The Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission has released a mandatory standard for Quality of broadband service in Malaysia starting 1 January 2008.

Here are the conclusions(Applies to all ISPs):

• 80% of installation orders must be fulfilled within 24 hours from the time and date requested by the customer.
• 80% of service restoration must be completed within 24 hours from the time and date requested by the customer.
• 90% of billing complaints must be resolved in 15 business days of receipt of the complaint.
• Network latency to the nearest edge node(BRAS), shall be no more than 85ms(95% of the time)
• Bandwidth utilisation between the user and the nearest edge node of the regional broadband network(BRAS) should be no less than 80% of the subscribed level(95% of the me)-it means local sites will load faster
• Packet loss should not exceed 1% between the user and the nearest edge node of the regional broadband network(BRAS)

BRAS-Broadband Remote Access Server

On top of all theses mandatory standards, all ISPs must produce a report to MCMC every six months.

Mandatory Standards for Quality of Service(Broadband Access Service)-PDF file

The question is:

• What if the customers are still not satisfied on the service offered? (MCMC will be judging the service based on the report produced by the ISPs, what about consumers?)
• Do I still pay RM77 when service is always not available, or when the technical guy is taking his sweet time to come over to my place?
• What happens to the ISPs if the mandatory standards are not fulfilled?
• Why “best effort” still remains? Does MCMC support these terms?
• Why wait until January,2008? Does it mean that we will suffer until then and no action can be taken on the ISP?

Comments are most welcomed.

Update: You can read more on this at : http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/486176

Read these two links first:

“TMNet Streamyx has organised the formation of structured independent user groups to act as a focused voice to push the company in the right direction.” - Friedbeef.com
“The group joins 12 others nationwide as an independent body engaging TM Net in solving such problems.“Â - Mobile World

Now - as the Deputy Chairman of the committee for the Klang Valley TMNet User Group, I am proud to announce that we are putting together a website that will serve as the official, structured Communications Channel between the committee and the users at large. We aim to be as transparent as possible, to form a community that helps itself - which can be a much more efficient way than having to deal with TMNet for all TMNet related issues.

We envision that the bulk of users of the TMNet User Group would be TMNet Streamyx users, like me and you. Hence, we want this website to be useful and informative for TMNet users (eg, we envision we should be able to notify you of problems faster than official channels, and forward complaints more efficiently and faster than a belaboured support employee).

So, we would like to have your suggestions on the following:

1. What would be good features to have on the website of the Klang Valley TMNet User Group?
2. What kind of problems do you face with your TMNet service, mainly? We are trying to segmentize problems so that we can deal with them better - eg, connection problems, getting Streamyx, quality of service, billing, etc.
3. How do you think our committee can help you?
4. If you were a member of this committee with a significant say, what would you do? What would you implement? (Keep in mind - this involves real life meetings and a substantial commitment of your time. But just say what you would do - no obligation.)
5. Or even as a normal member, what would you do, and how would you be willing to contribute?
6. If you were TMNet, and this group offered to help you do your job, what would you like them to do?
7. How do you think we as a user group (the committee and also the members), can make TMNet more efficient?

Please do give your feedback, thanks. We hope to work with you to make broadband here better, and we all know who is the biggest provider of broadband here.

Disclaimer: My questions and views do not represent the TMNet User Group as a whole, however, as the person in charge of setting up the website, I am using RedesignMalaysia as a relevant channel for valuable feedback.

Josh Lim