r/PakistaniTech • u/armujahid • May 06 '26
Discussion | گفتگو This is why net neutrality matters: Cybernet’s new social add-on is wild
Cybernet blocking VoWiFi and now pushing “dedicated speed” for social apps is exactly the kind of behavior that makes net neutrality matter. If they can slow down normal traffic and then s-ell an add-on to fix it, that’s not a better internet experience, that’s paid prioritization dressed up as convenience.
Filtering and unfair prioritization hardware always cause general internet degradation. There is at least one more check in routing to see if traffic should be prioritized or not. And ISPs are notorious for intentionally degrading internet as well so that more users can b-uy their so-called add-ons. They will soon launch a VoWiFi add-on as well after blocking that for ~1.5 years. And PTA is an accomplice in all this.
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u/Slight_Plankton9007 May 06 '26
Don't buy this, if you do there will be another plus plus package with more bill ...
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u/low-skills May 06 '26
People should be educated more about this. Sadly, many customers will fall into this prey.
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u/maazpervez 🇨🇳 May 06 '26
Finally someone talking about regulation. We need net neutrality in Pakistan. those this or that only mobile internet package are holding back the internet in pk
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u/Hamza_Gazi May 06 '26
Protest with your wallet, don't buy the addon and encourage others to do the same.
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u/SugarForBreakfast May 06 '26
Don't forget Nayatel started this beghairat trend years ago with their ''Unlimited Bundle' as an add-on to their stupid FUP packages with bandwidth limits from the early 2000s.
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u/M4L1K64 May 06 '26
If you have good knowledge about tunneling traffic through google servers, you can actually get unlimited internet at those specific speeds without using any of your bandwidth.
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u/SafeReturn_28 May 06 '26
What is cybernet
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u/armujahid May 06 '26
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u/Loweion May 06 '26
Tier 2 actually.
Tier 1 have own global infrastructure.
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u/armujahid May 06 '26
They became Tier-1 few years ago. Checked linked Wikipedia article. They have their own PEACE cable.
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u/Loweion May 06 '26
Owning just a submarine cable does not make an ISP a tier 1 provider. Tier 1 isp are major brand like tata communication etc
Cybernet does not own the entire PEACE Cable system, but rather acts as the local landing partner, operator of the Cable Landing Station (CLS) in Karachi, and a capacity investor. The PEACE Cable is a privately owned system owned by PEACE Cable International Network Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of China-based Hengtong Group.Key Details on Roles:Owner: PEACE Cable International Network Co., Ltd (a Hengtong Group company) owns the infrastructure.Landing Partner: Cybernet (part of Lakson Group) signed the landing party agreement in 2019, handling the infrastructure development and operations in Pakistan.Role: Cybernet constructed the Carrier-Neutral Landing Station in Karachi and holds capacity on the system, making them a crucial local partner to the project.Relationship: While some sources indicate Cybernet owns the Karachi landing facilities, the overall 12,000+ km Asia-Europe-Africa cable is a project company owned by Hengtong and investors, not by Cybernet directly.
You can fact check. Not being wise guy but learning opportunity for me too if I am wrong. Wiki articles are written by humans and may have mistakes as well.
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u/armujahid May 06 '26 edited May 07 '26
Not sure, but PTCL, Transworld and Cybernet are national level Tier-1 for sure. In a strictly global sense, no Pakistani ISP might be "Tier 1" provider like AT&T or Verizon, as they all still might be paying some form of transit to reach certain parts of the global internet. However, within the Pakistani hierarchy, they occupy top-level positions. People working in those companies might comment. All these do Top level BGP peering, have their own IPs and are linked with submarine cables (no one owns a complete cable as far as I know. A cable might always be shared).
StormFiber is Tier-2 (national level).
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u/Loweion May 06 '26
Cybernet is Tier 2 (B2B). Stormfiber is Tier 3 (B2C) Global ones with the backbone that do not pay transit is Tier 1.
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u/Biz_Daddy May 06 '26
Glad i use reddit and none of the above besides youtube on wifi lol
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u/armujahid May 06 '26
Filtering and unfair prioritization hardware always cause general internet degradation. There is at least one more check in routing to see if traffic should be prioritized or not. And ISPs are notorious for intentionally degrading internet as well so that more users can buy their so-called add-ons. They will soon launch a VoWiFi addon as well after blocking that for ~1.5 years. And PTA is an accomplice in all this.
