[OT] .::The Official Mega PTCL Thread::. -- New lines, same old BS

murtaza12

Global Moderator
Global Mod
Oct 27, 2011
10,721
121
69
Ptcl flash fiber review guys ? Are these amongst the new underground cables in karachi ?
FlashFiber is just a new name they came up with for their regular GPON service.

Stability and reliability vary a lot between different areas.
 

EliTuS

Active member
Sep 20, 2016
414
16
13
Wah Cantt
So, after a couple of days I am facing the latency fluctuation again as I stated earlier. Here are the traceroute results:

Code:
Tracing route to google.com.pk [172.217.19.3]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  2     2 ms     2 ms    87 ms  182.176.0.120
  3    91 ms     3 ms     4 ms  10.253.20.94 [10.253.20.94]
  4   109 ms   109 ms   109 ms  10.253.4.26 [10.253.4.26]
  5     *      135 ms    43 ms  74.125.118.170
  6    43 ms   128 ms    41 ms  172.253.51.55
  7   145 ms   144 ms   145 ms  209.85.249.153
  8   130 ms   130 ms    39 ms  zrh04s08-in-f3.1e100.net [172.217.19.3]

Trace complete.
It will go back to back to normal at around 11:30PM. Any ideas what is going on @murtaza12 @iNCEPTiON @shaheerk?

P.S there is no other device connected atm except for my PC and my friend who lives a couple of KMs away from me also faces the same issue.
 

shaheerk

Well-known member
Feb 5, 2013
2,352
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Try pinging your router consistently and see what response you get. If that is fluctuating, then it's most likely the router.

Another test you could so is test it via a VPN.
 

EliTuS

Active member
Sep 20, 2016
414
16
13
Wah Cantt
Try pinging your router consistently and see what response you get. If that is fluctuating, then it's most likely the router.

Another test you could so is test it via a VPN.
I pinged the router and it's giving me <1ms latency consistently. Can you suggest any system-wide VPN to try out? I have Exitlag (Gaming VPN) but that is also giving alot of packet loss in games atm.
 

Engr Zain Raza

Intermediate
Nov 26, 2018
139
8
14
Rawalpindi
I pinged the router and it's giving me <1ms latency consistently. Can you suggest any system-wide VPN to try out? I have Exitlag (Gaming VPN) but that is also giving alot of packet loss in games atm.
Check your download speed via "internet download manager" and see if they are throttling you hard enough to effect latency. I used to have this problem at peak hours(6pm to 3am) and issue was that MSAG was overly populated way beyond its maximum capacity.
 

EliTuS

Active member
Sep 20, 2016
414
16
13
Wah Cantt
Check your download speed via "internet download manager" and see if they are throttling you hard enough to effect latency. I used to have this problem at peak hours(6pm to 3am) and issue was that MSAG was overly populated way beyond its maximum capacity.
Download speeds on IDM are fine but the upload seems to be affected alot during this hour.
 

shaheerk

Well-known member
Feb 5, 2013
2,352
96
53
VPNs - I don't want to mention their names openly, but you can get some free VPNs (albeit with limited data allowances) and test out. Or try a 30 day trial and test. I haven't tried Exitlag so can't say. Sometimes the ping between you and the VPN server can be affected (that's just how the internet works).

And check your speeds on speedof.me as well as nperf.com (make sure you pick a server outside of Pakistan - try picking Australia or someplace in Europe or Singapore or Japan... Not the Middle East to try get a genuine effect across different networks in between... If that makes sense).

Sometimes it's the routing to the specific IP, sometimes it's our beloved "hell-o to the future" company at fault.
 
