Maxis moves the steps on its 4G LTE service a lot faster than any other mobile service providers in Malaysia.Being the first 4G LTE service provider in Malaysia,Maxis had announced to provide wider coverage to Penang,Johor Bahru,Kota Kinabalu and Kuching. Yes,they are in East Malaysia now.
The detail of 4G LTE coverage up to now is: Continue reading
I‘ve tried many mobile telco services since MNP available in Malaysia.At first,I changed to DiGi from Maxis as it’s cheaper at that time.However,I gave it up soon because of its bad coverage,especially 3G. So U Mobile got to be my second choice:better plan and quite good 3G coverage as well as speed.Well,after more than one year,I find that there are some weird issues such as hard to connect 3G data with full signal or always sucessfully running on roaming mode when outstation but failing to get data connection.As a heavy mobile data user,it makes me really sad.I want to get a service with reasonable price and good data service quality.Now,I turn to try TuneTalk.
I directly order the SIM pack from the website.It’s free of charge and with RM2 airtime.The only thing you need to do is filling the form with your own particulars,choose the number you wanna get to use and submit it.You can choose to get either normal SIM,micro SIM or even nano SIM.
Months ago,U Mobile started to share with Maxis for its infrastructure in order to expand its 3G network to nationwide.Since then,the 3G coverage on U Mobile in West Malaysia came to be good.Well,recently it started the expansion in East Malaysia and the major cities and towns there had 3G service already.
The areas having 3G service are Kuching,Sibu,Bintulu,Miri.Labuan,Kota Kinabalu,Sandakan and Tawau.You can check the details of it coverage here
U Mobile’s 3G network supports up to 42Mbps DC-HSPA+ .The collaboration with Maxis will let U Mobile expand faster and save more capital.I believe it will also benefit on deploying 4G LTE network which U Mobile maybe will start the service in the year.
Anyway,as a user of U Mobile,I feel some service downgrade in terms of speed and downtime.I hope they could improve the service continuously with the growth of the number of users and don’t let me down.
The telecommunication industry regulator in Malaysia,MCMC(the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Comission) announced last night that they had assigned 2600MHz(2.6GHz) to 8 companies for deploying 4G LTE(Long Term Evolution) wireless technology.
The 8 companies are Celcom Axiata Bhd, DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, Maxis Broadband Sdn Bhd, Packet One Networks (M) Sdn Bhd, Puncak Semangat Sdn Bhd, REDtone Marketing Sdn Bhd, U Mobile Sdn Bhd and YTL Communications Sdn Bhd.
From the aforementioned list,you could find that Celcom.DiGi,Maxis and U Mobile are the existing mobile telcos;P1 and YTL Communications(YES 4G) are running Wimax networks;REDtone is a MVNO(Mobile Virtual Network Operator) player currenting riding on Celcom network;Puncak Semangat is a new face in the industry,but the boss is well-known local billionaire,the richest Bumiputra corporate figure – Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary.
MCMC wants the existing telcos to take their experiences to build up reliable 4G networks while the new players may seek some innovative and create ways to compete with others.Well,the idea is good,but applying into Malaysia,I think it’s not good because Malaysia only has 28 million population.8 companies have to divide a small cake into tiny pieces and so perhaps no one could get full at last.
Anyway,they may go to consolidate the service later or share the infrastructures to improve the financial performance.At this moment,we could just wait for several months to see how they will make it done nicely.
Apple just released a piece of official announcement claiming that more than 50 countries will start to sell iPhone 5 by the end of December.Malaysia finally is in this list and December 14 is that amazing day!
iPhone 5 will be available in South Korea on Friday, December 7 and on Friday, December 14 in Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ecuador, Grenada, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Kuwait, Macedonia, Malaysia, Moldova, Montenegro, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. iPhone 5 will also be available on Friday, December 21 in Barbados, Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Egypt, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St.Vincent & the Grenadines, Tunisia, Uganda and Vietnam.
Well,for some people,the Christmas shopping list will be a bit longer,right?Money is always not enough.
Update:Maxis and Celcom have started to push out a page to register your interest on iPhone 5.Please click the following links to do the ROI in order to get the latest information of sales of iPhone 5.
Although iPhone 5 has not yet released in Malaysia,I have seen quite a number of people holding it on the streets.As iPhone 5 need Nano SIM,most major local telcos had introduced it.Now U Mobile finally gets it too.
Whatever you are new/existing/prepaid/postpaid customer,you have to pay RM10 to get a Nano SIM in U Mobile service center.Well,it’s still cheaper than some telco anyway.You can review FAQ here.
Celcom announced yesterday that they’ve started to provide Nano SIM cards for iPhone 5 users in Malaysia.
Almost 80 Celcom branches and blue cube stores have the stocks from 6 October 2012 for postpaid users.If you want it for prepaid use,you have to wait until 15 October 2012.
Up to date,the major 3 telcos(Maxis,DiGi and Celcom) in Malaysia have already provided Nano SIM cards to people who need it.However,as the fast growing company in the industry,U Mobile has yet got any news about Nano SIM card.Well,I think they will provide it sooner or later.
Let’s wait and see!