P for Positive

I waited more than three months after requesting PTCL’s business DSL service but never got it. During this time, I spoke with various people at PTCL including a segment manager anda senior manager. Didnt help much. I am posting this information for those who need higher bandwidth than what is available for the consumer market (2Mbps shared, as of last month). Particularly, for CIR requirements, business DSL is a cheap solution.

PTCL’s service is pathetic. The business unit is better than calling 1236, but the service is still very poor. You need to have time and patience. The service is also not cheap – the 384kbps service costs Rs.15,499/month with a one time installation charge of Rs. 750. There is also a one time fee for router which ranges from Rs.2500 to Rs. 15000 depending on the router type. I have the pricing for different packages in a PDF document that was sent to me by PTCL. Not sure how I can upload it. Leave me a comment if you need it and I will email it.

I got the segment manager’s number by calling 1236 and asking for business DSL. The first person did not understand what I was asking for and kept telling me about 2Mbps DSL service. The second person ave me a wrong number. I finally got to the segment manager who was quick to respond and emailed me the information the same day (which is a miracle in Pakistan). After going back and forth several times and escalating to Mr. Senior Manager, I learned that they were having technical difficulties. Apparently some genius decided to launch the service before the configuration was complete. Long story short, I got business DSL service from Maxcom which I will talk about in my next post. Meanwhile, if you need business DSL, get fresh pricing from PTCL. Make sure that you ask about existing customers. Good Luck,. You will need it.