Life on the Spot! Life and Leisure in Doha, Qatar

It’s been more than a week since I called Qtel and was told that they’d be calling me within 3 days to follow up on my complaint regarding the Mosaic Service. Nobody (officially) from Qtel called me up on this. However, a good Samaritan has been helping me out getting things moving. He said his wife reads the blog and got to know my predicament and so she asked him to give me a call and see if he can help out. After several calls and follow -ups from him, he did confirm that we can have Mosaic TV+. I was told that they’d be installing the service on Thursday this week and would hopefully receive a call from the technician early morning. Inshallah!

To Mr. C and his wife, thank you! I’m just glad that people like you extend their hands out to help. I hope that all Qtel Employees are as helpful as Mr. C, otherwise, I see a lot of people cursing and pulling their hairs out with Qtel support services. 

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It’s almost here! The Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha is just days away! It starts November 3 and ends on November 9. Have you bought your tickets yet? We saw tickets being sold at Villagio two weeks ago but decided not to buy tickets. Why? Again, as I’ve said before, Maria Sharapova isn’t coming. And if we do decide to watch, I’m sure they’ll be giving away free tickets when you go there. You won’t get the best seats in the house i.e. the lower section, but if you’re just in it for really watching it, the lower box might not have the best seats for watching. That’s just my personal opinion. But if you’re raring to get some photos up close, then those would be the best seats.

Tickets are sold for 10 (upper section), 20 (middle section) and 50 (lower section). Seasonal tickets would cost you 350QR. Still cheap by standards; as other tournaments would have you pay thrice that per day. If you’re really interested, you better get your seasonal tickets instead of hassling around the stadium for tickets once it starts.

By the way, if you want to take a visit to photos of this years' Qatar Total Open (WTA Event) held in Doha last February. Go to the LifeontheSpot Gallery!

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After the standard contract scheme, Overseas Filipino Workers in the country are set for more good news, with the Philippines and Qatar working on increasing their minimum monthly wage to QR1,400 or $400.

Vivo Vidal, Philippine Labour Attache in Doha, told The Peninsula he is waiting for guidelines on the bilateral labour agreement between the two countries that will formally increase the minimum wage of OFWs in Qatar.

The salary increase forms part of the agreement reached by Philippine Labour Secretary Marianito Roque and Qatar's Labour Minister during the former's visit to Doha early this week, Vidal said.

Aside from the pay hike, labour officials of both countries agreed that a standard contract scheme will now be used for all OFWs hired to work in Qatar, with the English translation of the contract to prevail in most of the provisions.

With the new minimum pay, OFWs in Qatar will get an increase of at least QR400 in their monthly earnings. The present minimum wage is QR1,000 a month. Vidal said the new pay increase will apply to all work categories in Qatar.

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I’ve wasted more than 45 minutes on the phone yesterday, dialing back and forth between 111 and 115 and pushing a combination of numbers along the way i.e. 111, press 2 for English > 4 for landline services > 3 Additional Services. Imagine doing this for 6 times just to apply for Qtel’s Mosaic TV+ and eventually not getting anywhere with the application and installation itself.

Remember when I blogged about calling QTEL in the morning of yesterday to ask about the availability of Mosaic TV+ in Old Airport Area and getting told that it was already available? I was told I just need to call from home so I can apply and all would be set up within a maximum of 10 days. This is what I did when I got home and called 115 and the magic combination to get someone on the other end. After waiting for 3 minutes, I got someone to tell me that I had to call another number as they don’t handle applications. I dialed 111 and the magic combinations but was told again that I have to dial another number and combination. I asked him to please recheck if Mosaic TV+ is indeed available in Matar Qadeem and was told to wait so he can check. He verified this and so I dialed the combination he told me. After a few minutes waiting, I think I now got to the applications section so I asked the lady if I could apply for Mosaic TV+. Mariam told me that I already applied on April (probably they automatically applied my name when I called them April of this year). However, she surprises me by saying that Mosaic TV+ is not yet available and what is written in my application was that it would be ready in the future. I told her that I was already told by 2 other people from Qtel that it was available in my area can be added on my phone line. She insisted that it still wasn’t available. She referred me to call 111 again.

I am now getting furious as I’ve already spent more than 20 minutes on the phone. I called up 111 and asked them to verify, again, if Mosaic TV+ is available in Old Airport Area and if it can be added as a service to my account. The guy checked and said yes. He told me to call 115 again to tell them this and have them process my application.

Already on my last straw, I called 115 again, told the lady about my situation and now proceed to tell me that I did apply on April and that Mosaic TV+ is available in Old Airport/Matar Qadeem. However, she has to file a complaint in my name so that the technicians or whoever handles complaints can go to my building and see if it really is possible to add Mosaic TV+. I asked her why this process needs to be done instead of just getting my application processed since she can already see from the system that it is available in our area. She told me that this was the process that we should take and I’d be called within 3 days for a possible resolution to my complaint. Giving up, I just said thank you and hung up, feeling lost. So is there Mosaic TV+ in Old Airport Area/Matar Qadeem? I guess I’ll just go on with my usual business till someone actually calls me for an update. Inshallah.

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I’ve been calling Qtel ever since they promoted their Mosaic Package in 2006. Apprently, only selected areas in Doha has access to Mosaic and the Old Airport Area is not one of the areas. vThis 'Triple Play' service brings together high quality voice services, Digital Broadcast TV delivered using Internet Protocol technologies and Broadband Internet access with WiFi all over one ADSL line. The Mosaic TV+ from Qtel offers you a set of TV Channels, 512kb Internet (wireless router included), and a landline connection for 250QR. If one gets a 512kb Internet connection, one has to pay 200QR monthly along with 33QR for your landline connection monthly charge. So for 250QR, having both plus the extra TV channels is a steal. You’re only paying extra 17QR! The channel line-up includes content from Orbit, Showtime, ART, Star TV, Turner, Al Jazeera, MBC and more.

Now, Qtel even has a promotion which gives you free installation, free 2 months of all existing channels, and provision for Pay Per View channels service. Once the 2 months are up, you can either choose Prime Asia or the Prime Arabic Package. There really isn’t much from the Prime Asia Package that I don’t get from my old Satellite Receiver. For Prime Asia, channels that interest me would be:

Fox News
Show Series 1
Animal Planet
Travel Channel
Discovery Science
National Geographic

If I add Kids Package after 2 months, I’ll be paying an extra 30QR more for Al Jazeera Kids, fun Channel, Disney Channel, Kids Co, Boomerang and Cartoon Network. Or if I choose the Variety Asia for 40QR, We’ll be getting Hollywood Channel, BBC Food, E! Entertainment, ShowComedy, and PBO (Pinoy Box Office).

In terms of the Internet connection, It’s good to have the wireless for Mavis’ Laptop and Xiane’s Nintendo DS. I am not too sure how my download speed is going to be affected. Right now, the download cap for torrents is at 60kb. I don’t expect it to go up but it should not go down. I’m hesitant about port forwarding since I need to forward ports for the Xbox 360 too. I’ve read a post in a forum that Qtel disables the other 3 Ethernet ports at the back which would be a problem for me since I have to connect 2 Xboxes through the Ethernet. But I also have a friend who was able to use the Ethernet ports. I’ll have to call QTEL later and ask them about that.

So, let’s see what happens. Bala told me to keep my expectations low as the service and information from QTEL is not really reliable. I mean, imagine putting up signs around Doha about your Mosaic TV+ service but eventually , it is only available to certain parts of a small town. Anyway, I’m crossing my fingers.

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