Ofcom Review of Broadband

I was quite happy to see that there are so many broadband providers in the country which offers "up to 8Mbps" broaband speed to consumers. All but with the exception of Virgin Media which uses cable, the rest are using existing copper telephone line to channel broadband to consumers.

There is a problem in the ADSL or should I say ADSL 2 technology at this moment. In the UK, virtually 90% of the broadband services have been channeled through BT's broadband exchange. The speed of the broadband will depend on the ratio and also the distance of a house from the nearest exchange.

What most of the ISP have done is to promise "up to 8Mbps" broadband speed for consumers. Ofcom have reported that consumers could not receive what ISPs have been promising - "up to 8Mbps" broadband speed. I think it is just an advertising gimmick from the part of the ISP themselves. None of which I have any connections and I don't really believe in ADSL technology anyway. Why would someone wants to use ADSL when you have cable broadband?

Virgin Media is the only company in the UK which is offering cable broadband service to customers. The cheapest plan which they are offering is the £12 a month on a 10Mbps downlink and 512Kbps uplink service. For the past few months, I have been using speedtest.net to gauge my broadband service and Virgin Media is quite promising.

The advertised speed is 10Mbps downlink and 512Kbps uplink. I have the pleasure to say that Virgin is the best ISP in the UK in terms of keeping up to their broadband speed. However, having said that, they do cut down on the speed during certain time of the day and later on boost up to the normal 10Mbps downlink speed after the peak hours have past. That is the only annoying part of Virgin Media but other than that, I am pretty happy with it.

I have been able to test out O2's wireless broadband, 3's wireless broadband and also Vodafone's broadband. Among the three wireless broadbands, O2's wireless broadband came up as the worst. There is hardly any signal in my house! 3's wireless broadband came in second for 2Mbps downlink and the best is Vodafone wireless broadband which offered 6Mbps downlink. Not too bad for Vodafone though. I have lots of confidence in Vodafone because they have one of the strongest signals in the UK. Couple with the fact that Vodafone have join alliance with O2, it should boost O2's coverage but it seems thate, it only benefited Vodafone. Shame on you O2! As for 3's services, I have no other comments but to say that they have one of the worst customer services I have ever come across. It is a shame for 3...

200Mb/s

Have you ever figured out when your house is capable of receiving 200Mb/s downlink? Have you thought about it before? Well, I have thought about it though. Virgin is already rolling out their 50Mb/s downlink in an area in Kent but that is about it! What can you have more from that? Guess what? 50Mb/s is no joke though. Well, the next question is: Do we need 50Mb/s?

When I started taking up a contract with Virgin Broadband, it was just 1Mb/s, After a few years, they started rolling out their slowest fibre optics cable broadband to 2MB/s. As of this year, the slowest cable broadband to be offered by Virgin is actually 10Mb/s! Well, do you think it is good? I think it is great! Think about it. The amount of money which one would have to pay is almost the same when Virgin upgraded their cable broadband service. I have no doubts in Virgin. They are the greatest!

Well, there is a small problem though. As for those people who are living in remote areas, they can't really get cable networks from any companies including Virgin. They could, however, get ADSL services (broadband using existing copper telephone line). Often than not, many companies will boost that their broadband service is up to 8Mb/s. Just a word of caution - You will not really get 8Mb/s all the time. I am not saying that there will be no problems if you are using a cable network because companies like Virgin will throttle the downlink from time to time so customers will not get the full downlink speed which they have subscribed. However, this is a small price to pay for better broadband speed.

There is another problem though. According to a recent research, there are over three million notspots in the UK and the government is trying to fit broadband into each and every single home by 2012. I think the government will have to do more to promote 2Mb/s broadband to every home in the UK by 2012. The very first thing which they need to do is to close the gap on those three million notspots. the question is whether they have sufficient resources to do it?

As for the need for speed up to 200Mb/s, I think it is highly unecessary unless companies who caters for web servers will require such fast speed. Apart from that, I think it is better for existing broadband companies to increase their uplink to be on par with the downlink - That will be very efficient. However, there is no guarantee that companies will do so due to the high cost of implementing them.

