Which ISPs would you karachiites say is the fastest right now? Is it still Cybernet, who has held this honor since 1998?
Irem ji, whenever I thought of u going back, this was one of the things I thought of… how will u handle the lack of bandwidth! Seriously, I’d sort of kill myself if I ever have to rely on a 56K line. Anyway, as far as recommendation goes, in Lahore Brain NET and Cyber NET are the best ones. One of the reasons I preferred these two was because of their direct connections to the SMW3 line, and the fact that both of them have direct fiber connection to PTCL with mutliple 2Mbit lines, which most local ISPs don’t.
As far as cable and dsl in Pakistan are concerned, no matter what connection u get, it is still going to use the limited bandwidth Pakistan’s international link has, thus creating a genuine bottleneck. So you might be able to download mp3s from the Cable providers local servers at 500KB/sec, but from elsewhere it would still be around 10KB/sec, if you’re lucky that is.
Anyway, a few months ago I wrote this in my blog, it should give you an idea of the gravity of the situation you are in:
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Originally posted by Pakistan99: *
As far as cable and dsl in Pakistan are concerned, no matter what connection u get, it is still going to use the limited bandwidth Pakistan's international link has, thus creating a **genuine bottleneck*.
Anyway, a few months ago I wrote this in my blog, it should give you an idea of the gravity of the situation you are in:
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:-) As opposed to a fake bottleneck? Great analysis in the blog waise.
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*Originally posted by TofiBaba: *
:-) As opposed to a fake bottleneck?
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For emphasis purposes only. :)
About the satellite downlinks, I would just say that they are very insignificant in number. I mean only a handful of ISPs use that service besides the few Software Houses or Multinationals. And frankly, at $700 for equipment and $2300 a month for a 256Kbps connection](Account Suspended), how many local ISPs can afford that, on top of the regular land-based bandwidth connections they are already paying for, let alone individual users.
And you know what’s funny, the PTCL tariff page is titled “Untitled Document”. And no claps for their broken image webdesign either. Anyway, to put it into a more truthful statement, let’s make it “PTCL’s entire bandwidth…”. Khush?
Talk about living in your own world. According to your analysis living in Pakistan is like living in an Internet Blackhole :D
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*Originally posted by TofiBaba: *
Talk about living in your own world. According to your analysis living in Pakistan is like living in an Internet Blackhole : D
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Well, if I can get personal bandwidth equaling to that of a typical ISP in Pakistan for just $45 a month... then I'd be glad to live in my own world happily ever after.
But there is of course no pun intended with that statement, it's both a shame that we can afford so little and yet an achievement that we can still manage so much.
get an ISDN telephone line and get a connection of 128K from a very reputable ISP, someone who owns their own private carrier internet bandwidth, mostly marketed as premium services, It'll cost you like Rs 100/hr but its worth it.
I use it with no problems and get exceptional services from both PTCL and my ISP
Actually its not the bandwidth that is limited, the main reason for this kinda internet bandwidth is mainly because all isps are PTCL bound who is holding onto satellite links in islamabad for research purposes.
Regarding Cybernet and Brainnet, your information is slightly outdated, i m telling you as a former employee of an ISP. But you are right, there are bottlenecks in our intenernet backbone that will continue to limit our progress in this field.
Regarding cable and Dsl, that 10Kb/ sec speed you mentioned might not be true for DSL, as most PTCL slowly but surely giving up some bandwidth reserved for research purposes after givng up licenses to ISPs for DSL launch.
I reached Pakistan few days ago and have been using go.net.pk in Lahore. So far I am very happy with their service. Costs 1500 for unlimited dialup per month.
thanks a lot for the replies and advices guys :k:
i just replied a long reply with individual replies to all of u but included too many smilies in the post and now that reply is gone 
khayr here’s an update from my side…
right now our LAN admin is saying that he’s going to switch over to a DSL connection for the same cost of 800 per month…so i am looking fwd to that…hope he does it inshallah…
the LAN speed is very slow but usually gets quite better at night when there r less users so i do surfing at nite yaan agar din mei mood ho i use dialup…
so far i have only used Fascom and surfing speed is not that bad at all for their normal Rs 10 per hour conexion tho download speed is slow, i haven’t tried their premium service which they claim is much better…i got the card tho for that so i’ll try that once these normal hours i’ve purchased finish…
after those finish too i’ll try the ISP’s u guys have recommended…or maybe by then the LAN admin will live up to his promise of a reliable and fast DSL line inshallah…
i’ve gotten used to this internet speed now though and its not all that bad…plsu as u guys said in the thread it seems like there r some good avlbl options for extra cost…
thanks again to everyone for ur replies 
Beaconet is best
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*Originally posted by irem: *
right now our LAN admin is saying that he's going to switch over to a DSL connection for the same cost of 800 per month...so i am looking fwd to that...hope he does it inshallah...
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Oh nice. Which, pray tell, is your ISP? This is one thing I'm worried about while I'm there next month. I'll even pay Rs.1000 for 2 weeks if they would speed me up.
TofiBaba ji i am using Fascom
i would recommend FASCOM premium line for u if u want really good service in karachi
its 30 rupees per hour
their normal one for 10 rs per hr is aso good...thats the one i am using
mind u tho, its all dialup
p..s welcome to karachi :-)
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*Originally posted by simplythebest: *
Beaconet is best
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i'll look into that...thanks for the info :-)
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*Originally posted by who---me: *
I reached Pakistan few days ago and have been using go.net.pk in Lahore. So far I am very happy with their service. Costs 1500 for unlimited dialup per month.
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who--me i looked at their packages for karachi...and here's what they r offerring..
Night Express Unlimited 400 Unlimited from 12 AM - 9 AM
Go @ Office Unlimited 1150 Unlimited from 8 AM - 8 PM
so basically even if i take both there's no option of totally unlimited, unless i take
Go & Surf Unlimited 3000 Unlimited (56 kbs)
DDP Unlimited 5000 Fixed IP + Separate UIN + 56Kbs Connectivity
which is hecka expensive...
WOL is also offerring some similar unlimited packages waisay to...
i might mix and match these or something...
hmmm…here’s my market survey for unlimited hours dialup packages for khi isp’s…*
so here r the unlimited hours usage rates:
FASCOM
3500 24 hrs a day [too expensive - out]
WorldTel
8am-9pm - Rs950
12:30am-8am - Rs200
GoNet
400: 12-9am
1150: 8am-8pm
WOL
1200: 8am-8pm
750: 6-10pm
250: 2-9am
i tried calling Go4b WorldCall’s broadband service, as Aceones mentioned they u new in karachi n esp in karachi south [clifton, defence area] and r offerring good packages…but wahan koi phone naheen utha rha tha and i dont have so much time to hold for ages tobbah!! so i’ll look at that next month…
for now i’m going to get 100 rupee scratch cards for worldtel, gonet and wol and then check which of them r the best n then get their unlimited usage packages
will report later if i have any more updates 
*
I paid 1500 for my 24/7 gonet. Its slow in the evening (6-10 I guess) ...but I am happy.
who---me that offer is prolly valid only for lahore...
GERRYS.NET has amazing speed :k: even better than fascom
its a bit more expensive tho but exclnt