service-level agree-
ments with diff e rent quality
guarantees,” says Cisco. That’s
wh y th es e se rv ice s c an be
cheaper than a leased line. The
bandwidth they offer is very
variable (64Kbps to a typical
1 5 5 Mb ps t o a t h e o r e t i c a l
622Mbps) depending on how
much a customer is prepared to
pay.
xDSL. In a white paper called
“A Case for DSL in the Enter-
prise” Cisco
gives a con-
cise explana-
tion of what
Di gi t al Su b -
scriber Line (DSL)
technologies
ca n do.
T h e y “ e n-
a bl e h i g h-
speed transmis-
sion from service
p rovider to customer
site over most twisted-
pair copper wiring; most
readily, telephone lines.
Contrary to what its name
implies, the term DSL refers
to modem technology, not
to the line itself. A pair of
xDSL modems on a standard
copper line constitutes a DSL
connection.”
“While many standards have
been defined, most xDSL tech-
nolgies fall into one of four cat-
e g o ri e s . A sy m me t r i c D S L
(ADSL), offers available band-
width that is unevenly divided
with more bandwidth allocated
to downstream traffic. Rates
range from T1 to 9Mbps down-
stream, with 16Kbps to 640Kbps
upstream. Single-line DSL trans-
mits T1 or E1 signals over one
twisted pair. It can support stan-
dard telephone line transmis-
sion and T1/E1 simultaneously
over the same line. SDSL tech-
nology is well suited for a small
office equipped with a single
telephone line.
“High Data-Rate DSL typically
www.DITnet .co.ae ■ www.pcmag -mideast.com
NET CONNECTIONS
What kind of connection?
Applications
Mobile Use
Email
Web browsing
Voice
Video
Client/Server
Engineering
Multimedia
FIGURE 2: Cisco’s recommendations as to what access technology to go for depending on how you intend to use
your Internet connection.
supports 768-Kbps full duplex
over a single twisted pair, T1-
speed over two pairs, and E2
over three pairs. HDSL can be
deployed primarily as a low-
cost substitute for full T1 lines
in symmetrical business-ori-
ented WAN applications.
Very-High-Rate DSL
offers much higher
speeds at shorter
r an ges, u p t o
5 2 M b p s
d o w n -
stream.
V DS L is
u n d e rg o-
ing tests
using
several
modulation tech-
niques, and probably will be
most useful in large-bandwidth
applications such as medical
imaging, real-time video or
HDTV.”
Cable modem. It’s not only
the PTTs who lay down cable.
Purveyors of television channels
do so as well. Data packets can
be transmitted over these cable
TV channels with the appropri-
ate modem. “This technology
supports downstream (towards
the consumer) speeds of up to
30Mbps, but this bandwidth is
shared by a set of customers.
U p s t ream capacity pro v i d e s
much lower bandwidth.”
To further clarify your choic-
es, we’re reprinting a very use-
ful table from 3Com’s Web site
Dial-up ISDN
●
● ●
● ●
● ●
on pages 40 to 41. It takes a
SmartBuyer approach in that
speed of throughput is not just
given as a raw number. Instead,
the ranges of available band-
width speeds are taken in the
context of the applications to
which they are best suited. Also,
it summarises the strengths and
weaknesses of each option.
When we looked at the Inter-
net access offering of the re-
gion’s ISPs, though, we found
that most of these options are
still unavailable. And most sub-
scribers will have to opt for ei-
ther analogue dial-up connec-
tion or a leased line.
3. Cost
Having decided what kind of
Internet access you require pret-
ty much determines how much
you will have to pay. The last
section lists the Internet Service
Providers in the region, what
kind of access services they of-
fer and how much they charge.
We’ve also included their contact
details so that you can keep cur-
rent with frequently changing
prices and service off e r i n g s .
Some of them, for example, of-
fer th e
val-
ue-
■ MAY SMART BUYER
DSL
●
●
●
●
●
●
added services (like Web host-
ing) discussed in the last sec-
tion. Some of these services are
included with the cost of basic
Internet access as a promotion.
What you should keep an eye
out for, however, are the hid-
den gotchas. For dial-up access,
you will sometimes be given a
choice between a flat rate or a
metered one (sometimes mea-
suring usage by the hour; some-
times by the amount of data
transferred or archived). You
might want to sign up for a me-
t e red rate for the first month
even if the flat rate sounds
cheaper. It makes sense to mon-
itor your usage level first—and
be warned, how much you ac-
tually use the Internet may not
be within your control. There
a re those, for example, f or
whom the charms of surfing pall
quickly when the line is always
busy or when they find the files
to slow to download.
On the other hand, a compa-
ny is probably better off paying
a flat rate for multi-user dial-up
access. As Cisco said, “Gener-
ally campus budgets can han-
dle a fixed commitment of a
k n o w n
amount
more eas-
May 2000 35
SB.May 3/4/2000 16:39 Page 8
MAY SMART BUYER ■
ily than a variable commit-
ment.”
For those who are leasing a
line, be wary of ISPs who of-
fer much lower prices if you
sign a two- or three-year con-
tract. It’s a pattern the world
over that when the ISP sector
is deregulated, dozens of them
multi pl y like mus hro o m s .
Eventually, most of them will
find that providing Internet ser-
vices is not a license to mint
