ArmenTel Internet
Well, I never thought I’d say this, but ArmenTel is getting better since they were taken over by the Russians. Before, Internet was a pain, but I just received some telemarketing phone call alerting me to ArmenTel’s new internet service. Given that they supply the line to the other ISPs in Armenia it makes sense, and not least because they can also undercut them in terms of price.
Anyway, the long and the short of it is that it’s also very easy to set up and I assume gets put on your bill. As the price is cheaper than the other ISPs — seemingly 2.5 drams from 8am — midnight, and 0.5 drams after midnight until the morning. Of course, it only works out cheaper because the ArmenTel price also includes the cost of the phone call.
It’s also a lot quicker. Remember, even if other ISPs were connecting at 56k, that was only for the connection to their proxy or network server, and not actually to the Internet which was being supplied via ArmenTel. Now, the middle man has been cut out and one would imagine there has to be some very competitive services on the horizon from other companies.
I’m still waiting for DSL to be on offer in Armenia at the same price it is in neighboring Georgia, but perhaps that time isn’t long away now. Let’s wait and see, but until then you can check out the new service here.
Actually, given the huge difference in connection speed, who needs DSL — for now at least. Amazing how slow the Internet was here before. Even this is as if I’ve upgraded my connection.
Comment by Onnik — April 11, 2007 @ 3:01 pm
I think they will begin to provide DSL in next half of a year.
Russian management is quite aggressive on a market, right now Armentel is testing its GPRS services, that will be active (based on gossip anyway) in next 2 months.
Comment by Ruben Muradyan — April 11, 2007 @ 3:27 pm
Since writing this post I now have to change my opinion. When I first connected to the service it was fast because there were few users. Now, there are so many the service is sub-standard even by Armenian standards at certain times of the day. At others, it can be impossible to connect.
Oh well.
Comment by Onnik — May 18, 2007 @ 3:32 pm