# What the best TV & Internet package, provider ?



## opps (May 18, 2011)

What the best TV & Internet package, provider in Dubai ?


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## m1key (Jun 29, 2011)

For fixed line and broadband you don't have a choice. It will either be Du or Etisalat depending where you live. Newer parts of Dubai tend to be Du.

TV you either get through your broadband supplier, or use a satellite dish through OSN or other middle east sat supplier. Tv is expensive and rubbish here IMO.


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## Midlifer (Jul 24, 2012)

My apartment is etisalat. Good part was tv is free with "triple play" bad part is god only knows when it will get connected. 

I got a Slingbox for home so really only need Internet. The worst part is dealing with sales people who don't know what they're selling IMHO.


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## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

We have DU, but local tv is pants, we use a 'go around' to access streaming tv and other things like Netflix.


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## Jynxgirl (Nov 27, 2009)

I have du in my apartment. Someone came to visit this past week and I was amazed he found so many english speaking channels. Amazingly, there is an animal station/channel once again that is in english.  Once that went to arabic two and a half years ago, I dont think I have bothered to turn the tv on but a handful of times.


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## sammylou (Oct 29, 2012)

we are looking at tv options right now. i have heard many people mention that the tv here sucks but when we were looking at OSN's lineup we were told we can get all the latest north american series' like grey's anatomy, sons of anarchy, girls, glee, etc. basically all the american prime time shows plus the hbo and showtime type stuff. so why is everyone so down on the tv here? am i missing something?


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## ipshi (Jul 23, 2010)

sammylou said:


> we are looking at tv options right now. i have heard many people mention that the tv here sucks but when we were looking at OSN's lineup we were told we can get all the latest north american series' like grey's anatomy, sons of anarchy, girls, glee, etc. basically all the american prime time shows plus the hbo and showtime type stuff. so why is everyone so down on the tv here? am i missing something?


its cos the tv plays reruns


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## sammylou (Oct 29, 2012)

ipshi said:


> its cos the tv plays reruns


you mean they aren't airing the current episodes? are they behind a season? more?


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## ipshi (Jul 23, 2010)

sammylou said:


> you mean they aren't airing the current episodes? are they behind a season? more?


right now they're on the 2nd season of glee, 4th of dexter, 7th of greys anatomy

so an avg of 2 seasons behind i think


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## sammylou (Oct 29, 2012)

ipshi said:


> right now they're on the 2nd season of glee, 4th of dexter, 7th of greys anatomy
> 
> so an avg of 2 seasons behind i think


hmmm. are you sure it isn't just reruns for catching up being aired on other nights? because i am looking at the OSN tv guide right now and they list glee s4, grey's s9, revenge s2, boardwalk empire s3 and breaking bad s5 which puts all these shows up to date as far as i know.

BUT they are only in s3 of modern family which is actually in s4. so i wonder if it is just the odd network show that may get a delayed release here?

and it still begs the question - will i get ALL my shows here? because i don't see mention of 30 rock, walking dead, law & order etc etc. must see if there is a way to search...


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## ipshi (Jul 23, 2010)

no u wont get all the shows here. i tried & i gave up. they might mention the latest series but it isnt caught up yet. sorry.

most of the people here watch it through torrent.


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## saraswat (Apr 28, 2012)

sammylou said:


> will i get ALL my shows here? because i don't see mention of 30 rock, walking dead, law & order etc etc. must see if there is a way to search...


^^what she said ^^


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## BedouGirl (Sep 15, 2011)

The latest Walking Dead on on FX, which is FTA.


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## m1key (Jun 29, 2011)

I can only speak for Du with OSN. It is shocking having been used to UK tv. Ads every 3 seconds, different programmes to those on the guide (v. frequent), Often the guide doesn't even tell you what is on! The same film can be on 4 channels at the same time (2 x HD and std versions). Everything is repeated to death, the volume doubles on ad breaks. On Fox it goes from barely hearing the show to deafening me on the ads. Some of the presenting is shockingly poor. 99% of my tv viewing is now torrents.


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## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

Ah but being able to pause live tv, go make a cuppa then fast forward through the ads is bliss.


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## blazeaway (Sep 28, 2011)

m1key said:


> I can only speak for Du with OSN. It is shocking having been used to UK tv. Ads every 3 seconds, different programmes to those on the guide (v. frequent), Often the guide doesn't even tell you what is on! The same film can be on 4 channels at the same time (2 x HD and std versions). Everything is repeated to death, the volume doubles on ad breaks. On Fox it goes from barely hearing the show to deafening me on the ads. Some of the presenting is shockingly poor. 99% of my tv viewing is now torrents.


