Here’s the Vodafone Qatar 3G and MMS settings for the iPhone just in case you need.
To enable MMS with Vodafone, within your carrier settings section just input these settings
APN : web.vodafone.com.qa
Username :
password :
MMSC : http://mmsr.vodafone.com.qa/mmsc
MMS Proxy : 10.101.97.102:8080
MMS max message size : 307200
MMS UA PROF URL :
For the Qtel settings, click here
Here’s something funny (or perhaps not). I was driving from the Zig Zag off to work and there was this mini-van that was driving all over the place. No indicator. Going from the right lane to the left lane on the round-a-bout and back to the right (presumably because this person was either an idiot or did not have the ability to turn a steering wheel properly; those things are heavy!!).
It’s normal, we get people who don’t know how to drive everyday. (I wonder when the Police are going to start stopping people for using the slip lane or not indicating or not even staying in LANE correctly?) What got to me was that it was a Shafallah bus! On the side it said, ‘Special needs children’. For those who don’t know, Shafallah is one of the regions leading institutes for disabled or special needs children, it was set up by Sheikha Mozah and is definately something to be proud of. Seeing a driver not taking extra care in such a bus bothers me… I just had to post this… *sighs*
I picked up an iPhone 3GS from Vodafone yesterday. I just had to grab one since I loved my iPhone 3G but I needed something a bit faster. However that’s not the only feature I was looking forward to. Oelephobic screens are supposed to be the rage because you have a lower chance of leaving fingerprints and wiping off oil is easier. Am I feeling it? I don’t know… I mean all new phones are pretty easy to wipe clean at first, it’s after you get that super thin layer of oil (doesn’t sound nice huh?) that wiping it becomes an issue.
So far it feels pretty smooth to touch though and I am noticing that I’m not leaving fingerprints on it as much. I just wish they covered the WHOLE phone with that special coating that’s scared of oil.
Sometimes I get asked about what a good souvenir is to take back home, or what would be a good gift to give people that’s from Qatar, so now here’s a little list 
I’m on the phone right now. Oh it’s alright I’m on hold again. I’ve been calling Qtel so that I can get them to sort out my Mobile Broadband.
Here’s a riddle, when is mobile broadband, not mobile broadband? Think about that one for a while. I waited on the phone for 15 minutes (my times are not exaggerated) until someone answered the phone. When I did get an answer, I explained that I was paying 400 QR for the unlimited package and had only downloaded around 6gb (in almost a month) and my internet speed was down to 800bytes (yes! 800 super fast bytes!). I was supposed to be getting 3g speeds 3.2mps. I wasn’t.
I couldn’t even stay connected to messenger without it disconnecting every few moments. I couldn’t even upload an image to change something on the website because it was taking so long.
So the guy tells me that he checked the system and everything is fine. What IS this ‘system’? QTel always talks about the ‘system’ like it’s some super omnipotent being…. “I don’t care what the system says, I’m telling you that it’s taking me 10 minutes to load up google.”. Alright sir, can you please check www.speedtest.qa ? (Qtel obviously thought ‘hey let’s set up a speedtest.net server and brand it). I did, it was telling me that my internet speed was 1mbit. NO FREAKING WAY. So I explain that it doesn’t make sense to test a server in Qatar, how many websites are in Qatar? Unless I’m going to be surfing Qtel.com.qa every day, it’s useless! I also found it strange that when I’m on the phone with the guy it gives me good speeds.
The guy explains that he can’t help me and that he’ll connect me to a technician. While on hold (for 10 minutes), I decide to re-run the speedtest. Guess what? 560ms ping and .08mpbs. Oh that’s more honest now. The phone is finally answered. It took me almost 10 minutes of repeating to explain to him that he’s reading me the manual for windows and that I was on a mac. Yep if you thought these guys were thinking, you’re wrong, they just flip to Chapter 9 “How to answer a question without knowing what’s going on.” and read it.
So the guy then tells me that I should try flipping to 2G. I don’t know how 2G is going to be faster than 3G but maybe he wants to test if it’s a 3G thing. Nope. Doesn’t work. So on minute 59 he tells me that today’s friday and that the network is being hammered. Wait what…? I ask him if every Friday was going to be like this and his response? “Was it like this last Friday”. I actually almost laughed a bit because his sarky response (I like sarcasm). “Alright, well I dont want to call back tomorrow and he says “it’s Saturday” and I call on Monday and he says “It’s September”.” So I ask the guy to put a note on the system so I don’t have to go over all of this again and again.
Problem? Solved? Nope. Just wasted an hour. Not like I have a life or anything right?
How long did my phone call last? 1 hour and 34 seconds.
Now it’s time to talk about lovely Qatar Navigation and Customs. I seriously sometimes don’t understand how people survive in Qatar when it comes to running a business or even trying to do something nice!
So I traveled to Shanghai a while back so that I could go and get some freebies made, heart shaped heat packs, beachballs, stressballs, etc… I had planned to give them all away as gifts, especially to schools and to underpriveledged people as a forum of charity.
I was told two weeks ago that the delivery arrived. I received the papers but it was in iLoveQatar.net’s name. I Love Qatar is the subsidiary and the master company is H.U.G. I was told I had to pay the total of 1,060 QR for various fees like processing documents, storage, handeling etc… by Qatar Freights. Sure no problemo. Paid. Got a paper. Sent the delivery guy to pick up the stuff from the port.
“No, you can’t have the stuff. Give us a Commercial Registration number, traders license, and authorization letter from I Love Qatar”.
We can’t! ILQ is a subsidiary under H.U.G. we can give you the H.U.G. documents if you want…. No they don’t want that…
So I get two letters, one from Qatar Freight, and one from the company that shipped the items stating that the stuff was intended for H.U.G. and that ILQ was a mistake.