I have to argue that 200Mb/s is good but it is not everybody's cup of tea taking into the price which a consumer has to bear... Just forget about it unless there is a reduction in price, then...It will be good. We will just have to see about it. Taking into account that countries like Hong Kong and Japan offering broadband speed up to 500Mb/s, I don't see the reason why UK cannot promote their 200Mb/s broadband speed to UK customers. Kudos!!!

Virgin Broadband

I am really delighted to see that Virgin has upgraded my service from 2mbps to 10mbps for free. That is pretty good. As for now, my downlink will be 10mbps while my uplink will be 512kbps. That is much better than 2mbps downlink and 256kbps uplink previously. Wonderful! I'm trying it right now and it is marvellous!!!

Celcom Broadband

Based on what I've read, I think I can say that all wireless broadbands in Malaysia are not matured enough. No doubt that we have the infrastructure to roll out wireless broadband, the problem is that paying around RM60-RM99 a month for a service which does not match its description will deem to be failing on the company's point of view to promote its service to its customers. I did have a problem with Celcom prepaid recently and the customer service agent could not understand why I could not get a signal in a city itself! I was told that there was no problem in the transmission towers and no reports of problems in that area at that time.

I told the customer advisor that I will be the very first customer to complain about the shortage of signals in the area and she acknowledged. Customer services will come up with possibilities like 'it is your mobile phone's problem' and 'there is nothing wrong with their system' even though there is a problem with their system. Why can't they accept that there are glitches and they are working to solving it?

Look at Digi. If they have a problem, they will solve it. That is why they are taking some time to roll out their 3G broadband. First of all, they are only MNVO because they don't have a licence to operate any 3G spectrums in Malaysia. I think they are relying on one of the 3G licensee for it.

The thing is that when there is a problem, Digi will acknowledge the problem and will try to solve it. Why can't Celcom just do the same? There is no harm in doing so, right? Customers do understand that there are occasions where technology will fail mankind. Look here for more.

50MB Broadband

Yes, 50MB broadband is here to offer! Virgin Media is currently having a trial running 50MB broadband is selected areas. Unfortunately I can't really tell you how fast it goes because it is not yet available at my area. I think Virgin Media will roll out their service in most densely populated areas before moving on to other areas. You can check it out the difference in speed when you point your browser here.

I think 50MB broadband is suitable for large businesses but for a family home, I don't think it is necessary. I am quite happy (touch wood), right now with my 2MB broadband speed with Virgin Media. It is so much faster to the Streamyx which TM offer at 1MB. The funny thing is that even though TM advertise Streamyx at 1MB, it does not always offer downloads at 1MB speed! Most of the time you will get at a maximum of 384kbps. That is way too slow for broadband in Malaysia though. Anyway, keep up the good work Virgin Media!!!

Streamyx update

I can sense that Stremayx service is running much better now as compared to a few weeks ago. I am glad that it did because I have been longing for a better service from TM. However, I still get problems in accessing overseas websites like Vodafone and O2. Perhaps someone might want to enlighten me on this?

I am really happy because I have met up with people whom I have not seen for ages! That is just brilliant!!!

Streamyx Headache

I am sick and tired of Telekom Malaysia (TM)'s broadband service. It is pretty horrible at the moment. They promised to provide for 1MB of download and 128kbps upload speed for me. In fact, the reality is that the download speed is only 384kbps and not 1MB! I can't see the logic over here.

Oh well, when you call TM, the usual answer will be asking you to do this and that; painting a picture that your equipments are faulty and needs replacing without telling you that Streamyx is having its server being overloaded!!! Right now, I can't even update my pc's windows OS and my phone's firmware, thanks to Streamyx. I think I will be better off in hitting a cyber cafe to do it rather than staying at home! Can you believe such a 'good' service from TM? I can't imagine that though.