Well it is a bit behind but movies are not bad and great for premiership footie and just watched England v Fiji live which I wouldn't have been able to do in UK as not a sky subscriber.

That said we have Apple TV on watch a lot of UK tele via iplayer and on demand


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## fcjb1970 (Apr 30, 2010)

m1key said:


> I can only speak for Du with OSN. It is shocking having been used to UK tv. Ads every 3 seconds, different programmes to those on the guide (v. frequent), Often the guide doesn't even tell you what is on! The same film can be on 4 channels at the same time (2 x HD and std versions). Everything is repeated to death, the volume doubles on ad breaks. On Fox it goes from barely hearing the show to deafening me on the ads. Some of the presenting is shockingly poor. 99% of my tv viewing is now torrents.


My favorite thing when I had TV was that when the the timings were nearly always wrong. Anytime I wanted to record would do the full extension and hope it started late not early.


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## ipshi (Jul 23, 2010)

My favorite thing was that they wud never follow the sequence of a series. So if I was watching gossip girl (yes yes judge me) then they wud show s2e5 then next wud be s3e2 then back to s2e10 and so on. After that happened like 10 times, I just gave up!


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## holaconquistadora (Oct 31, 2012)

ipshi said:


> no u wont get all the shows here. i tried & i gave up. they might mention the latest series but it isnt caught up yet. sorry.
> 
> most of the people here watch it through torrent.


wow, great to know the gov't. does not restrict torrent downloads! feeling much better about moving, haha.


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## ipshi (Jul 23, 2010)

holaconquistadora said:


> wow, great to know the gov't. does not restrict torrent downloads! feeling much better about moving, haha.


there are many torrent sites that are blocked so u have to poke around a bit or go through a proxy server. piratebay seems to work 98% of the time.


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## Southak (Sep 13, 2010)

m1key said:


> Tv is expensive and rubbish here IMO.


This.


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## NeoPhoenix (Oct 17, 2011)

I just use an HDMI cable to hook up my laptop to a TV and stream stuff online. Easier and you have numerous choices, etisalat tv package is rubbish imo.


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## opps (May 18, 2011)

Thanks guys for ur help, I signed upfor Du, over 400aed a month, I will switch to torrent or proxy after 3 months I think. Thank again


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## Hutong (Oct 13, 2012)

I had my landline, TV and broadband installed by Du. I attempted Etisalat which made me recall state owned companies back in China. I was told that they will not be able to give me a timetable for installation. Only getting their engineers feedback on what is available at my location will take 2-3 days. So I withdrew my application and called Du. After telling them where I am living, they immediately pulled out Data for my area and told me the previous owner subscribed Du services and it will take maximum 48 hours to install all services I need. So I went to a Du shop and a sales said to you that 48hours is the quickest, and I said I'd like you to do it within 48hours because I pulled put my application from Etisalat just for Du's swift services. At the end, i agreed to his proposal of doing installation at the 3rd day( there was a weekend between). On next Sunday, one guy came in and took 30 minutes to get my house connected. Not really having experience of comparing services between two, but was told by colleagues in Dubai that Etisalat's quality is better particularly in an area where the coverage is not extensive. I observed a problem of TV though, signals of english channel frequently lost for a few seconds. I am wondering that this may be a proof of substandard quality of Du. Internet has been good in my house.


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## Midlifer (Jul 24, 2012)

I have etisalat, not that there was any choice. After a week of nothing, some really nice Indians came over yesterday, unannounced, and hooked me up. Then today, 4 more teams came over to do the same thing. None of them understood that it was already working.


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## Roadworrier (Jul 3, 2012)

Depending on where you live, it is either Du or Etisalat. No choice. In the new, freehold areas, it is all Du. The package I have is OSN Premiere Plus on 2 boxes along with the sports tier on one box which includes 3 ESPN channels and Fox sports so I can toggle between 3 to 4 NFL games at the same time. It's all pretty freakin' expensive at 750 dhs/month (I do have 8 Mbps Internet plus of course the antique analog voice phone) but no more so than the Comcast package I had in the US.

I've only had one day where the sports or English channels froze up or malfunctioned in the last 6 weeks, so it seems the reliability is the same or better than Comcast. Still wish they would actually deliver the OSN guide to the house instead of having to trek to the mall to figure out what is showing on the different stations. Having channel numbers listed somewhere other than on the on-screen guide would also be nice.

That said, it is fun watching the Italian channels to see the girls dancing on the news desks....


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