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

farrukhna

Active member
Aug 14, 2008
488
1
23
I'll answer, since I'm using IPTV and my provider, at times, buffers a lot.

You mentioned it doesn't happen on Zong - that's because unlike PTCL and Transworld, the other ISPs take bandwidth from both providers and router different IPs via different routes. It's possible PTCL's route is congested but not Transworld's (and vice versa).

Your only solution is to use a VPN. Pick a random country and keep trying other countries since not all countries/routes work well - sometimes, the route between you and the VPN server may be fine but the route from the VPN server to the web server may be congested, or vice versa.

I've gone through this with another IPTV provider, and VPN was literally the only way out (and not VPNs are equal).
Thanks for such an elaborative reply. The timings have shortened as now during 3-5 pm and 10 - 11 pm it buffers , due to congestion.

Who knows maybe ptcl are working on the issue as I called 1218 and they told me that the exchange sent a feedback that this load / congestion happening in the area due to some cable and blah blah.


Which VPN are you using ? Does it have any dangers of keeping logs or stealing my IPTV codes ?
 

shaheerk

Well-known member
Feb 5, 2013
2,352
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I tried on Android phone via (IPTV Smarters PRO) and PC via (VLC Player)

Edit: the duration of buffering has decreased immensely and now buffer is only between 3- 5pm and EXACTLY between 10:00 pm and 11:00 pm.

It seems like someone switches off IPTV when the clock hits 10 pm
It's routing. Nothing you can really do. If you can suggest another route to PTCL, feel free to do so (they sometimes listen if you can show them the benefit i.e. lower latency, or better download speeds).
 

farrukhna

Active member
Aug 14, 2008
488
1
23
It's routing. Nothing you can really do. If you can suggest another route to PTCL, feel free to do so (they sometimes listen if you can show them the benefit i.e. lower latency, or better download speeds).
If it's PTCL network's routing, then why does it effect my IPTV services daily ONLY during 2pm-5pm and 7pm-11:30pm SHARP? Don't you think it's illegal to throttle my internet usage if I am using it within the limited bandwidth of around 400GB per month?

I have emailed to [email protected] as well. Will it help or would you advise to switch to other cable FTTH services?
 

shaheerk

Well-known member
Feb 5, 2013
2,352
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1. ISPs are within their legal rights to shape your traffic as per the terms and conditions you signed up. It's an industry practice. Whether they do it or not is a different story... Which brings me to point #2:

2. There's no proof that they shape/throttle IPTV traffic. ISPs in the UK block IPTV traffic due to legal laws about football matches and broadcasting rights. Anyway, the way the internet works is unpredictable - there's no proof PTCL is at fault here, but it could be another computer between you and the IPTV server acting up (that is just how the internet works - and not all computers or highways are perfect - some can be congested for whatever reason at different times. Imagining going from one end in Karachi to another - lots of variables come into play when you pick the default route because it's simply the best known route).

3. Will other fiber fix this? Depends. Maybe. Maybe not. If only one (or a selection of) website(s) doesn't (don't) work but the rest do at that moment in time on PTCL, then there's no guarantee it'll work on another provider if they use PTCL as their route. It's possible if an ISP using Transworld may not have this issue, but they could have route congestions with other websites. There really is no way of knowing unless you diagnose your route to the server yourself.

A small note: your connection to the IPTV host is one part of the connection process - the server/host then redirects you to another relay server where the channel is streamed from. There are several hosts that cater to multiple channels. Good luck checking all of them to see if it works (it's easy if it was one host, but I use IPTV and have gone through this facade, so I'm just trying to save you from the headaches - but be my guest if you'd like an educational experience).

Example:
You have your car and driver (PTCL), and you're in one end of Karachi (let's say West Wharf). You want to go to Bahria. You'd take I. I. Chundrigar, Shahra-e-Faisal and a bunch of other roads cause these are the main arteries known to you (or me, if my geography is correct, which it probably isn't). You step onto I. I. Chundrigar after entering your car and the driver (PTCL) takes you there. It's clear. You go to Shahra-e-Faisal, and it's clear - until you reach the airport and Malir. Oops - there's a traffic jam. It's moving, but very slowly, then it eventually gets fixed cause there was a water leakage on the road. Then traffic gets speedy and you reach your destination. That delay in between was the bottleneck in your entire route. That wasn't your driver's (PTCL's) fault because this was the only known major route to them, but KDA's fault for not being able to fix it at their end (or maybe the society looking after Malir was at fault).

