I Have used my sling box in the UAE for over six mths . So far I have had a few
teething problems, but once sorted out it has worked great .
The down load speed should be a minimum of 1 Gb in Dubai , It does not seem to make too much of a difference if you have the 2 GB Etisalat package . The most important speed is the upload "back in the real world" . 2 Gb seems to be the minimum for decent quality .
My sling system comes from America which is 2 Gb upload and 1 Gb down in Dubai with no vpn required . It is hooked up to a 43in DLP TV and works for all my programming needs( except we need higher downloads in Dubai to watch fast action sporting events) .
The problem in Dubai is everything seems to get filtered down to somewhere between 300 kbps to 700 kbps (regardless of which Etitsalat pkg you have). On "bad Etisalate days" it can drop below 100 kbps . Once again the frustration of living in a part of the world that still thinks High speed is 2 Gb .
The teething problems I mentioned related to modems back in America - the setup can get tricky but with a little tech knowlege and the Slingbox web site
it can be worked through . (
http://www.slingbox.com/ )
The other problem for some reason is Etisalat seems to inhibit (not on purpose I am sure ), the "auto lookup function" of the sling box program .
Not to get too techie , but the slingbox program looks for the IP address of your host or where the sling box is located and then connects . If your host has a static IP address life, it is simpler for you select this IP address once and
the sling box program no longer has to find the new IP address.
Most internet providers will provide your host with a static IP address on request and it should not be at any additional cost (I believe) .