CONSUMER BEWARE: PTCL EVO REV B SPEEDS ARE NOT WHAT PTCL IS ADVERTISING

PTCL has recently introduced the EVO NITRO Rev B in Pakistan with fanfare and big claims. We want to alert consumers about the misleading ad shown below.

This banner from the web page touts broadband speed up to 9.3 Mbps. Based on our own experience of the PTCL EVO speed, we are skeptical.

What we see below the banner on the web page looks more like a Marketing Bulletin used in organizations to promote the products launched, or yet to be launched, among its employees. It seems that the web admin at PTCL has done a good copy-paste job here.

If you read what they have put on the web page carefully, you will find that the instructions sent to employees or made for the marketing team are been posted verbatim on the web page for consumers!

The copy mastery is confirmed with the hyperlink with which they intend to link to a list of designated banks on the PTCL website which is redirected from PTCL web-mail. Take a look at this image: (Click for larger image)


Here is the list of features posted by PTCL (for the consumers)
- Cruise with Matchless Speed of up to 9.3 Mbps.*
- Enhanced user experience
- Faster web browsing
- High Quality Video Streaming
- Unlimited Downloads
- Faster uploads
- Plug & Play—Instant Connectivity
- USB compatible with laptops & Desktops
- Average data rates vary between 1.25 Mbps- 3.75 Mbps
- Backward compatibility & seamless roaming on Rev A Network (up to 3.1Mbps) in 99 cities across the country
- Device Upgrades available for existing Evo customers.
- Caution on Speed

In reality, these download rates depend on factors such as modem capability, location, distance from communication tower and number of simultaneous users. To sum it up: don’t have high expectations from this.

By: Arsalan Mir and Babar Bhatti - August 17, 2010
Modified from: http://telecompk.net/2010/08/17/consumer-beware-ptcl-rev-b-speeds-are-not-what-ptcl-is-advertising/

CELCO’S RESTORING NETWORKS IN FLOOD-HIT AREAS: PTA

The cellular services providers are making efforts to restore the telecommunication network in flood-hit areas, said a Pakistan Telecommunication Authority official in an interview with The News.

The fibre optic cable network of PTCL and Wateen Telecom in Khyber Pakhtonkhwa (KP) was cut off severing link between numerous towns of the province, PTA said. Due to the deluge a total of 53 Base Stations Controllers (BSCs) and 2,703 Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) have been affected at Peshawar, Nowshera, Dir, Mardan, Charsada, Swabi, Jahangira, Swat, Bara, Timergara, Mingora, Bannu, Kohat, D. I. Khan, Kurram Agency and Khyber Agency.

Access in the affected areas was difficult but the service operators made utmost efforts to restore 43 BSCs and 2,239 BTSs. Remaining sites are being accessed by the technical teams and shall be restored as soon as possible.

Another official of a cellular company informed that telecom network on both banks of Indus River is yet to be fully restored. Flood, broken roads, and collapsed bridges are hindering the repairs. Ufone spokesperson Moazzam Ali Khan said Ufone has been able to keep 99 percent of network running throughout the country.

“Out of around 6,000 only 25 sites are down at the moment; most of the effected sites have already been restored,” Khan said.

“The floods have caused staggering damages to infrastructure in rural Punjab and KP,” said Telenor Head of Corporate Communication and Responsibility Affan Haider.It was hard to keep the network going with no electricity and fuel, but most of the sites were restored within days, he said. “The scenario in Punjab and Sindh is much more fluid, with floods continuing to play havoc we are cautiously watching and maintaining our current network access and are geared to intervene in case of any issues,” Haider said. Warid spokesperson said that most of the infrastructure damaged due to floods in KP has been restored. The flood damaged the cellular services equipment, electric power system, generators and fuel tanks, boundary walls, floors and tower bases.

Modified from: http://propakistani.pk/2010/08/12/celco-restoring-network-in-flood-hit-areas-pta/

TELENOR DISCONNECTS NAYATEL

Telenor Pakistan has given termination notice to Nayatel, an Islamabad based ISP for its 34Mbps Internet Service, which means a loss of Rs 10 million in annual business for Nayatel.

The move came after Nayatel disconnected its redundant connection to the Internet backbone via TW1, reducing its physical redundancy.

Businesses in the capital (including many GSM providers) relied on Nayatel backbone for providing Internet connectivity via EDGE/GPRS. With TW1 gone, the redundancy of a second physical network was gone hence the Telenor disconnection. There have also been reports of other GSM operators to follow suit soon.

Telenor is sensibly following the practice of procuring transit bandwidth directly from the source and has shifted to TW1, which provides IP bandwidth with redundancy in Major Cities. Going directly to the source is both cost effective and resilient, optical networks have the capability to provide infrastructure to support new business technologies like 3G.

Although Nayatel has international connectivity via SMW3 and SMW4, its dependence on a single infrastructure in order to get traffic from Karachi to Islamabad is a risk. On the other hand, TW1 uses Mobilink's Fiber Optic infrastructure and has recently acquired connectivity from Multinet in order to ensure complete redundancy.

Source:http://groups.google.com/group/telecom-grid-pakistan/browse_thread/thread/d1a4146fc8b06aa8