PTA’s new Decision to Promote Mobile Banking

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has decided to make a group of representatives from mobile operator companies as well as from banking sector to promote mobile banking. This decision was taken in a meeting held in PTA Headquarters in which senior executives of mobile operators, banks and PTA were present.
In this meeting, MCB made presentation on mobile banking in Pakistan. Different mobile banking models were discussed during the meeting. “Mobile banking was a value addition and had utmost consumer convenience wherein users could avail banking facilities through mobile communication. He said that already two conferences on mobile banking had been held and another would be held in Karachi in March 2009”, said Dr Mohammed Yaseen-Chairman PTA.

Telenor Group Bears Decreased Profits

Norway based, Telenor Group has reported a slide in fourth-quarter profits to NOK 2.21 billion (US$330 million), from NOK 7.63 billion (US$1.13 billion) a year earlier. The decline was due to one-off gains in 2007 no longer appearing on the accounts. Sales rose 11 percent to NOK 26.36 billion (US$3.393 billion).
“The overall trends seen in the third quarter continued into the fourth quarter with stable organic revenue growth combined with strong margins in several operations, particularly in Serbia and Bangladesh as well as a rebound in Pakistan. During the quarter, our operations added 5.5 million mobile subscriptions, reaching a total of 164 million,” said President and CEO of Telenor, Jon Fredrik Baksaas.
The capex level in the quarter was high, mainly due to completion of major projects and network roll-out in Asia, as well as investments in the Nordic region related to successful market uptake of mobile broadband. The telecom sector has so far been less affected by the global economic slowdown than other industries; however we expect a more challenging business environment going forward. As a result, the focus in 2009 will be on cost efficiency and capex control,” Baksaas said.
President re-confirmed that Telenor’s investment in India would be paid through debt and reserves, first of its kind practice by Telenor.
Telenor’s performance in Pakistan is seen positive, with a slight increase in ARPU that remained Rs. 228 compared to Rs. 214 in last quarter.Pakistan in total added 916,000 subscribers during the quarter, while the estimated subscription market share remained stable at 21%. Total revenues increased by 20% mainly due to a subscription growth of approximately 5 million during 2008.

Telenor Pakistan’s Capital expenditure increased due to high investments in network quality and capacity. Large network roll-out deliveries were completed during the fourth quarter.

Now Nursery to FSC Education gonna take 60 Days only!

I want to share this picture, which claims that every kid happens to be intelligent by nature; hence they are offering such a miraculous tuition course that you can go through from Nursery to FSC in just 60 days…!


If we think, this is possible than we must see this place and let’s not waste 12 to 14 years – but if you think this is wrong, then we must stop this guy advertising his academy with false claims. He can be sued for this, and I am sure there would be many innocents spotted by him with this campaign.
Worst of all, this AD is for a tuition academy of Islamabad, imagine if all this is going on in Capital, how bad the situation can be in far flung areas of the country.

PTCL Revenues Likely to Increase by 9 Percent

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) is likely to see increases year on year (YoY) outstanding revenues by 9 percent, said a report published by “The Nation”
Paper termed anticipated surge in international revenues of the company as major factor for increase in revenues. Though, PTCL’s whole sale revenues are expected to drop down due to growing participation (competition) of telecom operators in various segments of telecommunication industry, such as LDI (Long Distance & International) LL (Local Loop), WLL (Wireless Local Loop) and FLL (Fixed Local Loop).
It is expected that PTCL will lose revenues (compared to previous year) in fixed telephony, due to decrement in subscriber base. At the same time, WLL has also lacked the momentum that it saw previous year; while on other hand, international revenues are expected to increase due to increase in incoming international traffic, increased APC and depreciated Pak rupees. Additionally, Ufone’s subscribers touched a level of 19.3 million in December 08, grew by 7 percent in 1HFY09, far better than the 2 percent increase in total cellular subscribers in the same period.
However, declining trend in ARPU (average revenue per user) remains the chief concern for Ufone as the total cellular subscribers for FY09 are expected to be 90.2 million, with Ufone’s at 20.3 million. Ufone’s ARPU is expected to settle at USD 1.56 (down 31 percent YoY in USD terms and 10 percent YoY in PKR terms).
Via [The Nation]

Time for Fraud Controls System

Yesterday, we discusses on how mobile phone users can secure themselves from unknown calls/SMS. It is pertinent to mention that cellular companies should also come forward with foolproof system to cap such sort of illegal activities. There are increasing amount of reported incidents where people use mobile phones to generate black money in form of fraudulent lottery scams, SMS based balance transfers and other similar things. Today, I will discuss what types of mobile frauds we can come across in our daily lives.

