Browsing 'vodafone' News

bydohanews
News Politics
bydohanews
News Politics

Celebrating Safer Internet Day (SID) on 6th February, Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) signed a MoU with Vodafone to ensure cyber security.

As per Dean and CEO of Northwestern University Qatar (NU-Q), Dr. Everette E Dennis, the case of QNA hacking was a planned disinformation formulation and circulation, to instigate regional and international insecurity, creating an anti-Qatar sentiment, which further became the basis of diplomatic blockade by GCC countries.

After the information attack caused by QNA hacking, Qatar is taking special measures to prevent cyber-attacks. In the same direction, the Qatar government has dedicated the year as Safer Internet Year. The MoU with Vodafone follows in sync to strengthen cyber safety initiatives.

The 2018 SID is themed “Create, connect and share respect: A better Internet starts with you”. It is a call for action from every stakeholder to play their part in ensuring safe internet surfing, focussing on youngsters being the most vulnerable people.

Vodafone, as partner on cyber safety initiatives is committed itself to double its efforts on creating a secure internet surfing. Vodafone has already been delivering creative and engaging workshops in 10 schools covering 1000 students. With the formal MoU with MoTC, it will now work on number of cyber security initiatives to ensure continuous and effective awareness.

Vodafone has launched AmanTECH in 2014, which equipped thousands of children, parents and teachers with the right tools to navigate the digital world safely. Their team is now committed that the program in long run will provide people in Qatar with everything they need to know and do for their children in today’s ever-expanding digital world.

Mohammed Al Yami, Director of External Affairs, Vodafone Qatar stated that they “look forward to working closely with the Ministry to reach even more people,” as a partner ensuring cyber security.

The ministry is already working with number of programs such as Haseen, SafeSpace, Ammen Taslam (#Secure4Safety), Ethical Responsibility in a Digital World, SID, and the Digital Literacy Curriculum carried out in collaboration with the Ministry of Education & Higher Education, which will now completed by Vodafone.

The workshops initiated till now in schools has gained immense response. Further such programmes may prove extremely helping in educating youngsters about the various cyber issues and promoting safe internet surfing.

byVictoria Scott
Life
byVictoria Scott
Life

Pixabay

Photo for illustrative purposes only.

Thousands of Qatar residents have been struggling to use VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services like Skype, Facetime and Whatsapp over the past few weeks.

The cause of the problem remains a mystery. While residents await clarification about what’s going on, some have been circumventing VoIP problems by using a VPN.

Others have found that a handful of less commonly known services still work. Here are some users’ suggestions:

Try a VPN

VPNs (virtual private networks) allow you to encrypt your internet activity, and disguise your physical location.

Unlike in the UAE, VPNs are not illegal in Qatar, as long as you don’t use them for activities that break the country’s laws.

Pixabay

Photo for illustrative purposes only.

Some Qatar residents already use VPNs to access country-specific TV and movie streaming services and local news websites.

They are now finding that popular VoIP services work when a VPN is used on their PCs, phones and tablets.

Some VPNs are free and others charge a fee. Here’s a list of some of the most popular ones.

Notably however, some Qatar users have complained lately about trouble with their VPN services, so you may have to try a few before one works.

Get Google Duo

Even though Whatsapp etc are not working, some VoIP apps appear to be holding up well at the moment.

Google

Google Duo

The first is Google Duo, Google’s encrypted video chat app.

Available for both Apple and Android, Google says it’s “simple and reliable” and the “highest quality one-to-one video calling app on the market.”

…. Or IMO

IMO / Google Play

IMO is available for both Apple and Android

VoIP app IMO is also available for Apple and Android, and so far, our readers say it’s working for them in Qatar.

Reviews on the Google Play store are a bit mixed, however – with some saying that connections can be a bit iffy.

Let us know if this encrypted service works for you.

…or Telegram

The popular messaging app Telegram introduced voice calls earlier this year, and readers report that this service still seems to be working.

Telegram

Telegram

You can’t make live video calls with it, but you can send video messages instead.

Telegram promises to be “fast, simple and free” and the encrypted service also allows you to create massive group chats, should you wish.

Silence from authorities

People began complaining about the outages shortly before Eid.

So far, Qatar’s two telecom companies Ooredoo and Vodafone, as well as official government sources, have not shed any light on the problem.

This has been frustrating for the many Qatar residents who rely on VoIP as a cost-effective, instant and reassuring way to keep in touch with loved ones abroad.

How are these services working for you? Thoughts?

byDoha News Team
Life
byDoha News Team
Life

Vodafone Qatar

Vodafone Qatar

After nine days of outages, Vodafone Qatar is now completely back online and has launched a compensation scheme for customers.

In a statement today, the telecom provider thanked users for their “loyalty,” apologized for the disruption and announced a new You First program.

The scheme offers both post- and pre-paid customers free data, and traveling Vodafone Passport holders a full refund.

On July 17, the company’s network went down, causing a loss of voice and data services for nearly two days.

The company said this had been caused by “technical issues” while carrying out upgrade work to its systems. Over the course of the next week, services were slowly restored, first 2G and then 3G.

Finally yesterday, its entire network, including 4G, was back up and running.

CEO Ian Gray announced the compensation scheme today, saying “sorry is not just a word.”

Compensation scheme

Vodafone said active users of its Postpaid services will get a one-off compensation of 30 percent of next month’s bill. They will also receive 6GB free a month for the next three months.

Existing Prepaid customers will receive 500 Flex for free for five days, and this can be used for local or international calls, data or SMSs.

“Flex will be added to Prepaid customers in batches within the next 2 weeks. Customers will receive an SMS with the date of when the benefit will be added to their account,” Vodafone said in an online statement detailing the compensation arrangements.

Postpaid customers will also be compensated automatically.

Meanwhile, users who were traveling overseas during the outage, and who had activated a Passport pack will be refunded for the value of the roaming pack.

Investigation

The failure of services was met with frustration and anger by many of Vodafone Qatar’s 1.5 million customers.

Some were particularly riled by the company’s initial lack of communication as the outage happened.

Gray issued a video statement last Tuesday, as the outage was into its second day, apologizing to customers for the disruption and admitting that the network and its backup had both failed following an upgrade.

Vodafone Qatar

Ian Gray, Vodafone CEO

The telecom provider flew in parts from across the world and collaborated with technicians internationally to fix the issue, he said.

At that time, Vodafone had promised to announce a compensation plan “within 24 hours of service restoration.”

Qatar’s telecoms watchdog, the Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA), called on Vodafone Qatar to issue a full report on the incident by July 20, including what steps it has put in place to avoid similar outages in future.

The details of this have yet to be publicly revealed.

Were you affected by the Vodafone Qatar outage? Thoughts?