“No, it wont work.”, the little man says, ”But I do have some solutions… either 1) Give me 700 QR and I’ll finish it off for you 2) Get me the documents or 3) Speak to the mudeer (the boss).”
Wait what? He wants me to bribe him? Is this another fee? Sorry, screw that. So I get all documents changed and scanned over to me from Shanghai. The delivery guy takes it over during Eid.
The same man’s there “Oh there aren’t originals, so there’s a 500 QR charge”. What the hell?! On top of that he wants to charge 700 QR to let the truck in to pick up the goods and a 5% customs charge.
But they’re free stuff! They’re gifts! The letters from the delivery company and the manufacturer states that they’re all gifts and not for sale…
The guy has more solutions, oh how nice, “1) Talk to the mudeer and we wont charge you 2) pay everything off or 3) find someone else to help you”
What’s going on here? After paying all these charges, I’m spending 30% of the total value of the goods! Why aren’t there clear rules? Where are the other managers to sort this out?
Now I like to follow the rules. I don’t want to speak to the mudeer. I know the mudeer, he’s a friend but why should I bother him?.. Even while following the rules, we’re all humans and I hope that there can either be some transparancy or a degree of flexibility. *sighs*
I just wanted to show an example of how people need to just sit back and relax a bit. There’s this new show that’s been playing during Ramadan called “Hearts for Rent”.
“A Qatari soap opera which explores the impact of the high rents on a Qatari family has attracted harsh criticism as viewers saw the series as “unrealistic drama distorting the image of Qatar” by exaggerating the fallout of the crisis on the Qatari citizens.
The Hearts for Rent series, which is being screened by Qatar TV since the beginning of Ramadan, highlighted the woes of modernity on the post-oil family and social systems in Qatar and exposed new flaws in the community through a Qatari family who, under the pressure of the rental crisis, was forced to leave the Doha city for Al Khor coastal town to live in a tent.
The series, produced by Qatar TV, came under heavy fire from different directions.
According to viewers, the problems it sought to tackle were said to have been “hyped and exaggerated”.” GT
It apparantly seems that the producer got some bad attention!
“Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed al-Buainain, a prominent Muslim scholar, criticised the series, saying that it went to unreal extremes in dealing with the impact of the rental crisis on Qatari families.
“Under no circumstances, a Qatari family could accept living with bachelors in one house. I do not deny that renting prices were soaring beyond the residents. But our government is providing every citizen with a plot of land and a loan to build his house,” Sheikh al-Buainain told a congregation during Friday prayer.
“I do not see any use of this series. If a citizen is living in a rented house and does not know how to manage his life affairs, then it is his own mistake and hence his problem. It should not be turned into a public debate and given all of this time of screening,” the scholar added.”
This isn’t a DOCUMENTARY, it’s a Soap Opera! If we wanted to get technical. Yes Qatari’s get land, shall we put up our tents on the land? The loan that Qataris are given is 600,000 QR can you build me a house for 600,000? A Qatari has to be MARRIED to qualify. So if I marry a woman I have to put her somewhere while that house is being built don’t I? Put her with family? Maybe I don’t want to. Maybe I want to live with my life alone. Oh it’s MY fault then? Well we’ve just proved that it’s possible now didn’t we!
“Another viewer saw the drama as “not logically coherent” and focusing only on the gloomy side of modern life in Qatar.”
Are you freaking kidding me? It’s a SHOW. Nobody watches Batman and says “there’s no way that thin flimsy rope could pull him up a 100 storey building. And that rope must be at least 1,000m in his pocket”. It’s TELEVISION. If the show was all happy and super smiley people were running around, is that ok? There has to be darkness for there to be a reason to have light.
They did not even dare to tell their friends and colleagues about the address of their new abode.
Ghassan A., a Palestinian expatriate, who viewed several episodes of the series, said it is full of contradictions and exaggerations.
“A Qatari cannot live in a rented house with bachelors. If we took it as a comic relief, it is okay and can be accepted. But as a serious behaviour, it is unrealistic. How come that a father who owns a shop and three of his four daughters are getting handsome salaries but find it difficult to rent a decent house,” he added.
Wait what? Why not? It’s not against the law to live with a bachelor… Just because it’s not common, doesn’t mean they can’t… And as for your final question Mr. Ghassan, if you were watching the show, you’d know that they are in debt. If I get 1 million riyals a month (yes it’s a real salary I really do get that! /end sarcasm) and I owe 2million riyals a month to debt companies. I’m still making a ‘handsome’ salary but I can’t afford anything!
A Qatari columnist also yesterday slammed the series as “incoherent drama”, saying that it did not reflect the reality of things in the country at all.
“The series is full of mistakes and contradictions. It depicted our society as one whose citizens are suffering and being forced to live in tents set up in desert,” Ahmed Ali said.
“It is sarcastic that the series present the Qatari citizen as if he was a homeless and refugee. I challenge the lead character (Abdul Aziz Jassim, a Qatari actor who played the role of Rashid) to give me evidence showing that there is one Qatari who does not own a suitable house in the country,” Ali added
I can’t believe this guy works for a newspaper and he doesn’t read the news. A few months ago there were stories of some Qataris living in their cars! Before that there were those Qataris REALLY living in tents. I win Ahmed. What’s my prize? You know what, wait a minute… I don’t own a home! My cousins don’t own homes! I got my land though, let’s all go pitch some tents 
The iPhone is out! You can grab it now at any VF store! (They give you like 300mb for free and all customers get that until the end of September!)
Read news here
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