• USSD (Short code based Business cards) and balance transfers
• SMS based frauds
• Sympathetic SMS messages / E-Begging
• Cloned Mobile numbers
• Fake Lottery Systems

USSD (Short code based Business cards) and balance transfers:
The USSD (short code based business cards) and balance transfers are very come these days, in which victim party gets a message of accepting business card from particular mobile number. Victim normally does not understand the implications and the purpose of the transfer and hence results in to balance transfer of certain amount. The main technique involved in this type of fraud is embedded code in the business card message. These frauds use SMS based balance transfer facilities offered from mobile operators.
SMS based Frauds:
SMS based frauds are somewhat similar to USSD frauds, in which victim receives SMS that if he/she diala number given in SMS (normally a balance transfer code) than he/she may get a prize, double balance or similar. The nutshell of this fraud is balance transfer.
Criminals use bulk SMS sending software to send their SMS to a huge amount of mobile phone subscribers, out of which their success ratio is higher in urban areas.
Sympathetic SMS messages or E-Begging:
These messages contain sympathetic text like “I am in hospital and my mom is under serious condition, please send me Rs. 10 balance”. “E-Begging” will be a good term for such activities. It is a matter of fact that people use it for getting their balance filled without spending any money.
Cloned Mobile Numbers:
Now, matter of fact is that if someone try to trace fraudulent(s) , the mobile number mostly are cloned with SIM cloning technologies; and this is not it , it could be even used for serious crimes as well.
Fake Lottery Systems:
Fake lottery systems are again common in Pakistan, like customers get call that they have won a Car, cash prize or both. As money attracts; most of the customers opt for offers like provide us Rs.1000/- balance card no and we will send you prize and etc. The latest news about these systems is that, now these frauds are common with overseas Pakistanis.
Role of PTA:
PTA has initiated lot of steps to cater these issues like publishing advertisements and informing masses about these frauds. But we see no major difference in slowdown in such activities.
Operators can invest in SPAM filtering solutions, similar to what email providers do with SPAM emails, in order to track bulk amount of SMS traffic originating from a specific number. 789 will of course do wonders in bringing down these illegal activities, but PTA should come up with solid policies for balance transfer methodologies and SPAM filtering process for cellular companies.

USB Gadgets in Pakistan

USB (Universal Serial Bus) is the term that was originated back in 90’s, when computer manufacturers realized its importance as an external source for inputting data with high transfer rates.
As USB is best and fastest available external port, which does not require any special installation or knowledge, but its plug and start playing attribute gave USB a token that no other computer port ever got. Realizing that fact, USB has become a major industry for manufacturing computer gadgets especially in PNP mode.Let me share some of cool gadgets that are available online and even in Pakistan.

• USB Coffee Cup Warmers
• USB mini refrigerator / warmers
• USB Toaster
• USB light lamps
• USB cooling fans
• USB ashtray
• USB Fragrance Dispenser

Usb Coffee Cup Warmers:
The usb coffee cup warmer is basically round shaped plate of steel covered with insulated material around and it can prevent coffee or tea cup to get cold and it keeps tea/coffee hot on a certain temperature. The USB coffee cup warmer is easily available in major cities like Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad at Rs. 200 /- only. Even you can buy it online from mypcpk.com. But please make sure that u must have flat surface cup to keep it warm for longer period of time.
USB mini refrigerator / warmers:
The usb mini refrigerator / warmers do the both things; it can cool your water or boil your tea. It is available allover Pakistan @ Rs. 700/-
USB Toaster:
USB toaster does exactly the same as toast cooker. It can be very handy while in office or during traveling with your laptop. It is also available all over Pakistan @ Rs. 1200/-
USB Light Lamps:
The usb light lamps are 6 to 8 high light LED lamp, which are as powerful as one 25 W savor light. It is available in Pakistan @ Rs. 500/-
USB Cooling fans:
One USB cooling fan is enough for one person using laptop and remaining itself cool even in high temperature. It is available in Pakistan @ Rs. 600/-
USB Ashtray:
Say No to smoke while using USB Ashtray you can preserve its smoke in ashtray as room will remain clean - it and it work as stub –collector. It is available in Pakistan @ Rs. 1200/-
USB fragrance Dispenser:
It is auto air freshener for atmosphere around you. You can set the time for fragrance dispersion and it will automatically fill the atmosphere with pleasant fragrances. I don’t know it is available in Pakistan or not.
Well, there are lots of other usb gadgets available all over the world, and the good thing is they are making our lives easy while we are on the go.
Where to Buy These Gadgets?
Mega Electronics, College Road, Rawalpindi
www.mypcpk.com (Website is not updated, but this is a Hafeez Center, Lahore based store, Call 042-750-2857 For Details)
Computer Stores in your City (Especially in Major cities of Pakistan)

