As I posted before,U Mobile held a top-up and win contest with Maybank last month.The gifts include Samsung Galaxy Tab,ZTE HSDPA modem and free sms credits.I’m so lucky to get a free modem as the gift and collected it yesterday at U Mobile service center,Berjaya Times square.

U Mobile also gave us some surprise-free one month mobile broadband(MB40 plan) for the coming August with a new SIM which was registered on site.

The free modem is ZTE MF190 which supports HSDPA 7.2Mbps/USUPA 5.76Mbps.I think it’s good enough for most mobile broadband users.But if you’re living at U Mobile’s upgraded HSPA+ coverage area and want to fully utilize it,you may go to buy a HSPA+ modem instead,hopefully it won’t be too costly.

The design is very simple.It has a SIM slot and a microSD slot,both are hidden under the cover that you’re not going to find it easily.The size is moderate as well as its weight.I will test the performance when the free period starts.Stay tuned if you’re interested!

I like U Mobile more now because they always throw out all kinds of goodies for the customers.I just hope U Mobile could keep improving the quality of network.The worst thing I met when using U Mobile is sometimes I can’t get data connections while roaming at Celcom 2G network.And I know I’m not alone.

U Mobile,could you solve this problem?I’m waiting.

In the past several weeks,quite a number of U Mobile users complained about the slow speed of network.Some people said that the ISPs in Malaysia always did like that-good at the beginning and turning to be worse and worse till the end.

Well,U Mobile is approving that they are not like that.The speed in many areas has been improving dramatically and even better than before.Therefore,I guess the service downgrade was because of the upgrade work doing during that period.

According to my recent tests,I could get more than 2-3Mbps(more than 4Mbps at midnight) for download and 1.5Mbps for upload when I was travelling along old Klang road;at the same time,I tested the speed on DiGi network and only got 500Kbps for download and 120Kbps for upload.

As a new mobile service company,they’re doing great.Of course,they also have a long way to go,such as expanding 3G service area,enhancing their customer service quality and support special code message etc.I’ll be keeping eyes on them.

DiGi designs a group of new plans dedicated for iPad data users.It’s starting from RM30 postpaid monthly with 500MB quota and exceeding usage will be charged at RM0.05/MB,capped at RM90.Other 2 plans are RM58 and RM88 postpaid monthly with 2GB and 6GB data volume without additional charges for exceeding quota,however,speed throttled.

DiGi also provides a prepaid option here-a microsim pack costing RM25 including 5-day internet pass.What you need to be noted is DiGi prepaid Internet plans only providing download speed up to 384Kbps even though you’re under so-called Turbo3G coverage.

Do you like the new plans?For me,it’s not attractive at all.

U Mobile’s unlimited mobile Internet plan is quite hot here.Well,U Mobile does’t want to stop the steps,now they are just releasing new mobile broadband bundle plans,for prepaid and postpaid,with normal 7.2Mbps modem to 21Mbps MiFi or 42Mbps modem.The wider variety is going to make you satisfied in either way.

The main change is they add monthly plan tagged at RM128 for 15GB volume and have 7 days money back guarantee,and they also offer MiFi and 42Mbps USB modem bundled.

It’s all the details.Well,I have to mention that all above are not unlimited plan,meaning that if you use over the subscribed data volume,you will be charged for the extra usage at RM0.01/KB.(The above MiFi and 42Mbps USB modem plans have been changed and updated below.)

Is that okay for you?I still prefer the unlimited one even with a quite slow speed as that could easily control the total bill amount of my cellphone.

[Update]

Just 2 days,U Mobile quietly changed the plans.Here’s the new stuff:

And they also cancel the wording about extra charge of excessive usage,at least,I can’t find it.I assume that they realize the unlimited ones will be much attractive to the customers.Well,fair usage policy will always be applied.Good?

Days ago,Maxis introduced a group of new mobile internet plans called ‘ultimate plus,ultimate pro and ultimate solid,together with the official release of HTC Flyer.

With subscribing ultimate solid plan,customers could get an HTC Flyer with only RM195 cost after 24 months.Don’t be so happy since ultimate solid plan itself is not cheap at all.

That means you should pay RRP for HTC Flyer first when you subscribe ultimate solid plan and get RM96 monthly rebate for 24 months with actually paying RM152 monthly to enjoy the service.Most people still play with those tablets as sort of  entertainment devices on the go,I don’t think 16GB is really needed as nowadays quite a number of places have free WiFi connections.

