Talking

Currently Maxis is doing a promotion to all existing postpaid customers who meet the requirements:

*Being individual Maxis postpaid principle holder for more than 6 months

*With minimum spend of RM50 monthly

*With no barred line

If you meet all the criteria,you could subscribe the Bonanza package:

I went to subscribe the service last Monday and after one hour of submitting the application,I was able to start to use the broadband service.During the past several days,I brought a DiGi simcard and tested the stability and performance against Maxis.I found that they have different pros and cons.

Maxis:

It’s not stable in some places,including testing in my home.The maximum speed could reach 3.6mbps in Sunway and One Utama area,but only could get 100-200kbps in my home.I think it’s because the capacity of bandwidth has been full in my area and Maxis didn’t improve the service on time.

DiGi:

My friend subscribes DiGi Discover plan which is promised for average download speed 700kbps and upload speed 200kbps.DiGi seems to cap the download speed at 1mbps and so it always reaches around there in almost every place.

My two cents are:If you persuade to get a higher speed for some time,you could try Maxis as it didn’t cap the speed yet;Otherwise,please use DiGi Broadband to get much stable service.

DiGi leaked some information about the coming promotions for its existing users.DiGi didn’t tell the exact things,but it threw out some questions.

From my guess,I think it should be as follow:

• A 3G modem at only RM10
• Brand new netbook at only RM600
• A smartphone less than RM500

DiGi says all will be disclosed tomorrow.So we need to wait another 12 hours to see whether the surprises are the ones we like.

Please be noted that I’m not talking about broadband service.It’s the services used on phones.

As what I know,the 3G voice calls are only available among DiGi users only and the coverage is still restricted in Klang Valley,Penang and Kota Kinabalu.You can check the details of the coverage here.On the other hand,DiGi has two choices of plans:Internet Unlimited Max 5(1-day plan) and Internet Unlimited 58(monthly plan).DiGi is very nice to prepare all the comparison charts to you.I bet you could choose the right one.

The daily usage limit is 100MB for Internet Unlimited Max 5.Over the limit,you still can get the connection with no extra charges,but slower speed.The monthly usage limit is 3GB for Internet Unlimited 58.You also will meet the slower speed if you’ve been over the limit.By the way,RM10 monthly rebate is currently given to all existing DiGi postpaid users who sign up this plan.The rebate will last for one year,making RM120 savings for you.

Don’t forget to visit the official website to read these annoying Terms and Conditions before you subscribe it.

Why could I say that?Because I saw some small changes on DiGi Broadband coverage page there.

I found that DiGi silently improves the existing coverage while expanding the broadband service to a much wider area.At the same time,they are planning to open voice service on their 3G network too.The little trick in the coverage page may imply that 3G voice service is just waiting for a better time to be officially released.

If DiGi could make the coverage better than Maxis for both indoor and outdoor and make the broadband service friendly with those family users(not for personal use only).I think I will transfer my line then.

DiGi,don’t let me upset.

Update:I get some updates from DiGi in Facebook channel.

• Q:I still doubt what is the difference between DiGi 3G broadband and DiGi Turbo 3G.Any explanation?
• A:DiGi Turbo 3G is our 14.4Mbps HSPA network. Now available for computers (DiGi Broadband) and phones (DiGi 3G).

• Q:That means DiGi has open up 3G voice service?!When will HSPA network be available in Klang Valley area?
• A:3G voice & data for phones now available, will launch in Klang Valley soon.

Today Maxis shows up new decorated wireless broadband plans.Maxis is setting up the wireless plan upon its growing UMTS/HSDPA network and so theoretically the speed for downlink should be around 2-3Mbps when you’re at a good coverage area.The new plans are pricing lower than the previous ones.I think this could be considered as a fight-back to Celcom which also makes 3G data service as a part of value added services.Another mobile service player-DiGi,however,wants to assist 3G data service to be one of its main products.

I had taken a closer look at the table of new plans.It’s cheaper than before,but not attractive to me at all.

The volume of usage is the way that they distinct the different plans.The most deluxe monthly plan is only of 12GB data volume,which is almost the same volume of my daily usage for watching some YouTube HD video clips,playing some online games,visiting some social networking websites and updating my blog etc-definitely not for heavy downloading.I think the plans are only good for those people who need to have broadband access on the move without occurring too many usages.

It seems Streamyx is still the king of Broadband in Malaysia in terms of prices and speeds(RM160 monthly at 4Mbps unlimited access) currently.