Pakistan

Mobile internet in Pakistan is painfully slow. EDGE networks are theoretically available, but most of the time you will be on standard GPRS. However internet cafes are often equally slow and not widely available outside tourist locations.

Coverage in the mountainous Northern Areas, where many visitors are likely to travel, is particularly poor. Some places that have signals include Gilgit, Aliabad, Karimabad, Minapin and Chitral (but not Kalash valleys). Sometimes when there's no signal, villagers will know of a "mobile point", a specific spot nearby that happens to have a signal from one or more networks. Many Pakistanis carry SIMs from more than one network, and it is possible to purchase phones that hold two SIMs at once, with the user selecting the active SIM from a menu.

Zong
A Zong SIM can be purchased for 500 Rs, which includes 300 Rs call credit. It is recommended that you purchase the SIM from a Zong store, as resellers will not be familiar with registration requirements for foreigners. Staff in Zong stores typically speak a good level of English. You will need your passport and 1 photo for registration, which may take an hour or two. Happily, Pakistani hospitality means you will bypass any queues. While registering you may want to ask them to disable all advertising SMSs, cricket updates etc. Do this tactfully as Pakistanis will not understand your failure to enjoy cricket.

Zong offer a data package of 1 month/4 GB for 400 Rs. Given the slow data transfer rates, it is unlikely you will be able to exceed this 4GB limit.

When you activate the monthly package, you should receive several confirmations, plus several configuration messages. including "Zong WAP" and "Zong Internet". At different times, both of these two have worked and not worked, for both mobile browsing and tethered laptop. Find the one that works for you. If you need to configure manually, use access point name: "zongwap", proxy server address: 10.81.6.33, proxy port number: 8000. Or access point name: "zonginternet", other settings at default.