BlogAllAlong

Tomorrow is the final date for migration to the eight digits numbering plan, and as per the schedule set by the Minisrty of Communications (MOC) them selves, MOC gets to do the migration at last. Nevertheless, MOC have stated several times since summer there are totally ready for this migration, and it’s just a matter of public awareness that is delaying the launch.

Now, you may call this an incident, but the details strongly suggests against it. Today, my home phone kept ringing almost every minute, when almost no one knows this number, as it’s only there for internet access to be honest. Everytime I pick the phone I get strange outcome. Once, it connected me to the Clock number 113. How come? I thought first it’s a prank. Then a second call, when I pick up, it rings as if I was calling. Third and fourth time. It kept going on. Last time there was an old lady at the other side of the phone, and clearly she didn’t know what’s going on. When she heard me on the phone, it appeared she had dialed the wrong number.

Prank? Unlikely with this variety of people I talked to. Coincidental problem? Very improbable at this rate. But at all rates, I will not just fire a conclusion.

Soon after, I get this message shouting loud and clear, 777 Emergency Hotline will not be available through MOC, and you must use your mobile operator to call them:

Now isn’t that an emergency hotline, and like the most important number of them all? Wasn’t MOC ready for this since summer as they claimed? And how could you rely on a mobile operator in case of emergencies? I know it usually does the purpose, but what if it doesn’t?

So anyways, later today I try to call from my land line my parent’s house. First I got IVR very unprofessional noisy Kuwaiti message that I think was about the move to new plan. It soon broke up. (Again, MOC was ready for this). Everytime I call I get an error, regardless if I try 7 or 8 digits.

Fare enough, I said. Being a technical I know those things happen during migration. But why didn’t they do it at late night I wonder? Those delivery restaurants must be really pissed off. So anyways, I wasn’t expecting any better. I called using my mobile phone, only to hear Arabic message saying: “Sorry, due to excess load on the network, we cannot take your call. Please try again later”

Hey… wasn’t I supposed to use my mobile phone for emergencies? I thought I am exaggerating with my example, but it didn’t last long to prove, Murphy’s law never fails you. 

Great job MOC. Well done. You had written the rules all by your self, forced mobile operators to raise the funding for this migration, and then you totally screw up.

UPDATE (6:30 AM): I still can’t call 6 digits number from land lines, and guess what. Same time NBK Online Credit Card system is not working. But that’s no coincidence, NBK has a monthly regular downtime for their credit cards :(.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Most people these days would have something to do with banks. During Ramadan, most places have shorter working hours, and this is absolutely normal. Banks are private sector, and they hold a critical role however in people’s lives, so such companies should be careful when deciding about their hours. Unfortunately, it became a trend by NBK, KFH and many other banks not to open at all at night, making the only option at day time. And since the weekends have now shifted to Fri-Sat throughout the country, we no longer have a free day to do our banking jobs. Thus, we need to go in afternoon, or during Ramadan now, we have to go during day time, i.e., we have to leave work to do our banking business.

Problem does not stop here however. Bank opening hours are for some reason from 10:00-1:30. That’s 3.5 hours + half an hour before and after for their pre and post processing. That’s total of 4.5 hours, just like government working hours. And coming at a time where people are arm-wrestling for paper-forms to apply for the public offering of the long awaited 3rd mobile operator, you end up having to spend your whole day at the bank (i.e., take the day off), just to do a simple transaction, even if not related to the public offering.

So let’s go by the facts one more time:

1. Banks don’t open at night, only day time
2. People now work on Thursdays, so they can’t use the one day difference anymore
3. Working hours in day time are too short. You have to leave work to do your job
4. Bank is crowded with people signing for public offerings

Popularity: 18% [?]