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Maxis Throws Free Modems Until 20th April

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Until 20th April, Maxis is offering free USB modem for any broadband subscription through out this period. Maxis is the latest broadband provider to offer free modem, to woo customers in increasingly competitive market. Although few other carriers does offer free modem for broadband subscription, Maxis offering does have few advantages, if you don’t mind to stay within contract.

First  is the low subscription fee, starting from RM48 (normal free RM76) for 1.5 GB bandwidth. It is one of the lowest package in town, if not the cheapest without compromising speed. Compared to some  lowest price package offered by other telco that only offer 386kbps in speed, this package offer the same speed as it’s more expensive package.

The offer is also open to anyone unlike certain telco that only make it available for student. The only downside is, 1.5Gb bandwidth is pretty low for broadband usage in notebook or PC. You can opt for higher bandwidth at 12.0 GB which available at RM178 per month.  For more offers visit Maxis Broadband page.

Admin 14 March 2010 telecommunication , , , , , , No Comments

Mandatory Broadband Facilities In Future?

Federal government looks serious in increasing the internet broadband usage in Malaysia. The latest development including the possibility of amending the existing law so it is mandatory for developers to install broadband facilities in new commercial and residential properties in future. The reason being is internet broadband is viewed as a necessity,  just like electricity and water. They targets to have 50% to have broadband facilities by end of this year.

Every move toward achieving greater broadband accessibility is applauded, but the definition of broadband facilities the minister is suggesting can raise curiosity to certain parties. Does it means built in modem or router in the building? Or broadband services ready in every house? That doesn’t sounds really possible.  One important element in wired broadband, which is telephone port to connect to wired broadband’s modem or router, is already available in almost every building in Malaysia.

Looking at another angle, broadband facility could also mean telecommunication towers or base station to cater for wireless broadband. This will cover broader areas, but this must comes with an agreement from internet provider companies (ISP). Making it mandatory for developers to come out with this will involve not a small amount of capital. Best if group of developers developing in the same areas to works with the ISP to get this ready and offer some sort of reward to encourage the house buyer to subscribe the broadband.

Malaysia is one of developing countries in the world, but not all level of citizens are in sync with the status that we had. Believe it or not, a lot more still prefer Astro (cable TV station) rather than internet broadband. They view Astro as the source of entertainment as well as information,  but not internet broadband which still perceived as a tools to read email or get their office works done. Broadband should be viewed in broader views, but that must comes with much needed speed.

Another important aspect to look at is, the broadband awareness, which is still low in rural areas and small town. Plus the fact that internet broadband especially wireless broadband comes to no existence in certain places doesn’t help much to spearhead the important of internet broadband. This must comes first, as almost half of Malaysian population still lives in this areas. Achieving 50% target is very much possible if every angles are well covered.

Click here to read the full news.

Admin 5 March 2010 telecommunication , , , 1 Comment

Broadband Expansion: U Mobile Goes Johor Bharu, Digi Goes Ipoh & Kuching

Fast rewind to 2004, when I still lived at Kota Damansara with my uni friends, in one day we decide to subscribe to Streamyx (the only broadband available at that time) as we need more internet connection for email, research and games. To our disappointment the area we live is out of coverage. At that time, we live in middle cost apartment, opposite now Sri KDU school. Across the road is Tropicana,golf club and other high end residential house where Streamyx service has been there for years.

I still study at that time, and lived with our parent money as well as government fund. Not much but just enough to pay rent and pay meals. If you in our situation, what would you think? I personally think that Streamyx is being unfair to low income group! Doesn’t that  low income also deserve the internet connection?

Fast forward to 2010. I’ve been Streamyx user for 4 years now. My parent house which located 17km from nearest town does have Streamyx as well.  Streamyx has expanded almost everywhere in Malaysia, made it accessible to everyone. Thanks to competition…

Beside Streamyx, there are now other internet service providers competing with each other to win the customer. From wired internet broadband, wireless internet broadband to fibre optic broadband, we’re very lucky to have them now. Centered around Klang Valley as the first location to have the coverage, the services has gradually expanded to other major towns.

Celcom Broadband & Maxis Broadband alongside Streamyx are leading the pack. They have the widest coverage in internet broadband as far as I know, as they are also the pioneer.. Then there is P1 Wimax which is quite aggressive in getting their service roll out to customers.

