PTCL Smart TV

[Sameer Bokhari]

PTCL adverstised its Smart TV service in today's newspapers. Thepackage details on the website( attached)  list the prices in terms of Mbps while the Voice calls are to be billed separtely.

 

What i would like to know as a consumer is whether this BW being offered to be shared between the internet and TV service. If yes than what is the average BW consumed by the TV service?

 

Secondly if the set top box is not purchased initially then an additional 500 rs is to be paid for 24 months but there is no mention of the type of set top box being offered its features and what would be the cost if it is to be purchased at the time of installation.

 

Have also gone through the list of movies for VoD and the TV channels, very unimpressive!.

 

SB

 

 

 

 

 

[Imtiaz Noor]

PTCL broadband is unimpressive too!

We used it at office and shifted back to Link.net (which has improved) and retain Max as backup!

--
- Inspirex

[Sameer Bokhari]

I got a Mbps connection installed at my home last saturday and the download chokes at 480kbps. I called up their helpline and the rep made me change the dns servers on the Pc's ethernet! and said that initially the connection is in "testing phase" and this would get better in a couple of days which so far has not.

 

Also inquired about the noise in my tel line and the rep replied

"Disconnect the wires from the roset and short the wires for a couple of secs and then reconnect..your problem would be resolved!"

 

It looks as though somebody at the top wants to bring a change just for the sake of change which results in these products being launched that in my opinion lead only to cannabalization or failure.

 

SB

[Imtiaz Noor]

Hehe...
Btw, there was a separate PTCL broadband Bashing thread if I remember.

--
- Inspirex

[Salman Ansari]

I would like to rephrase the last sentence from  “…lead only to cannibalization or failure.” To  “…lead only to cannibalization of failures”.!

 

I wonder when the sheikhs (ours and the oily ones) finally recognize that all their efforts have only lead to one failure after another.

 

S

<br

[Rehan Allah Wala]

What were you trying to download?

From their web site or from microsoft or from where?

It also depends where u are downloading from.

It should give u 1mbps from there web site for sure at least

>
> I got a Mbps connection installed at my home last saturday and the download chokes at 480kbps.
> I called up their helpline and the rep made me change the dns servers on the Pc's ethernet! and
> said that initially the connection is in "testing phase" and this would get better in a couple of days
> which so far has not.
>
> Also inquired about the noise in my tel line and the rep replied
> "Disconnect the wires from the roset and short the wires for a couple of secs and then
> reconnect..your problem would be resolved!"
>
> It looks as though somebody at the top wants to bring a change just for the sake of change which

> results in theseproducts being launched that in my opinion lead only to cannabalization or failure.

>
> SB
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 13, 2008 at 11:09 AM, Imtiaz Noor <insp...@gmail.com> wrote:
> PTCL broadband is unimpressive too!
>
> We used it at office and shifted back to Link.net (which has improved) and retain Max as
> backup!
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 13, 2008 at 10:07 AM, Sameer Bokhari <same...@gmail.com> wrote:
> PTCL adverstised its Smart TV service in today's newspapers. Thepackage details on
> the website( attached) list the prices in terms of Mbps while the Voice calls are to be
> billed separtely.
>

> What i would like to know as a consumer is whetherthis BW being offered to be shared

> between the internet and TV service. If yes than what is the average BW consumed by the
> TV service?
>
> Secondly if the set top box is not purchased initially then an additional 500 rs is to be paid
> for 24 months but there is no mention of the type of set top box being offered its features
> and what would be the cost if it is to be purchased at the time of installation.
>
> Have also gone through the list of movies for VoD and the TV channels, very unimpressive!.
>
> SB
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> - Inspirex
>
> >
>

Rehan Ahmed AllahWala
Msn/Yahoo/GoogleTalk/Email: Re...@Rehan.com
http://www.supertec.com/ - Internet Telephony Solutions
Http://www.DIDX.net - DID Number Market Place.
Don't Remember Me ? Visit http://www.Rehan.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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By Gandhi.

