Posted by djole89
I just want to say hallo to all egyptians. I was in Hurghada a couple years ago and it was splendid! You are great people! The Red Sea is absolutely amazing, and so is the Nile. I must say, you are very lucky to live in such a beautiful land filled with all sorts of contrasts. I also entered Kephren's pyramid, and the feeling was unspeakable!
I would like to visit Egypt yet several times.
Lots of greetings from SErbia!!!!
Cheers!
Posted by mahora
@mustafabay,
yyyyyyyyyes it is, i can't seem to stop amazing my 6600 friends with the my feature-packed k700.
@djordje1yu
so glad u enjoyed ur visit to Egypt, hope i could drop by to Serbia one day... how is it compared to Egypt?
Posted by mahora
And here is my first post from my k700
Posted by mahora
Testing
Posted by mustafabay
@ mahora
It doesn't say This Message was posted from a K700i so are you sure you really posted from your phone
@djordj
And we have one of the most polluted capitals in the world. I think only Mexico City can beat Cairo.
And the pyramid was nice, I would agree. I'm happy your not clausterphobic
@mahora
Can you believe our F***ing gouverment is considering making the third network CDMA. And they want the operator to offer 2G and 3G because egyptians won't rush towards towards 3G emediatly. If we get CDMA we're supposed to live with locked crappy motorolas and samsungs, duh, nokia and se and siemens don't really make CDMA phones. This stuff on the new network was in Al-Ahram on thursday, with the ministers mustashar talking. Is he a darn idiot? And he also spoke about the third generation of CDMA gave higher data speeds. Now everyone like him should know that 3G = UMTS = W-CDMA but I think he ment EV-DO for CDMA which is syupid if they are going to have 3G. He thinks a good reason for CDMA is coverage can be done at a lower cost than GSM but what he doesn't seem to realise that the company is going to have to supply its own handsets for its users and offer contracts and subsidize the handsets, which would mean quite a financial strain for the new company. And GSM does have an alternative, EDGE, but still if your getting 3G why bother. I was quite optimistic with Dr.Nazif's gouvernment but if they do go ahead with a CDMA network I'll be sorry to say he left his minesty to an idiot. I think one thing is that only a company run by an idiot would start a CDMA network in Egypt.
Posted by mustafabay
I just got my phone back from service and too bad didn't notice before I left because there is a smudge in the middle of my screen on the inside, and I had taken it in for cleaning. They changed the joystick which I don't think was nessasary at least it does feel better.
Posted by mahora
@mustafabay,
I too noticed that it was not stated that "this sms was sent using a k700i", and I too wondered why, but may be it happened because I'm using an internet APN, not a WAP APN, but that's only my guess.
one more thing i'm also sure of, it is that the phone i bought does look like the one in the photos posted on the interent about the k700i
As for the 3rd operator, I too agree that CDMA, no matter what generation is to be deployed, is not going to be conformant with the whole area of the Middel East, since the Middle East follows Europe's footstep's in deploying mailny GSM, so CDMA is gonna be out of trend and is going to cause a lot of conformity problems.
[ This Message was edited by: mahora on 2005-04-14 08:46 ]
Posted by mustafabay
Sagem released the My X-8 but they didn't post the price in their add. And I mean wow it's even out before 6230i and it's a better phone.
Posted by mahora
Wow you read my mind. Out of curiousity, I took MultiMedia Mega stores number to ask about its price, but haven't had the time to do so yet. I even thought of buying that phone for a while, but then gave the idea up because its too bulky, in spite of the high quality screen & the CCD camera (same as the one in S700). But for now I'm more than satisfied with my lovely K700
And Sagem is way better compared to the 6230i, whether, screen, or camera-wise. Just look at the silly small square on the 6230i that Nokia wants people to mistake for a screen. When will Nokia wake up? probably on its long way DOWN.
_________________
mahora
[ This Message was edited by: mahora on 2005-04-18 23:55 ]
Posted by coolapostle
Greetings from Nigeria! We got quite a few Fixed Wireless Access operators using CDMA here. Over 10 in full operations too. 4 GSM networks. But, it seems U Guys are itching for 3G...