Last week, U Mobile  has expanded their broadband coverage to Johor Bharu from very modest beginning. Same goes to Digi broadband which is now expanding to Ipoh and Kuching.

Digi Broadband Packages

digi broadband packages 450x199 Broadband Expansion: U Mobile Goes Johor Bharu, Digi Goes Ipoh & Kuching

U-Mobile Broadband Packages

umobile broadband packages 450x141 Broadband Expansion: U Mobile Goes Johor Bharu, Digi Goes Ipoh & Kuching

All of this is a good sign toward achieving greater internet penetration rate, which currently stood at 36%. At the same time, I do hope the same quality of service is offered regardless geography location. Imagine if only Streamyx tasked to execute this mammoth task? Do you think we’re at this level now? The old memory of Kota Damansara may happen again somewhere else.

Well, I plan to to write about U Mobile and Digi expansion initially, but somehow the old memory is coming back. As you see the post goes lengthy beyond the plan. Lastly, I’d like you to imagine again, how is the life without internet broadband?

Admin 7 February 2010 telecommunication , , , , No Comments

Insterested in HSBB? Register Now!

tm hsbb tweet Insterested in HSBB? Register Now!

The High Speed Broad Band or HSBB project is currently underway with numbers of pilot locations has started using this service since end of last year. The project which aimed to provide better and speedier broadband service to all users is now open for registration to interested parties as tweeted by TMCorp, TM’s official twitter account. The registration is open to residential as well as business.

This process remind me back on early 2000’s when Streamyx service is about getting its momentum.  If the area where you live is out of coverage or the new registration no longer accepted because of maximum users has been achieved on certain location, you’re then required to register online. The reason behind all of this is to ensure existing users able to enjoy the service as optimum as possible.

Once  minimum number of registration has been met , Streamyx will open so called new ‘point’ and registered users will have the privilege as the first to get the service . This cycle continue again until it is fully utilized. I’m not sure if the same ‘point’ concept still applied for Streamyx service nowadays , as the complaint about slow connectivity mounted over the time.

Citizen put high hope for HSBB to improve the broadband service, especially the speed which almost come to stagnant  for the past few years. Early users has experienced significant drop in speed over the years, compared with the good old days, especially during peak hours.

The increasing numbers of new user as indicated by latest internet penetration stat, doesn’t come with additional infrastructure by the service provider as perceived by most users. This is resulting more users getting frustrated with already congested network which is become common nowadays.

As an alternatives, more users has switched to wireless broadband run on technology such as Wimax, 3.5G and etc, but the service is limited to major city only and cost slightly higher. Wireless broadband do suffer from the same problem with its ‘big brother’, wired broadband, when the growth is exceeding the network capacity.

HSBB in long term could become one of the crucial factor that propel the new growth economy sector such as biometrics, R&D, ICT and etc to the new level. New technology always demand for speedier connection and consume huge amount of data, hence it is utmost priority to get HSBB works as expected in the first place.

To those who interested with HSBB, do check the service availability in your area or head to subscribe page in order to be among the first to enjoy this promising broadband.

Admin 22 January 2010 telecommunication , , , , , , 5 Comments

Amax Wimax Booth

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Unlike other telcos that aggressively (and excessively sometime) promoting their products, you can’t hardly seen Amax Wimax booth on crowded place such as shopping complex. Their limited but constantly expanding coverage seems to justify their presence so far.

It’s like seeing something unusual, I took out my camera phone spontaneously and snap Amax Wimax booth, upon seeing them at Giant Kinrara recently. In fact that is the first time I spot their booth.. (am I alone here??) I didn’t go nearer though, as my needs on wireless broadband is pretty much fulfilled right now.

Bandar Kinrara is apparently now one of areas under Amax Wimax coverage. That’s answer why they’re there now, and I guess we’ll be seeing them in other shopping complex nearby as well.. maybe soon?

Amax Wimax is pretty much low profile Wimax players based on their appearance and presence today. I can tell you that even some of my friends know Amax, but unsure what this company is doing ( they can guess from the ‘Max’ on the company name  that this is Wimax operator though).

If you want to give Amax Wimax a try,  Google it first,  to have an idea what other people are talking about it first.

Admin 16 November 2009 Malaysia Inc , , , , , , 2 Comments
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