money. They will have to
spend for “quality support
people, competent adminis-
trators, good hard w a re and
good networking” which they
can’t afford if they themselves
h a v e a “ l o w ba l l p r i ci n g
scheme”. Either the service de-
teriorates to a state where it’s
unusable or the ISP folds. Ei-
ther way, you don’t want to
end up with a valueless con-
tract. Read the fine print and
see whether there are clauses
for redress for poor service,
refunds and contract cancel-
lation. Remember the garden
hose? Now’s also the time to
ask about the ISP’s high speed
backbone.
Another way to get a better
deal may be to ask about free
trial periods. If you do get one,
keep in mind how long your
trial period lasts—otherwise,
the ISP will most probably au-
tomatically bill your cre d i t
card. Other charges that may
make a difference to the cost
of access include: the cost of
equipment and installation, ad-
ditional charges for Internet
access during peak hours, sep-
arate fees to set up an account,
extra storage space, addition-
al accounts for other users in
t h e ho u s e-
36 May 2000
NET CONNECTIONS
hold or small office and
charges for helping you make
your Web page.
4. Technical Support
Unfortunately, Internet access
is a “wannabe” utility. Its pro-
moters want it to be indis-
pensable and keep inventing
all sorts of uses for it—some of
it mission critical, like busi-
ness-to-business e-commerce.
Internet access, however, is
just not up there with water,
electricity or telephone ser-
vices when it comes to ease
of use and availability 24 hours
times 7 days times 365 days a
year. When access is (for some
reason) cut off, technical sup-
port will be required.
Like all the other criteria dis-
cussed thus far, technical sup-
port is qualitatively different
depending on how much you
are prepared to pay. Ideally,
this shouldn’t be so. A cus-
tomer, whether big or small,
would want any kind of prob-
lem he had resolved quickly.
An individual customer can
ask about 24-hour help desks
that can be reached either by
a toll-free call or email. He can
also ask about how large the
support staff is and how busy
they get. You can test how re-
sponsive help desks are by ac-
tually calling your prospective
ISPs with a technical problem.
Note how quickly you can get
through to a support person
and how adept they are at an-
swering your question.
Businesses that have mis-
sion-critical applications run-
ning on the Internet usually
have their own networking
staff and have a contractual
agreement with their ISP that
details the level of additional
technical support they require.
Typically, these are the points
that such a contract would cov-
er: installation, responsi-
bility limits for your
and their tech-
n i c a l - s u p-
port teams,
guaranteed
service re-
s p o n s e
times, disaster
recovery and
assistance with
network design.
A n d c o st , o f
course, as well as
the means by which
the service-level agreement is
measured and verified.
5. Security
The ubiquity of Netscape Nav-
igator and Microsoft Internet
Explorer means that software-
compatibility issues between
ISPs and their customers have
all but become moot. Even the
issue of security with regard to
shopping and credit card trans-
actions has become the pre-
serve of software vendors, cer-
tificate authorities and authen-
tication companies. ISPs still
figure in the e-commerce story
in that they must have support
for authentication and encryp-
tion. Here’s the Internet Engi-
neering Task Force’s (IETF) list
of questions which any cus-
to m e r s ho ul d rai se w ith
prospective ISPs:
* Do you regularly conduct se-
curity audits? When was the
last? Are the results available?
* If you use share d
servers,
www.DITnet .co.ae
h o w
a re users
partitioned?
* Where are fire-
walls located?
* What type(s) of au-
thentication are supported?
* What type(s) of encryption
are supported?
* What backup procedures are
used for server databases?
* Does the data center(s) have
UPS power arrangements?
* What physical security is in
place at the data center(s)?
In the Middle East, the secu-
rity issue that ISPs are firmly
held accountable for are the
proxy servers that censor con-
tent. Whether or not you think
that this should apply to you is
usually not up for discussion.
What you can take issue with
an ISP with, however, is the ef-
ficiency with which the proxies
operate. They should not have
a negative effect on the speed
with which allowable content
gets through.
6. Facilities required
The list on our SmartBuyer
form is, believe us, quite short
compared to all the facilities
which networking vendors
promise are do-able on the In-
ternet. From our survey of the
region’s ISPs, however, these
are the most easily available. If
any of them sound particular-
ly attractive to you, ask your
shortlist of ISPs whether they
can make it immediately avail-
able upon your signing up.
For dial up users who want
their ISP to maintain their user
account and mailbox, “ask
how much spool space there is
for the number of users who
can receive email at your ad-
dress. The spool space is very
important because it de-
t e rm ine s how mu ch
content your mailbox
will hold before reject-
ing new messages.”
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SB.May 3/4/2000 16:39 Page 9