An Open Letter to Chairman PTA

Honourable Chairman,
Pakistan Telecommunications Authority

Issue: Charging 5% on Recharge by all Mobile Companies

I would like to take this issue into your kind consideration that for the last few months, to be exact from August 2008, all mobile operators have been charging 5 % extra charges on recharging the balance. I would like to mention following points which are showing that these charges are against all the rules and regulation and make no sense;

• When all the mobile operators are reducing call rates there is no sense of charging 5 % without giving any reason to the consumer. We still see no further hiring for call centers or network expansion that could really better their service, as they had claimed.
• In all the businesses and transactions when you are paying any amount to any one, none has to pay penalty for that payment rather relief has been provided to customers throughout the world. Does this 5% extra charges make any sense.
• After deduction of 31 % taxes (10% with holding tax and 21 % General Sales Tax) all the money goes in to the account of the operators then why this 5 % charges being deducted on recharge. Are they now paying this 5% amount to any powerful personality?
• We have near 8 crore mobile customers in Pakistan. If we assume that 1 crore of them recharge their account, then it amounts over 100 crore recharge on daily basis. If we calculate 5% this extra deduction, it is estimated that 5 crore are being collected illegally. Why this 5 crore is being looted from innocent customers

Dear Sir, I would like to make this case a history in the consumer right protection. Your Excellency, it is a matter of make or break. We have to stand up against all the forces which are killing the customer’s right with out any fear and discrimination.
Your decision in this case will be, definitely a wining situation of the consumers and build trust on our system of justice.
Me, and other 90 millions are waiting for your kind decision.
Yours truly,
0322-5088031

ismailads@gmail.com

How to Stop Wrong Calls/Miss Calls/SMS

The issue of unknown callers that disturb cell phone users is not new, but the momentum has reached its highest limit in recent months. Lowering tariffs are allowing the culprits to call and tease people with in-expensive rates and more comfort. I am not going into details on how people call unknown numbers and tease them (especially when they find girls on receiving side), but I want to discuss on how you can get rid of these calls. Also at the same time, how important is to report such numbers.
So the process is very simple, but at the same time very sensitive. You must take care of following things in case you get wrong calls

• Never respond (call back) to any wrong call, what so ever. In case you feel like that the calling person could be your friend or family member, even then don’t take the risk of calling/messaging back the same number
• Ignore once or twice, and then report your operator about this number, that you are getting un-wanted calls from this number. Reporting in this situation is very important and can save you from serious situations (I will discuss them below)

Once you follow these rules, I am sure your life will get easier. Reason for not calling them back is to ignore the person, and let him/her feel like a failure. By the way, this can turn out other way as well, by adding curiosity in the mind of caller, and he/she may start repeatedly calling you, but normally this doesn’t happen.
Then comes the process of reporting the number, for this you just need to dial your helpline, and tell CSR to note your complaint against number from where you are receiving calls. Your cellular company will track the calling record and will issue a warning. In case the person doesn’t stop calling you, complain again and tell them that this is your second complain. This time number will be permanently blocked.
Don’t hesitate to complain your helpline, if you are getting calls from 10 different numbers, report them all – and let your cellular company take care of them.
Why reporting a Number is so important?
Both of up mentioned points come into serious play, when the caller is involved in a terrorist or criminal activity. You must not call back and you must complain the number in order to justify that you had no connection with any such criminal. Let me give you an example for further elaboration,
For example, a criminal is going getting ready for a criminal activity, and he/she calls/miss calls you. And soon after he kills some-one or does carry out any other illegal activity. In such a situation, Police or any other law enforcement agency will look into call records of the culprits, and your number there can take you into serious account of investigation.
So avoid connected calls as much as you can. It is even wiser to accept calls only from numbers that you know. And report all those numbers that you find suspicious to avoid any situation latter.

