James pointed me out to an interesting forum thread. It details the story of a guy who through persistence and documentation, actually managed to get a rebate from Streamyx.� Basically, he was paying for a 1MBPs line, but for some reason, was capped at 512KBPs.� Here’s an excerpt from the forum:

You can read the whole forum thread here: Malaysia Bloggers Forum - Damn Streamyx!

�

I think by now a lot of you might know about thetruthaboutprepaid.com, and, more� recently,� thetruthaboutprepaid.com.my. Yes, they are different, and neither might be the “truth”, or they both might be, or one might be. Who knows? As someone who is not a prepaid user of either service, I won’t comment.

But, it’s interesting, and compelling how� they� competing, and attacking each other in a country where comparative advertising and slamming your competitor is usually not practiced. Don’t get me wrong, its a good thing. This level of competition� is exactly what we need.� The kind that Carrefour, Giant and Tesco have as well. Its like, the exact opposite of a cartel. And its good for us consumers, really.

What do you think it’ll take to get the� ISPs to compete to push their services and lower their rates, the same way that the prepaid war, and hypermarket price war� is going on now? What do you think we can do to get it to that stage? Would� the bloodshed through cut-throat competition leave only the best service providers standing, and hopefully the best service?� Please enter your comments, I’ll love to hear your suggestions.

�

Josh Lim

A question for all visitors. Assuming you had a budget of RM3.5 billion, and the relevant governing agencies working with you, as well as access to the media to influence the public (newspapers, TV, etc). Also assuming that you have power over the ISPs and can revoke their licenses, or penalize them.

What would you do to improve the following items?

1. Broadband penetration in Malaysia.
   Currently at about only 2%.
2. Broadband coverage in Malaysia.
   Affluent areas like Kelana Jaya & Bandar Utama are well covered…what about the rest?
3. Broadband quality of service in Malaysia.
   Ever met a happy Streamyx user?
4. Broadband service pricing in Malaysia.
   Shouldn’t it be cheaper than your household electricity bill?�

And so you understand the situation, some statistics (PDF Format)

Household Internet Usage Survey 2005 (MCMC)
The National Broadband Plan (MCMC & KTAK)

And some of my thoughts:

1. It’ll probably be best� to start with a plan for the� Klang Valley. Its where its most needed. Remember, dialup penetration throughout Malaysia is surprsingly, 14%.
2. The more customers there are in a serviced area, the more the ISP profits. See this, and this (under the Business section).
3. Should there be penalties for ISPs that fail to meet expectations? And how harsh should they be? The link provided deals with water issues. Broadband falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Energy, Water & Telecommunications.
4. Singaporeans can get 5Mbps at S$ 49.95 a month. Which is more likely to happen here, assuming that we have ISPs providing 5 Mbps packages: RM116.61 (currency conversion)� for 5Mbps, or RM49.95 (dollar for dollar)� for 5Mbps?

What do you think, people? Leave your comments - clicking on “comments”, think carefully, and then type away…

Josh Lim

Here’s an interesting idea. If you have connection problems with Streamyx, don’t give up until you try the suggestion below. It worked for Noorhidayat Noordin, and it just might work for you too.

Bypass Authority - E-mail CEO of TMNet Directly
You can e-mail the CEO of TMNet, Michael Lai at this e-mail address: ceo@tmnet.com.my. These are more of Mr Michael Lai’s profile and contact details.

Out of courtesy, I would suggest you e-mail, not call. He does check his e-mail, and I can personally attest to that. Remember its ceo@tmnet.com.my, not ceo@tm.net.my

Sidenote: Thanks to the anonymous reader who alerted me to the blog link of Noorhidayat Noordin. But please note, (to all readers too) if you do want me to reply to you, do leave your e-mail lah, don’t just fill in the comments…

Josh Lim

Sure, we were late on the news of his resignation, but I hope we’ve redeemed ourselves by being one of the first to tell you where he’s going next.According to an industry insider (from a company working closely with Green Packet), after resigning as CEO of TMNet, Michael Lai will join the highly hyped Green Packet Berhad. No word yet on his position, but speculation says he might be the new CEO.

He might make quite a difference, judging by the some favourable comments from industry people. Michael is currently on holiday and not in KL. Word is he left TM Net because of unfair corporate structure - underlings were promoted, and key performance indicators for the National Broadband Plan are no longer in his hands, making his role very small.

It is also said that there will no new CEO replacing Michael Lai (there is a current acting CEO, a Malay lady named Zainab Hashim), as there is no need to - operations of TM Net will be going to the main TM Group. Products and marketing of Streamyx will go to TM Retail, and Technical & Content will go to TM Wholesale (who has been doing a shitty job as of late.) TMNet will be handling content like BlueHyppo & the music portal.

However, the industry insider goes on to say that Streamyx will improve drastically in a year - this new restructuring will bring younger people to the helm (between 30-40), to replace the traditional guys. And…it won’t be called TM Net Streamyx anymore - it will be TM Streamyx.

Green Packet Berhad is pretty well backed, with support from Energy, Water & Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik. To quote Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik: “Green Packet had proven itself to be one of Malaysia’s technology companies with an impressive track record locally and was also creating a significant impact in international telecommunication services. ” Check out this link on The Star - Landmark Green Packet Deal and this link, on Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia. You can also see their corporate fact sheet on GreenPacket.com.

So, will Green Packet be able to “gerak” broadband to the “Rakyat”? They will benefit from Michael’s marketing savvy (as who else knows the weaknesses of the main monopoly ISP better?), but let’s hope their service holds up as well. Congratulations to Michael Lai, and Green Packet.

More updates as times goes by…remember nothing here is guaranteed to be accurate, and is based on speculation and insider info. Let’s hope this new round of restructuring in TM and Green Packet will bring about some much needed change to us, the broadband users.