Posted by mahora
@coolapostle
Hi there! I know Nigeria is one of the fastest growing african countries in terms of mobile telecom, with such a large population that almost exceeds that of Egypt. One question though, how is fixed wireless implemented in Nigeria, in terms to similarities and differences from GSM?
Posted by mustafabay
mahora
You've got it wrong. Nigeria has at least 50 million more poeople than Egypt.
@coolapostle
Telecom Egypt has been using CDMA to cover some places for fixed lines but we definaitely don't want mobile CDMA. I don't see any rush for 3G, all I wish is that they would make the data cheaper, all the concentrate on is making calls slightly cheaper, we have a duopoly afterall.
@mahora again
I know the K700 is a lot better than my T630 in signal strength, the point I'd really like to know is compared to a sagem would it have any chance?
I'm in Helwan engineering and the coverage there is weird. In the street all phones struggle for a signal and inside the facaulty, some places you'll get full signal and others you can't even get SOS, I'm going to be stuck there for 3 more years and I might as well get a sagem if it can give me a strong signal.
I went to a cinema recently with my friend and inside I had zero bars, he had a trium Eclipse and he SOMETIMES dropped to 4 bars only
Posted by sphinx8
Salamat ya gama3a! Wow this is great to finally see a place where we can chat about mobiles in egypt. I too am thinking about the k700i for egypt being that I don't live there currently but want a phone that will also be good for egypt reception that is not necessarily nokia. I am debating between t630,k500, and k700. The only thing about the k700 is the battery problem I hear about that can be fixed with the firmware upgrade.
Posted by Oogamous
Greetings to all in the Egyptian Forum...I am from Mumbai.. I had visited Egypt last December... had a great time...Had Stayed in the Zamalek Area...
Took a Nile Cruise, enjoyed the belly dancing, Visited the pyramids at Giza and Saqquara, saw the HUGELY Humongous Egytian Museum...And Shopped at the Khan Al Khalili Market...Basically did most of the things a tourist visiting Egypt for the first time would do...
Was on mobinil while roaming... Cairo city was very much like Bombay in appearance except that everything is written in arabic..
Had a wonderful week there, except we got fooled by the guides at the pyramids, and were helped by the tourist police...but that's part of the experience... So once again, a big HI to all of u..
Posted by mustafabay
@sphinx8
Yeah lots of salams. I own a T630 and as long a Kxxx is an option I'd get it over the T630 anyday. K700 doesn't have a bad battery. People just play with their phone a lot more and the battery not lasting very long is something that is bound to happen. Hey, any phone with a colour screen probably can't last more than a day with tons of usage.
@Oogamous
I happy you were happy here. So would Cairo be bigger or Mumbai?
Posted by Oogamous
Well, that's hard to say. I had been only to selected places in cairo. So can't really compare which is larger. But cairo certainly is busier And more chaotic in terms of traffic and movement of the people residing there. I felt mumbai is more organised in that aspect And maybe cleaner too, but that's just what my perception was in the short while i was there.
Posted by sphinx8
Thanks Mustafa. I was kind of leaning toward either the k500 or k700 but was worried that they had too many bugs and the battery issues, but I would have settled for a t630 if I got a negative response. I think I would just go with the K700 since I think it has more memory and bluetooth compared to the k500. So how is your t630 reception there in egypt?
Posted by americany13
I'm egyptian living in USA, NJ.........Movied here after highschool (EBS) in alexandria, Ahmed el-americany..............if anyone in egypt needs a celly I can get in and send it, under only one condition IT HAS TO BE SE!!!!
ASHTA YA NASS!!!
PROAD OWNER OF T68I, T610, T636, P900, P910I, T300
Posted by mahora
Hi everybody,
So glad to find so much activity after being gone only for a few days. A warm welcome to all visitors and contributors, in order of appearance: sphinx8, Oogamous, and last but not least americany13.
@mustafabay
Sorry I couldn't answer your concern about the k7 in time, but I've been away for a while. The signal strength on the k7 is good, comparable to that on Nokia phones. However, as you must know, french phones, i.e., Alacatel and Sagem are the best in the area of signal strength and reception. I've tried Alacatel and Sagem some years ago, and they were great in that respect. However, the rest of the package was not that great, I mean functionality-wise. Sagem is a good and cheap solution, yet its not that good as far as build quality is concerned, at least it wasn't when I used it something like 3 years ago when it first entered the Egyptian market. I guess you'll have to ask someone who's using new handsets like my-x7 and have a look at the x8, which had very good reviews on the internet.