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murtaza12

Global Moderator
Global Mod
Oct 27, 2011
10,721
121
69
So, after a couple of days I am facing the latency fluctuation again as I stated earlier. Here are the traceroute results:

Code:
Tracing route to google.com.pk [172.217.19.3]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  2     2 ms     2 ms    87 ms  182.176.0.120
  3    91 ms     3 ms     4 ms  10.253.20.94 [10.253.20.94]
  4   109 ms   109 ms   109 ms  10.253.4.26 [10.253.4.26]
  5     *      135 ms    43 ms  74.125.118.170
  6    43 ms   128 ms    41 ms  172.253.51.55
  7   145 ms   144 ms   145 ms  209.85.249.153
  8   130 ms   130 ms    39 ms  zrh04s08-in-f3.1e100.net [172.217.19.3]

Trace complete.
It will go back to back to normal at around 11:30PM. Any ideas what is going on @murtaza12 @iNCEPTiON @shaheerk?

P.S there is no other device connected atm except for my PC and my friend who lives a couple of KMs away from me also faces the same issue.
Looks like bad congestion, which seems to be happening a lot lately.

What time of the day does this start?
 

Engr Zain Raza

Intermediate
Nov 26, 2018
139
8
14
Rawalpindi
Download speeds on IDM are fine but the upload seems to be affected alot during this hour.
Hmm, if you are getting full speed on IDM for 5min at least (speed should be stable and consistent) on peak hours especially 8:30 to 11:30 then the issue can be resolved by using a VPN.
 

EliTuS

Active member
Sep 20, 2016
414
16
13
Wah Cantt
Looks like bad congestion, which seems to be happening a lot lately.

What time of the day does this start?
Apologies for late reply.
It happens at around 10:30PM till 11:30PM approx.


Hmm, if you are getting full speed on IDM for 5min at least (speed should be stable and consistent) on peak hours especially 8:30 to 11:30 then the issue can be resolved by using a VPN.
VPN does not seem to fix it, atleast in games. So I think it is indeed some kind of internal issue on PTCL's end, might be congestion as @murtaza12 suggested.
 

umair10

Intermediate
Dec 28, 2010
225
0
21
Lahore
is ptcl upgrading selective customers to 35mbps? got a call that for 400 Rs. extra will be upgraded from 25 mbps to 35 mbps
 

shaheerk

Well-known member
Feb 5, 2013
2,352
96
53
is ptcl upgrading selective customers to 35mbps? got a call that for 400 Rs. extra will be upgraded from 25 mbps to 35 mbps
Interesting, but I wouldn't bother with it (personally).
1. latencies matter more. PTCL generally has decent latencies to many servers around the world vs. Transworld - for e.g., Microsoft's datacenters. Increasing the speeds won't necessary change the web surfing experience. Other latencies, however, are better on Transworld - but not enough to make a measurable impact on your web browsing.
2. Some networks/routes are congested, so even if you get a 100Mbps connection, your throughput is choked by either the destination server, or some other router in between mucking things up. The only way to fix this is to use a VPN.

I remember using a 5 Mbps connection in the US (on fiber) - the web pages are much more responsive since the servers and everything are in the US. For us, we get routed to the closest data center (either somewhere in the Middle East, Europe or Singapore). Transworld generally prefer Singapore datacenters than European ones (and very, very few are linked to the Middle East). That added latency is evident.

But if you're a downloader, then by all means download away at 35Mbps!
 

MrLovaLova

Beginner
Dec 25, 2017
32
0
1
Interesting, but I wouldn't bother with it (personally).
1. latencies matter more. PTCL generally has decent latencies to many servers around the world vs. Transworld - for e.g., Microsoft's datacenters. Increasing the speeds won't necessary change the web surfing experience. Other latencies, however, are better on Transworld - but not enough to make a measurable impact on your web browsing.
2. Some networks/routes are congested, so even if you get a 100Mbps connection, your throughput is choked by either the destination server, or some other router in between mucking things up. The only way to fix this is to use a VPN.