I really hope that TM will improve on their service. They have advertisement over how good they are but in fact, they need to check and properly maintain their servers. It is good to see that they are paying lots of attention to business customers but what about consumers then? Don't we deserve some attention too? After all, they get most of their businesses from consumers, not from businesses. This is just my 2 cents worth.

Streamyx on Steriods!!!

Yes, if you look close, Streamyx is actually rolling out its wireless broadband with a twist - just pay RM10 on top of your existing streamyx connection and you will be able to enjoy wireless broadband wherever you are. Streamyx claims that they have the widest coverage in Malaysia and with the new package, it will attract a lot of people. I have to disagree with that.

First of all, Streamyx is rather slow. The only good thing about it is that Streamyx offer customers unlimited downloads. Other than that, Streamyx is pretty slow in surfing the internet.

Personally, I think that ADSL broadband in Malaysia is pretty poor. What they have done is that Streamyx now started offering download speed of up to 4Mbps for RM288 a month. I don't understand why TM does not want to improve their services first before rolling out new products.

For your information, I do have a 1Mbps service in my house but guess what? According to three speedtest which I have done online, my download speed is only 300kbps max while upload speed is only 88kbps at max. What can you say about it then?

Mobile Broadband in Malaysia

It will be noticeable nowdays with mobile broadband, consumers have the luxury of logging on to the internet on the go when they switch on their laptops. It is convenience to them but one question remain: ' Is it beneficial to consumers?

I have the opportunity to try out two types of mobile broadbands in Malaysia, one of which is from Maxis and another, from the new mobile broadband provider - U Mobile.

The Maxis broadband connection is quite good around my area. I have manage to secure up to 2Mbps during the day but when night falls, I would only be getting around 512kbps. Does this mean that Maxis have throttled the capacity of the wireless broadband service to consumers? Before I can answer that question, I would like to provide you with more information about Mobile Broadband in Malaysia.

First of all, the technology itself, mobile broadband, is still at the early stages in Malaysia. It is rather different to countries within the Europe including the UK. In the UK, the penetration of mobile broadband is much wider than in Malaysia. I think it takes time for the technology to mature. In the mean time, use wi-fi or the cheapest mobile broadband which does not tie you down to a contract will do so. Stick to Streamyx until a better WiMAX system is in place.

Secondly, you can see that there are many mobile broadband providers in the country. It is the same with other countries but what is important is that in Malaysia, charges for such a luxury is expensive. Looking at the average mobile broadband providers in the country will see that consumers having to pay around RM78 to RM88 for a cap of 5GB usages limit per month. Such cap usage varies from one provider to another provider. The worst is Maxis where by users are only allowed up to 3GB of data per month. Oh my... 3GB is pretty poor, don't you think? At least U Mobile offers 5GB of data usage per month!Why not just stick to Data plan from your mobile devices and forget about mobile broadband for a while? Good idea, right? With EDGE and HSDPA technology on your mobile devices, it will surely be sufficient, right? I think so. It is so much better compared to using your laptop as it is heavier than a mobile phone! Even the mighty Nokia E90 is much better than the laptop!!!

Well, there is always an exclsion to what the general rule is. With netbooks and minibooks around, it is lighter to carry portables around and thus, using mobile broadband will be more realistic, don't you think so? Ha! We have the Asus Eee PC and Dell Mini and both have around 9" screens and weight below 2kg. Good for carrying around. However, the bad news is that the firepower of such products are low so don't go and play online games with it, alright?

I am happy that mobile broadband have taken off and surely, the technology will take time to mature. Until then, Streamyx is the one broadband for unlimited usage and stability!!!

Streamyx Woes

I have known many people to have used Streamyx in their offices or even at home. Most of the time, the majority of Streamyx customers are from big corporate firms and also home users. Well, since Telekom Malaysia is the only big telecommunication company to provide such a service, they are the only big ISP company in the country.

One would ask about Jaring but if you read the news, Jaring has been bought over by Telekom Malaysia. I used to like Jaring very much until it was bought over by Telekom Malaysia. Do you know why? TM is using Jaring's resources for thermselves!!! That is the bad part. The good part is that it has increased TM's customer base in the country.