You couldn't have seen this coming, right?

Had you opened up Google Maps (which you hadn't before taking your journey), you'd have known if another alternate route was available. Perhaps if some people earlier on at Shahra-e-Faisal set up a diversion, the driver would have bypassed Malir altogether and used another route, or skipped the water puddle on the road and landed at Malir and moved past that. Or if you knew, you would have said "don't go from Shahra-e-Faisal but go via Clifton (don't judge me - I don't know!). It'll take longer, latencies may be higher, but the speeds will be fine."

But your driver is slow to register requests because that's just how companies and technology can sometimes work.

Do you see what I'm trying to say? Routing on the internet works like your road or train networks. Changing your car from a Suzuki FX to a Prado won't speed up the water puddle experience at Malir when every other car flow there is choked and you stick to one knowledge map of a single driver.

This is how the internet works - except machines have limitations, internet pipes have capacities, and it varies with surges in demands. Either tell PTCL to take you via Clifton (instead of Malir), or get a new driver (a VPN) that knows other routes and go via DHA. Cause it turns out, convincing PTCL may be difficult (or slow), but getting a VPN (changing your driver) will be quicker and more effective.

Now does it make sense?
 

farrukhna

Active member
Aug 14, 2008
488
1
23
1. ISPs are within their legal rights to shape your traffic as per the terms and conditions you signed up. It's an industry practice. Whether they do it or not is a different story... Which brings me to point #2:

2. There's no proof that they shape/throttle IPTV traffic. ISPs in the UK block IPTV traffic due to legal laws about football matches and broadcasting rights. Anyway, the way the internet works is unpredictable - there's no proof PTCL is at fault here, but it could be another computer between you and the IPTV server acting up (that is just how the internet works - and not all computers or highways are perfect - some can be congested for whatever reason at different times. Imagining going from one end in Karachi to another - lots of variables come into play when you pick the default route because it's simply the best known route).

3. Will other fiber fix this? Depends. Maybe. Maybe not. If only one (or a selection of) website(s) doesn't (don't) work but the rest do at that moment in time on PTCL, then there's no guarantee it'll work on another provider if they use PTCL as their route. It's possible if an ISP using Transworld may not have this issue, but they could have route congestions with other websites. There really is no way of knowing unless you diagnose your route to the server yourself.

A small note: your connection to the IPTV host is one part of the connection process - the server/host then redirects you to another relay server where the channel is streamed from. There are several hosts that cater to multiple channels. Good luck checking all of them to see if it works (it's easy if it was one host, but I use IPTV and have gone through this facade, so I'm just trying to save you from the headaches - but be my guest if you'd like an educational experience).

Example:
You have your car and driver (PTCL), and you're in one end of Karachi (let's say West Wharf). You want to go to Bahria. You'd take I. I. Chundrigar, Shahra-e-Faisal and a bunch of other roads cause these are the main arteries known to you (or me, if my geography is correct, which it probably isn't). You step onto I. I. Chundrigar after entering your car and the driver (PTCL) takes you there. It's clear. You go to Shahra-e-Faisal, and it's clear - until you reach the airport and Malir. Oops - there's a traffic jam. It's moving, but very slowly, then it eventually gets fixed cause there was a water leakage on the road. Then traffic gets speedy and you reach your destination. That delay in between was the bottleneck in your entire route. That wasn't your driver's (PTCL's) fault because this was the only known major route to them, but KDA's fault for not being able to fix it at their end (or maybe the society looking after Malir was at fault).

You couldn't have seen this coming, right?

Had you opened up Google Maps (which you hadn't before taking your journey), you'd have known if another alternate route was available. Perhaps if some people earlier on at Shahra-e-Faisal set up a diversion, the driver would have bypassed Malir altogether and used another route, or skipped the water puddle on the road and landed at Malir and moved past that. Or if you knew, you would have said "don't go from Shahra-e-Faisal but go via Clifton (don't judge me - I don't know!). It'll take longer, latencies may be higher, but the speeds will be fine."

But your driver is slow to register requests because that's just how companies and technology can sometimes work.