Well,you still have other options to choose anyway:

After my calculations,you will find that you’d better to get HTC Flyer with ultimate solid plan if you’re a heavy user as the differences of total cost for 24 months are not much.

Ultimate Solid:RM2499+RM152*24=RM6147

Ultimate Pro:RM2499+RM148*24=RM6051

Ultimate Plus:RM2499+RM108*24=RM5091

Also,you can opt to get some add-ons:

For me,I would choose Motorola XOOM instead of HTC Flyer because it works on Android 3.0 which is optimized for tablets and bigger screen.

However,those new mobile internet plans will not be my first choice.TOO EXPENSIVE…

At the beginning of this month,TM hosted a party to celebrate 1st anniversary of TM Unifi service.In that event,TM announced more premium channels and other add-ons will be introduced in steps and 7 new premium channels,5 new VOD categories and 2 new interactive applications will be available for TM HyppTV soon.

New premium channels:

• Al Jazeera
• tvN HD
• Nat Geo Adventure HD
• Nat Geo Music
• Syfy HD
• SS Music
• EMAS

New VOD categories:

• Malaysian Package
• Knowledge – Nature Package
• Kids – Dino
• Kids – Animasi
• Kids – Galaxy

New interactive applications:

• Youtube
• Facebook

The new premium channels are priced from RM3 to RM9 monthly each.New VOD categories are priced from RM8 per package monthly and free of charge for the interactive applications.

I think TM really wants to beat Astro,but up to date,they are still not able to do it because they don’t have good enough resources.Hurry up,TM!

I seldom talk about Yes 4G because till now I have’t had a chance to try the service.Well,it’s quite new compared with P1 4G which has been running this 4G service for years.However,Yes 4G is catching up as quickly as they can.Now the battle has moved to multiply platforms,including mobile advertisement.

Yesterday,when I started to play the latest Angry Birds Rio Beach Volley Update in my Nexus One,a pop-up ad came in front of me.I made a snapshot of it.

Wow,I felt so surprised that I could see this ad in a game.

Well,that also indicates that the management of YTL communication,the service provider of Yes 4G,has put great efforts on promoting it and intends to win the battle with an outstanding result.If there is no minimum RM30 usage monthly,I think I will definitely get one for spare use when I can’t get a good 3G reception on the go.

Now I’m just looking forward to see more flexible plans to be introduced.

TM runs Streamyx Zone WiFi service for years and now Maxis joins to provide WiFi service in public area too.Of course,it’s payable.

If you go to a place showing this logo,that means Maxis WiFi is available in that area.Well,I don’t think you could see this logo frequently as the service area is quite limited currently,most of them are shopping centers and commercial buildings.Sunway Pyramid,KLCC,Imbi Plaza,Menara Maxis,IOI Mall,Phileo Damansara,Jaya One are in the list.You could check more details here.

The service is only available for currently Maxis users(both prepaid and postpaid) and have several packages to choose.

I checked everywhere but found that Maxis didn’t disclose how fast the WiFi connection could be.Well,I think we have to wait somebody to test it later.

[UPDATE]

Just received the info from Maxis staff,the speed for Maxis WiFi is up to 2Mbps.

If the real download speed could reach that,it then considers not bad.Waiting for more results from users.

I registered a Umobile prepaid SIM pack online days ago.Today,through days of delay(the carrier service used by Umobile is lousy),I received it.I topped up RM30 and got another RM4.5 bonus.I applied unlimited mobile Internet costing RM28 for 30 days and started to test the speed.

I did all tests on speedtest.net by Nexus One in my home.The average download speed is around 2000Kbps which is really awesome;However,the upload speed is only around 80-100Kbps,that’s sad.

I could receive 3G signal at home.With my own experience,Umobile has the strongest signal in my home among Maxis,DiGi and itself.The call quality is also pretty clear.So I will keep trying the service from Umobile.If it’s quite ok,I will keep using it and cut the existing service from DiGi.

Cheer up,Umobile!

[UPDATE]

Yesterday I went out gathering with friends and at that indoor place,the 3G signal was quite bad,only 1 bar left.At a very first time,my phone switched to Celcom 2G network.I made a quick test on it in terms of download and upload speed in EDGE.The result is:

Average download speed:200Kbps

Average upload speed:80Kbps

It’s still usable,but you can’t hope more than that.