■ MAY SMART BUYER

NET CONNECTIONS

S B : W H AT INTERNET CONNECTION?
FOR THE ATTENTION OF: FROM:
Contact ..................................................................................................................................... Contact .....................................................................................................................................
Company ..................................................................................................................................... Company .....................................................................................................................................
Tel ........................................................................ Fax............................................................... Tel ........................................................................ Fax ..............................................................

This is: ❑ A request for a quotation ❑ An official order, reference Signed

(see exact specifications below)
........................................................ ........................................................

LOCATION
Sole ISP Multiple ISPs
■ Kuwait ■ Oman ■ Bahrain ■ Morocco
■ Qatar ■ United Arab Emirates ■ Egypt ■ Palestine
■ Jordan ■ Saudi Arabia
■ Lebanon

1. AVAILABILITY OF ACCESS/RELIABILITY OF CONNECTION 3. COST

Number of users per modem____________________ Estimated usage level: _________ hours per month
■ Metered
■ Mesh ■ Fixed
■ Hub Billing ____________________________________________
■ Ring Contract Cancellation _______________________________
■ Refund for failures
2. PERFORMANCE/SPEED
Dial up access via analogue modems (28.8Kbps to 56Kbps)
4. TECHNICAL SUPPORT
■ Single User ■ Installation
■ Multi-user ■ Responsibility limits
■ Service response times guaranteed? ________
Dial up access through ISDN (64Kbps to 56Kbps) ■ Disaster recovery
■ Single User ■ Help desk __________
■ Multi-user
5 SECURITY
■ Security audits
Permanent Connection/Dedicated Access
■ How are shared servers are partitioned
■ Frame Relay (64Kbps to 2.0Mbps) ■ Firewalls
■ ATM (1.544Mbps to 6.2Mbps although the 25Mbps to ■ Types of authentication supported
155Mbps is typical) ■ Types of encryption supported
■ Leased Line (1.544Mbps to 45Mbps)
6. INTERFACES
■ Email
xDSL (64Kbps to 52Mbps) ■ Web browsing
■ Asymetric DSL (ADSL) ■ Search engines
■ Single line DSL (SDSL) ■ FTP/downloads
■ High Data Rate DSL (HDSL) ■ Newsgroups
■ IRC live chat
■ Very High Data Rate DSL (VDSL)
■ Conferencing
■ Video conferencing
■ Cable
■ Telephony
■ Wireless ■ Buying goods and services