Telenor to Expand its SMS Traffic Capacity

Telenor Pakistan has selected Acision SMSC to expand its messaging capacity to cater for continued SMS traffic growth. With a capacity expansion of up to 250%, TelenorPakistan is preparing itself to meet the messaging requirements of its fast growing subscriber base.
The Pakistan mobile market is experiencing rapid subscriber growth with thousands of customers signing up every month. The growth in subscriber rate has consequently led way to triple digit growth in messaging traffic over the last year. The Acision SMSC offers Telenor Pakistan a complete solution to support the operator’s entire SMS business managing enormous messaging volumes with undisputed quality of service. In 2007, Telenor Pakistan together with Acision conducted a messaging capacity upgrade to cater for 12 million subscribers. As of January 2009, the subscriber base has reached the 19 million mark, so an increase in messaging infrastructure capacity to meet anticipated messaging volumes was required.
Chief Technical Officer, Telenor Pakistan, Peter Anthony Dindial commented, “For us, it is crucial to tap into the potential of the Pakistan mobile market. To do this, we must meet the growing needs of our subscribers and offer them reliable and high quality services that they demand and deserve. Telenor and Acision have a relationship that spans the globe across all Telenor entities. Based on our past experience with the Acision SMSC, we recognise that having a reliable system is absolutely critical in high volume traffic scenarios, enabling Telenor Pakistan to offer subscriber services without an incident or any downtime.”
Boudewijn Pesch, Managing Director for Acision in Asia Pacific, added: “SMS continues to be the critical source of a mobile operator’s mobile data revenues. For Telenor Pakistan, growing and protecting this revenue base is a fundamental business objective. Again, Telenor Pakistan has selected Acision to deliver a highly stable, high performance messaging solution. With a strong track record in global deployments, the Acision SMSC continues to be the top choice for operators with high volume data services.”

Internet Disrupts in Pakistan

Reportedly, internet users in Pakistan are facing no or slower browsing due to core router issues in Karachi at PTCL’s end. Disruption started at 8:45 AM this morning. PTCL DSL customers and dialup users are worst hit, other than those ISPs who rely on PTCL’s internet back haul network.
Few ISPs have shifted their internet traffic to backbone link TWA. Link Dot Net in this situation is performing as they get their internet from TWA by default.
At the moment, there is no timeline when this will be fixed, neither is any estimated ETA given by PTCL’s end

Why Broadband Has a Chance?