I remember using a 5 Mbps connection in the US (on fiber) - the web pages are much more responsive since the servers and everything are in the US. For us, we get routed to the closest data center (either somewhere in the Middle East, Europe or Singapore). Transworld generally prefer Singapore datacenters than European ones (and very, very few are linked to the Middle East). That added latency is evident.

But if you're a downloader, then by all means download away at 35Mbps!
Agree with this 100%. I got 50Mbps Transworld but their routing is really bad, resulting in poor speeds < 5Mbps to hosts in mid/western US. 20Mbps ptcl is faster there, just tried with ptcl to same hosts and got 18Mbps download speed.

Transworld is beneficial if you're accessing content on CDNs (youtube, facebook, netflix etc) and servers in Europe. Traffic even to Eastern US is much slower than PTCL.
 

umar8

Beginner
Apr 11, 2019
30
0
1
Looking for suggestions.

I am currently on promotional offer of 10mb for Rs.2050. The internet speeds are mostly good except during peak times. I am on ADSL line.

I received a call today for another promotional offer of 15mb for Rs. 2510. I asked them to wait and I'll get back to them.

The thing is last time it was an upgrade from 6mb to 10 mb for just 200 Rs extra (1850 to 2050). Now it's 5mb extra for Rs 460, so I am slightly hesitant.

Any suggestions will be great and appreciated. Thank you all.
 

awais52

Proficient
May 28, 2009
835
2
23
Rawalpindi
Looking for suggestions.

I am currently on promotional offer of 10mb for Rs.2050. The internet speeds are mostly good except during peak times. I am on ADSL line.

I received a call today for another promotional offer of 15mb for Rs. 2510. I asked them to wait and I'll get back to them.

The thing is last time it was an upgrade from 6mb to 10 mb for just 200 Rs extra (1850 to 2050). Now it's 5mb extra for Rs 460, so I am slightly hesitant.

Any suggestions will be great and appreciated. Thank you all.
depends upon your usage and line stats....if ur line stats are good; surely 15MB will provide you better download speeds....but since you are on ADSL, the upload will be at best limited to around 1MB
so i would suggest to base your decision on your current line stats .... if stats are already on edge then you might experience reduced service/ disconnections with 15MB....
if case of upgrade to 15MB, you wont be able to downgrade to 10MB as both are promotional packages....

happened with me ...i had 15MB promotional package....the line stats were stable on ADSL... i wanted to switch to VDSL (initially agreed by exchange but later the info was incorrect)... i was told to downgrade to 6MB and then upgrade to VDSL... once downgraded it was revealed that the exchange has no more VDSL slots... i requested for switch over to previous promotional package and it was never done and i was told to wait for promotional offer (its been 6 months now)...

so it really boils down to your line stats if they will be able to support 15MB
 
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umar8

Beginner
Apr 11, 2019
30
0
1
depends upon your usage and line stats....if ur line stats are good; surely 15MB will provide you better download speeds....but since you are on ADSL, the upload will be at best limited to around 1MB
so i would suggest to base your decision on your current line stats .... if stats are already on edge then you might experience reduced service/ disconnections with 15MB....
if case of upgrade to 15MB, you wont be able to downgrade to 10MB as both are promotional packages....

happened with me ...i had 15MB promotional package....the line stats were stable on ADSL... i wanted to switch to VDSL (initially agreed by exchange but later the info was incorrect)... i was told to downgrade to 6MB and then upgrade to VDSL... once downgraded it was revealed that the exchange has no more VDSL slots... i requested for switch over to previous promotional package and it was never done and i was told to wait for promotional offer (its been 6 months now)...

so it really boils down to your line stats if they will be able to support 15MB
Thank you for replying back. I completely agree and my stats are kind maxing out of sorts. I get into these "disconnection loops" with stats fluctuations every couple of weeks or so.

And I really don't want to sacrifice this somewhat stable connection with decent speeds on account of this upgrade. I still remember how awful my 4MB connection used to be but due to line upgrades that did solve the problem.

Thank you for your help.
 
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