Need to stress here that Umobile allows its mobile service users to have data roaming on Celcom network,unfortunately U Broadband users can’t do that.Maybe they don’t want to mess up the 2G network.

So my conclusion is,Umobile is working fantastically,at least for now.

After 4 weeks waiting,today TM finally sent 2 installation teams to my house to do the job-one team was concerned on outdoor cable connection,another team was concerned on indoor network setup.

I live in a low rise apartment so that FTTH is the way of installation,not VDSL.The total installation took about 2 hours and all went quite smoothly.Now I can enjoy 10Mbps download/upload speed(Unifi VIP10) simultaneously and watch clear TV content.

A Motorola DECT phone is also included in the plan with free of charge.

Acutually,for me,nothing is more important than speed.So after all done,I directly did some speed test.Here are the results:

So far,I’m very satisfied with the performance.I hope it will never fail me.

Now more gamers join into the battle of broadband in Malaysia.This time,TIME,the fibre optics Internet service provider,cooperates with Astro,the satellite-based broadcasting service provider to launch Astro B.yond IPTV in some selected area.This is the service bundled with Astro+HD+PVR+VOD+Broadband.

They have several packages to choose:

I think it’s really attractive as Astro has rich contents of TV programmes and the price is actually almost the same with TM HSBB.However,the availability of this service is still very limited.

You can also check the availability in this page.

Not like TM or Maxis that bring all information out loudly,Astro is doing it quite secretly now.Maybe they are not well prepared?Or they are still doing it like trial?Who knows!

I used to be a Maxis user for years,however,at the beginning of introducing 3G service years ago,Maxis looked like not paying too much effort on improving the call quality at that time,I decided to change to DiGi which could provide a cheaper rate,quite stable download speed(not meaning fast-normally capped under 1Mbps) with not-so-good call quality.

After a large number of investments setting up more 3G cell towers and expanding the coverage both outdoor and indoor,the quality for voice and data service on both networks should be better.So in this morning,I made a group of simple speed tests to see which one has a better 3G network.Please see the comparison:

The tests were done through speedtest tool in my cellphone-Google Nexus One,supporting up to HSDPA 7.2 Mbps,HSUPA 2 Mbps.

The results show the fact that Maxis is really moving faster than  DiGi,at least its indoor 3G performance is better as all tests were done in the study room of my sweet home in Tmn Sri Sentosa,KL area during the peak hour(10am).

I think I will try another mobile service provider Umobile soon because the recent prepaid plan is so attractive.I will let you know whether it could perform better.Frankly speaking,if Umobile can do it well,I will definitely shift to them.Stay tuned!

Yup,Umobile has the latest slogan of its new broadband service asking that ‘Why surf when you can fly’.Well,Umobile  introduces HSPA+ in some selected area which could boost the connection up to 42Mbps,meaning that is twice as faster as Unifi-the FTTH/VDSL service from Telekom Malaysia.

You should pay RM450 for HSPA+ modem support up to 42Mbps downlink and the monthly charge will be RM40 for 2GB(additional usage for 5 sen/MB) or RM68 for 5GB without extra charge for excessive usage,but fair usage policy applied.Umobile also offers RM20 monthly rebate for 5 months.

Well,it’s a wireless service and so the limitation will be quite obvious,such as higher latency and more congested network.However,HSPA+ could be performed better than HSDPA on those mentioned issues.So I think if you are the Internet user who want to feel the flying feeling on surfing Internet and don’t care about the cap on volume(FUP) and higher latency compared to wired broadband,it could be great.How do you think?

I hope Umobile could update the coverage map soon.

Actually those things are not a bid deal.However,it still lets me feel upset.

Firstly,I’m waiting for Android 2.3 ‘Gingerbread’ coming to my Nexus One since it was released by Google last month.I was heard some official source saying that it would be available in Nexus one in few weeks.Well,the said weeks have been a month.Yet I haven’t seen any signal of OTA.

Damn it!It’s so terrible that knowing the stuff but can’t catch it.Some people may say I could root my phone and apply other third party mods.I know they are working quite well,but I don’t want to make my warranty void so soon.So Google and the Android development team,I hope you could hear my voice and let it out a.s.a.p. to eliminate my sadness.

