Posted By : Najib

I posted about the “Najat” app back in January and it was finally launched today. The app was launched by Alfa as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility strategy and is aimed at helping the Lebanese Red Cross locate people who call them for emergencies and is called “Najat” after Najat Waked, a loving mother who passed away few days ago on her way to the hospital as her family wasn’t able to guide the ambulance driver properly to their house. Najat could have been saved if she had made it 3 minutes earlier to the hospital.

Once you download the app, you are required to register your address (two addresses at the most) along with two phone numbers in addition to his personal number. This will help the Lebanese Red Cross Central Operations room to locate the address easily when receiving a call on its hotline 140. Moreover, all the Red Cross ambulances were supposedly equipped on an earlier stage with free navigation systems and 3G enabled tablets.

This is a great initiative and a much-needed mobile app in a country where we barely have any street names. You can download it for [Android] and [iOS].

Posted By : Najib

One of my friends just moved into his new house and wanted to get a decent internet connection, so he called several companies and chose what he thought was the best plan for him. The internet supplier called him few weeks later and here’s the conversation that took place:

X:Hello

Hi

X: We are contacting you regarding the internet plan you’ve requested. U asked for the 6mb plan right?

Correct

X: Unfortunately ur phone line cannot handle more than 2mb

How come?

X: We r not responsible for that. We just check with Ogero. So which plan do u want? The 4mb or 6mb?

I dont get it. U just told me I can’t have more than 2mb

X: Yes sir but we only offer 4 and 6mb for this plan.

But I can’t use any of them. You just told me that. You want to pay for a speed I can’t use?

X: Of course not but these are the offers we have.

U do realize half of Lebanon can barely get 1 or 2mb right?

X: You should contact Ogero for that. We are not responsible.

Ok I will do and let u know

X: Great so I sign you up for the 4mb plan? Right?

What?

X: I just want to know which plans u r choosing.

Dude Chou ostak? Why would I pay for a connection I can’t use? I ‘ll see what to do and let u know.

X: ok I’ll keep it as 4mb for now.

Whatever. Bye

I am currently signed up at my parents’ place to the 2MB Ogero connection (minimum speed) yet their phone line cannot handle more than 1MB and I’ve been asking for years if we can fix this problem but in vain. The only way to get a decent connection outside Beirut is through a 3G/4G dongle even if it costs more.

Posted By : Najib

[YouTube]

I asked the same question back in August but Ogero was undergoing some maintenance works so I got mixed answers. I’ve experienced slowness on my Ogero connection few times and on my 4G Touch dongle few times as well but otherwise it’s as fast as before. My Alfa 3G/4G data plan is also very quick and the only issues I’ve had were with lines dropping for no reason. This used to happen when 3G was first launched and is now back for some reason.

I think the Telecom Ministry should do a general assessment and let us know what’s happening because it seems the problems are in certain areas or related to specific providers. Did Ogero complete the maintenance work they started? Was the bandwidth increased as needed? What happened to the fiber optic cables? We all deserve to know.

Speedtest from my Ogero 4MB connection

Posted By : Najib

I am a regular reader of LebaneseBlogs and the latest added features just made it better for me as a blogger and a reader. As a blogger, I can now include for example my food posts under the “Food & Health” section instead of having them only under “Society” as that’s how the blog is currently categorized. Moreover, I can edit posts as well on LebaneseBlogs if I need to. As a reader, I am able to sign in with Twitter, Facebook & Google and follow the pages I want (I prefer Follows to Favorites) and like the posts I wish to read later. Added to that, the page looks nicer and loads faster now.

I love the work Mustapha is pulling as LebaneseBlogs is organizing the Lebanese Blogosphere in a user-friendly and smart way and encouraging bloggers to post more!

Check it out [Here].