In the modern era if mobile was one revolution the other was internet, which, according to some experts changed the fate of world, in doing its business and personal activities.
In our country PTCL has the edge of widest network coverage in the length and breadth of the country. Although after privatisation its telephony services were not up to the mark, however, it was able to somewhat compete the challenge of private sector. PTCL rightly diversified its products and swiftly expanded its portfolio by offering internet DSL and broadband services in addition to basic telephony products.
From PTCL’s recent report, it is obvious that broadband revenues share a major role in their balance sheet, especially with 48 % growth during the last quarter of October-December 2008, breaking all its previous growth rates. According to PTCL spokesperson within one and a half years of its broadband launch, PTCL has acquired over 100,000 broadband customers in over 100 cities and towns across Pakistan.
With largest network PTCL has the edge that it has not to reach its customers like other companies do, meaning that if someone requires broadband, he/she will be PTCL customer by default to get a wired line.
It is worth mentioning that before PTCL’s entry into the broadband market in 2007, was primarily only available in 3 major cities of the country. Since its broadband launch in May 2007, PTCL made the broadband technology affordable by decreasing the barriers to entry, by geographically bringing the service within the reach of a common user across Pakistan and by continuous improvement in the customer service provisioning and complain management for the service.
Similarly, private sector helped the market in bringing awareness for a common user with the benefits of broadband. With increased competition broadband became an affordable choice for home users, which was earlier a symbol or corporate sector only.
Despite all these achievements, we are still to run a long race to reach a reliable, affordable and reachable network infrastructure and system.
Now I would like to make a comparison of the current internet companies. This year our nation’s phone and cable companies have been trumpeting the speed of their internet connections with ads that pitch “blazing speeds” at up to 10 times faster than dial-up”, and that will “change the way you live”. Some are now offering free internet with hidden charges. But as the march of the digital subscriber lines and cable and wireless deployment continues, consumers have been repeatedly disappointed.
Major players and their shareThere are mainly three types of delivery in play in Pakistan. Wired DSL services, with providers such as CyberNet, MultiNet, and LinkDotNet (Orascom), MaxCom, MicroNet and Pakistan Telecommunications Company (PTCL) are all hampered by infrastructure limitation. These include low phone line penetration (4.5 million total) and the dismal performance of copper wired plants (at best a maximum of 10% to 15% of the total copper can be used for fixed broadband service , as only 40% of PTCL exchanges are data enabled. Hence existing copper can support hardly 0.5million broadband users over a period of three to five years) as well as high monthly costs that are beyond the reach of general public.
Price factorPrice is a major factor. Price has gone down to 500 rupees for a 256KB connection. The second platform is the wired cable (TV) services such as World cable, which are limited to the big cities and that too mainly in upmarket areas. The predominant mohallah cable TV network do not offer sufficient quality and reliability to support broadband services , although some provide Ethernet – based internet. The third platform is the wireless access networks, like WiMax, WiFi –, Edge and EvDo, with service providers such as Wateen Telecom. These are still in their nascent stage in Pakistan and there are currently no affordable offerings in the market.
PenetrationThe typical broadband subscription is usually with businesses and professionals (41%) and high income households (56%) in mostly urban areas. Beyond that, small, highly specialised markets like the government (2%) or educational institutions (1%) also exist. The under 25and over 55 age brackets from the biggest users group (high leisure time group). There are approximately five million PCs in Pakistan, with over three percent penetration.
Advertising war for internet customersThis is the first year that the industry has gone in for meaningful advertising, due to which the broadband market has had an exponential growth with a rate surpassing 300% (from July 2007 to data). PTCL broadband and linkDotNet specially spent copious amounts of money on traditional media (exact figures could not be determined ), broadcasting their products that “ Speed Up The World” or “Change The Way You Live” Wateen’s WiMax also had a high impact communication strategy.
From their advertising slogan, “The Future is Green, The Future is Wateen” to the public relations strategy , Wateen tried to build – in a localised feel by supporting events that included HR management forums, education expos, B2B trade shows, music festivals , sports lifestyles events and fashion shows. Worldcall too employed a multifaceted marketing strategy, bringing in their technological character of “Flash” in ATL activities to emphasise high speed internet connectivity. Every broadband provider is offering multiple service packages of barying prices and speeds to cater to multiple market segments. Some providers such as Worldcall and Wateen have been offered triple play approaches – internet, telephony and television ( Wateen is now moving towards Quad Play which might include on Demand services or entertainment and communication service on the cell phone ) to add value.
However, even allowing for limitations due to infrastructure, education and socio- economic conditions, the industry still has not performed adequately. There are still only an estimated 200,000 broadband users in Pakistan , of which PTCL trumpets its 100,000 users, whilst users from providers such as Wateen Wimax stand at about 18,000 and cable operators such as WorldCall which accounted for a 90% growth rate between 2006 and 2007 still only have between 40,000 and 50,000 users. These users are growing @ 10,000 every month.
Challenges AheadThe problem is two – pronged. One is over – promising and under-delivering, especially with regard to the reliability of the connection and customer service (two very important aspects of the customer experience and which none of the companies have made part of their communication).
The second problem is that the advertisement for these products has focused primarily on two aspects only: speed and price. Yet, broadband service providers need to wake up to the fact that it is not just about speed and price.
Although PTCL has launched a BTL campaign for its broadband connection however, still there are problems of connection even in the capital city of Islamabad. The PTCL exchanges and network has pair problem and so many people are their waiting for cheaper connection as Vfone is not so reliable like landline connection.
I believe that after the Mobile sector reaching its saturation level; it is the best time for broadband to reach form Gilgat to Gwader. The time is very short and we have to deliver before it’s too late. As when we have a 3G era, their may not be a chance for such connections and services.

Telenor Introduces New Postpaid Packages

Early feedback about Telenor’s new postpaid package is that they are simple, pleasant and doable. A new idea has been indulged of offering free minutes for not only calls but for value added services, other network calls, GPRS or any other services that customers will use.
Telenor’s postpaid Packages come in three plans, one stays at Rs. 150 line rent another at Rs. 500 while third’s line rent is Rs. 1500. Call rates for all packages are same (something not comprehendible), i.e. Rs. 0.50 for on-net calls and Rs. 0.75 for off-net calls (for 30 second billing pulse), only difference is the amount of free minutes that customers can use.
There is another interesting thing that you will notice in ADs and campaign theme is the brand color, yes Telenor has changed the brand tone to start over the race with new policy and tactics, in a similar way they did with Telenor Talkshawk couple of years back.
Following tables will help you understand packages more easily

Now Tweeting Through SMS is available in Pakistan

Twitter is an online micro-blogging service that simply lets you to update your status at any instant and lets you communicate with your co-workers. You can simply write a 140 characters message notifying others about what you are doing. It’s a fun way to stay connected with your friends. So all those who don’t know what twitter is. I suggest give it a try.

