While the company claims about EVO Wireless broadband service rise to speed limits of as high as 3.1 Mbps (3.1 Mega Bits per Second) but I was too “pleased” to experience a downlink speed of never more than 80 KBps (120 Kilo Bytes per Second). I bought this device for 4000 PKR from a local PTCL franchise 2 days before EID (2010). PTCL has two main tariff packages for this device, one is Pre-Paid while the other one’s Post-Paid. I was inclined towards the Pre-Paid one since then I could have used it whenever needed. They asked me to buy VPTCL scratch cards of worth 2000 PKR to enjoy the monthly unlimited 3.1 Mbps package; they also confirmed me that the device will be all active within the next 2 to 3 hours. I purchased the cards and waited for the device to get activated. I never knew this waiting period would span for 7 days and 13 hours, when finally after dozens of complaints, I got my device active. Probably, since the PTCL workers were on strike, but a person in the EVO department told me that the strike is not the issue at all but they have some problems in their systems. Anyway, let me now tell you some bitter truths about this device. Before that discussion, I would like to briefly discuss some terms about the downlink and uplink speeds, you should know (in case you do not already know).

- A bit(binary digit) is either 1 or 0. One byte consists of 8 bits.
- The symbol used for a bit is ‘b’ while that of a byte is ‘B’.
- One Kilo = 2^10 = 1024 (2 raise to power 10). One Mega = 2^20 =1,048,576 (2 raise to power 20). One Giga = 2^30 =1,073,741,824 (2 raise to power 30). Please note it is only applicable for binary arithmetic.
- Now 1 Mega Bits = 2^20 bits = 1,048,576 bits hence 3.1 Mega Bits = 3,250,585.6 bits or 3,174.4 Kilo Bits or 396.8 Kilo Bytes.

So ideally I should be receiving 396.8 Kilo Bytes of downlink speed as the PTCL claims to be. However it is only 80 Kilo Bytes per second. It is only 20% of the claimed speed – a very disappointing figure. You may be wondering that I will be having a low signal strength in my area but it is only 1 KM away from my home. I have full signal strength and the network is on EVDO mode.

EVO Wireless PTCL

You can see the proof in the above screenshot.

In the end, my advice is that if you really want to buy this device then please better give that money to some charity organization, that will do more good for you. Never get trapped in what they claim. It is absolutely a failed device – never ever buy it at any cost. Thank you for not buying it. :)