Cyber Stone Age

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

Claims that we're a major international commercial centre, business friendly, a great place to set up a business fly in the face of the Cyber Stone Age internet we have to struggle with.

The speed is no better than the old dial-up I had back in Oz fifteen years or more ago. That's a lifetime in the cyberworld - think of the development over that period. But not here.

It comes into sharp focus when you get back from somewhere like Singapore.

Using the computer there last week I was connected to websites within a couple of seconds. Click and the new screen opens in a couple of seconds.

I come back to Dubai and I sit looking at a slowly, very slowly, loading screen. Thirty to sixty seconds is normal.

Bottom left corner is mocking me with "Connecting to http://..." then after more time "Waiting for http://..." then even more time "Start downloading from site http://..."

And they're the same websites which open instantly in Singapore.

There are regular complaints about the high prices we have to pay for internet access, but to me that's not the main problem. The main problem is the lack of speed
.
It's hugely wasteful of time, reduces productivity which means increased costs. How many hours are lost here, I wonder, by people just sitting waiting for the computer to move on so that they can get on with their work.

We're paying high prices for a terrible product. If they gave it to us free it would still be a poor product.