Dhiraagu Mobile Broadband

I have heard about Dhiraagu Mobile Broadband and Wataniya Broadband and have seen people compare the speed in their blogs.

I have decided that i will be using Mobile broadband in this summer vacation because DSL is so slow in my island (64kbps).

before coming to Maldives this vacation, i have always heard that Wataniya Broadband is fast in my island. but now they say it has slowed down, due to congestion i think.
Wataniya was the only operator who gives 3G network to my island but now Dhiraagu also has introduced it. so i decided to take a Dhiraagu Mobile Broadband package. (partly because they sell it without their modem, too. because i have a modem which i was using when i was abroad) the largest package was 4GB so i subscribed to it (i don't know why neither of the two operators have not introduced an unlimited plan)

so, when i came home (still in the Capital, Male') i ran a speed test and it showed a good 3 Mbps. since then i have done many tests and the result is always around or below 3Mbps.






i can say i am pretty happy with the result. but lets see how they do in the island. i have a feeling that it is gonna be way down.

EDIT: i am now in my island and it looks like i was wrong. the speed is pretty much same even here, but i guess it is because they have not announced 3G formally yet, and everyone else is using Wataniya so there is no congestion in Dhiraagu network yet. and i have found out that Dhiraagu network is HSPA and Wataniya is HSPDA. that means Dhiraagu is actually better than Wataniya. when i was abroad, i have seen how 3G network developed. first came WCDMA then HSDPA then HSUPA and after that HSPA. so i am pretty happy that i chose Dhiraagu.

here is a test taken in the island.



and i have checked Wataniya too, it goes upto 600 kbits/s not more than that.

Update (July 6, 2010): i have tested Wataniya again today, but with my HSPA modem. and the results are a bit higher than before, still much much lower than Dhiraagu.
here are the results.

Dust From The Great Sahara in Africa Spread All The Way To Reach The Caribbean

i know the dust from the Sahara reach countries in Europe, like Spain, Portugal, France and Italy. but that is pretty close to Africa. i didn't know it can travel all the way to the Caribbean, crossing the Atlantic Ocean. that is 3000 miles.
so i was surprised to see it in the Google Earth's Daily Planet layer today (June 2nd, 2010)

here is a screen shot with the measurement tool showing 3000 miles. (click the images to view large size)


and here is a closer look