My office is in the beginning of Korangi, which is Karachi’s (and hence Pakistan’s) premiere industrial area. Email and the internet are a essential part of any business, and thus to ensure reliable internet connectivity we’ve got eight different internet links. Eight, you might ask incredulously, but that is the sad truth.
What prompted this post is that even after have eight internet links;, in the recent rains all of them went down - most of them don’t work anyways, and of the one which did, the isp’s wireless tower collapsed!
DSL: We’ve got 2 DSL links from different companies, but the phone system in Korangi is so bad that for the last 12 months they’ve both not been working. The current status for the last 10 months or so has been that the DSL companies have given up all hope and said there’s no way DSL can work. Even the regular phone lines don’t work much of the time, let alone DSL, so I’ve basically given up on them. Still, in Karachi, DSL remains the cheapest way to get fast internet, so I’ve still got the links in the hope that one fine day they will work again. On top of that, once PTCL launched their DSL service in Korangi, I signed up for that also, but even they can’t estimate when the lines will working well enough for DSL.
CDMA: A VPTCL and a GOCDMA wireless internet connection - both of them completely unusable in Korangi. Useless waste of money. Still, their voice part works at least.
Dialup: - Again, works over the phone lines, which don’t work, so hence useless.
Wifi 802.11b/g: Onto to Wireless internet - Have a Wifi connection, for which we pay an exorbitant amount, and is up generally most of the time. The problem with this is latency - it’s quite a bit more than DSL. It also costs an arm and a leg, and I’m looking to dump it at the first alternative.
Wimax: The seventh option is Wateen Wimax, for which I had a trial connection for a few months, but that is also down now as they are supposedly launching. The equipment is installed, but they just can’t figure out their packages and rates, so it’s taking forever. A halfway decent company would have just transferred their trial customers onto a paying plan without a service interruption, but they are probably just following the age old maxim, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”. So here I have all their equipment installed and hooked up to my router, and all it does is provide a little shade to a couple of pigeons.
GPRS/EDGE: The eight option is a couple of Mobilink GPRS links on their unlimited packages (their EDGE service isn’t in Korangi yet). This too goes down when it rains, and is slow enough to be basically unusable. It’s faster to go somewhere else and use their internet rather then trying to use GPRS on a pc. Failing all else, it can be used to download email in an emergency.
So there you have it - a story of eight different internet links. A bit ridiculous that even after all this there is no guarantee the internet will work. Satellite internet isn’t a option because it’s too expensive, and this being Pakistan there’s no guarantee that will work reliably either!
The rains finally stopped, and after a suitable time for mourning their fallen tower, the wireless company saw fit to build another one. So I’m back to one working internet connection, and both DSL and Wimax remain a elusive dream, despite have multiple connections installed for both of them!
This was originally posted over at the wiredpakistan.com forums.
What about having an optical fiber from some service provider (worldcall, dreamnet etc)
Optical fibre would cost far too much! None of the above listed internet connections are particularly expensive, and they aren’t paid for when not working.
Our affiliate in korangi is using Multinet Wireless , paying Rs 7000 for 256kbps unlimited connection and installation fee around 10 - 15 k .
I’m located in KIA and have connected a Worldcall Wireless set to our mail server. It’s working fine for now. Phone lines have been down for 2 weeks, so neither DSL nor dial-up is working. The state of PTCL in KIA is truly pathetic.. Trying to ensure reliable connectivity in this part of the city is such an unwanted distraction!
Any particular reason for DCN [ Desi Cabel Net ] not working in that area? There are oprators having their own Fibre Cable starting from Garden [ Zoological Gardens ] upto Shadman Town [ North Karachi ]. With sufficient inducement oprators having Fiber upto Shah Faisal / Mehmoodabad can provide link. One can get reliable 128 / 256 / 512 link at comparable prices.
Though I suspect laying Fibre for single client will be too expensive. there should be more. Maybe with some luck KITE could be persuaded to lay their Fiber for [ DCN style
] and hand it over to some cabel provider for connectivity and maintainence. This is just an idea which may work [ it does in rest of the city :)] after all you would need a back-up for Wateen also :).
All oo your troubles are just due to one thing-Faulty PTCL line.Instead of paying so much for 8 diferent links, I would advise you to have good friendly relations (if u know what i meant by that term) with the line man of your area. It will save you an arm and a leg.
I have 14 PTCL lines - none of which work most of the time. And like any other office, of course the local line man is on the payroll.
Govt should take consideration of your article since the Korangi industrial zone is one of the largest industry area of pakistan… if they dont give them a basic neccesaties then it would hard for the business comunity to do compitative business…. On the other hand industries can make their local body who work for the development of korangi and make it heaven for the new and existing ones
Greetings,
I will be in Jacobabad January 13 - 21 and need a wireless connection for my laptop. Does anyone have a suggestion? Costs are not an issue.
Thanks,
Dave
same goes here with us inkorangi, we recently moved to korangi from clifton for larger space and since last 8 months we had internet connection only for 2months which was still giving us mere 100kbps on 512 connection.
irionically neither ptcl nor dsl provider of any help and 2months back it went dead..
what did we do: we went for new number got it asked maxcom for service, they installed it still modem didnt synk, so what we did was to join the wire without pair on ptcl pole and directly into the pair and it worked, thats long story how we managed to install it.
thanks God we are back on 400+ speed, i would advice you to go for max com they had better service and staff and install the jon the pair directly in wire not through ptcl box.
try telenor edge!
thanks for it kindly any friend mail me pictures of korangi 5 thnaks
regarads
Zahid ali raza
I was the Senior Engineer Korangi Industrial Area and currently promoted to have 8 exchanges under me. The situation has been improved in Korangi for the past 2 months. Can you tell me your Tel Nos and location so that I can help you.
hi every one use only ptcl dsl 512kbps it da best choice if u cant afford it then use v wireless i used v its good but slow 512kbps is best
ccc
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Dear All,
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For further feel free to contact.
Regards,
Customer Satisfaction Excellence
Yasir Zeeshan
Executive Sales & Marketing
Corvit Networks(Cisco Certified Gold Partner)
Suite 114, Caesars Tower, Shahrah-e-Faisal, Karach.
zeeshan.yasir@corvit.com
http://www.corvit.com
UAN: +92-42-111-CORVIT
Tel: +92-21-2789078-268
FAX: +92-21-2789082
Cell: +92-334-3578685
Dear All,
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I am Visiting Karachi form dec 15 to jan 15, 2009. I will need a fast reliable connection for that time, I wont have time to test and try different internet services there, so here is my proposal, anyone want to rent me their WiFi, WiMax server for a month, I will pay decent amount for it, i will hate to pay startup cost to these companies, but wont mind paying to an individual. but here is the condition, service has to be reliable and should work 24/7 as i run may consulting business form home and will be using VOIP phone with it. Please email me only if you are serious and have something to offer, 256K will work but I will rather prefer 512K.
Tariqkhan01@gmail.com
Thanks