Look what we have got here. As we all know Viva is launching tomorrow, what fun would it be if we wait till the end to find out the packages.

This is still developing. Will update as I hear more.

Post Paid Packages.

2 packages one cost 10BD a month the other Cost 20BD a month.

10BD Package : 20 fils per minute call rate to Batelco/Zain/Viva lines.

20BD Package : 15 fils per minute call rate to All National Carriers.

You don’t get any free minutes included in the package. Whatever you use gets adjusted within your postpaid price.

With 10BD you are expected to get around 500 minutes and with 20BD you can get around 1333 minutes.

Viva is going to be running a promotion to kick thing with a bang.

First 3 months Viva to viva calls are free, including calls made to STC in saudi and for the first 3 months you get 90% off on international calls.

For the prepaid, the starter pack costs 2 BD that includes 2 dinars of Credit.

Every recharge you make increases your expiry date. Maximum 2 years.

That’s all I have for now. Getting more information soon. As soon as I get to meet my guy in Viva ill get the info and update the post.

remember this is where you heard this Viva stuff first. Spread the word.

Just got off the phone with my contact at VIVA Bahrain. Confirmed some of the information that I received from other sources.

VIVA will start selling numbers from tomorrow morning at 4 am. 4 different Categories of Numbers.

Gold Numbers for 100 dinars.
Silver Numbers for 50 Dinars.
Bronze for free.
Free Numbers.

That’s not all. Customers who buy a Gold or Silver Number will be provided by a USB Internet Device much like O-Net or e-Go from Batelco & Zain for free.

Those buying a Gold number will be given the device for 6 months period and guess what each month they have a threshold of 60GB.

For Customers buying a Silver Number will be given a device for free for a period of 4 months along with 60GB of threshold. They will tell you its unlimited but fair usage is 60GB.

Also, there will be some kind of giveaways and auctions at City Centre where people can win prizes. Not sure what they are. More on this later.

So if you have been waiting to get your hands on a VIVA number head to www.33.com.bh or www.viva.com.bh starting at 4am wednesday morning to book your number.

When exactly is VIVA going to start its service is still not confirmed. Been testing VIVA’s service for quite some time and I have very few reasons to complain provided that its still in testing phase.

Will update when I get some more information regarding packages. Comment away your thoughts and criticism.

Man these stc news just doesn’t stop coming. STC will launch as Viva. Viva is stc international brand name. STC operates as Viva in Kuwait. Finally someone realized it didn’t make sense to Call it Saudi Telecom and operate in Bahrain.

Customers wishing to purchase Viva number will be able to do so starting on the 8th of January. Customers will have to visit www.viva.com.bh to reserve the number and pay online. Customers will also be able to purchase their numbers from the following mentioned physical locations.

• Airport
• City Center
• Gosi Mall
• Bahrain Mall
• Isa Town Mall
• Seef Mall
• Country Mall
• Lulu Mall
• Jawad Dome mall
• Al Murrjan Comples – Juffair
• Bahrain University
• The Center Mall
• Zinj Hypermarker
• Sitra Mall
• AMA University

Viva will sell number under 4 Different Categories.

Gold Number
Silver Number
Bronze Number
Free Number

More news coming in few days time. Stay tuned.

Criticism, comments welcome in the section below.

Tensions running High, Days coming near all for the soft launch of STC’s Bahrain operations. The proposed date according to my soure is 15th of January. Working on getting in on the action by getting an STC Number.

Anyways as promised here are some more juicy details about some STC’s services.

Budget Control : Postpaid users can specify a limit for their bill. Whats so good about it you may ask. STC will allow you to topup your Line after you reached your defined limit by buying a normal credit voucher from any of the store. All calls made after the top-up will come from the voucher that you use. Kinda like Prepaid-Postpaid Hybrid solution.

Local Number on Roaming SIM : Let just say that you are a visiting Bahrain from any other country. You still have your Home country sim in your mobile phone. As soon as you switch it On, you will recieve an SMS from STC informing you that you have got 1 Dinar Credit along with a Number assigned to you by STC. A local Bahrain Number which will be valid for a total of 3 days. Before the 3 days period you’ll have to buy a topup voucher and use it else the number gets deleted.

To switch your Home country sim card to the STC one you will just have to dial a number like *183# (just an example) and your Sim will register with STC allowing you to make and recieve calls on the local number. Want to recieve and make calls using your Home country number, dial the above mentioned code again and your number switches back to Your Home country number.

Discount based on Location : STC will allow you to register a Location as your base. Based on the Cell tower, you pick a location. Anytime you make an receive calls from the certain location you will get a discount. Anywhere from 20-45%. Amount of the discount is not confirmed but thats the range. For example, You Pick your home as a location and STC will register the cell tower (could also be cell tower triangulation) of that area as your Base location. Anytime you make a call while at home you’ll get a discount. This service will have a monthly charge associated with it.

