Archive for the 'Broadband Malaysia' Category

Maxis Broadband Throttles Download Speed

Published October 11, 2007 in Broadband Malaysia. 19 Comments

Fellow blogger Freethinker SOS-ed me the other day. He subscribed to Maxis Broadband and noticed his torrent download is very slow — less than 1kb/s. That is extremely slow indeed. There is no doubt that even a dial up connection can be faster than that.

After checking the Maxis Broadband fair usage policy, there is a few sections that indicated download activities such downloading torrents is prohibited and may result in bandwidth throttling.

5.2.1 Certain software/applications which is used by a small number of customers to send and receive files containing very large amounts of data (including without limitation traffic from peer-to-peer software/applications (such as Bit Torrent, eDonkey, Gnutella) or file sharing software (such as Limewire)). These activities may cause network congestion and can negatively impact the speed at which other customers can access the internet.

5.2.2 Maxis does not guarantee a service level and/or connectivity to users of peer-to-peer or file sharing software/applications.

5.2.3 The system that is used to provide the Maxis Broadband service can identify very high bandwidth users and Maxis seeks to manage the customer’s usage by throttling their bandwidth to a much lower broadband speed to ensure fairness to all customers.

If you plan to download files using P2P programs, you are better off not using Maxis Broadband. In case this is not enough to deter you, there is yet another section in the Maxis Broadband fair usage policy that you may want to take a look at.

5.3.1 Each customer’s total usage per month shall NOT exceed 3GB of data volume transmitted (total upload and download usage). This is to ensure that no individual hogs the bandwidth at all times.

If you plan to use more than 3GB of data transfer per month, you will need to have a written request to Maxis. The approval of your application is entirely up to Maxis.

You got to love the broadband services provided by our Malaysian providers. It is like going for a buffet dinner that costs RM100 per head and having the below conversation/situation happen to you.

Manager: I am sorry sir but you will have to stop eating now.

You: Huh? I thought buffets are for me to eat as much as I can?

Manager: Yes, sir. However, you have been eating too much, more than what we can afford you to eat. In fact, you are eating other customer’s portion. You really have to stop now, sir.

You: Shut up. I am going for that turkey over there. Try stopping me if you can.

[At this point, the manager calls 5 security guards and straps you to your chair preventing you from eating anymore food.]

Manager: I will bring you your dessert and bill. Thank you very much. Do come and dine in our wonderful buffet restaurant again.

This policy isn’t new. Jeff Ooi reported it a year ago.

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Netlynx: Broadband Up To 10Mbps From TIME dotCom

Published September 19, 2007 in Broadband Malaysia and Reviews. 2 Comments

I read that TIME dotCom is providing a broadband service named Netlynx with speeds up to 10mbps. There are four packages available — 2, 4, 6 and 10mbps — costing from RM99 per month up to RM499 per month respectively. They are providing discounts of RM20 to RM30 for each package until the end of this year. The official website for this broadband service is Netlynx.net.my.

Netlynx: TIME dotCom broadband 10mbps

The domain name was registered only early this month indicating that this website is in fact very new. After scanning through Netlynx’s official website, I noticed a few improvements that are needed for it.

  • Blue and red are two very strong colors. I am not an expert in color balancing for website designs but my eyes were “hurting” after a brief view of the website. Red text on a blue background is a definite no-no. I understand that TIME dotCom’s official colors are blue and red but that doesn’t mean you need to cover 70% of the website with these two colors.
  • The entire website is a “large banner” consisting of six images. As much as I do not like websites designed entirely in flash, designing an entire page where all the text are embedded in images is worse.
  • There are no information on where or how to subscribe. The contact number of TIME dotCom is not present anywhere in the website. It is like ordering from a menu only to be told by the waiter that none of the items are available.

It is good that more ISPs are giving new alternatives for users. I am not sure if Netlynx is available throughout Malaysia because, you guessed it, this information is not in the website.

[Via: MohdIsmail]

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103bees: How To Make F Streamyx Faster

Published September 11, 2007 in Broadband Malaysia and Personal. 4 Comments

I have been using 103bees.com to track my blog’s stats for a month or two now. Although I do not fully utilize its features, I do enjoy occasionally checking out what others are searching for that ended up on my blogs. I checked it again a while ago and saw the information displayed in the screenshot below.

How to make F Streamyx faster?

I really shouldn’t be surprised. Are you surprised? I wonder when TM Net will upgrade their Streamyx broadband to something more presentable. I do hope that WiMAX’s launch in middle of 2008 will finally see some improvement in the broadband service in Malaysia. I do not dare to put too much hope in it though. Someone might just search for “How to make F WiMAX faster?” and land on one of my posts in the future!

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Streamyx Finally Providing Faster Broadband Connection?

Published September 2, 2007 in Broadband Malaysia and Personal. 24 Comments

TM Net upgraded their services a week ago probably to improve their ailing broadband services (Streamyx). I did not feel any significant performance boost or stability in the past few days. However, the frequency of the line dropping off has reduced slightly. This is when my 3 Steps To Restore A Broadband (Streamyx) Connection still comes in handy.

I did some speed test in between and noted that my connection is fast only when I am allocated with IP addresses that begin with either 218.x.x.x or 219.x.x.x. The 60.x.x.x range has been known to suck big time. I was totally surprised when I did a speed test a while ago on a 60.x.x.x IP address range and got a really fast broadband connection speed.

Test result of Streamyx broadband

Streamyx speed test

I am on the 512kbps package. The usual speed I get on this IP address range is a pathetic 200-300 kbps with a ping time of over 800ms. I wonder if this marks the start towards a better broadband service from Streamyx. I do hope so. I haven’t tested if Streamyx is still cutting off my connection when Bitcomet is running. For this, I hope not.

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Celcom Broadband: RM68 Broadband In Malaysia

Published August 21, 2007 in Broadband Malaysia and Personal. 378 Comments

Celcom Broadband was launched early this month. It promises true mobility and lightning speed internet access to its users whether they are surfing from home or outdoors.

Plan and rates:

There are 3 plans available. You can choose to subscribe at RM8 for 24 hours unlimited, RM68 for a monthly unlimited access, or pay-per-use at 10 cents per 10kb. The chart below shows a comparison of Celcom’s rate compared to its rival.

Celcom broadband price comparison with competitor

How to subscribe?

Existing Celcom subscribers:

  • Daily Unlimited - Register via SMS or dial *118#
  • Monthly Unlimited - Register at any Celcom Service Centre or selected dealer

Non-Celcom subscribers:

  • Register at the nearest Celcom Service Centre.

What you need?

Laptop or notebook users require a:

  • USB modem
  • Datacard, or
  • A GPRS and/or 3G enabled mobile phone

What is the catch?

#1: The advertised 384kbps speed can only be “obtained” if your phone supports 3G and you are in an area that is covered by the Celcom broadband service.

#2: If your phone does not support 3G or you are not in the service area, you are running on their GPRS service which provides a bandwidth of 60-70kbps only. That is just slightly faster than a dialup connection.

Note: Bandwidth figures and other information were obtained from Celcom’s call center.

UPDATED:
1) You will need to have a 3G sim card in order to get the 384kbps bandwidth. Or else, it will only be 112kbps max.

2) The 3GX that offers you up to 3.6mbps is open for invitations only. You will receive an SMS if you are the lucky one. Even then, you will need to be within the coverage area.

3) The USB modem (Huawei E220) is sold at RM900+ to RM1,200+. You will need to look around to get a good deal on this. My friend bought it for RM1,100 last week.

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