No doubt you would understand that mobile broadband is on the rise in Malaysia, same goes to many countries like in the USA and also in the UK. However, I have received many complains from users of mobile broadband of not living up to their share of the bargain. It is like buying a 1Mbps broadband service only to receive 512Mbps of download speed. That is just not right.

The worst offender will be, nontheless, Streamyx. They have promised a 1Mbps of download speed but it is often not what consumers will receive. Most of the time consumers will only receive a quarter of the published speed. That is pretty bad. I really hope that TM will improve on their broadband service which is pretty poor at the moment although they have come up with various innovations to increase their customer base. With loads of hiccups and downtime sessions, no doubt that Streamyx is the worst offender here...

Wireless Connection Problem

I ran into some internet connection problem. Out of a sudden, I found out that I could not log on to the internet. I did not panic but just sat down and wondered why it happened. My first reaction was to make a call to my ISP to see whether there is any problem with their system. Well, sometimes, you do find ISPs having reported faults in their system and doing some repairing near your area. It happened to me once last week where BT and Virgin had a problem with their switchboard (weird as Virgin is using fiber optics cable). Nevertheless, the problem was rectified in less than four hours.

This time though, I do not have much confidence due to the fact that I have always maintain all the computer systems and internet connections in the house and nothing would go wrong. Well, I was wrong this time. I managed to get connected to my ISP and confirmed that nothing was wrong on their side. I then unplugged the power cable from the modem and also from the wireless router. Next, I unplugged the coaxial cable from the modem and waited for approximately 1 minute.

After the one minute has passed, I then fix the coaxial cable, the power cable to the modem and also to the wireless router and guess what? It worked!!! The internet is back online!!! What is most important thing is not to panic when your internet connection is not working. Generally, by switching off the modem and the wireless router for three minutes before turning it back on again would solve your internet connection problem. Good luck! If you have any problem, please feel free to contact me at s903sh05@yahoo.co.uk I will do my best to help you.

3 UK Broadband

I was walking in town recently just before Easter and I was really surprised to see advertisements infront of a local 3 UK store stating that they are willing to cut prices of their broadband charges for 1GB to just £5 per month. The terms and condition is still the same as before as it is on a 18 months contract. That is just too good to be true. Hey, for £5 a month, it is considered to be cheap but I am not sure about the quality of 3's product.

Personally, I do not really like to recommend 3 UK's product because I find that they are not good in terms of protecting customer's rights. Instead, they prefer to protect themselves. They will never think that they have any problems in the network but down to handsets and also customers. I do not know when will they ever learn that customers do not like that sort of attitude?

RM268 for 4Mbps in Malaysia

Wow! RM268 for 4Mbps downlink in Malaysia! This was an announcement by TMnet recently and I wonder whether it will be a hit among locals. First of all, the package is not listed on TMnet's website (Maybe the news was too new). Secondly, we have to think about who is going to get the 4Mbps service from TMnet? Home users perhaps?

I think home users will have to think twice before taking the offer. This is because it is really expensive! Think about it. The internet penetration in Malaysia should be around 90 percent but I doubt it is as high as 90 percent. For RM268 a month, I don't think home users are going to fully utilise the bandwidth unless they always use skype and conference call. Other than that, what is the use of 4Mbps?

Although it is unfair to compare the new package price with another country, nevertheless, I am still going to do it anyway. In the UK, a 4Mbps downlink service with 368Kbps uplink would cost a customer 25 pounds a month. If you multiply it with 7, it will be RM195. Hum...RM268 is expensive.

I do use 4Mbps service for some time now. It is good as I always use skype and wi-fi. They use a lot of bandwidth particularly if you are using video call on skype. I think we should hold on for a moment before taking the plan as I am sure that TMnet will definately reduce the price later. The 4Mbps service will be good for home users who wants to share a single broadband connection with other members of the family. Well, other than that, leave it. Just stick to 1Mbps.