But no one sits on the computer all the time to update his/her status. Some time back twitter cut down the mobile integration for some countries including Pakistan. So the only way to update your status was with using EDGE/GPRS enabled handset with a GPRS data plan subscription. But that is not cheap. It costs alot.

But now thanks to the guys at 2’s Complement their startup iSMS has started Twitter Pakistan Project. With which now we can use twitter and update our status by just sending an sms, which is absolutely free. You only get charged for a SMS per tweet by your mobile carrier. Guess what those who have subscribed to different sms bundle packages like warid’s zoom etc can enjoy this service absolutely free. As the sms is deducted from the package, because the server of iSMS is set up on ordinary mobile numbers so it is just like sending a sms to any other number. So friends tweet on!

iSMS is in private beta phase. So, you have to follow the steps to get your invite code and start using this fun service. Don’t worry we have plenty of invite for you guys.

1. Make a comment on this post telling how long have you been using twitter and how much you love it (also include your twitter username in the comment). We will email you the invite code to use iSMS .
   
2. Once you register using the invite code just navigate to iSMS settings.
3. Enter your personal information along with your mobile number (e.g. 0321xxxxxxx). Also check the Receive SMS box and then click update.
4. Now navigate to Twitter Integration Tab, enter your Twitter username and password and click update.
5. You will receive an SMS from a number having activation code for your mobile number. Authenticate your account.
6. Save the number as a contact from which you received the activation code. You may name it as ‘iSMS’ or what ever suits you.

Cheers! You just got your iSMS account and the ability to tweet through SMS.
Now to post to twitter. Just make an SMS and write ‘tweetyour status’ and send to that contact which you saved earlier. For example:tweet ProPakistani.com is giving free iSMS invites. Hurry up!
The only drawback of using this service is that you can not check your twitter replies. But i hope it will also be possible after some time.
Test it out and enjoy. If you face any problem, just leave a comment and we will try to hep you out.

Mobilink’s MobiTunes Activation Down Due to Upgradation

Mobilink’s MobiTunes’ new activations are down due to upgradation in system untill February 10, 2009. However, already active mobitunes are being played for incoming calls as normal. CSR also confirmed this down time, and said that service is temporarily down and will be up again in a day or two.
Mobilink users reported difficulties in using self-recorded MobiTunes.
By the way, you can can activate Mobilink’s MobiTunes by dialing 230

What Happened to Ali Zafar of LG?

You would be thinking if this picture is rotated by 180 degree by me, then you are absolutely wrong. This signboard (LG’s ad on it) is rotated by the outdoor advertiser and dispatched it this particular way as LG Mobile phone is not paying their advertising dues. Singboard comes with prominently written word “DEFAULTER” for LG’s management.The actual poster of this image, Mudassar Jehangir states that he found this outdoor signboard right at the entrance of the Hall Road, Lahore.
To read more about LG’s story and how they turned defaulters read more at ApnaTime.com’s Blog

Oppss, seems advertisers have joined hands and giving LG not a very good time.

ISPs Dodging Customers - Claiming Free Internet which is Rs. 6.03 per Hour

Be informed that all Internet Service Providers, who claim that you can use FREE dial-up internet is not really free. All internet calls (with 131 numbers) are now charged at 20 minutes pulse rate - Meaning that, if you dial your ISP, your one unit will go away when connection establishes. After every 20 minutes, your units will keep dropping until you disconnect. Hence, you will consume 3 units if you use internet for one hour; that’s Rs. 6.03 per hour. And these call charges will appear in PTCL’s next month bill.

On other hands, ISPs are advertising through Emails campaigns to customers, offering them free internet while providing open user name and password for free use. These ISPs include Link dot Net, Sky Net, Comsats, Brain Net and others.

It merits mentioning here that this billing model is being executed since February 1st, 2009, and this model was result of an agreement between PTCL and ISPs.

Authorities concerned should take proper action against this act, and should ask ISPs to inform customers in a proper way about new model, so that they know their charges before next month’s PTCL bill.

You guys can express your agony below in comments…!

Update: Link Dot Net (WOL) and Brain Customer support confirmed that local call charges will apply after 20 minutes, while Comsats CSR said that no additional calls will be charged, instead a single call will be charged for unlimited time of connection.

No doubt, consumers will get more confused

65 Paisa Per 30 Second, All Networks: Zong

Zong has once again knocked down competition by bringing in lowest tariffed 30 second billing package. This latest package offers 65 paisas per 30 seconds on all networks round the clock.

