Is anyone here using the 4MBps Streamyx package that was launched recently? I’m curious as to whether its any good. You can read some comments on LiewCF’s blog. Apparently it is only for 12,000 people.

However, no one of the commentators there (or anyone I know of) seems to be on that package. Anyone who is actually using the 4MBps Streamyx package is welcome to share their experiences in the comments field or by e-mailing us.

PS: We met up with one of the WiMax winners, and they are interested in doing something with this site. Look out for some exciting new changes soon!

PUTRAJAYA: Fortunately, it was a trial run. A video conference between the health minister and the Terengganu state health director descended into a farce as the two were unable to communicate.
At one point, minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek told Dr Nordianah Hassan to “stand still and speak into the microphone … I can’t hear what you’re saying”.

Dr Chua was launching the ministry’s RM2 million National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) at its Disease Control Division with a mock video conference with Dr Nordianah about an outbreak of upper respiratory tract infection among the students of two schools.

Her voice, sometimes loud, sometimes soft, and at times completely inaudible, Dr Nordianah had to repeat her presentation twice because of a poor connection.

Finally, a frustrated Dr Chua gave up and moved on to complete his schedule at the CPRC — with a few choice words for the telecommunications authorities.

“Malaysian telephone lines need to be upgraded. It’s the truth. It’s so difficult to get a clear line,” he fumed.
You can read more here, “Video Conference Becomes a Farce” at The New Straits Times. Does anyone know whether this video conferencing was over an internet connection (Computers, Streaming) or over normal telephone lines (Video Phone Hardware)? I know it mentions in the article that it is “telephone lines”, however, was it really, or was it video streaming over a “broadband” connection? How advanced is this technology used, really? And of course - who’s to blame?

In not too surprising news, people are still dissapointed with Streamyx.

“In Malaysia, if you wanted broadband access, you don’t get much choices except sticking with TMNet’s Streamyx, especially so when you are living outside the capital Kuala Lumpur. I earn my living through the Internet, it feeds me and my family and you would understand how important a stable connection means to me.”

Khai Lee of webwatch.com.my finds it hilarious that Malaysia needs a research team from MMU to tell us that broadband here is not up to par. Its not “quite bad” as described in the article, I think its really absofuckinglutely bad.

“A research team from Multimedia University (MMU) is studying broadband services in Malaysia, Singapore and Japan, and their initials results indicate that local services are not up to par.

The team has completed about 75% of its research, and the general consensus is that broadband services in Malaysia are “quite bad” compared to those in the other two countries. ”

One more point to note about the article: “Joan Ang, a Mescorp research assistant director, said that there was a lack of qualified workers to implement and manage broadband services here.There are not enough skilled workers at the service centres. Also, another pressing issue is that the rural areas cannot get access to broadband”.

Is it really that hard to find qualified people? I have a suggestion to a certain ISP - spend some of your advertising & marketing budget on human resources, seriously.

One person seems to be dissapointed with DiGi, complaining that they “tipu” him. However, its not very clear what’s going on here…it seems to be that he was signed up for a package higher than he wanted to - or did he misunderstand when he signed up?

” Kalau aku ada masa untuk baca benda2 gitu, takkan aku nk tanya agent dan DSS korang tu? Hey, I am a customer. Memang tugas korang la untuk bagitau customer what plan do u have. Ini tidak. Korang tipu aku??????

Hangin, hangin sungguh2 kepala aku. Sampai sekarang aku hangin lagik nih. Apa kejadahnya macam tu?

Adakah Digi memang sejak asal PENIPU BESAR macam tu?”

We tak tahu if DiGi is a “pentipu”, but they seem to be mostly innovative and competitive (re: thetruthaboutprepaid) in rolling out new services, and we hope that their broadband service is as competitive and customer friendly as their prepaid. Best suggestion would be someone from DiGi to respond to that officially and fix it.

Good news for the future:

- TM’s international link managed to reach 70Gbps. (Yes, this is a good thing)

- Green Packet looks to be all set to roll out wireless broadband.

- An insider in the fibre optics industry mentioned to me that Time Telekom will be rolling out 10-20MBps packages for cheap in about a year.

In the meantime, you can find out your real broadband speed (here too), and pray for better broadband.