HARIPUR, July 14: Paknet, an Internet Service Provider (ISP), has increased its Internet charges for all the net cafes operating in Haripur by 50 to 60 per cent, Dawn was informed here on Saturday. The new rates would be applicable from July 1, official sources said here.

According to Internet cafe owners of Haripur the Paknet Company which was the only ISP in the entire district owing to closing down of Hazaranet another ISP, it has announced increase in its Internet charges package once offered to them before July.

Cafe owners said they paid Rs 10,500 as registration fee and offered a package of RS 3,800 per month by the Company at the outset which was considerably higher than the other cities.

However as there was no second option available, they opted for the Paknet Company, which had subjected the cafe- owners to different kind of problems ranging from poor service to higher charges, said a cafe-owner on the condition of anonymity.

According to the revised package a net cafe having with five computer sets would now required to pay Rs 6,500 instead of Rs 3,800 likewise a cafe operating with at least 10 pc would pay Rs 9,500.

“It’s unjust and tantamount to hindering the global source of information for the people desiring to have” said a cafe owner who thought the new rates would ultimately leave adverse affect on their clientele as according to him users often argue on the rates offered to them at a cafe.

In Haripur cafe-goers were charged for Rs 20 to 25 per hour while in other cities the rates both charged by the ISP and cafes were much cheaper than Haripur. The users often heard complaining of slow speed and frequent disconnection by the ISP.

“I am going to wind up my business because now its very difficult to run a net cafe at such an exorbitant package said Zahoor who run a net cafe in Haripur.

Another cafe-owner said they were already confronted with threats to their business owing to irksome poor speed of the Paknet Company and frequent disruptions and disconnections when the cafe was fully occupied and the users were busy in uploading or downloading their information.

He said normally a cafe got disconnected daily from 10 to 20 times after every two hours because of which not only the owners face wrath of the angry customers but also bear extra burden of calls for reconnection.

About the speed of connectivity he told Dawn that in other cities it gets connected at 55 KBPS while in Haripur the speed of connectivity was 30 to 33.6 KBPS which was very slow and caused problems for the users every day.

Terming the ISP operating systems of very poor quality another user said that to run an ISP it required digital system but in Haripur the Company was running its ISP on 50 KBPS modem which was another reason for frequent disruptions and slow speed.

A Haripur-based official of the Paknet Company was contacted he confirmed the new rates adding that the Company had revised its rates downward in May this year but now again decided to receive the rates it used to receive before May. However, he did not tell the reasons for such an exorbitant increase.

He said none of the home users would be affected due to new package and the rates for them would be unchanged. About slow speed he said the company was going to digitalis its entire system which would hopefully bring about positive changes in the speed of connectivity and continuity.

The local circles demanded of the minister for science & technology for revision in the rates both for cafe goers and home users and upgradation of Paknet’s system in accordance with the modern needs. They also called upon him for opening of some new ISP in Haripur.