One more thing though. With the k7, the whole package is great, just great. This phone is capable of all that a Nokia can do and much more, yet in a more elegant and appealing appearance. However I feel it's not fair to compare the k7 to a Nokia, since you must know how overrated Nokias are. So the point is you shouldn't base your choice on one factor; look at the bigger pictutre, that's what I did when I thought of the k7, and thank God it was up to my expectations.
One good solution to your reception problem is to have the Clip+ service activated for you. It's available for both post and pre paid subscribers of Mobinil network (I have this hunch that you are a Mobinil subscriber). It's a good solution for the reception problem in Helwan and a quite cheap one too.
[ This Message was edited by: mahora on 2005-04-25 08:00 ]
Posted by mustafabay
@Sphinx
I must say T630 suffers in some places, and the K series has better signal strength.
@ americany
You think we'd go for a phone from the US? Then why do we have Dubai
T636 doesn't work in Egypt. It doesn't ave 900 MHz band
@mahora
I don't know what clip+ is, so what is it?
I don't know why you are guessing what network I am on because you only have 50 % chance of being right. And I have to break it to you I'm on Vodafone.
Posted by americany13
Ashta ya mustafa, its ok! Get from where every you want, Was just trying to help.
Is there 3G in egypt yet?
still if you need anything else let me know. SALAM ya MAN
Posted by americany13
its good to see SE users in Egypt, All cell phones requested from me in 2004 were the Nokia 6600 for some stupid reason, I personally think that phone is a handycap.
Posted by mustafabay
Where ever there is SE there's bound to be SE users. And now almost everyone has a 6600 even the bawabeen do. And I prefer to think of it as ISHTAH . Mashy ya 3am.
Posted by sphinx8
I have to say that you guys have been helpful and it is great to talk to you. I have to also admit that I was thinking of the Nokia 6600 first:) I figured that that was very popular in egypt and now al bawabeen kaman. LOL I just loved the reviews for the K500 and K700 and figured the K700 just had the most options which made it more appealing. I'm glad the reception is better now with the K700 than the T630. I think I'm going with the K700! Since you guys have been so helpful I have another question. Is there really any difference between Mobinil and Vodafone phone service? Wanting to open a line when I get to egypt and I did some research and seems that there really wasn't too much difference in options from a service standpoint. Prices probably differ though.
Posted by mahora
@mustafabay
Weird that you are on Vodafone, how come then that you have an interest in French phones? Mobinil network equipment is mainly french, since Alcatel is the major network equipement provider (along, but to a less extent, with Motorola) hence come the point that there is a kind of compatibility between network components and the end-user's handset that kind of enhance handset performance, along of course with the fact that French phones are REALLY distinguishable in terms of reception. If you remember, Mobinil was the first to introduce and sponsor the sales of Sagem phones in Egypt, and this was no coincidene.
As for the 6600, yes it has become so common that having one has become of no stance at all. Unfortunately a lot of people buy mobiles out of a sense of just following the herd, not because of the functionality and features. They simply follow the herd because they "heard" that this or that mobile is "good". They don't do the proper research, nor they feel the need for it.
As for Clip+, it's a service that allows you to have sms sent to you with all the numbers that tried to call you while you were out of reach. It is activated automatically when the phone is off or out of network coverage. Another additional great feature about it is that you can activate it while your phone is within network coverage, the caller hears that you are OOR, while you get an instant sms telling u of the number that tried to call. All that for 10 l.e. per month
@sphinx8
I guess there is no much difference between Mobinil and Vodafone, whether in terms of service, coverage, or even prices, they're both almost identical.
As for your choice of the k7, I know you won't regret it, as this phone will certainly meet your expectations as it did mine.
[ This Message was edited by: mahora on 2005-04-26 08:38 ]
Posted by sphinx8
thankx mahora. I know, I can't wait to get my hands on that k700. That's what I thought regarding the mobinil and vodaphone that there is no difference. Kind of silly that there are two different companies but no real advantages to one or the other!
