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Review: Zain e-GO

Posted: July 5th, 2008 | Author: Moey | Filed under: Kuwait, Review | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 25 Comments »

Little info: Zain e-GO is basically an internet service provided by Zain Kuwait through their 3G network using an access device made by Huawei, model E220. Technically it is a modem, USB and virtual CD-ROM device, Launched on 21 June 2006, the device is used for wireless Internet access using 3.5G, 3G, or 2G mobile telephony networks. It supports UMTS (including HSDPA), EDGE, GPRS and GSM.

I finally went with a Zain e-GO account, it took me time to decide and internet offers this summer are not interesting at all, prices are still expensive and providers are not that stable, so I finally went to the closest Zain store to pick up a Huawei E220 HSDPA USB modem, which with a 27 KD monthly contract gives you unlimited bandwidth at 7.2Mbps (384Kbps download), the device costs 60 KD. Pretty good deal if you ask me. They have another offer with less benefits for people who just want to check their emails and browse.

What makes it better and convenient than Wi-Fi so far is that you can get connected with Zain coverage (covers the whole country), on the beach, while on the road, opening your laptop at a random location (cafeteria, cafe… etc) where you probably have to pay for prepared Wi-Fi cards or actually be surrounded by protected signals. Being able to get connected anywhere you want is great.

What makes it even better? It connects easily on a mac, you just need to download a driver, install it, restart and then enter username and password and have them saved, takes me seconds to connect. I so far tried it at various locations and it works amazing. Can’t complain at all.

I’ve been using it for a week now, and I can say it is great. Also, what makes it more convenient is that it takes less paper work than what a normal adsl takes, in Kuwait, you’ve got to provide your civil ID, copy of your bank statement for the last 3 months, a paper from the MOT that shows that all of your phone bills are paid and then the ISP has to plug the jumper switch and then you’ve got to install a line-filter to seperate phone from data link, you also have to plug the wireless router into electricity……. endless nightmares!

It took me 5 minutes to do the e-GO papers, 5 minutes to install the driver, plug the device and get it working. How cool is that?

P.S: not to sound a hypocrite. I dislike Zain in Jordan but Zain in Kuwait is totally different, I prefer it over Wataniya Telecom (owned by Qtel now)

25 Comments on “Review: Zain e-GO”

  1. 1 Summer said at 10:52 AM on July 5th, 2008:

    not so bad of a review…i actually use zain e-go everywhere while traveling and i used mine with bahrain line on it in Jordan and it was great. :)

  2. 2 Moey said at 1:26 PM on July 5th, 2008:

    Oh yeah? never knew it works in Jordan.

  3. 3 Moe Halawaty said at 5:09 PM on July 5th, 2008:

    Yeah, I’m planning to get me an Etisalat USB Modem here in Egypt too… The prices are amazing! Its 150LE per month for the 7.2 Mbps, and if you subscribe for a year u get the device for free!

    But right now I’m at my grandma’s and I’m hijacking my neighbor’s wireless lol…

  4. 4 Odai said at 10:46 PM on July 5th, 2008:

    Zain Jordan services recently SUCKS!! hope they learn from their peers.

  5. 5 Moey said at 10:56 PM on July 5th, 2008:

    I know, in Jordan it is terrible

  6. 6 abdul said at 1:08 AM on August 29th, 2008:

    zain launched its services in ksa on 26th August,2008.Its 3.5 g internet service not started yet.Now The 3 g net service of Mobily and Saudi telcom Co. is not upto the mark.Speed fluctuates from place to place and time to time from horrible 20 Kbps to 250 Kbps most of the times.Regarding 3 g USB Modem initially it cost around 1000 SAR.Now its 550 SAR.Lets hope that zain too launches competitive prices and better bandwidth.Most of the customers were fooled when they saw advertisements of 7.2 Mbps.lol.But alas they knew that it was not more than 200 Kbps at most of the times or places.Its good that saudi telecom company ,only landline operator has launched adsl line and internet at speeds 128 kbps,256,512,1 Mbps,2Mbps,4Mbps,8 Mbps,10 Mbps,16 Mbps and 20 Mbps.4 Mbps internet along with adsl line costs hardly 200 $(at 4 Mbps we practically get easily from .7 Mbps to 1 Mbps)

  7. 7 nasser said at 7:51 PM on September 10th, 2008:

    I want to know, can other devices connect to it? Like a psp for instance? I’ve tried but it never seems to work. I really don’t even understand how this whole thing works. Can it only provide internet to one device at a time? You can’t share it?

