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What’s better than a Netbook and a bottle of Stoney Tangawizi?
2 Netbooks and a bottle of Tangawizi.
Life is good to me these days as I not only managed to buy these two netbooks 2nd hand for a very good price, but also because there are people like my good friend Harry who sent me this bottle of Stoney Tangawizi and a bag full of Biltong (which isn’t pictured here as I’d finished it within 24h…ahem… :-). Asante sana, Harry!
The Asus eee PC 1000HGo pictured on the right is an upgrade to the eee PC 901 on the left which comes with:
The rest is pretty much the same, even the pcb layout is quite similar. Only thing that bugs me about the 1000HGO is that it has a blue-ish screen. The settings for the WinXP Intel gfx driver do not provide too much flexibility and I guess it’s just a bad display. Other 1000H owner also reported this issue. The screen on the 901 ain’t blue and far from perfect, but it’s much better and crispier. There also IS a difference between the 8,9″ and 10″ screen size - the 10″ being easier to the eyes. That weight difference isn’t much of a problem to me because I carry it in my messenger bag anyways but it would be if you are a woman and need a small netbook to carry in your handbag.
So…in spite of the display issue, the 1000HGO is just so much better to handle. And with the internal 3G modem (SIM card holder is underneath the battery) it’s really just plug & play - either on WinXP or Linux. Now that’s really great!
I am currently using a dedicated 02/Fonic SIM card (which is 2,50€ for unlimited traffic /d) for when I am on the road and network coverage could be a bit better on that one. I am in direct optical line of sight to our local base station and have since been wondering why reception is only around 40%. So I opened it up and realized that it only has one antenna connected to it (which is in fact located above the display, next to the WLAN antenna).
I already ordered a cheap internal WLAN antenna which I am planing to connect to the AUX ULF connector next to the already existing MAIN connector (as pictured, unplugged). Am quite curious if this improves reception on 3G.
Being able to surf from just about anywhere (where there is no WIFI/WLAN but only 3G - like @ GTZ ecosan office in Eschborn) is just AWWWW……very very connvenient. Sure, you could use the 3G modem on your phone but this way it’s much easier. Only advantage of the phone is that you can place a phone next to a window and hook it up via Bluetooth. So if you are in areas with poor 3G / UMTS coverage and have a 3G-capable phone, just try it this way. The internal 3G modem is great but it isn’t reason enough to spend 100,- EUR (!) extra on a 1000HGO if instead you could also go for a 1000H. I got mine for the same price though, so I happily agreed on giving up support for the n-draft WLAN and get a 3G modem instead.
Oh, look - it’s a fingerprint inside the casing! :-)
The aluminium foil mod underneath the keyboard (here on the 901). Highly recommended, also because the CPU doesnt “transpire” through the keyboard but only dissipates the heat. I’d even recommend this mod to Toshiba owners.
The 901 btw “walked away” to another member of the extended family - a development that beautifully justifies the purchase of the 1000HGO. :-)
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CC licensed photo by Leo Reynolds on Flickr
The 3 SAT3 countries of South Africa, Egypt and Senegal could be said to have fibre optic connections to the rest of the world or what others may call ‘true broadband’, the rest of the countries in Africa have to contend with VSAT connections or have their internet traffic routed through the above named SAT3 countries.
In the case of Kenya, fibre has been laid by companies such as Kenya Data Networks for communication within the country. The problem has been connecting Kenya to the rest of the world. That is where the bottleneck has been. The government of Kenya has been laying cable in many parts of the country, so is just a matter of time before high speed internet access is made available to urban areas and even smaller towns.
Do note the VSAT connections can have broadband-like speeds, so what we should look at is the connection costs and amount of bandwidth available.
For example, an E1 line (equivalent to the American T1) of 2 Mbps to ISPs costs 4000 USD in Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, 7000 USD in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, 32,000 USD in Cameroon, 25,000 USD in SA.