Posted by mahora
@sphinx8
Always welcome. Just remembered one useful tip. Mobinil is making that contest for roamers. If u make calls that equal 5 minutes or more while roaming, you can enter a draw for a car, a mini cooper 2005. Hope you win!
[ This Message was edited by: mahora on 2005-04-26 08:04 ]
Posted by mustafabay
Vodafone has Free voicemail, I use that instead. I don't think that which company provided the network infrastructure affects the quality of reception. And with your logic Mobinil should've promoted Alcatel not Sagem. And Sagem does make a few phones exclusively for Vodafone. And as I don't know but am only guessing, I would think that Ericsson would have set up Vodafone's network, I could be wrong of course.
I prefer Voda over Mobinil, but my dream is that UAE ETISALAT will get our next network license. If they do, I promise to be one of the first 500 subscribers
Posted by mahora
Don't forget that your caller pays every time they call and you don't answer which is inconvenient for some people
. As for promoting brands, Mobinil doesn't need to promote Alcatel, because they're already very good partners ever since Mobinil started. Sagem was just an example of the concept that I wanted to demonstrate to you.
Network infrastructure does affect the quality of reception. For example, in the k7 manual it is stated that proximity to BTS stations can affect both qulaity and the handset's ability to receive network signal, meaning that the farther the BTS is, the more power is consumed for the handset to get the signal to allow EFR voice qulaity and good data transfer rates. But you know what, Ericsson is the major network component provider for vodaEgypt. Weird though, your t630 should work the same way a Sagem or an Alcatel does on Mobinil network; VodaEgypt must be really exhausted after the couple of outages that recently rocked it
[ This Message was edited by: mahora on 2005-04-26 12:26 ]
Posted by mahora
One good advantage if Etisalat comes to Egypt is that they deploy UMTS, not CDMA, which offers better compatibility with GSM's 2.5G currently available in Egypt.
I have this weird hunch that Al Walid Ben Talal is going to be the one to win the 3rd mobile license in Egypt. He tried to get the 2nd license in his home country Saudi Arabia, but Etisalat snapped it from him. Any way one major attraction for Etisalat in the Egyptian market is that this will give a direct way of competing with OT, this time in its home playground, Egypt.
Posted by mustafabay
What outages?
Anyways BOTH networks are far from perfect. What I really want is cheaper GPRS.
Posted by sphinx8
Maybe I miss understood but you said on Vodafone missed calls are charged to the caller? Either way I don't think you really could go wrong with either one but I do agree if there is more competition in egypt as you guys are discussing it probably would be a good thing. Mahora, that Cooper sure would be nice to have in time for the summer:)
Posted by mustafabay
No, missed calls don't get charged. A caller only gets charged when the voicemail service answers.
Posted by mahora
What outages! come on man! surely you haven't tried to make calls on 06-04-2005. Vod had a major outage on that day. their inter-switch links were down, meaning simply that people couldn't make or receive calls. You know what the first solution that came to the minds of Vod geniuses was? shut down the gateway connecting them to the other network, making it look like it's the other network's fault, or just trying to create the confusion necessary to make it look so. So low, right?
It was all over the telecom sections of the newspapers till mid April. Any way since I agree with you that the 2 networks are rather the same in almost everything, I could also tell u about the outages of the other network too
I think both companies don't deserve bias. At least not just yet.
Posted by mustafabay
@mahora
Are you a reporter? I can think of a guy in Al-Ahram that has a tech column in the weekly edition that almost always publishes news a bout SE. He even reported the rob-1 less than a week from its announcement.
Posted by mahora
@mustafabay
Let's just say that a I'm a little bit more than "interested" in telecom
Posted by mahora
@mustafabay
Let's just say that a I'm a little bit more than "interested" in telecom
Posted by mahora
@mustafabay
Let's just say that a I'm a little bit more than "interested" in telecom
_________________
mahora
WOW, post one reply and get another 2 for free......