Do you see what I'm trying to say? Routing on the internet works like your road or train networks. Changing your car from a Suzuki FX to a Prado won't speed up the water puddle experience at Malir when every other car flow there is choked and you stick to one knowledge map of a single driver.

This is how the internet works - except machines have limitations, internet pipes have capacities, and it varies with surges in demands. Either tell PTCL to take you via Clifton (instead of Malir), or get a new driver (a VPN) that knows other routes and go via DHA. Cause it turns out, convincing PTCL may be difficult (or slow), but getting a VPN (changing your driver) will be quicker and more effective.

Now does it make sense?

Thank you so much for taking so much time in writing such an elaborate reply. Respect!

However, there are things where I disagree on, which are as under:

1) ISPs are not within their legal rights to block something without a prior approval from PTA. I had conversations from the customer reps to their technical team on the phone about this. I don't give a damn if they block IPTV + OTT services just like getting an authorization for using VPN, but the customer should be INFORMED.

2) Being an IT professional myself, I have demo'ed in front of the DSL officers that they are indeed throttling the OTT services. Mind you, I am using 's' with the services, because I have had multiple 24 hours trial IPTV accounts (even the prominent and legal OTT services) from other parts of the world, and they ALL stopped at EXACT times. As you know IPTV + OTT servers use different servers, so getting blocked at the same time proves my point easily. Additionally, I showed them that ALL of them worked on VPN and even on mobile data at the SAME time.

3) I would have jumped ship to some local FTTH cable services, had I gotten other problems using PeeTCL. I mean, other than the recent problem, this connection is nothing short of being extraordinary. So, this is the reason I am still fighting to get my rights back from PTCL.

To sum it all up, having a large sample data with testing different variables might have helped you to understand that this is INDEED that shitty telecom company blocking my IPTV services from 3:00:00 pm - 5:00:00 pm and 7:30:00 pm - 11:30:00 pm daily.

I don't think any router / computer is so punctual in acting up at such precise timings, without having an automated switch programmed by the company to save bandwidth or balance out the load.
 
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SolidTargaryen

Beginner
Apr 20, 2018
28
0
1
I have couple of questions, i asked on another thread but no one answered so I'll ask here again

1 what kind of ping should i expect using nayatel or other fiber providers in Islamabad? I play games like Apex legends, cod, Rainbow six siege and others mostly in European servers.

2 if let's say you live a neighborhood that have no fiber optic coverage, can you order it and get it to where you live?
I'm soon going to Islamabad and as a gamer this is a concern for me, my house is in H-13, ALI BAKHISH TOWN, can someone confirm if it's covered or not?
 

murtaza12

Global Moderator
Global Mod
Oct 27, 2011
10,721
121
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I have couple of questions, i asked on another thread but no one answered so I'll ask here again

1 what kind of ping should i expect using nayatel or other fiber providers in Islamabad? I play games like Apex legends, cod, Rainbow six siege and others mostly in European servers.
If you can give me specific IPs, I can check for you. Usually EU varies between 135 and 155 ms depending on the route taken and the server hosting company.

2 if let's say you live a neighborhood that have no fiber optic coverage, can you order it and get it to where you live?
I'm soon going to Islamabad and as a gamer this is a concern for me, my house is in H-13, ALI BAKHISH TOWN, can someone confirm if it's covered or not?
They can only lay additional fiber if its already nearby (1 or 2 streets away), otherwise it's not feasible for them. If you want fiber in your street/area, you'll have to ask everyone in your area to formally request for it and only if Nayatel sees real demand, will they bother expanding there. They will rarely do it for just one customer.
 

SolidTargaryen

Beginner
Apr 20, 2018
28
0
1
If you can give me specific IPs, I can check for you. Usually EU varies between 135 and 155 ms depending on the route taken and the server hosting company.



They can only lay additional fiber if its already nearby (1 or 2 streets away), otherwise it's not feasible for them. If you want fiber in your street/area, you'll have to ask everyone in your area to formally request for it and only if Nayatel sees real demand, will they bother expanding there. They will rarely do it for just one customer.
Thanks for replying, you were very helpful!
One more question is this a DSL box or fiber?
 

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dms664

Intermediate
May 11, 2014
102
0
21
That's DSL. Fiber is fully underground.
negative, this is a GPON fiber box and not DSL. There are some which are underground and there are these which are on the poles. I know this because I have got my gpon connection from a similar box.
 

bash413

Newbie
Nov 6, 2019
24
11
3
Thank you so much for taking so much time in writing such an elaborate reply. Respect!