In residential access Telkom Orange charges about 5990 Ksh (approx. 75 dollars) for home access line of 256 kpbs downloads and 128 kpbs uploads per month. Many people use the Huawei wireless modems E220, E160 particularly in Nairobi with the 3G connections, utilizing a pay-as-you-go plan. Kenyan readers, how much do you pay for your internet access? what kind of speed do you get? Do you have a preferred service provider?
By and large, broadband access is very expensive. There are also other projects like TEAMS and EASSY (Quasi-Govt. consortium: Telkom Kenya/Orange is a member, as is Safaricom and Econet) that plan to connect parts of Africa to the rest of the world by Fibre optic Cable. So far SEACOM has arrived first and the prospect of having more competition could result in the cost coming down. Though that may indeed take time. For now, companies herald the arrival of SEACOM’s fibre optic line because it would mean an increase in productivity for businesses that depend on the internet. For example, there is a young businessman in Nairobi with an IT outsourcing company, with his relatively decent connection, he still has to wait for more than 5 minutes to download a 26MB file. In a few months with the SEACOM cable reaching Nairobi, the same download could take less than a minute and he can move on to other tasks. He has employees who often have to upload files via ftp to servers in the US. With the faster speeds it will make their jobs that much easier. He is not even too concerned about the cost right now, the overarching benefit is well…broadband.
CC licensed photo by Wesley Fryer on flickr
There are other factors such as open access, latency, and reliability, but talking about that would be tantamount to counting chicks before they hatch no?
As always, feel free to chime in with your thoughts in the comments or via twitter if you prefer to be pithy.
PS: To keep up with the African Telecommunications Union conference, Becky Wanjiku is live blogging from Port Louis, Mauritius.
[is.gd] title="Post to Twitter">
Dear Editor
I am writing this on Wednesday March 11, 2009 at 11:30pm. I am worried because I have had a very strange occurrence which I have never imagined can be happening in this era of IT. In the course of the day I loaded my safaricom number with Kshs. 400 only. I made various calls to my friends, relatives and enemies. I used the same to browse the web for my mails and other information I wanted from the web, which I believe helped me keep in touch with my environment.
However towards the time at which I am writing this mail, I made a call which lasted 3 minutes and 49 seconds, which according to my tariff (Ongea) should have cost me Ksh. 30.54.
However due to abnormal reduction of my credit balance I was forced to call customer care. The first time I called, I was told that there is call log update time lag of 10 minutes. I did wait for the proscribed 10 minutes and called again. This time I was lucky because the log was now complete and I was given a complete audit of how my meager 400 bob was spent.
Believe it or not the aforementioned call of 3:49 long cost me Kshs. 70.62. I am just wondering whether this is a thing that regularly happens at Safaricom. Is this the main contributor towards the billions they are going to post at the end of the year?
As a hustler trying to make ends meet in this economic near melt down era, I have lost confidence in this service provider. The Customer care service executive I talked to promised me that she has forwarded my complain (She never told me to who) and that I shall get my refund within 48 hours. I told her that I hope I shall receive what is justly due to me.
I am perplexed because it took them only 3 minutes and 49 seconds to get Kshs 40.08 from me which was not due to them. Why should it take them a whole 48 hours to refund me the same? How many unsuspecting Kenyans are undergoing this kind of robbery without noticing while imagining that its their wayward sons, daughters, spouses and siblings misusing their handsets?
I do feel that Safaricom should come clear and inform the public of what they are doing to ensure that the public gets quality service at an affordable price. So far they are the most expensive even though I have remained loyal to them.
This incident has been a loud wakeup call and safaricom should be sure that should they not a visible move towards thinking of me (Clients) before the billions and silverware they will bag, then one day not so much in the future they might find themselves in the Panpaper Webuye paper Mills Ltd Situation. It would be a shame on all of us and an example of greedy executives not caring about their clients and investors.
Thank you.
Yours faithfully
E. O. Otipa
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