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[Sajjad Zaidi]

I've been using the IPTV service on trial for a couple of months. The bandwidth it uses is in addition to that provided for data so it won't interfere with downloads and such. So technically, a 2Mbps connection is providing you 2.5Mbps of total bandwidth. Whether you get the full 2Mbps for data is debatable though.

As for the IPTV service itself, it beats the available options (at least for Islamabad) in terms of quality and cost (100 channels with features such as rewind and forward). I'm about to write a review of the service, though I warn you it will be a bit biased. :)

Then again, the (negative or positive) feedback here is quite useful and I'll definitely convey it to the PTCL guys in charge of the service.

Sajjad
http://sajjadzaidi.com

[Sameer Bokhari]

What about the cost of the set top box and its features?

[Khalid Saood]

Rs. 9,000 with 102 features.

 

Regards,

 

Khalid Saood

 

---

From: telecom-gr...@googlegroups.com [mailto:telecom-gr...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Sameer Bokhari
Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 1:38 PM
To: telecom-gr...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: PTCL Smart TV

 

What about the cost of the set top box and its features?

[Shaheer Khan]

ON behalf of all those who have multiple TV sets at their home, what's
the pricing structure if we want to connect the STB to more than 1 TV
set? I'm sure people who have two TVs won't want to watch one channel
at a time...

Does anyone know about that?

[Hassan Shabbir]

Any idea of the BRAND and MODEL of the CPE that they are providing. That 9k thing with 109 features :) ..
--
Hassan Shabbir Ahmed

[Atif Wajid]

I visited PTCL stall today at ITCN. The one time cost of the unit is
Rs. 9000 if the customer is not interested in recurring overhead.
However, it could not be the right time to purchase as the services
will take time to mature and so the box manufacturers.

As per one of the representative of PTCL, an additional 512 kbps
(min) bw is provided for video. They also require to install DSL modem
as part of the package. All the billing would be added in phone bill.

No doubt that the giant PTCL will come up with aggressive pricing
affordable to general public, however, it is the services that
matters. Earlier, their DSL doesnot seem to get overwhelming response
due to lack of planning (especially on technical side) and ofcourser,
after-sales-support was not as good as other existing service
providers. They must need to bring good people along sense and feel of
company/product ownership at all the levels that interact with
customer inorder to change the perception

However, whatever the case is, in my opinion, PTCL smart would attract
the market due to one facility that is Video on demand (just Rs. 10)
that could produce ripple effects if intelligently handle.

I anticipate that due to tremendously large audience, this attractive
offer (Video) would help PTCL in overcoming some of the short-falls
in their other services, especially Internet.

The race has begun and now let's see, who is the next in the list to
offer Wired or Wireless VOD.

Regards/Atif

--
Sent from Google Mail for mobile | mobile.google.com

[Uzair Ahmed]

 

I attended a training program on "Service Excellence" before the launch of CM Pak. The facilitator share case studies of different companies having different attitudes of serving customers. the bottom line is that Service Excellence come when all department are aligned to each other in order to provide the wow experience to the customer. What I feel about the failure of Wateen is, their marketing campaign was amazing but they unable to deliver because customer develop a different perception through their marketing and some how they unable to delivered what they shown. and same goes with Zong. If PTCL can able to align their marketing campaign with other department then I think they can rock (which require HEAVY re-engineering). Otherwise all these companies is generating awareness in the market for others to come and conquer

 

Thanks and regards,

 

Uzair

 

[Ashar]

1 STB = 1 TV.

Ashar

[Sameer Bokhari]

If the O/P from the STB is the same as a typical cable connection isnt there a possibility to use a splitter / amplifier to accomodate more TV sets?

 

PS. Worldcall in Karachi strangely has an additional monthly charge for installation of more than one TV in bungalows even though there is only one time expense of less than Rs 100 + cable cost, with no compromise on quality, incase you dont want to get robbed of your precious money for a less than average cable service.