Call Rates:

Voice: All networks in Pakistan: 65 paisa/30

SMS: All networks in Pakistan: Rs. 1/SMS

MMS: All networks in Pakistan: Rs. 3/MMS

GPRS: Rs. 15/MB

Unlimited GPRS: Rs. 400/month

Unlimited SMS: Rs. 3/day

Friends and Family: Not Applicable

Note: All prices are exclusive of taxes and Special offers (e.g. Happy Hour, 8 Aanay, LNO, BTO, Super Free, Unlimited Free) are not Applicable with this package

How to Activate:
Dial 910 from you Zong number or write an SMS “sub” and send it to 910 (Package selection will cost you Rs. 15 - exclusive of taxes)

''How to'' use Zong GPRS on PC

1) First you have to set up a dial up connection.
no username and passward. just set the dialing number as *99***1#.
2) After you are finished with making your dial up connection
3) Go to the control panel
4) Then to Phone and modem options,
5) Modem,
6) Then select your modem ( mobile phone modem) properties
7) Set the maximum port speed as "115200".
8) Then click on Advance
9) You will see there as "Extra Initialazation Commands" blank
10) Edit that by " AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","zonginternet"


That's it enjoy your Zong GPRS on your PC

UBL Wiz

Pakistan's First Prepaid VISA Debit Card .

UBL Wiz is Pakistan’s first ever Prepaid VISA Debit Card that provides the convenience, security and benefits of an ATM and Debit Card, locally and internationally.

More than just an ATM card, you can use your UBL Wiz everywhere VISA cards are accepted. Whether you are using it online, paying for petrol, shopping or dining, you are accessing money directly from your prepaid card, without having to visit the bank.

It sounds good. What you think about this new service for the first time in Pakistan

Track all Blog Comments with YackTrack

It all started with tiny small websites, then there were Blogs and Twitter to keep in touch with the world of technology and Internet. Now we have YackTrack, a web service that helps you search all types of comments in the same place for a particular URL.
All you have to is enter a URL and it will return every comment on that URL that it can find across multiple services like Twitter, Wordpress, Technorati, FriendFeed and Google Blog Search. This list should expand as the site continues to grow.

YackTrack offers a bookmarklet that you can use to avoid copying/pasting to track comments on any URL. In addition to that, you can also use the "chatter" search feature to see what people around the web are saying about any given search term. Chatter gives you a keyword search for the social media sites.
For example if you are looking for mentions of "Apple iPhone" then try the keyword "iPhone" and click "Search for Chatter".
YackTrack is still in its beta form and lots of new features are expected in future releases

Colorize those Old Photos with Recolored

For long I have been looking for a solution to colorize old photos of my parents' wedding but to my disappoint, I didn't find any solution that would do the job quite well. The actual purpose was to present these photos as a gift to my parents on their wedding anniversary and make them happy.
I did find quite a lot of tutorials on colorizing those 'black and white' or 'grayscale' photos of old times but being a full-time blogger and an engineering student keeps you from playing around on Photoshop and wasting your time.
That's when Recolored came to the rescue and saved me from the embarrassment of not having a unique present for my parents on their wedding anniversary.

Using sophisticated image processing algorithms and colors defined by the user, Recolored builds a copy of the original grayscale image but with colors keeping the originality of the image intact. The best part is that the whole process is totally automated and very fast.
Though its a paid software (with 21-day free trial) but we think that most users can make enough use of the trial version easily as colorizing old photos is just a one-time job. Recolored can be downloaded from here.
A big thanks to Hamid for discovering this software from the caves.

