Online Masai :: The Digital Nomad

According to Net Index, a new website operated by Seattle-based Ookla (the people behind Speedtest.net), Kenya has the third highest average broadband speed at 2.88Mbps and overall ranked 78 in the world. Whats really surprising is that the country ranked second is Rwanda with an average broadband speed 3.76Mbps. Leading the pack is Ghana with an average broadband speed of 5.88Mbps and ranked 44th in the world.South Korea finished first with an average of 34.14Mbps, followed by Latvia, the Republic of Moldova, and Japan at 24.29, 21.37 and 20.39Mbps respectively.

Moving to uplink speeds, South Korea once again led the pack with an average of 18.04Mbps while Ghana tops Africa with an amazing 6.35Mbps and ranked 12th in the world, Rwanda comes in second place again with 2.40Mbps and ranked 25th in the world, Kenya in third place has an average uplink speed of 1.55Mbps and ranked 36th in the world.

Strange how Rwanda tops Kenya with far significantly better speed tests when they buy their broadband service through Kenya. Is internet service cheaper in Rwanda?

NB: In an attempt to keep things as even as possible, Net Index only counted results from nations in which tests were taken from at least 75,000 unique IP addresses.
Based on user test info generated over the past 30 days.

After 10 weeks of chasing up on getting my box connection at home, I got home today to find it connected.

First thing I got round to doing was hooking up my wireless network onto the IDU provided to me by KDN for free. I got the 1mb/1mb link broadband of course, and I have no idea what the contention rate on this thing is. No one at KDN gives that information out either.

Now we all know that KDN are the last mile service providers of Seacom in the region and have the largest fiber network in the region. For an ISP this big they sure are poor at following up with their potential clients and totally suck at marketing. I wonder if they have enough clients for their own liking.
Trust me, following up with these guys to get this link at home was no easy task. It is completely difficult to get hold of anyone at KDN who would have any useful information regarding your installation status, at times it is just impossible to get anyone on the phone (about 65% of the time).

Lets get down to the chase. After all the excitement of getting this connection, I faced nothing but DISAPPOINTMENT (typical from Kenyan ISP’s isn’t it guys). Now this link for one doesn’t even go through Seacom but through KDN’s fail over satellite links

Tracing route to www.facebook.com [66.220.145.10]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 * * * Request timed out.
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 * * * Request timed out.
4 204 ms 230 ms 254 ms l3.london.kdn.intersatafrica.com [212.113.15.97]

5 227 ms 370 ms * ae-34-52.ebr2.London1.Level3.net [4.69.139.97]
6 601 ms * 350 ms ae-44-44.ebr1.NewYork1.Level3.net [4.69.137.78]

7 * * 262 ms ae-3-3.ebr4.Washington1.Level3.net [4.69.132.93]

8 264 ms 271 ms * ae-84-84.csw3.Washington1.Level3.net [4.69.134.1
86]
9 261 ms 263 ms 266 ms 4.68.17.149
10 263 ms * 259 ms FACEBOOK-IN.edge3.Washington4.Level3.net [4.53.1
16.6]
11 262 ms 346 ms 267 ms ae2.bb01.iad2.tfbnw.net [204.15.20.88]
12 331 ms 400 ms * xe-1-3-0.bb01.sjc1.tfbnw.net [74.119.76.170]
13 330 ms 332 ms * ae1.dr02.snc4.tfbnw.net [74.119.76.185]
14 328 ms * 331 ms eth-17-2.csw01a.snc4.tfbnw.net [74.119.76.46]
15 411 ms * 350 ms www-10-01.snc4.facebook.com [66.220.145.10]

Trace complete.

Secondly the local loop connection just doesn’t do it for me. The latencies are so high & inconsistent it is unbearable, a simple ping to Access Kenya’s DNS shows this

Pinging 196.200.16.2 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 196.200.16.2: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=58

Ping statistics for 196.200.16.2:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 1, Lost = 3 (75% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 4ms, Maximum = 4ms, Average = 4ms

Reply from 196.200.16.2: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=58
Request timed out.
Reply from 196.200.16.2: bytes=32 time=41ms TTL=58
Reply from 196.200.16.2: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=58

Ping statistics for 196.200.16.2:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 3, Lost = 1 (25% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 9ms, Maximum = 79ms, Average = 43ms

So far this link is good for nothing. Really I have always complained about Access Kenya, but there link’s have been far more consistent and better. This product from KDN is a total rip off, more so because it simply fails on the local loop network too.

For now I will be hoping to see some sort of improvements made to this service and strongly advise anyone willing to go for this service to keep off for a while.

Appley rolled out its newest MacBook Pro laptop. The new MacBook Pro’s boast faster processors and longer battery life.
The 13-inch, 15-inch and 17-inch models have all been refreshed barely 300 days since the MacBook Pro was last refresed.

Mac enthusiasts had been drooling for Intel’s new Core i5 and i7 processors, and got just that.

Apple says the 13-inch has a built-in battery that can go 10 hours without recharging and a graphics processor they say is 80 percent faster than the current model’s. The 15- and 17-inch Pros are up to 50 percent faster than current models, Apple says.

All three MacBook Pro’s are now available for purchase online at the Apple store.

Prices are as follows:

• 13-inch, 2.4 GHz: $1,199

• 13-inch, 2.66 GHz: $1,499

• 15-inch, 2.4 GHz: $1,799

• 15-inch, 2.53 GHz: $1,999

• 15-inch, 2.66 GHz: $2,199

• 17-inch, 2.53 GHz: $2,299

There are built-to-order options on all of the notebooks, for an additional cost, of course