Internet - Syria Phones

Internet - Internet in Syria

Internet in Syria

The Internet Country code: The top level domain for Syria is .sy.

There were 4,469,000 Internet users in Syria as of June 2011 for a 19.8% Internet penetration rate. Syria ranks 12th out of 14 countries in the Middle East region, just behind Jordan (26.8%) and Lebanon (29.0%) and ahead of Yemen (9.7%) and Iraq (2.8%). Growth in the number of Internet users has been fairly steady since 2005:

Year Internet users % of population
2000 30,000 0.2%
2002 220,000 1.2%
2005 800,000 4.2%
2009 3,565,000 16.4%
2010 3,935,000 17.7%
2011 4,469,000 19.8%

There were 420 Syrian Internet hosts in 2010, placing Syria 187th out of 231 in the world.

With a measured download speed that averages 768 kbit/s, the speed of the Internet in Syria is relatively slow compared to the world-wide average of 4.6 Mbit/s.

Some ADSL service in Syria has been available since 2003. However, ADSL is not available in all locations and, where available, the local telco may not have enough ports for immediate activation. Through 2009 broadband Internet access had reached less than 0.2% of the Syrian population.

The 3G wireless Internet is available in all major cities as well as cities with significant tourism. 2.5G EDGE wireless Internet is available through mobile network operators, SyriaTel and MTN. Wireless Internet is accessed using a USB stick purchased from the mobile operators. In addition, 3G SIM cards for use on mobile phones may be purchased with a data plan. However, only WCDMA phones support data at the moment.

High-speed Internet is also available through many Internet cafes.

Internet service providers (ISPs)

ISPs in Syria include:

View ISP

Aalami

AYA

E-LCOM

INET

Nas

Omniya

Runnet

SAWA Internet Provider

SCS

Syrian Telecommunications Establishment (STE)

ZAD

Internet censorship in Syria Internet filtering in Syria was found to be pervasive in the political and Internet tools areas, and selective in the social and conflict/security areas by the OpenNet Initiative in August 2009. Syria has been on Reporters Without Borders Enemy of the Internet list since 2006 when the list was established. In 2009, the Committee to Protect Journalists named Syria number three in a list of the ten worst countries in which to be a blogger, given the arrests, harassment, and restrictions which online writers in Syria have faced. Syria has banned websites for political reasons and arrested people accessing them. In addition to filtering a wide range of Web content, the Syrian government monitors Internet use very closely and has detained citizens "for expressing their opinions or reporting information online." Vague and broadly worded laws invite government abuse and have prompted Internet users to engage in self-censoring and self-monitoring to avoid the state's ambiguous grounds for arrest. In February 2011 Syria stopped filtering YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is blocked completely and requires a proxy or Virtual Private Network (VPN) to work around it. However, VoIP operators that utilize non-standard Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) ports may function behind Syria's proxy.

Internet cafes, which are widespread and accessible to the public for a fee, can be used to access blocked sites. However, more restrictions have been placed on internet cafes, all public internet centers need operating approval from the security services, are required to keep detailed records of their customers' surfing habits, and people have been arrested after accessing blocked content. Shutdown of Syrian Internet

In November 2012, it was reported that all Internet connectivity between Syria and the outside world appeared to have ceased, as of 29 November 2012. This coincided with reported intense rebel activity inside Syria. Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare, reported that three undersea cables in Tartous, Syria and a fourth land cable through Turkey were connecting Syria to the internet prior to the event. However, according to an August 2014 interview with Edward Snowden, the Internet blackout in Syria was related to a failed attempt by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) to infiltrate malware on a core router of one of the country's main Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

Syria, Internet Stats and Usage

Syrian government abolishes bans and stopped the filters on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. - الغاء الحجب عن موقع "فيسبوك" في سورية (")" (in Arabic) - February 2011.

Syria Internet Country Code is : sy

How to find internet and wi-fi in Syria? Search in the directory of operator companies with internet and mobile services in Syria Phones

Internet Syria

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