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NET CONNECTIONS

CONNECTION
COMPARISON
Analog Dial-Up Switched 56 X.25 Point-to-Point Frame Relay
Leased Lines

Type Circuit switched, Circuit switched, Packet switched, Point-to-point, pri- Pa cket sw i t ch e d ,
public digital, private public or private vate public or private

Bandwidth 64 Kbps voice 9.6-
28.8 Kbps data (14.4
Kbps typical)
56 Kbps data 56 Kbps data T1/E1: 1.544 Mbps 64 Kbps-1.544 Mbps
d ata (N A) ; 2. 048 data
Mbps data (Europe)
T3/E3: 45 Mbps (NA);
34 Mbps (Europe)

Applications Voice and data on Voice and data on Protocol for termi- High speed voice and Optimised for data
separate lines separate lines nal-to-host data transmission for d ata tra n s m i s s i o n
t ra n saction based Point-to-point envi-
e nv i ronment apps ronments
and Internet access

# of Sites for Cost- Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Few Private leased line
Effectiveness replacement; cost
effective for fewer
fixed sites

Strengths Wide ava i l a b i l i t y,
any- t o -a ny connec-
tivity, low cost
Wide ava i l a b i l i t y,
any-to-any connec-
t i v i t y, m o de ra t e
cost, uses standard
telephone numbers,
interoperates with
ISDN
Wide ava i l a b i l i t y,
efficient for bursty
t ra ffic, any- t o -a ny
connectivity, auto-
m atic error detec-
tion and correction,
security, standard-
ised protocols
High speed; high de- High speed, low la-
g ree o f m ana ge- t e n cy, bandwidth-
ment, reliability and o n - demand, easy
security; standard- s c a l a b i l i t y, st a n-
ised; direct connec- dardised protocols,
tions to Internet point-to-point con-
nectivity

Weaknesses Limited bandwidth,
no eff i c i e n cy gain
supporting burst y
v e rsus continuous
traffic, lacks multi-
v en do r ma na ge -
ment
Data only, limited
bandwidth relative
t o I S D N, s er v ic e
p rov i d e rs d e- e m-
ph a sis i ng i t, r e-
q u i res C S U / D S U
equipment
Limited bandwidth
since error detection
l i m i ts speeds, in-
creases cost; mar-
ginal for LAN inter-
connection
Fully meshed topolo- Expensive (compared
gies very expensive to ISDN), requires a
dedicated access line,
not widely deployed
in capabilities Eu-
rope, expensive and
complicated to make
moves and changes

Pricing Elements Installation (varies); Installation (varies); Installation (varies); Installation (varies); Installation (varies);
av e rage mo nthly av e rag e monthly av e rage monthly flat rate based on typically flat rate op-
charge plus usage charge plus usage charge, free usage bandwidth and dis- tions, some carriers
charge charges charge up to ceiling tance offer usage options

38 May 2000 www.DITnet .co.ae ■ www.pcmag -mideast.com

SB.May 3/4/2000 16:40 Page 11

■ MAY SMART BUYER

NET CONNECTIONS

OLD & NEW WORLD

TECHNOLOGIES xDSL Cable SMDS ISDN ATM ( Bro a d b a n d
ISDN)

Type Circuit mode Point-to-point, pri- Cell switched, pub- P a c k e t /c i rc u i t Cell switched, public
vate lic switched, public switching technology

