You enter an apartment in Dubai Marina. It’s an amazing balcony view. Kitchen is very clean. The agent discusses the method of sale of the unit. You decide. Three weeks later you’re holding your laptop to the ceiling to see the screen in the corner of the living room. The video call continues to freeze. The only good signal is located by the bathroom. When you are looking for a house, one of the things that you typically don’t pay attention to is the quality of the Internet connection. Internet quality for remote employees, students, gamers and families who stream on multiple screens is just as important as the number of bedrooms. This checklist guides you through the things to see, inquire and test before signing a tenancy contract or a sale agreement. For Your Viewing: A Dubai Internet and WiFi Buyer’s List.
Why Viewing Day Is the Right Time to Check
After the deposit or funds are transferred, you have to deal with the connectivity issues and they are now your problem and burden. At the time of the viewings, you’re in control. Questions are asked freely, including having your phone out for walking around and haggling over the issue if it becomes a problem.
e& (which is now known as Etisalat) and du are the two providers in Dubai, with both offering fibre in most newer developments, but experience in the building is very different. Wiring may be non-existent or may not have been installed for speeds in older towers, villa communities and converted units. The time to see that early is a viewing.
Step One: Find Out Which Provider Serves the Building
Start with a question to the agent/landlord: Here is a list of providers, is it fibre to the home?
Certain buildings have only one provider wired into them. Others have both. Some have special arrangements with the developer or property management. See if there is a supplier you want that is available. If you are committed to a particular one due to TV or mobile bundles.
Check to see if the unit has a live line. This can help to reduce installation time. It’s also important to know who owns the account, and whether it will be transferred or terminated upon your tenant’s departure.
Step Two: Where Will The Fibre Terminal And Router Go?
Search for the optical network terminal – this is the small white or grey box through which the fibre connection enters the terminal. It’s generally placed at the entrance door or in a utility closet in a hallway cupboard.
The location of this box is where your router is likely to be based, and thus influences the area you can cover. Weak signals in the main living areas include a terminal at the end of a long apartment, or inside a metal-doored electrical cabinet. Do you think you can get a router into the box or not? Do you think the box is somewhere that will not degrade the signal?
Look for ethernet wall sockets as well. Most of the modern apartments have data points in both living room and bedrooms, but they may not be connected back to the terminal. If you have a cable, plug it in; otherwise, inquire if the sockets are live.
Step Three: Run a Real Speed Test
Don’t take the advertised plan at face value. If there is any connection, request the permission to connect the phone to the WiFi network and then take a speed test. Conduct the speed test at least three locations: near the router in the main living room and in the bedroom farthest from the router.
Examine three numbers:
- Download Speed – This is crucial for viewing videos and surfing the Internet,
- Upload speed: uploading files to cloud for video calls and sending large files to cloud are important uses for upload speed.
- It’s essential for live meets and games, Ping or latency
If there is no internet line in the unit, request to see if you can find the mobile 5G signal within the apartment. For those with decent 5G coverage, it’s a backup solution and/or is used as a standalone option.
Step Four: Test the Dead Zones
Walk around each room and ensure that the bars on your phone are working. Be extra vigilant in any rooms you will be working in, such as your own desk space, master bedroom or balcony.
As Dubai has lots of reinforced concrete being used in building the units, they can suffer from thick walls causing issues with your WiFi connection. Not to mention glass dividers, mirror wardrobes and ornamental metal panels will all cause issues. A three bedroom unit will typically have areas that will not be completely covered using only one router. This is not a negative aspect to be concerned with, but something to take into account when selecting and budgeting for your choice.
A professional can be there to help. Sometimes you can have a quick assessment of the arrangement, for a small charge, from a trusted WiFi technician Dubai if you’re serious about a property you’re interested in but unsure of what it will look like when it comes to coverage. It’s not much of an expense for a place you can’t work in for a year.
Step Five: Ask About Building-Wide Infrastructure
Shared infrastructure is a part of unit-to-unit internet in apartment towers. If possible, talk to the property manager or building management office about these questions:
- Have there been several times of extended power outages during the past year?
- Are the riser cabinets easily accessible? Who’s in charge of solving issues?