 

 

SB

[Ashar]

The STB only has one output so all TVs will get the same signal.

Worldcall transmits their TV signal in the clear so they have no control over
who gets the service. A friend got sick of them and stopped paying for their
Internet and TV service several years ago. However they still come out and
fix the TV cable if he complains.

Ashar

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[Suzanne Bowen]

For those who did not get to attend ITCN Asia 2008, you can hear Zomma talk about IPTV and PTCL... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5880864394803391792&hl=en
 

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--
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[Shaheer Khan]

Thanks for that. But let's say I have two TVs... then what do I have
to pay? The STB + what charges?

[Shaheer Khan]

Anyone?

The reason I asked that was because there are some operators (such as
DSTv... that's the example I can quote based on experience) charge an
additional amount for hooking up the decoder (or STB) to another TV.

[Junaid]

Shaheer,

You'll need to buy another CPE & most probably another subscription
for the second tv.

Regards,
Junaid

[Wajahat Arshad]

PTCL portal still shows IPTV as an upcoming service!!!

 

http://www.ptcl.com.pk/aboutusc.php?NID=145

[Wajahat Arshad]

PTCL portal still shows IPTV as an upcoming service!!!

 

http://www.ptcl.com.pk/aboutusc.php?NID=145

 

On 8/17/08, Junaid <junaid...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Sameer Bokhari]

Seems like some positive input (may be from the posts on TGP:)) led PTCL to add some more details on the iptv service on the website(see attached). the total cost of the device is 9995 upfront or 500/month in 24 equal installments

 

Also received a message from 598 that the service can be availed by paying an additional 126 Rs/month.

 

As I am currently paying 1999 for the 1Mbps connection the total would amount to 1999+126=2,125 Rs / month. As yet dont know  whether its a discount or the difference of 174 would be accounted for, somewhere else.

[Afzal Anwar]

Anyone has any idea about the resolution and output? is it HD or FullHD or non?

--
Afzal Anwar

[Faried Nawaz]

On Aug 25, 10:57 am, "Afzal Anwar" <afzalan...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Anyone has any idea about the resolution and output? is it HD or FullHD or
> non?

If it uses 512kbit/sec, it's unlikely to be HD. Even Joost recommends
1mbit down -- and it's not HD.

This might be outdated:

http://www.joostteam.com/2007/05/17/joost-video-quality-is-disapointing/

[KO]

A google search says around 2-3 mbps is needed for Mpeg4 HD streams.

See http://www.hulu.com/hd for one example, it says 2.5Mbps Internet connection or greater so probably uses around 2mbps.

PTCL says they use 512kb of bandwidth, which seems on the low side, considering just a decent quality audio stream alone would use around 100k.

regards,
ko

[Ali Ibrahim Rasheed]

Availability of HD/FullHD etc depends on the channel provider whether they are transmitting HD or otherwise and there are not enough channels who provide HD transmission as of now. There are none in Pakistan, do correct me if you know of any. Moreover, an HD channel requires 20mbps of bandwidth to ensure quality, which is not possible on copper/ONU which is the available infrastructure in Pakistan and is being used by PTCL.

Regards,
Ali.

[Shahzad Alam]

512Kbps is for internet bandwidth, 1.5 to 2Mbps capacity for IPTV is inclusive in this package...so in a nutshell PTCL would make sure that up to 2.5 - 3Mbps should support for SmartTV+Internet package for each subscriber...

 

-SA

[Ali Ibrahim Rasheed]

512kbps is the bandwidth assigned only for the broadband internet. A separate 2mbps of bandwidth is allocated for iptv, which is what's required for the transmission of one channel, so the quality is not being compromised in any way. That is why a telephone line actually needs to be able to transmit 2.5mbps or higher in order to qualify for a triple play connection, i.e. 512kbps(min) broadband + your standard pstn line + iptv.