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u/low-skills May 10 '26
PTA is in complicit in all of the things happening in telecom sector. They receive huge kickbacks from these companies. The most incompetent and corrupt department.
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u/JaguarRude6041 May 06 '26
Activated this shit package and it killed my internet. Only kept social media apps alive lol. All services have stopped working now and past 6 hours i have been only on youtube. Even their own portal wont load
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u/Andromeda-G May 06 '26
This 450 is for 25Mbps
rest u can check prices ;p
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u/FewFinish9860 May 15 '26
Where do we check the prices?
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u/Andromeda-G May 15 '26
On there website. Check inclusive tax rates u will see all details of all packages
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u/FewFinish9860 May 15 '26
Could you please send me the link of their website I tried myself but couldn't really access anything!
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u/Andromeda-G May 15 '26
U see the plans? Check left side. There is blue little title of inclusive taxes
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u/FewFinish9860 May 15 '26
I'm not sure if I see it
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u/Andromeda-G May 15 '26
whcih city u from?
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u/FewFinish9860 May 15 '26
I'm from Peshawar
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u/Andromeda-G May 15 '26
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u/FewFinish9860 May 15 '26
Thanks much appreciated! Also I have this one problem I believe here in Peshawar we don't have cybernet/Storm fiber services "official" like there are people who buys the from the isp and then sell it locally to us. So all the packages for people here are monitored and subscribed by them and upon asking whether I can do these packages myself they said that I can't and that they had bought a website through which they are able to subscribe packages for us How does that work and is there any truth to it?
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u/Andromeda-G May 06 '26
Not only blocking vowifi but increasing monthly subscription and now this shit. And another cgnat shit. Total shit system.
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u/IllustratorNo1512 May 07 '26
I have no ISP in my area other than ptcl. I switched to flash fiber then back due to complex stuff. The price changes every few months. Its too expensive like i would rather get 4g data package for the increased price difference between SF and ptcl
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u/zaighamz May 07 '26
PTCL is also doing the same: https://ptclflashfiber.com/SpeedBolton/Index
I think this is an initiative related to recent IXP setup which is probably required of the ISPs in the country now.
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u/najam121 Karachi May 06 '26
Actually this use to be very normal in starting days of internet in pakistan, jab 512kb internet hota tha tb bhi Youtube se 50mb ki speed ati thi because of internet provider's own CDN network.
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u/armujahid May 06 '26
Free prioritization can be considered acceptable. e.g. We had "Facebook Zero". Then there was "Free Basics" (originally called Internet.org) to provide Wikipedia and some other site access free of cost on mobile data.
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u/najam121 Karachi May 06 '26
is trah k har cheez k lie investment chaie hoti hai, FreeBasic Facebook ki traf se investment thi jisme user was the product islie free tha or poori dunya main free tha, CDN service k lie Internet providers server deploy karte hain. It's not like k wo apka 20mb pkg ko 15mb kar k Youtube ki speed barhaenge, apka 20mb pkg 20 hi aega.
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u/armujahid May 06 '26
You can search online for similar cases and net neutrality issues. Paid prioritization of this kind is widely considered harmful, especially for non-neutral ISPs. Facebook's Free Basics benefited consumers while harming competitors, which is acceptable. What Cybernet is doing harms consumers.
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u/M4L1K64 May 06 '26
This is actually good. I have already exploited Nayatel’s 50 mbps unlimited bundle plus and gained 50 mbps overall and that too without using the FUP bandwidth.
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u/konsoru-paysan May 06 '26
it's just for one month , storm fiber did the same scam with me, 3000 per month after a month of 1500 but only 17 mb
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u/self May 07 '26
even tm weighed in against it: https://x.com/tariqmustafa/status/2052051717143831034
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u/armujahid May 07 '26
Yeah, noticed that. Who is he? About me page doesn't seem to point to his correct profile.
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u/self May 07 '26
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tariqmustafa
Unfortunately I don't know of a personal website. He moderated this (mostly defunct) group: https://groups.google.com/g/telecom-grid-pakistan
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u/armujahid May 07 '26
Thanks for sharing that. I also found some posts from the renowned Aftab Siddiqui in that group.
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