I was few meters away from the Netflix keynote that was taking place at CES 2016 when they announced they are finally launching their service globally to over 130 new countries (except China) around the world. The expansion included the Middle East and Lebanon of course. The service actually went live during the keynote which is pretty cool!
Since I’m not in Lebanon right now, I cannot check what’s available but I’ve been told not all the series are available yet. In fact, Netflix mentioned that they will be adding throughout 2016 “31 new and returning original series, two dozen original feature films and documentaries”.
How To Get It?
It’s really quite simple.
– Go to netflix.com
– Choose your plan
– Enter your credit card details during signup. First month is for free so you won’t be billed for now.
– You will probably get an SMS with a small charge, which is an authorization check that you won’t be charged for.
What Are The Plans Available?
The plans are identical to the ones in the US:
– Basic at $7.99: You get to watch on 1 screen and HD is not available.
– Normal at $9.99: You get to watch on two screens at the same time, HD is available.
– Premium at $11.99: This plan will get u Ultra HD content on up to 4 screens simultaneously.
Will it affect my internet usage?
Our internet is still not so good in Lebanon, and the real problem is not only with the speeds but the data caps which are very low. I recently signed up for Ogero’s unlimited 2Mbps service which costs me $50 and the speed is almost stable at around 1.6 1.7Mpbs which should be good enough to stream Netflix videos and TV series.
In terms of consumption, “Watching movies or TV shows on Netflix uses about 1 GB of data per hour for each stream of standard definition video, and up to 3 GB per hour for each stream of HD video”, so it really depends on how frequently you will be using Netflix.
If you look up the data usage settings for your account, you can actually reduce the amount of bandwidth used while watching Netflix by selecting the lowest plan which consumes around 300MB per hour:
Low (0.3 GB per hour)
Medium (SD: 0.7 GB per hour)
High (Best video quality, up to 3 GB per hour for HD and 7 GB per hour for Ultra HD)
Auto (Adjusts automatically to deliver the highest possible quality, based on your current Internet connection speed)
Will NetFlix Be Censoring Any Content?
I don’t have a clear answer for that but as far as I know, Netflix doesn’t censor any content. We will have to see though what will happen if a movie or a TV series that’s on Netflix gets banned in Lebanon.
All in all, I’m still in Vegas so hopefully by next week I will have a more elaborate post on Netflix. Till then, netflix and chill (If your internet connections allows you too)!
They already mentioned NO Disney content will be available except in US and Canada.
Having NetFlix in Lebanon is like buying a Ferrari with a diesel engine.
Enjoy it while in Vegas, meanwhile i will buffer a video waiting for you to be back.
I wonder how Netflix came up with the decision to open In Lebanon. We have a bad internet infrastructure, the speeds and quotas are horrible and the quality of connections are terrible. Its easier and more enjoyable to go out for the movie or grab the DVD for said movie/series. Torrent downloads are also a much better option. The buffering and loading times will be horrible and would make your movie veiwing time all the more frustrating. They shouldn’t have bothered in the first place and thought about the other countries that have better internet connections i.e the rest of the world.
Netflix in lebanon lmao! What a wast of time! ShowBox for android or MovieBox for IOS is the only thing that would makes you satisfied in here with such disgusting internet! P.S I’m in sour and my internet speed ranges between 2Mbps up to 12Mbps with full stability! 71521320 WhatsApp me and I’ll send you guys a screenshot of my internet speed test!
Netflix is now available around the world. I already have a Netflix account I live in Budapest, I just need a BeIN sports account and I’ll let you use my Netflix account in return. Anyone ?
You can try https://www.smartflix.io/ to access the global netflix catalogue. It is free for now but expect it to go paid soon. Tried it and it works flawlessly.
You do know the meaning of Netflix and chill right?
well actually i have a really bad internet in Adonis and buffering videos on youtube with 480p take a lot of time at least 3x the video time but strangely I have the premium netflix account and the HD quality works fine no pauses no stopping for streaming or buffering it is working nonstop. which is very wear and freaking me out lol
Came to Lebanon with an American Netflix account and “My List” shrunk from about 300 to 25. No “Mad Men,” for instance. No problems streaming though, especially at night.