The ISP Stats

Statistics compiled by www.speedtest.net suggest that the fastest ISP in Pakistan is Cyber Net. Well no surprises over here as Cyber has most of corporate sector in there pocket. The surprising bits are after Cyber which tells us that the PTCL and Wateen follows after Cyber Net. But Wateen being quite new in the market and having such a bad time at consumer level has managed to be the third fastest ISP in Pakistan. This in my opinion explains the rumours that Wateen also has a major share corporate sector with there fibre-optic services as quite frankly there WiMax service is a nightmare.
Apart from this the ISPs which are very popular in the consumer sector as havin good Down/Up Speeds and Latencies are very low in these charts. I am talking about ISPs such as WorldCall and MaxComm which provide one of the better services in Pakistan.
Any how Pakistan still hosts one of the most expesive Internet Services in the world. The penitration is not too deep and there is a Very Large Room for Improvment.

Related links:
Pakistan Stats @ Speetest.net

Things to look for before buying a NEW Internet Connection

Well this topic is too trivial for oldies and experience users but I personally have answered it many times to many of my colleagues who are not related to the computers field directly. The following paragraphs will make you feel like you are planing a heart surgery, but these are steps I came up with when I changed from 5 different ISPs personally.

Making up your Mind:
1.Analyze your internet needs. Well this is the easy part all you have to do is just sit back and think about what you usually do internet. If your connection would be shared by your family members or colleagues than analyze there usage as well. This procedure is not important but will help you decide the “speed” and “cap” to chose if any. The usage is mainly consist of chatting and surfing than a minimal connection would be fine. But if your usage consist of Video conferences, downloading and P2P application than the faster and unlimited connection would be the best option.
2.Now you know about your usage, so its time to do a bit of market re-search. Go and have a poke around so that you will about the ISPs which provide services in your area. Contact every last option available, pick up every possible tariff from every possible ISP.
3.Now keeping in mind your usage and tariff you collected decide which service from which ISP to go for. Its always good to talk to a customer who is already using the service you are planing to buy.
4.Never consider a New ISP. This is because usually there are many problems in the service at initial stages. Go for an old and much reliable ISP than a new one.
5.Never rush unless you are really desperate.

Purchasing the Services
1.Before you pay anything ask about any Hidden Charges, Line rents, Government Taxes and etc.
2.Read the contract which you will sign in order to complete the purchase. Normally consumers do this and they get into trouble later (speaking from personal experience).
3.Always take contact information of your sales person, as that person is responsible in the crime if there is a case of “Fraud Marketing”.
4.Always ask the question “What if I am not satisfied with your services?”
5.For Wireless services always ask first to check the signal strength in your home/office before actually paying the ISP.
6.Since in Pakistan no One source is reliable contact the ISP by Phone, Mail, and by visiting there franchises.
7.Once you have payed for the connection, keep you Transaction Slip and you Signed Contract in a safe place.

Good Bye Dial-Up

Dial-up…. The sweet sound of cheeeen-chaaaan, shuuueeen while connecting still sounds cool and attractive.

But usually people in Pakistan and all over the world are out of the dial-up era. Some people who are still stuck with dial-up want to quit and find a cheap alternative. And gladly there are many available too. Few years back the Desi Cable Net broke the market of Dial-up for consumer sector and many ISPs withdrew there hourly packages and introduced Scratch Cards. Well scratch card were not able to catch the attention of the consumers but they however put a stop to hassle to visit the ISP’s Franchise periodically. Scratch Cards also stopped sibling rivalry over “who finished all the balance in the account”.

All in all dial-up is gone and gone for good, there are many alternatives available to it most Common of them being:

1. Desi Cable Wala

2. Broadband Services

3. Wireless CDMA

4. GSM EDGE

The Desi Cable Wala is the oldest choice available for home consumers. Although it’s affordable it’s unreliable. Every few often something goes wrong with the service and the user will sit in DARK.

Broadband…. This has always the way to go for corporate users, but for past couple of years it’s affordable for home consumers too. It’s reliable and works like a charm but it also has many issues including bad PTCL lines and low signal strength. Apart from that it’s useless and expensive for light users whose main use is to communicate textually.

Wireless CDMA is one of the best alternatives if you are a light user and use is not heavy. The speed received are better than dial-up so its definitely an upgrade. The only issue with CDMA is the signal strength but this can be solved via an external antenna.

GSM EDGE, It was designed for mobility but I have seen people using it as an alternative to dialup. The speed received will be better than dial-up but only nag is the availability and the affordability.

In a nut-shell Pakistan is ready to say good bye to dial-up like most of the world.