Family & Friends : STC will allow you to register 5 numbers to recieve discount on everytime you make a call to them.

That is all for now, hopefully will get some more news next week or so.

Comments, complaints, suggestions welcome.

After much Searching around i finally managed to find a person deep inside STC Bahrain who is going to be feeding me some much needed Information. My Source is well connected inside and i have no reason to doubt the Information that he is giving me.

ATM i don’t have much information about the packages or tariffs etc but i have been promised that it’ll be coming soon.

Numbering : STC Bahrain customers will have numbers starting with 33.

Pre Paid : STC will most probably be providing 3 different charging methods for Calls made via prepaid. They will be Per Second charge, Per 20 Seconds charges or Per Minute charges.

 USB Internet : STC Bahrain will have the highest listed speed on the USB Internet stick (e-go, o-net) a whooping of 21.1Mbps. In real life no one is going to get the mentioned speed due to network load etc.

Blackberry : Blackberry service along with handsets will be provided by STC.

3.5G Internet Router : STC Bahrain will provide a router that you pop-in a data sim card and it allows you to browse the Internet etc. Advertisement will say 21.1Mbps but the Router Only supports 7Mbps as opposed to their USB Stick which does support 21.1Mbps.

STC Call Center is outsourced to a company calles Silah (Prison Break anyone). Silah is a company originally from South Africa & London. 67% of Silah is owned by E-Government Authority, another 33 Percent is owned by The Merchants Group Limited which is a UK Based company. 20,000BD as the authorized capital out of which 13,400 is Local Investment and the remaining 6,600 is Outside Investment.

That is all i have for you guys, stay tunes more is coming.

I was issued my First Blackberry almost 2 years ago by my then Employer. It was a Blackberry 8707v using Zain 3G Network. The device was well built, lacked feature like WIFI and GPS but man did it had me always connected. After using the 8707v i was in love with the Blackberry Devices. Once i left my employer i waited for a while and got myself a Blackberry Bold 9000. RIM’s latest and advanced Blackberry device back in 2008. The Bold was something else, as the name states it was Bold and had a sense of style to it. Fast Forward to march and Bold is showing its Age, due to its low Built-in Memory, i faced lot of crashes and constant reboot. My Life depends on the Blackberry and the problems of the 9000 couldn’t hold me back so i upgraded/downgraded myself to the Blackberry Curve 8900. This device had good specifications WIFI, GPS, 3.2 MP Camera & built-in 256MB of Memory. The only omission was 3G Network. To gain something you have to loose something till Now! RIM released Blackberry Bold 9700. 9700 is the Ferrari of Blackberry Devices.

I could not wait for this device to get released. After waiting for Months and Months, reading up on the 9700 and following it closely (Unofficially) finally the Day came when RIM Announced that 9700 will be available officially.

With my Credit Card in hand and no worry in the world about buying a new device without giving much thought to it or about after effects (like how all of us gadgets freak do) i placed the Order for a new Bold from Handtec. I placed the Order on the 13th of November. Little did i know that ill have to wait for another 4 days, my mistake as it was a Friday and Saturday/Sunday Business in Europe are closed. Handtec shipped my Order on the 16th, Reached Bahrain on the 17th evening. By the time i got to my office on the 18th it was already there waiting for me. Ready to be taken the cover off and fondled with.

Enough of the Back story lets get down to see what the device has to offer.

Tweet Genius first released in May to general public got a lot of praise from users for taking a different approach to Blackberry Apps. The Interface was well polished, transition effects, Cool icons and all.

Come around to July and tweet genius went back into beta testing to few selected group of users and Boy Genius Report forming an alliance with Beejive to bring out a new version of Tweet Genius. Few months later and we have an already awesome app turned more awesome. New Interface, new Options, better quality, faster & lot of bugfixes.

I have been using Firefox since it came out way back in 2006. It is without doubt the best browser out there so far. Sure other browsers are there and are faster then Firefox, but what really differentiates Firefox from the crowd is the community and ever expanding numbers of add-ons & themes. You can personalize Firefox same way you will personalize your house or room. Change the look, download extensions to make it work in a certain way or do a certain task. Whatever my need be i have managed to find an extension.

There are few extensions that are a must have for me. On a new Firefox install ill go ahead and install these extensions before i do anything else. From general use to specific use its all here.

Its a new Kind of mafia, not the one seen in God Father, Scarface, or the real life great Italian Mafia. All the previous mentioned ones are there in hiding committing crime some we hear about and some are just swept under the table. Even though they are secretive in their dealings and in committing what they do best we get to hear about them from everyone and everywhere.  There is a new kind of mafia here, specially in Bahrain which is operating in Open and in front of everyone eyes but no one has gotten up to say anything, no action taken. Day by Day and Month after Month they are going about their business, and we have gotten used to it. Initially there was an uproar which died later on. That new kind of Mafia my friend are the telecommunication Companies.