Broadband in Malaysia: A hard look at your options.
By: L33tdawg
Everyone who knows me well is most certainly aware of how much I've been dying for an always on broadband connection. I think I've been ranting and raving about the need for a fixed line for years now. I've switched from dial up to ISDN (in the vain attempt to squeeze a little more download speed out) while paying a near exorbitant rate for the extra K/sec... it's becoming ridiculous really. The cost of a DSL line (2Mbps down 1Mbps up) here, runs close to around 33K per year (that's about USD 8K), and even then, you're not likely to get a connection unless you happen to live in a designated area that has access. Not like I've got 33K to spare let alone money to move house right now, but that's pretty much the bottom line - if you want a fast connection, you're either going to have to move AND shell out big bucks, or just shell out big bucks period. In the past couple of months though, it looked like perhaps, no MAYBE, the hardcore bandwidth junkies of Malaysia would be finally getting their
hands on affordable broadband. As it stands now, as a home user, or an SME with a fairly modest budget (i.e. under 3K per month) you've got 3 choices in which to get your fix.
1.) TMNet streamyx
2.) CA.net Satellite broadband service
3.) E-Buildings WiBox
Streamxy
A RELATIVELY affordable broadband solution developed and marketed by none other than the big bad wolf, TMnet. The launching was promising, and things looked quite bright (in terms of your chances of getting a connection). It's been at least 3 months since then though, and the service area list is pretty much stagnated. Back during the launch I distinctly remember the spokesperson saying that they'd be announcing the new service areas by the start or middle of July. It's the middle of August now, and the list is still the same. Even more frustrating is
trying to get in contact with someone who knows about the current status of availability. I gave a call to the ISPs 1800 number, and was told to go to their internet centre (known as the House of Internet) to get the information I want. Aparently, nobody at the 1800 help line seems to know
the phone number for the House of Internet, and only an actual visit would result in me getting the information I needed.
Talk about superb customer service eh? An ISP (which happens to run the national telco) and they can't even get themselves a telephone line! What about the online request for information from on their page you ask? Ah yes -- the joy of broken ASP pages. The form has been out of action since the site was first built, and either a.) nobody seems to know about the broken page or the more probable reason... b.) nobody cares.
Word (or rumour most likely) on the street is that TMnet is planning the announcement of the launching of streamxy for home users in October - frankly, I'm not holding my breath for this one. For all we know, streamyx might just end up going down the same road as HiS (which was scrapped due to the proprietory technology used) *shrug*.
CA.Net
Now here's a fairly promising solution, although it's not always on. Well it could be, but you'd be paying more than you'd bargained for. The CA.Net system makes use of a 6-ft dish for your downstream connection, and your crappy 56K modem for your uplink. Pretty much the same idea that Astronet has/had for their service, which as far as I know, has been shelved. Anyway, the downstream connection gives you a good 1.5Mbps of burst
transfer speed, and according to CA.net's tech guys, the connection isn't adversely affected by weather conditions (mainly cause the dish is 6ft in diameter, and runs on the C-Band). How much is it going to cost you? Well RM2,200 for your basic
installation (RM800 is a deposit), and then a monthly fee starting at RM170 for 300MB worth of downloads. Not a bad deal, except you're technically paying twice. One payment for your CA.net access, and the other for your local call charge to the ISP (for your upstream connection,
charged at the usual per minute rate.). The two main advantages of the CA.net deal are: 1.) You can get it almost anywhere (as long as you've got
a clear view of the sky to install the dish, and a phone line). 2.) You don't have to use it ALL the time (in short, you can still surf and download stuff using your 56K modem when you want to, then kick in the sat dish when you need to get a large transfer quickly).
One other benefit of the system is you get streaming satellite TV for no extra cost. However, you've only got access to specific channels through their site (they've got around 20 right now, 10 of which aren't available on Astro, and they're adding in more each week). That being said though, there's nothing stopping you from hooking up the dish to a set top box and
getting FTA (Free To Air) channels *grin*. It's illegal though, so don't say I didn't warn yeh. :)
According to the tech team at CA.net, they're in the process of putting out version 2.0 of their dish (i.e. a two-way connection)... which should
be pretty sweet, but they can't confirm a date of when this new system will be put in place.
Would I sign up for it? Maybe. But I think I'd rather wait around for either an alternative, or till they get their two way dish in
place. Firstly, I don't see myself shelling out 2.2K if I'm going to toss
it after 6 months to move to another service. Although I'll get my 800
buck deposit back, it still works out to 1.4K down the drain.
Note:CA.net's homepage isn't up and running at this point in time, so any queries will have to be done via
e-mail... Feel freel to send your queries to roger@myca.net.
E-buildings
Now e-buildings is a system
I like. At least it's available in an area that's CLOSE to mine, and the
people seem to know what their doing. Plus, their customer service reps do
get back to you when they say they will. Good job. What is it
anyways? Well basically they've got a two different packages - both of
which are always on. One is their Direct broadband package (similar to a
leased line, and it costs just as much) and the other, more interesting
and affordable deal through something called a Wibox. The WiBox, which
stands for Wireless Box, is a transceiver like device that is
connected to your PC. You get a 512K/256K
always on link for RM550 per month (with 5 IPs, additional IPs cost you 10
bucks a pop). This is for business users and such, their home package
(256K/256K up/down) is RM168 per month. Pretty cheap if you ask me. I mean
even the RM550 per month is affordable in contrast to a similar deal
streamyx package. What's the catch? Well firstly it's only available in
selected areas (for now) but they have started rolling out their second
phase so give them a call or drop them an e-mail to find out if perhaps
they've already started service connections to your area. Whether or not
the wibox is weather dependant I have no idea - I didn't ask them. I think
it's safe to assume that it will be, since it's wireless, but how much
degradation in quality of service will you experience during a heavy
downpour I have no idea. Caveat emptor I suppose.
So there you have it. The breakdown of the current lists of broadband
options in Malaysia. Certainly not a hell of a lot to choose from, but
it's most definetely a start.
Peace.
L33tdawg.
1.) Code Red
OP-ED - madirish
2.)
An Introduction to the SirCam Virus - Manic Velocity
3.) Hardening
your Windows 2000 Server - madirish
4.) End of the
gravy train - Dinesh Nair
5.) Intro to
hacking routers and other nifty bits - octet
6.) Broadband
in Malaysia: A hard look at your options - L33tdawg