Regards,
Ali.

On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 4:47 PM, KO <khali...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Asif Hanafi]

has anyone used the service?

[ade]

HD Channel transmission requires at least 5-6 Mbps of guaranteed
downstream bandwidth in IPTV service. HD channels are probably at
least 2 years away in Pakistan. Even in developed markets of the APAC
only 4-5 HD channels are offered by IPTV or even other Pay TV
providers.

2 Mbps should be fine for Standard definition (SD) programming, if
PTCL can do a good job of showing SD programming with good QOS the
service can be exciting.

On Aug 25, 8:23 pm, "Ali Ibrahim Rasheed" <ibrah...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 512kbps is the bandwidth assigned only for the broadband internet. A
> separate 2mbps of bandwidth is allocated for iptv, which is what's required
> for the transmission of one channel, so the quality is not being compromised
> in any way. That is why a telephone line actually needs to be able to
> transmit 2.5mbps or higher in order to qualify for a triple play connection,
> i.e. 512kbps(min) broadband + your standard pstn line + iptv.
>
> Regards,
> Ali.
>
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 4:47 PM, KO <khalid.o...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > A google search says around 2-3 mbps is needed for Mpeg4 HD streams.
>

> > Seehttp://www.hulu.com/hdfor one example, it says 2.5Mbps Internet

> > connection or greater so probably uses around 2mbps.
>
> > PTCL says they use 512kb of bandwidth, which seems on the low side,
> > considering just a decent quality audio stream alone would use around 100k.
>
> > regards,
> > ko
>
> > On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 4:11 PM, Faried Nawaz <far...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >> On Aug 25, 10:57 am, "Afzal Anwar" <afzalan...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> > Anyone has any idea about the resolution and output? is it HD or FullHD
> >> or
> >> > non?
>
> >> If it uses 512kbit/sec, it's unlikely to be HD.  Even Joost recommends
> >> 1mbit down -- and it's not HD.
>
> >> This might be outdated:
>

> >>http://www.joostteam.com/2007/05/17/joost-video-quality-is-disapointing/- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Afzal Anwar]

Correct me if I am wrong but I have heard about HDTV over cable, in which an HDTV tuner box is attached to the existing cable network which catches HD broadcasted channels and displays it over a compatible HD ready TV. I am not talking about any fake HD converter scams over here but the normal HDTV broadcast.

Does the whole cable infrastructure is needed to be change before we can get any HD broadcast ???

--
Afzal Anwar

[ade]

Cable TV network can definately offer HDTV channels also. But they
need to have a high throughput DOCSIS network with deep fiber. Dont
know about the exact minimum reqirments, but as channels are broadcast
in cable TV, the number of HD channels they can offer is limited. If
IPTV has bandwidth greater than 6-7
Mbps, the number of HD Channles the service can offer is practically
unlimited.

In some markets there are HD channels even Free to Air ( singapore,
australia for example)

> > > > Seehttp://www.hulu.com/hdforone example, it says 2.5Mbps Internet

> > > > connection or greater so probably uses around 2mbps.
>
> > > > PTCL says they use 512kb of bandwidth, which seems on the low side,
> > > > considering just a decent quality audio stream alone would use around
> > 100k.
>
> > > > regards,
> > > > ko
>
> > > > On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 4:11 PM, Faried Nawaz <far...@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
>
> > > >> On Aug 25, 10:57 am, "Afzal Anwar" <afzalan...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >> > Anyone has any idea about the resolution and output? is it HD or
> > FullHD
> > > >> or
> > > >> > non?
>
> > > >> If it uses 512kbit/sec, it's unlikely to be HD.  Even Joost recommends
> > > >> 1mbit down -- and it's not HD.
>
> > > >> This might be outdated:
>

> >http://www.joostteam.com/2007/05/17/joost-video-quality-is-disapointi...quoted text -

>
> > > - Show quoted text -
>
> --

> Afzal Anwar- Hide quoted text -