Secondly,it’s linking to some tech stuff again.It’s about my broadband service.I have been using Streamyx service for 8 years.On the other words,I have borne the slow upload speed provided by this sort of service for such long.I can’t express how excited I was when I heard that my area would be able to get the fiber optics service called ‘Unifi’ which can support up to 20Mbps synchronously in January 2011.I was then be informed lately that it will only be here in late March.That means there are another 2 months to go.

Ok,nothing I can do.I may only pray to get them earlier as the gift for Chinese new year.

YES had launched for 2 days,however,till now there are still quite a number of users complaining that they can login to the website.And the official website was down in the first 20 hours because of DDOS attack by the 3rd party.I think as a company which provides Internet service,it should have enough ability to deal with this kind of issues quickly.

Well,for me,I don’t even feel good on the price.After 4GB usage monthly,it will offer 30% rebate on the original price 3 cent/MB.If we use more than 7 GB monthly,it’s over RM140 already.With that price,we could enjoy Streamyx 4Mbps unlimited access.You may ask that YES claimed to have 3-5 times speed than current local 3G providers,so is that really faster?No,according to the testing report from some users,it’s around 3-5Mbps in most areas.

I don’t think YES is priced at a right position.I’m wondering that who want to get such a low cost-effective product.YES,you should know the market first and push the product out later.Otherwise,you will lost the business soon.

It’s not just about the word,it’s about the new service.YES is the brand of a new Wimax service in Malaysia provided by YTL,a well-known local company.

The service is said to be 3-5 times faster than all local 3G data services and it’s no commitment for any agreement-Pay as You use.Also,I heard that YES will not only for Wimax data service,it will add voice service,TV service and others soon.

Yesterday,someone leaked a picture for its price structure.Well,it seems not to be so attractive.

Today,the devices are introduced.Some are fitting for mobile use,some are fitting for home and office use.

After 24 hours,all will be disclosed in the launch event.I’m wondering what YES could make itself be more attractive.

Stay tuned!

PS:In Malaysia,all Wimax service providers call their services as 4G.However,according to the international standard,it can’t be.In fact,the standards of 4G are still editing.

Just move in the house that we bought,everything is new – decoration,furniture,electric items and of course,applying new online service.

I used to apply Streamyx 4Mbps service,but the line quality could not afford that plan.Well,luckily the copper line here is better and so I could enjoy the faster online experience now.One week ago,the line had been activated and yesterday the technician had capped the DSLAM port speed to 5Mbps to let me get the full speed that I subscribed.Here are the speed test results:

Overall,the results are quite satisfied.However,for me it’s not enough yet,especially the unlink is very slow that can’t fit the needs for P2P sharing or video conference.I think I will subscribe Unifi VIP20 once it’s available.I wish it could be here soon.

When I was in Malacca,I brought my laptop with me.So I could check emails and update Facebook on time.However,the hotel I stayed is without free usage of WIFI.I had to use my Google Nexus One as a modem connecting to my laptop to surf internet through DiGi’s network.

DiGi has a wide coverage of EDGE,the 2.75G network which is able to provide the downlink speed up to 144Kbps in my experience.However,it could not be suitable to load most websites fast because nowadays those fancy pages always embed with flash and pictures where the size is easily over 1MBytes,meaning that I have to wait at least 10 seconds for each page.I can’t imagine how I could watch a YouTube video or play some Facebook games by using such a wireless service.

I hope when I visit Malacca next time,I could enjoy 3G connection there.Do you hear me,DiGi?

DiGi yesterday showed up a new plan that is suitable for those more-surfing-less-calling users.

It’s a new postpaid plan which is including unlimited Internet usage with fair usage policy and no minimum call usage.The details are as follow:

Also DiGi sends out a nice gift for the users who sign up this plan for 12/24 months contract:get a smart phone at a very low price.The phones are HTC Legend,BlackBerry Bold 9700 and Curve 8520.

You could get more information here.That’s a great deal!

Well,the prices are finally here.We can see that the packages are all bundled with IPTV,VOIP and Data(broadband) services and there’s a volume cap for data usage.If later I subscribe UniFi,I have to choose the most expensive one as it is given 120GB download volume which may just fit my use.So I don’t know which plan will be the best for those heavy users who always visit YouTube for HD video clips or other online stream.

Frankly speaking,I have to say that TM is failing to make a better service again.