[ This Message was edited by: mahora on 2005-04-28 07:57 ]
Posted by mustafabay
@mahora
OOOOOOOh! So you're a telecom historian
no wonder you know network outage dates
Posted by mahora
@mustafabay
Nice job, telecom historian... nice combination... well I know you're trying to drag me into giving out more info... but vague is the name of the game... By the way what's your engineering major? electricity? no wonder you had no clue about the outage
_________________
mahora
[ This Message was edited by: mahora on 2005-04-28 12:10 ]
Posted by mustafabay
Comunications, so does that make it even worse
Actually I've only really read about it in the papers. I hadn't notticed that the network was down but rhen I'm not glued to my phone. And in Helwan most of us don't get a signal anyways. So you tell me how was I supposed to know?
Ok so I'll leave the subject hanging and you'll be a telecom historian in my eyes, unless you're a CEO of Mobinil
Posted by mahora
CEO is Close enough
But then If you were right, you wouldn't be talking to me then, rather to my secreatry
Any way I promise you that if your follow up more closely and your skills improve, I promise you a job after graduation
[ This Message was edited by: mahora on 2005-04-28 13:22 ]
Posted by mustafabay
Well its going to take a while for me to graduate, but thanks for the offer.I hope we both remembers this three years from now
[ This Message was edited by: mustafabay on 2005-04-28 13:35 ]
Posted by mahora
Your skills are improving already
Posted by mustafabay
At least skills don't weigh anything
ie they can expand without me worrying about gaing weight, don't want anyone to missinterpret anything about my skills
And since this is a discussion about Egypt and SE mostly, well the T290 is here.Of course that's for those who don't already know, and is being advertised as the cheapest colour phone. LE515, I haven't even seen an Alcatel at that price :-0
All I want is SE get its prices down closer to the worldwide average. Some people say the P910 is around $600 and for us its LE4444, UMM LE500 too much?
[ This Message was edited by: mustafabay on 2005-04-28 17:56 ]
Posted by mustafabay
GRRRRR!
Vodafone's GPRS has been down for 4 days now, or at least I think so. 4 days is how long I haven't been able to use wap and I don't see any reason why I shouldn't. The only thing I'd like to know is if the blue triangle indicating GPRS depends on the network or does it just depend on whether GPRS is enabled on the phone?
Posted by mustafabay
It seems that some people come here when they are at work
Posted by mustafabay
And another frustration. Deltek is advertising Siemens like crazy and cutting its prices. Can't they do that for brand less likely to go out of business? SX1 cheaper than K700 now that's crap. I know they want SX1 to stay equal to 6600 in price but keep K700 more expensive, now that's something I can't understand. Although that might be good news that SE is selling well and they see no reason to drop prices but still. And where is the K300? I guess its going to sell for LE 930-970 to be close to the C65 but where is it? And why did they only cut LE70 off the K500 price, K500 shoud be selling for LE 1350 max. SE might be selling great, but if they don't cut prices at the right time this year's models like K750 will be too expensive and SE sales will go down, and I can't see the logic in that.
Posted by mahora
The prices of the k7 in Egypt took the first fall, but only after its prices were declining worldwide (something like 10-14 days after). I was following up closely on it, and the prices in Egypt only dropped after a little while from dropping worldwide. As for the k5, it's next in the list of falls, but what made it take a little longer is that the k3 shipping was somewhat delayed (started mid-March, meaning it'll be here in Egypt by mid-May). By the way Q1 results for SE profits were below expectations.
Deltek doesn't advertise Siemens (or SE for that matter) on their own, they just carry out the instructions of Siemens International.
Siemens International is trying like hell to keep its mobile division afloat. They are trying to do that both horizontally and vertically. Horizontally means gaining more market share. One effective startegy of doing that is to cut dwon prices. Vertical growth means maximizing profits (Siemens mobile division has been recording losses for several years now). Siemens plans to do that by selling more low-end handsets like crazy (these sets will be available by Q3) It is even rumored that Siemens mobile division is to be sold to Motorola. That's a last resort for them in case all above mentioned strategies fail.
And you know what, I only come here when I am at work. How else can I offer you a job, unless I was "in the business". It's a simple mathematical deduction based upon elementary deductive logic priciples. Your so-called skills score a minus this time.
Posted by mustafabay
So how many point do I need to get the job? And how many do I have? Delvek advertise on their own. How else could it be, when LG hasn't had an ad for months and LG depends on advertising like hell to sell its crappy phones. And Deltek is stupid in other ways too. In ads for moto they give an adress in Madeenit Nasr, and there is only SE and LG there. How stupid can they get?