Bandwidth 64 Kbps- 52 Mbps 500 Kbps-30 Mbps Nx56/64 Kbps data 64-128 Kbps for BRI 1.544-2.0 Mbps for PRI
(varies by technolo- data and video (or packet voice or voice, vide o and voice, video and data
gy) v ide o) (1 .5 44 - 4 5 data, 1.544-2.0 Mbps 1.544 Mbps-622 Mbps
Mbps typical) for PRI voice, video voice, video and data
and data (25-155 Mbps typical)

Applications Data dialtone (net ac- Consumer, online In- Optimised for data Optimised for voice, Optimised for switch-
cess, remote LAN ac- ternet and informa- Multip oint env i r- data and video inte- ing voice, data, video
cess), video dialtone tion access, L AN onment grated on a single Sw i t chi ng, multi-
(video conference, connections, video digital line plexing technology
video on demand)

# of Sites for Cost- Unlimited, but local Unlimited C o st effective fo r Unlimited Power users, early
Effectiveness access service only four or more sites a d o p t e rs; initially
LAN only backbone
applications

Strengths B roadband band- High speed, existing High speed, low la- High speed; digital Ve ry hi gh s peed;
width, simultaneous infrastructure, fast t e n cy, any- t o -a ny data, voice, images, data, voice, images,
digital services and call setup c o n n e c t i v i t y, eco- video on integrated video on integrated
lifeline POTS, dedi- nomical for virtual line; fast call setup; line; fast call setup;
cated (not shared), meshed networks, secure, stable digital secure, reliable, sta-
supports multime- standardised proto- connectivity; efficient ble digital connec-
dia service cols, easy to make for bursty traffic; stan- tivity; efficient fo r
changes dardised protocols bursty traffic

Weaknesses Standards and infra- D ev e l o p m e n t a l Not widely used in Not yet ubiquitous, Not yet widely avail-
structure still under stage only, voice on NA, Europe or Pacif- tariff rates inconsis- able; standards details
d evelopment, ser- separate line, band- ic Rim tent, can be compli- still under dev e l ’ t ,
vice area distance width split among cated to install and products expensive,
limitations, degree users with no fire- configure proprietary products
of data tra n s p o r t w al l ca p ab il it y, h ave multi-v e n d o r
symmetry varies m o st l y on e -w ay compatibility problems
transmission (lack of standards)

Pricing Elements TBD Installation (varies); Installation (varies); Installation (varies); C u st o m e r-b y - c u s-
av e rage mont hly usage and flat-rate av e rag e monthly tomer basis
charge plus usage options charge plus usage charge
charge (varies)

source: 3Com

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SB.May 3/4/2000 16:40 Page 12

MAY SMART BUYER ■

NET CONNECTIONS

ISP Web Site Email Telephone Fax

BAHRAIN
Batelco (PTT) www.batelco.com.bh helpdesk@batelco.com.bh +973 881133 +973 531453

Computec www.computec.com.bh computec@computec.com.bh +973 712011 +973 716191

G.C.C Online www.gcc.com.bh info@mail.gcc.com.bh +973 297766 +973 292496

EGYPT
AlexComm www.alexcomm.net sales@alexcomm.net +20 3 484 8200 not available

Bec-Online (British Electronics & Computer Co) www.bec.com.eg bec@bec.com.eg +20 6 638 8888 +20 6 638 8883
Computer Networks Services www.commnet.com.eg CNS@cns.sisnet.net +20 3 484 1570 /3/4 not available

Data Express Group www.dataxprs.com.eg sales@dataxprs.com.eg +20 3 420 4324 +20 3 419 0041

Datum - IDS www.datum.com.eg info@mailer.datum.com.eg +20 2 290 3501 +20 2 290 3527

Egypt Online www.egyptonline.com sales@egyptonline.com +20 2 394 6800 +20 2 395 4999

Egypt for Information Technology www.egyfit.com.eg not available +20 2 338 9151 +20 2 336 8308

Egyptian Information Services www.eis.com.eg info@eis.com.eg +20 2 267 9006 +20 2 267 9005

