Wateen WiMax: Hit or Flop?

Category: Technology
Written by: Amend Foster (on April 05, 2008 - 07:47 PM)

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Wateen's WiMax launch was greeted as the world's first countrywide deployment of the new WiMax Technology. An Abu Dhabi group venture got itself into deploying WiMax across Pakistan after their success with Warid Telecom.

Wateen is currently offering broadband DSL and landline telephony to its customers at Rs. 1350 per month for the home user. The catch here is that they take this payment in advance for one whole year (in the form of post dated checks).

I got myself a Wateen connection recently when I got sick and tired of my DSL provider (MaxCom). The Wateen people were at my door within 30 minutes with the Motorola device. The device provides you 4 LAN ports so you don't have to use a switch anymore if you're using two to four PC's at home.

The browsing experience is pleasant, the downloading is great. But Wateen has serious signal problems as they have not yet completed their deployment completely and even a few places in Karachi are not covered.

They term their launch a 'soft launch' to see how WiMax is received in Pakistan and they think the response has been great.

On the critical side, the great response has been a big problem for Wateen. Incomplete deployment and low signal strength have had people complaining about it. They were apparently not prepared for it.

They should have had flawless connectivity atleast in the bigger cities, like Karachi. I believe Wateen is facing the most critical 2 months of its business life in Pakistan as PTCL and Link dot net are aggressively pursuing their WiMax deplyment in the country.

If Wateen fails to raise its standard soon, they will be out of business withing an years time.

On a more positive note, the Wateen help center offers good customer support =)

My internet works great on 3 out of 5 bars on the signal strength meter. I hope it improves to 5 soon.

My advice would be that its just a little too early if you're thinking Wateen.

Happy surfing!

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