Introduction of WiMAX service in Bangladesh – QUBEE !! Making fun of People’s expectation..

Atlast the WiMAX service is on AIR for the consumers of Bangladesh ( specifically for the people in Gulshan, Dhaka ). It has been more than a year several companies got WiMAX operator license in Bangladesh. People of Bangladesh has been biting nails and waiting for a superspeed connectivity. Well they have it now. But is it like what people expected? Augere Wireless Broadband started providing their service with the name: QUBEE. I have gone through their website and I was seriously disappointed with the packages that were there in their website.

People were expecting for a super fast connectivity with no restriction of internet usage.

Source: QUBEE Website

Do you really think these two packages can penetrate the ISP market in Bangladesh (or perhaps in Dhaka)? Are we not familiar with similar services already? Citycell launched Mobile highspeed Internet service months ago. Let’s look at their package:

Source: Citycell Website
Source: Citycell Website

Are the Qubee packages any special different from the Citycell’s offer? If mobility is the key issue I will say Citycell will be a better choice here due to their wide coverage area.  Otherwise there are many ISPs providing bandwidth to home/corporate users which are much cheap compared to Qubee.

Now let’s do some math. 1 mbps = 1/8 mBps. That is, in 1 minute you’ll be able to download 60/8 = 7.5 Mega Bytes. In 1 hour : 450 Mega Bytes. In this rate Qubee’s offered 9 GB will take 20 Hours to be consumed. If you download 10 DivX Movies (around 700 MB each) you’ll be able to consume the whole data Volume.  6200 taka data plan consumed in 10 Movie Downloads!! 620 taka per movie!! Really damn smart packages. I know people will say these are corporate bandwidth and are not supposed to be used for movie downloading. Well, what is the basic difference then?

Let’s consider my home Internet connection in home user’s category. I pay 1650 taka to Xnet for a 288 kbps connection. I get 30 KB (yes you are right, it’s Kilo Byte). At this rate I can download 2.6 GB per day and believe me my ISP doesn’t apply any cap on usage. Literally I can download 78 GB in exchange for 1650 taka only. Compare it with what Qubee is offering.

Now let’s consider the corporate needs. Corporate offices need seemless minimum guaranteed bandwidth for their operations. Now a days renowned ISPs charge around 14 thousand taka for 512 kbps and around 20 thousand taka for 1 mbps connection. That sounds too much compared to Qubee – isn’t it? Noooo… With the 512kbps/1mbps connections from the ISPs you can download in continuous 512kbps/1mbps for the whole month and the ISP is bound to ensure that. Now you can download for 720 hours with these ISPs at 512kbps/1mbps – compared to Qubee’s 20 Hours.

Why is Qubee charging so much!!! is this because of the WiMAX technology?? If that’s the benefit we were talking about WiMAX then I really doubt if it will be accepted by our Internet users or not. If Internet mobility is the issue, then I can say these types of mobile Highspeed internet was already there for quite a long time (ie, Accesstel’s NLOS technology, Grameen Phone’s 236 kbps Internet and Citycell’s 512 kbps Internet). If a new company launches its services with a new technology – A Buzz is required to penetrate the existing market. People will not accept this rubbish offer just to enjoy a new technology. Because when we buy or pay for anything we actually buy the services of what we are buying. Service is the important issue here. If the new technology doesn’t provide any better service, then either the company hasn’t utilized the technology perfectly or the technology itself is not efficient. But since WiMAX is running in other countries successfully we can say that Qubee’s business plan with WiMAX service is not perfect.

GoodLuck Qubee…

Hasibul Islam

23/10/09

https://hasibul.info/blog

30 thoughts on “Introduction of WiMAX service in Bangladesh – QUBEE !! Making fun of People’s expectation..

  1. you r absolutely right. I’m eagerly waiting 4 this wimax. but now when I see this rubbish traffic plan… I just want to say pack ur bag QUBEE … we already have high speed net …..

  2. we r looking for unlimited download capacity ISP and GP r the best for this…im using GP net since 2007 and its service still fine compare with other ISP in Bangladesh( previously i were using ZIP , they r not soo good, we spent lots of money in ZIP!!! finally they did not give us the connection ) ……..

    I THINK WiMAX( NOT ONLY WiMAX BUT ALL OTHER isp)WILL NOT BE SUCCESS IN BD MARKET UNLESS THEY DONT EXCLUDE DOWNLOAD CAPACITY!!! simple when we impose something forcefully than there must have some fault….see GP’s strategy they offer unlimited internet service with cheap cost..general consumer are benefited by this offer…..by the way hope for the best…

  3. Every body thought WiMAX will bring Internet to more people. I am really disappointed to see the offers from Qubee. It is too expensive. People will not accept it.