ETS Net www.etsnet.com.eg support@etsnet.com.eg +20 2 301 5905 +20 2 345 5035

Gega Net www.gega.net info@gega.net +20 2 414 9700 +20 2 414 9800

Infinity www.infinity.com.eg mrkt@infinity.com.eg +20 2 375 3363 +20 2 3753 227

International Electronic Company www.iec.egnet.net InternetSales@iec.egnet.net +20 2 416 1400 +20 2 305 5434

Internet Egypt www.internetegypt.com info@internetegypt.com +20 2 356 2882 +20 2 354 9611

Internet Solutions www.isegypt.com isegypt@isegypt.com +20 2 404 6455 +20 2 403 7182

InTouch Communications Services www.intouch.com sales@intouch.com +20 2 337 6407 +20 2 337 6480

40 May 2000 www.DITnet .co.ae ■ www.pcmag -mideast.com

SB.May 3/4/2000 16:40 Page 13

■ MAY SMART BUYER

NET CONNECTIONS

Analogue/Satellite Dial-up ISDN Leased Comments

Setup: $39 + Monthly subscription: $32 + Usage per Setup: $39 + Monthly Subscrip- 64Kbps: Setup: $528 + Monthly Frame relay available. Monthly sub-
minute: $0.26 tion: $32 + Usage per minute: subscription: $2113; 128Kbps: scription: 8 Kbps: $634; 128Kbps:
$0.74* Setup: $528 + Monthly sub- $3170; 256Kbps: $4756; 1536Kbps:
scription $3170** $13369. Access port monthly charges:
128Kbps: $423; 256Kbps: $740;
1536Kbps: $1902; Installation charges:
$264 to $528. * Does not include the
cost of the ISDN line. ** Does not in-
clude the cost of the local leased line
Available, no advertised price Available, no advertised price Available, no advertised price.
Available, no advertised price Available, no advertised price. Web site only advertises Web hosting
and design services

Unlimited access: 1 month: $28; 3 months: $76; 6 Available, no advertised price 33Kbps and 64Kbps leased lines Internet access through satellite (Za-
months: $143; 1 year: $261. By the hour: 30 hrs: $23; available with no advertised kNet) is available for $440, one-year
60 hrs: $44; 90 hrs: $64. prices unlimited access.

Available, no advertised price Available, no advertised price. Available, no advertised price. Site does not name products and services.
Service duration: 1 month: $35; 3 months: $88; 6 Available, no advertised price. Dial-up services are delivered via satel-
months: $158; 1 year: $210; setup fee: $9 lite.
Unlimited access: 1 month: $22; 3 mo.s (+ 1 mo. free): Available, no advertised price.
$72; 6 mo.s (+ 1 mo. free): $122; 1 year (+ 2 mo.s
free): $235; 18 mo.s (+ 2 mo.s free): $330; 2 years (+ 2
mo.s free): $425. By the hour, for a year: 30 hrs: $23;
90 hrs: $64; 180 hrs: $111. Installation is optional: $15
Dial-up service via satellite: 1 month: $26; 3 mo.s: $47; Available, no advertised price.
6 mo.s (+ 1 mo. free): $143; 1 year (+ 2 mo.s free): $264
Unlimited access via satellite: 3 months: $102; 6 Depends on the bandwidth and the
months: $176; 1 year: $249 number of IP addresses. 28.Kbps
line: 1 to 5: $3520; 6 to 9: $5426;
10 to 15: $6453; 64Kbps line: 1 to
15: $10266; 15 to 36: $12320;
128Kbps line: 15 to 36: $22175. Ex-
tra IP: $79 each. Setup: $293.
Individual subscription: 3 months: $73; 6 mo.s: $132; 1 Sub-leased 64Kbps line available,
yr: $235. Organisation Subs: Class A: $1466; Class B: $586. no advertised price
Available, no advertised price 28.8Kbps analogue leased line
and 64Kbps digital leased line
available, no advertised prices.
28.8Kbps, 33.6Kbps and 56Kbps (56Kflex) lines avail- 56Kbps line, no advertised price Yearly dial-up account: LE 800 al-
able, no advertised price. though quoted price does not say for
which bandwidth. Frame relay is
available, no advertised price.
Hourly rates: 20: $13; 40: $24; 180: $59; 200: $97; 300: $129. Available, no advertised price. 28.8Kbps analogue line av. Digital
Monthly rates: 1 month: $31; 3 mo.s: $81; 6 mo.s: $145; lines: 64Kbps, 128Kbps, 256Kbps,
1 yr: $257. Corporate Solution: $176 monthly flat fee 512Kbps, no advertised prices
Tailored packages, prices start from less than $15 per month Available, no advertised price.
Ordinary service: 1 month: $29; 3 months: $70; 6 Depends on the number of IP ad-
months: $126. Satellite services: 1 month: $35; 3 dresses: 1: $3197; 5: $3813; 18:
months: $98; 6 months: $176. $4546. Each add’l IP address: $59.
Hourly rates: 10 hrs in 2 months: $12; 30 hrs in 3 mo.s: Available, no advertised price.
$23; 100 hrs: $73; 200 hrs: $141; 300 hrs: $170. Month-
ly rates: 1 mo: $22; 3 mo.s: $58; 6 mo.s: $116; 1 yr: $230;
18 mo.s: $318. Installation: $22 per visit; registration: $15.
Satellite dial-up monthly rates: 1 month: $26; 3 months:
$70; 6 months: $129; 1 year: $231.
Monthly rates for V.90 56Kbps: 1 mo: $28; 3 mo.s (plus Available, no advertised price.
1 free month): $75; 6 mo.s (plus 1 free mo.): $145; 1
yr (+ 3 mo.s): $260; 18 mo.s (+ 3 free mo.s): $370; 2 yrs
(+ 3 free mo.s): $457; 3 yrs (+ 3 free mo.s): $633.