- Do you have restrictions on deploying your equipment, e.g. mesh nodes or access points?
- Do any rules stop you from drilling or putting cables through shared hallways?
Visible wires and outside antennas are not allowed in some neighborhoods. This finding can prevent future issues.
Step Six: Check Power and Socket Placement
This seems like a trivial matter, but it isn’t. Your router will need to be connected to a power source close to it. Some models, however, will be housed in a cupboard, and will not have an easy access power point to connect with. This will require either extension leads or rearranging things.
Take a look around your apartment to see how many power points there are. When installing any mesh nodes or access point you will need to know you have the necessary outlets in logical locations.
Step 7: Think About Your Lifestyle
Not all the internet will be needed by everyone. Be honest with yourself & think about how your household will be using it.
If a couple watches a TV show in the evening, they will only require a small package & 1 router. But a family of 3 children with online learning, a parent who has video calls and a smart home with cameras and speakers will need high-speed internet access with good coverage. The most important thing freelancers concerned about when uploading large design/video files is the upload speed.
Special consideration will be given to Villas as well. Multiple floors & outside areas (gardens, pool decks) typically entail more than one access point in the larger living area. When you’re considering a villa, you can take things for granted—you’ll have to get a mesh system or wired access points. You should include this into your cost.
Renting or Buying?
This is identical to the above but if you are renting you’ll want to know how flexible you will be.
Can your landlord let you use a different provider, to have a new line or additional kit fitted? Would they have any set-up/activation fees? Is a router available or did the previous tenant? Record anything you agree on, including a brief conversation.
The buyer is thinking on a longer-time frame. Confirm if infrastructure of building needs upgrading, if there are any additional providers planned, and if there is quality cabling behind the walls. If the wiring is poor, it’s a bad deal to fix once you are in your new home. If you’re buying something, it’s good to get specialist WiFi assistance Dubai before purchase for identification, particularly for those top quality units or villas, as cable runs are long and intricate.
Questions to Ask the Agent
Have a list on your phone, and question them at each showing:
- Who are the companies or companies that service this building?
- Does there exist a working telephone line? Who is the owner of the account?
- Where is the fibre end?
- Have there been any previous tenants or owners reporting connectivity issues?
- Is there any regulation about any extra equipment being installed?
- On average, how long does a new installation take here?
Many agents hear the word “installation” more often than they should and some of them may not know the answer, about installation. If that is true, ask the person who does know about installation and follow up.. Information too is a reluctant or vague response.
Bring a Small Kit
There’s no need to have a lot. A phone with a speed test app, a short cable for the LAN and a laptop, if you’re in need of some serious power. Some people also bring a WiFi analyzer app that will display the strength of the signal, rather than just a bunch of vague bars, in decibels. It takes about a minute in each room and provides much better information than a mere guesswork.
When to Call in Help
If you have any doubts about anything on your checklist, don’t try to ignore them. An experienced person will be able to easily detect weak main living area signal, hidden terminals or “dead spots”. Avoid months of stress by enlisting the services of a WiFi technician Dubai before or within the first few weeks of your lease. If you move in and find your things are not working as they should, a reliable WiFi support Dubai provider can help fix the issues such as router settings, channel congestion and mesh positioning in most cases within one visit.
One of the best tips to keep in mind is that the majority of the WiFi technicians Dubai will be recommended by you, the tenant or owner, and will invariably recommend easy fixes like moving the router, changing channels or even upgrading to a mesh. Get a simple estimate.
Final Thoughts
Even if a property is perfect, it could still drive you nuts each day because of a problem with the internet. The good news is most issues will be apparent during a viewing. If you have a look for the terminal, run some speed tests, walk around the dead spots and ask about the building you will easily be able to spot any connectivity issues.
A little extra time (20 minutes) will enable you to choose which property would be best suited to you, not just based on quality of finishes and views. This will also provide you with negotiating strength and the peace of mind that you’d never end up paying for a house with poor internet speed! You can simply call on a Dubai expert WiFi support specialist if you have any doubts after checking the checklist before you commit. This will save you a lot of money compared to discovering it later.
Pick the home you adore, but be sure that it can keep you linked!
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