In Telecom Economic Downturn Can be Taken as an Opportunity

Global financial crunch has hit general enterprises as well as telcom operators across the world. Lowering outcomes in balance sheets and layoffs has been making headlines in global and local markets. So the situation is nothing new to anyone but the impression that current recession can go longer than what we were expecting is shaking minds and bringing them together to re-think business strategies.
According to some analysts, Telecom market in Pakistan, especially the cellco’s will remain in-tact for at least two quarters; however, the situation may not be the same for other segments in telecom industry. So ultimately, everyone has to immune with the on-going situation to better plan their future business policies.
In a recent report on-aired by Bloomberg TV, in which Research Manager at IDC (a global market intelligence and advisory company) has said that Asian-Pacific telecom companies may re-consider their business strategies during the run through ongoing crisis by investing more in order to surpass their competitors. It said that cash rich telecom companies will try to explore the un-covered areas by expanding networks and by providing mobile broadband access to masses.
We can expect the same thing happening in Pakistani market, especially due to extra-ordinary situation of capital for different operators. We know that Zong and Telenor is well placed here with in-house capital in hand while Orascom has reportedly shown its reservations over new investments in the region. We will have to consider that some of cellular companies are dependent on bank bonds while financial institutions may not be in a better situation today to lend them such fund injections in near future.
When we talk about areas of investments in Pakistani market, no doubt 3G comes into mind without much hesitation; however, it is still a tactful decision to choose between broadband enabled 3G or the network reach and quality of current services.
In any case, analytics are terming it really wise to invest equally in all segments in parallel in order to not miss any domain of market. Yet, depending on value of cash-in flows, telco’s can better judge their potentials to wisely use their capitals.

This Website Has Thousands of Pakistani Girls’ Mobile Numbers - damn!

Before I start, let me say sorry to those who will get hurt by this post!
Earning Money through websites is a hot topic these days. And it is so good that people in Pakistan are realizing the power of Internet. There are very many successful examples around us, very young guys like Saad Hamid and Haris Nadeem, who are earning thousands of dollars a month from their websites. And I am sure there would be many others too; but i know only two of them. These teens actually get revenues from ads they publish on their websites, which contain rich and useful content.
But unfortunately, there is a pool of people who are using this power for internet for bad means. Yea, porn websites owners come in this category too but they are not going to harm you unless you don’t visit their websites.
This website, called PkMobileNumber.com is even worst – I was shocked to see how they are spreading mobile number of girls. There is a simple submission form on this website… you can enter name and phone number and press submit and this number will get published. I believe this 4 months old website has thousands of such mobile numbers of girls.
I believe (I can be wrong here as well, but) there won’t be more than 1 percent girls in our society who would voluntarily want their numbers to be displayed on such a website. The question is then how come there are thousands of numbers available on this website?
There can be couple of chances
Website owner collects these numbers from various sources and put them online
Website visitors post numbers of their ex-girlfriends or of those whom they want to tease
(There are very little chances though) Mobile numbers of these girls are fake, and are randomly generated
There is a privacy policy on the website, to actually prove Webster innocent, but just imagine how this website can make the lives of innocent girls miserable, against just few hundred dollars a month (through adsense).
There is no contact number given on website, but domain name WHOIS gave me following information
Registrant:
Akbar Intl
.Akbar Mirza
B-77, Khayban
Islamabad, Punjab 47050
PK
+92.03005109085

I am leaving this equation open here, to get solved…! Authorities concerned (most probably FIA) should take immediate action against this.

This is a post by our brother Aamir Attaa and we agree with him totally.
You can share your comments below

Free GPRS Internet on UFONE – 100 Percent Working

Note: This Trick is not Working anymore…
A very amazing offer for Ufone users, which is that they can use GPRS over their Ufone numbers for FREE. Remember it’s a trick, not an official offer from Ufone…
A user has found this bug in Ufone’s GPRS network, and claims that it works fine. I personally tested it and found it working…To enjoy FREE GPRS follow below steps
First of all activate your GPRS (if your GPRS is already active, then skip this process and start from point 5)
Send a SMS in following Pattern [manufacturer(e.g.nokia)model] and send it to 222
You will get the GPRS setting through an SMS
Save this SMS – Until now, your GPRS is activated and you can use GPRS, but it won’t be free. You will be billed as PKR 15 per 1 MB download
Now the trick starts
Go to tools> settings> connections> Ufone GPRS> Edit Ufone GPRS and write APN(Access Point Name) ufone.pmms – Previously it would be ufone.pwap
You are ready and can start using FREE GPRS
To use messengers go to Tools> Setting> Connection> Ufone GPRS> Options> Advance Setting and Change DNS
primary 172.16.13.21
2ndary 172.16.13.119
This hack works perfectly fine, so start enjoying the FREE GRPS Internet. If you are a postpaid user, better give a try on prepaid number before start using it on your postpaid number.
If you get server timeout message, don’t worry; that just a temporary down time, in such a case wait for couple of hours and your free internet will be available again.
Let me know if someone faces problems, so i may update the post; remember, its a hack and may stop working anytime.
Keep enjoying FREE GPRS INTERNET
Update: (July 15, 2008): This trick does not work anymore. I am trying to find out any new way for Free GPRS Internet on Ufone. If any one knows, then please share the trick with us. Thanks