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SB.May 3/4/2000 16:40 Page 14

MAY SMART BUYER ■

NET CONNECTIONS

ISP Web Site Email Telephone Fax

Link Egypt www.link.com.eg sales@link.com.eg +20 2 336 7710 +20 2 336 4910

MenaNet www.menanet.net business_sales@menanet.net +20 2 416 6200 +20 2 416 6204

Misr for Information Services & Trading www.mist-net.com mist@mist-net.net +20 2 305 2962 +20 2 303 4213
Omega Computer Center www.omega-eg.com info@omega-eg.com +20 2 5732 4405 +20 2 5735 4407
PACC www.pacc.com.eg a.morsi@pacc.com.eg +20 2 345 5951 +20 2 303 4359

Purenet www.purenet.com.eg sales@purenet.com.eg +20 2 573 3646 +20 2 568 7292

Soficom www.soficom.com.eg sales@soficom.com.eg +20 2 342 1954 +20 2 342 1951

StarNet www.starnet.com.eg sales@starnet.com.eg +20 2 395 4440/1/2/3 not available

Techno Mina Communications www.tecmina.com.eg sales@tecmina.com +20 3 489 1122 +20 3 489 1133

Way Out www.wayout.net info@wayout.net +20 2 302 7922 +20 2 304 6470
JORDAN
Firstnet www.firstnet.com.jo info@firstnet.com.jo +962 6 569 3801 +962 6 560 5291
Global-One www.go.com.jo sales@go.com.jo +962 6 569 7777 +962 6 569 7111

International Data Exchange (Index) www.index.com.jo info@sales.index.com.jo +962 6 551 5333 +962 6 551 5999

JoinNet www.joinnet.com.jo info@joinnet.com.jo +962 6 567 1118 +962 6 566 1141

Middle East Communications Corporation www.mec.com.jo webmastr@mec.com.jo +962 6 560 5606 +962 6 566 3722

KUWAIT
Gulfnet Kuwait www.kuwait.net info@kuwait.net +965 242 6728 +965 241 3523

Kuwait Electronic Messaging Service (KEMS) www.moc.kw sales@ncc.moc.kw +965 244 3800 +965 244 3807
Surfshop Inc. www.globalnet-center.com sales@globalnet-center.com +965 241 0001 +965 246 0001
OMAN
General Telecommunication Organisation (PTT) www.gto.net.om admin@gto.net.om +968 631554 +968 695482

...NEXT MONTH: SAUDI ARABIA, UAE, LEBANON, PALESTINE, QATAR, YEMEN...