    I would be very, very grateful if someone replied back, thanks.

  8. 8 Moey said at 1:40 AM on September 11th, 2008:

    you can connect it to your laptop/computer and share the internet. it is easy to do

  9. 9 nasser said at 6:44 AM on September 13th, 2008:

    Ok, so if I connect the zain to one laptop and then run an ethernet cable to another laptop, then will they both be able to connect to the internet?

  10. 10 Moey said at 3:18 PM on September 13th, 2008:

    Yes.

  11. 11 nasser said at 2:39 PM on September 16th, 2008:

    I’ve got another question, does this thing have an ip address?

    Also, do you think there’s some way I could connect my ps3 to the internet through this?

  12. 12 Moey said at 3:04 PM on September 16th, 2008:

    Yes, it has a shared IP :)

  13. 13 Hani Khayyat said at 12:06 AM on September 21st, 2008:

    HI, i bought zain e-go and the software that comes with it is not working.
    Can i get from anywhere eles?

  14. 14 snookie said at 4:30 PM on October 9th, 2008:

    hey moey, i wanna ask about the payment plan cuz i didnt understand a thing from the dipshits at customer service.

    do i pay and THEN recieve a month’s worth of service? for example i want the service for next month so i pay now. but i dont want to use it next month (i.e. traveling without laptop or something) so i dont pay for that particular month.

    or do you have to pay monthly for a year (contract)? ya3ni its automatically billed whether i want it or not.

  15. 15 Moey said at 7:10 PM on October 9th, 2008:

    you have to pay in advance for the monthly subscription. to cancel it you have to cancel your connection 3 days before next month.

  16. 16 Moey said at 2:41 AM on November 27th, 2008:

    I miss my e-go.

  17. 17 mehdi said at 9:30 PM on January 5th, 2009:

    is your ip stable or it changes frequently ?

    whats your maximum same ip uptime?

  18. 18 roland said at 9:20 PM on February 19th, 2009:

    hi,im already using this ego for the last 5 months,my question is ,can i remove the sim card from the modem and placed on my mobile?will it work?

  19. 19 mehdi said at 12:22 PM on February 20th, 2009:

    i made this connection with zain in kuwait and its crap and very bad.
    the speed is sucks and you can not get a real ip.
    behind this they put you on a local network with carp ip like 10.100.10 ect.. which has no sense.
    you can not port forward or make your cccam server as you dont have a real ip

    really sucks its good for surfing only

  20. 20 KuwaitiCrud said at 7:03 AM on March 13th, 2009:

    I’ve been using their Huawei E960 router and I am not happy with the service either. They shut off your service if you download too much (you have to shut off the router and turn it back on to get your internet working again). And, if you download too much, they take your internet connection down to a 15K connection. And trust me, you don’t get a 7MB connection

  21. 21 Moey said at 7:07 AM on March 13th, 2009:

    Really?

    I’ll ask a couple of friends, make sure and get back to you.

  22. 22 rya n said at 4:00 PM on March 30th, 2009:

    hey i live in kuwait and im planning to buy a ego 3.5 is it better than a liknsys dsl wireless .

  23. 23 Dazed Expat said at 2:44 PM on March 31st, 2009:

    7.2 Mbps bandwidth should give you in excess of 800 Kilobytes per second download speeds. 384 KBps download sounds more like 3.6 Mbps bandwidth.

  24. 24 abdullah nasser said at 1:15 AM on April 1st, 2009:

    I have 7.2 mega but I really have a trouble about port forwarding cause it need to know your router so how i can solve this problem

  25. 25 Moey said at 1:21 AM on April 1st, 2009:

    You need to call the tech services at Zain. call 107

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