  4. Whatever you’ve published here hasib vai that is exactly my thought regarding WiMax internet issue. I’m too disappointed with such offer. I’ve heard through newspapers that we’ll get 128 kbps for 600 taka! Now it sounds like fairy tale! Bangladesh’s business people suck!

  5. its really a stupid thing. if you check the Pakistani website[ http://www.qubee.com.pk/get-qubee/tariffs-residential ] of Qubee you will find the difference.

    I use GP Internet. though speed is pretty low but no DL limit. If some gets 512KB DL speed then within 5 days his/her limit will be over!

    in fact its the problem of the callous govt policy makers’. they gave license with a huge amount money and there is no fixed rule for the price. so, if Qubee wants to get profit out of it they have to raise the amount of the packages.

  6. is this a joke??

    download speed 512kbps..and limit 6 GB? costing?- 3400? :D:D

    so u can watch dvd quality movie smoothly…so if u will watch e dvd quality movie how much u have to spend.do u know det?..ok let c..

    dvd quality movie 800MB(by buffering)

    6GB= 6144MB(1GB=1024MB)=3400
    so for 800MB??
    who much u have to spend…
    =(3400/6144)*800 Taka
    =442.71 taka…

    so do wanna watch e movie from online by using this connection??:D

    so when u download a mp3(5MB) u have to spend=(3400/6144)*5 Taka
    =2.77 taka 😀

    soooooo….isnt a joke?

  7. This is really an informative post. In addition the qualitative differentiation among different packages is just excellent. Thanks Hasib Vai for this post.

  8. There is nothing to be worry man; can you remember there is proverbs “when you are in Roam, behave like roman”? There are some ignored(Eight Passed) busyness guy over there took such kind of decision to earn a lot in short time before any one step forward. That the way the company loses their brand promises, trustworthiness, brand value. The company will be looser in short time. olo

  9. bangla lion koi gelo paper a add dilo 128 kbps in 600tk..oita tao valo cilo…recently BTCl add dise 256kbps in 1200 tk bt modem kinte hobe 4000tk aro charge ace..fak dat..

  10. You guys go and study some business. If they offer 1000 TK then everyone will go for WiMax, but they do not have that kind of service right now. They do not have that man power, technology, tower etc. No company can have these in days. When they will have all of these in few months, they will target middle class and reduce the proce.

    Just remember, how cheap is the cell phone service in bangladeh now. If you think about few years from now…cell phone was provided for rich people only and it was very expensive.

  11. Hello everyone,
    I read this post, quite informative and lots of feedbacks about Qubee. I don’t know what’s the Bangladeshi Taka worth against Pakistani Rupee. In Pakistan Qubee is going to give the tough time to all the WiMAX players because of it’s cheapest rate ever offered in Pakistan by WiMAX players.

    The only reason I understand is license and expenses of any Internet Service Provider in Bangladesh, may be govt. taxes & expenses are too high which company bearing in order to give their services at user end. Everything is involved.

  12. Hasib vi, I couldn’t agree you anymore. You really brought out the actual picture. I think, we as a nation have very luck regarding B/W charging comparing o other countries. It’s not like we are lack of submarine cables or lack of edge/wimax technology. It’s just we don’t get it in a acceptable price like we getting on voice calls.

    Thank you very much for your clear & nice writings!

    rgds//
    Nasir S.

  13. Qubee is a joker..making fun with the pricing as well there is download limitation. They are like city cell when they were first in Bangladesh their Mobile and call charges were really high. Qubee cum up with something that people will really but your connection…the offer that you gave us it really sucks….may be you do not have the capacity to give the user the unlimited internet usage…Change you Strategy Qubee…Or you wont survive in Bangladesh….

  14. it is quite impossible to use wi max….. it is too much expensive…. let say to the wi max “NO”. unless they will not decrease their price

  15. and plus the cache downloaded from websites will be a lot of data basically watching a video on youtube requires a lot of data to be downloaded if one is a heavy surfer its really a nightmare for him keep aside the download. if u ask me its just a plain waste of time this qubee stuff.

  16. Excellent Posts from aware BD Internet users. Bangladesh is a land; bunch of blood suckers, corrupt businessmen and bureaucrats. What more you could expect from them? Pakistan amid all the unrest , they are cruising towards the technological excellence !! And where is Bangladesh? ISPs are into their business, they are not satisfied with 1 time profit of their tariff they get from the customers. they are taking 3-4 times the cost they are paying to BTCL for bandwidth. 512 Kb Dedicated costs 11,000 from BTCL. how many people they’re gonna put into that slot ?? do you expect 10-20?? no way. they will put at least 30-50 people on that slot. QUBEE will not be successful in Bangladesh unless they change their tariff.
    Contact: http://kontactr.com/user/jnathan

  17. They have reduced their prices a little bit. Also Banglalion introduced 9 packages which a bit cheaper than qubee but not that much. But atleast this competition among them will reduce their price in future and also our other fucking ISP will have to reduce their current price too. But I am not usre how long will it take to bring the whole country under their network. As I am in Sylhet I have doubt whether I will have able to use high speed internet by 2011 or not.