42 May 2000 www.DITnet .co.ae ■ www.pcmag -mideast.com
SB.May 3/4/2000 16:41 Page 15
Analogue/Satellite Dial-up ISDN
Monthly rates: 1 month: $23; 3 months: $64; 6 months:
$123; 12 months: $234; 18 months: $322
Lots of flat and metered rates available
Available, no advertised price
Available, no advertised price
Single user monthly rates: 1 month: $32; 3 months: $88;
6 months: $161; 1 year: $293
10 hours: $12; 3 months: $66 ; 6 months: $125; 1 year:
$233. No sign up fees.
By the hour: 20 hrs. in 2 months: $19; 80 hrs. in 6
months: $65; 150 hrs. in 12 months: $164. Unlimited
access: 1 month: $26; 3 months: $66; 6 months: $125;
12 months: $235; 18 months: $323
Available, no advertised price
Unlimited access: 1 month, $29; 3 months: $84, 6
months $163, 9 months: $240, 15 months: $308. Light
surf: $51 one time payment and $0.51 per hour used.
Available, no advertised price
Available, no advertised price
Monthly subscriptions, where additional time is charged
at $0.07 per minute: Silver: $31; Gold: $45; Platinum:
$77; Student: $27. Yearly subscription where addi-
tional time is charged at $0.05 per minute: Silver:
$320; Gold: $454; Platinum: $791; Student: $252.
Unlimited access: 1 month: $63; 6 months: $353; 1 year:
$656. Connection fee: $28.
Available, no advertised price
Available, no advertised price
Total number of hours per month: 30 hrs: $33; 120 hrs:
$82; 130 hrs: $99; 300 hrs: $13. 24 hours per day: $179.
Available, no advertised price
Available, no advertised price
Hourly rates, with 1 month expiry: 10 hours: $12.9; 100
hours: $65.
...NEXT MONTH: SAUDI ARABIA, UAE, LEBANON, PALESTINE, QATAR, YEMEN...
www.DITnet .co.ae ■ www.pcmag -mideast.com
NET CONNECTIONS
Available, no advertised price.
Unlimited access: 64Kbps with 2
email addresses: JD 550 per month;
128Kbps with 3 email addresses: JD
950 per month
Available, no advertised price.
■ MAY SMART BUYER
Leased Comments
28.8Kbps line available, no ad-
vertised price
Different packages available IDSL available, no advertised price. Frame
relay is available, no advertised price.
Available, no advertised price.
5 users: $2640; 10 users: $4986;
15 users: $6746. Setup fee: $293
These options are available: 28.8Kbps
for average traffic on less than 25
PCs, 64Kbps for avg traffic on 25 to
50 PCs, 128Kbps for avg traffic on 50
to 100 PCs. Prices not advertised.
Available, no advertised price
1 PC, 1 yr: $3241. 1 PC at a time from
multiple PCs connected through a
PBX for 1 yr: $3241. 5 PCs, 1 yr: $3890.
Router to router allowing multiple
PCs at the same time (minimum 5
PCs): $733 per yr for leased line plus
$598 for Internet service per IP per yr.
Available, no advertised price.
Available, no advertised price.
Available, no advertised price.
Available, no advertised price.
Available, no advertised price.
Available, no advertised price. Remote LAN access and frame relay are
available, no advertised price
Dedicated line for standalone
PC with 5 free email address-
es: $3263/yr. Dedicated line
for network with 5 free email
addresses: $718/month.
Available, no advertised price.
Monthly fee for 128Kbps dedicated
line: $3376 plus installation fee of
$779. Commercial leased line access
for educational, medical, social and
youth sectors get a 30% discount
and a choice of variable bandwidth
speeds from 64Kbps to 2048Kbps.
May 2000 43