However, there are things where I disagree on, which are as under:

1) ISPs are not within their legal rights to block something without a prior approval from PTA. I had conversations from the customer reps to their technical team on the phone about this. I don't give a damn if they block IPTV + OTT services just like getting an authorization for using VPN, but the customer should be INFORMED.

2) Being an IT professional myself, I have demo'ed in front of the DSL officers that they are indeed throttling the OTT services. Mind you, I am using 's' with the services, because I have had multiple 24 hours trial IPTV accounts (even the prominent and legal OTT services) from other parts of the world, and they ALL stopped at EXACT times. As you know IPTV + OTT servers use different servers, so getting blocked at the same time proves my point easily. Additionally, I showed them that ALL of them worked on VPN and even on mobile data at the SAME time.

3) I would have jumped ship to some local FTTH cable services, had I gotten other problems using PeeTCL. I mean, other than the recent problem, this connection is nothing short of being extraordinary. So, this is the reason I am still fighting to get my rights back from PTCL.

To sum it all up, having a large sample data with testing different variables might have helped you to understand that this is INDEED that shitty telecom company blocking my IPTV services from 3:00:00 pm - 5:00:00 pm and 7:30:00 pm - 11:30:00 pm daily.

I don't think any router / computer is so punctual in acting up at such precise timings, without having an automated switch programmed by the company to save bandwidth or balance out the load.
hello brother i also have the same problem with iptv service on my end. i am using a service which is based in europe. i have 15 mb adsl versus ur vdsl but that is just a minor hurdle here i think. the service is generally very good but there are certain time periods where indeed it buffers a lot for no reason and yes speedtest at that times is also fine on my end as well which brings me closer to ur point that it might be throttling but i am not so sure bcz it seems beyond ptcl to do this so effectively!

Also as other people pointed out that it might be routing issues as well and like u i tested with zong 4g as well and it was hit and miss on that as well. some channels were fine but other still buffered the same as ptcl. it might be the service as well at that time and yes on weekends like saturday sundays watching sky sports premier league without buffer is hard atleast for me.
im thinking of moviing to Nayatel 25mbps connection maybe that can sort this out? what do u think will it help or make it worse than it already is i have seen people here that say nayatel also drops speed for no reason at all so im confused as well what to go with
 

shaheerk

Well-known member
Feb 5, 2013
2,352
96
53
There's no guarantee that Nayatel will not give you problems. If they use PIE, then it'll be the same. If they use TW, then it may be different - unless they go through the same set of networks (not very likely), but you won't know unless you use an ISP that uses TW.

Your best bet is to use a VPN - that will skip all network congestions. And you can use VPNs on PTCL easily (TW severs the connection immediately after connecting to a VPN, so I'd advise against using them if a VPN is important).
 

umar8

Beginner
Apr 11, 2019
30
0
1
Hey. I need to ask something. PTCL people are about to lay "ONU (flashfiber)" lines in our area.
I need to confirm if I convert to flashfiber, is my phone number going to be changed again? (It already happened when the whole conversion from ADSL to VDSL took place).
Thank you.
 

shaheerk

Well-known member
Feb 5, 2013
2,352
96
53
Hey. I need to ask something. PTCL people are about to lay "ONU (flashfiber)" lines in our area.
I need to confirm if I convert to flashfiber, is my phone number going to be changed again? (It already happened when the whole conversion from ADSL to VDSL took place).
Thank you.
Call 1218 and ask.
 
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bash413

Newbie
Nov 6, 2019
24
11
3
for the last 3 days i am having trouble connecting to my iptv through normal means without vpn on ptcl adsl. it is just not working and i dont know whether its ptcl who is blocking the iptv or my iptv provider is blocking my ip or something bcz with vpn it works without any trouble.
what could be the reason here any one else having this kind of problem lately? any info would be helpful here as i cant use a vpn on my samsung tv and i dont have android boxes or similar. i know i can install a ton of apps on android even vpns but i would prefer if this issue was resolved without going there.
 

shaheerk

Well-known member
Feb 5, 2013
2,352
96
53
Could be your VPN. Try asking them if they've added a country block (some do - mine does).
 
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