    And one other thing is that we cant just blame them for their high price. Our government and their bandwidth price is the main culprit here. Currently 1 mbps cost around 17000 tk if I can remember right, which is too much and very costly compared to other developed country. So these wimax and ISP of our countries dont have too many options.

  18. I live in gulshan ………..and I know about the new packages you have here in Dhaka that qubee is offering …………i already got their connection …………….but the information that you have given here is absolutely incorrect . Qubee is offering these :

    Package Speed Usage Monthly ad. usuge
    Qubee 256 Sky 256 Kbps Sky is the limit Tk. 1,250 –
    Qubee 512 Sky 512 Kbps Sky is the limit* Tk. 2,250 –
    Qubee 1Mb 1 Mbps 20 GB Tk. 5,250 Tk. 0.15/MB

    *Fair Usage Policy is applicable.
    VAT is applicable on all charges
    If you subscribed to Qubee 256 or Qubee 512 package and you are interested to migrate to Sky package, please contact our hotline for details.

    Qubee Modem Tk. 4,000**
    Modem Installation Free
    First month’s fee payable at the time of signup

    **Including six months service/replacement warranty

  19. Dear Everyone…..Qubee now launching 2 new package which they call “SKY PACKAGE”… I THINK THOSE ARE UNLIMITED (BCAZ THEY SAY “SKY IS THE LIMIT”)

    Qubee 256 Sky
    SPEED – 256 Kbps
    USAGE – Sky is the limit*
    MONTHLY – Tk. 1,250

    AND

    Qubee 512 Sky
    SPEED – 512 Kbps
    USAGE – Sky is the limit*
    MONTHLY – Tk. 2,250

    CHECK OUT http://www.qubee.com.bd/get-qubee/products FOR DETAILS.

  20. thats ok. it’s good. sky is the limit. but .. price sucks ..
    We need minimum 30-40 KB/s @ 800 taka including vat . then qubee can
    do business in bangladesh 🙂 .

  21. Thank you guys, You know? I was wholly determined to purchase waimax modem but after getting the information you provided I’ve changed my decision. Really, Most of you were quite informative.

  22. If you look closer it says “Fair Usage Policy is applicable”. Now that means
    ISPs with fair usage policies will ignore over-sized downloading for a month or two, and will then get in touch asking that you curb your usage. If, however, you continue to exceed the limits they are likely to take action.This could take the form of throttling your connection, therefore limiting the amount that can be downloaded; restricting your usage at peak times; charging you for your excess usage; or restricting your access to peer-to-peer sites.

    Now im confirm that qubee thinks people of this country is nothing but fool, otherwise they wouldn’t mention the word “sky” packages with fair usage policy.

  23. One of the qubee employee said, Qubee will be reduce the price soon. They will give 512 kbps speed with unlimited for 1000 tk!!! If its true, then that will be awesome for INTERNET user/lover!

  24. @Mr.Khan, yea these package are unlimited. Qubee 256 Sky SPEED – 256 Kbps(32 KB) USAGE – Sky is the limit* MONTHLY – Tk. 1,250 is good package. But for student we need cheap package, more then these package. (sorry for bad English)

  25. I have to agree with Hasib bhai here… But we must also understand that most probably Qubee had to pay a lot of money under the table to people in high places!!! The people are the ones who are bleeding our country dry. And now Qubee wants to get that back. our corrupt beaurocrats and politicians never think twice about the problems that they cause to the normal people.

  26. Qubee dispointed me. I have purchased 256 kbps (32 kBps) package. But I only get 24-32 kbps (3-4)kBps. Please dont buy now. Wait for sometimes. Let’s see what happend next with us.

  27. Qubee Wimax Conection with Modem 3000 taka till 06.02.2010
    Monthly Connectivity
    Student 128@850 + 15% Vat = 978
    Student 256@850 + 15% Vat = 978 (Limit 5 GB)
    256@1250+ 15% Vat =1438(Sky is the Limit)
    512@2250+ 15% Vat =2588(Sky is the Limit)
    1mb@5250+ 15% Vat =6038(Limit 20 GB)
    Please call: 01552328543

  28. WiMax is a carrier, nothing more than that. If you think QUBEE is a miracle…you fool…Just think…regular internet costing and the benefits. Then compare those with QUBEE thinking it as a service like ZOOM or GP EDGE. It’s just like regular mobile internet, think of its mobility…check it first at your area ans then use…don’t buy anything foolish and then blame the service provider…check and test then use…in some places it’s miracle..in some places it just sucks…decision is yours to connect to Internet.

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