MOVED: www.malaysianwireless.com

This blog has been moved to WORDPRESS----> https://www.malaysianwireless.com/

Updated: Telco Talk under maintenance

Updated: Looks like is going to take longer than expected, latest deadline is the end of this week. Hopefully it can be done by then.

I will be moving my blog to wordpress within the next 2 days(today, monday, tuesday).

There will be no updates during the period and you may not be able to access this blog.

My apologies for the inconvenience. You may access malaysianwireless.blogspot.com if you can't access malaysianwireless.com.

Check my Twitter or Facebook page for new updates.

Please be patience, new design coming up soon!

I'm on Malay Mail

Malaysianwireless is on Malay Mail today. Here's a screen shot:
Read the full story on the Malay Mail website. My post regarding the HSBB bloggers gathering next week!

Reader's Letter: SMS Scam

Email me your opinion and it might be published here!

Letter from Wong:

I just found out that I've been charged RM3 daily for the past three months for a mobile "quiz" service by 36181. I checked with my telco (DiGi) and I was told that I sent 'on iq' to 36181 which I didn't. That means I've lost around RM300 for a service I didn't subscribe to.

After checking the issue online (the link provided above) I found out that I might only be one of plenty of mobile phone users who are affected by this. It doesn't take a genius to realise that this is clearly a scam. One example of the message I received (today, in fact) is: "IQ: Onions help reduce cholesterol if eaten after a fatty meal."
And users get charged RM3 for a message like that. This is completely ridiculous. It's not a song/picture/video or a piece of news. It just doesn't make sense that anybody would pay RM3 for something like that, they're clearly exploiting mobile phone users, hoping that they didn't notice their phone bills.

After contacting DiGi, I found out they are very reluctant to take any action about the service provider and I can't help but wonder if this has something to do with the fact that the telco company earns a percentage from the service provider's charge as well. I've contacted MCMC and is waiting for their reply.

I know this might have little to do with your blog, but I'm sure I'm only one of plenty of other mobile phone users affected by this. I get a feeling that the telcos aren't doing much about this problem because they're making loads of money from scams like this as well. Seems to me like DiGi's anti-spam system is rather poor as well. Hope you'll look into this matter in your blog and at least post something to get people informed of this scam.

Thanks in advance.

Maybank2U on you mobile phone

Now you can do mobile banking on your internet-enabled phone using your Maybank2U account.

Some of the stuff you could do is check balance, bill payments, fund transfer and more.

Point your mobile browser to http://mobile.maybank2u.com.my. It should work on any Internet-enabled phone with a mobile browser.

Note that this service is still Beta. More info here

P.s: What are the other banks doing-CIMB, HSBC, Public Bank, RHB?

My Spicy Corner on Mobile

Its is not common for a restaurant to have a mobile site but a local Indian restaurant called My Spicy Corner is one of the first to do just that.

What is surprising here is that they have managed to get their delivery menu on the mobile site together with details such as price and map.

Check it out on your mobile browser- http://m.myspicycorner.com/

The restaurant is in PJ and offers food delivery service.

http://myspicycorner.com/

Reader's Letter: Confusing DiGi Postpaid Plans

Email me your opinion and it might be published here!

Letter from Allan Wong:

Note: Letter has been edited

July 2008, DiGi make a big surprise to Malaysia mobile subscriber by launching 4 new DiGi postpaid packages. DG20, DG50, DG150 and DG250. Later on May 2009, they discontinued the DG20 but replaced it with the DG30 plan.

But recently, DiGi also discontinued the DG250 plan without any announcement.

Just today, I received news from a DiGi CS saying that, effective from January 31, 2010, DG150 plan also will be revised.

What is the major different between the old DG150 compared to the new DG150?

The old DG150 subscribers can enjoy "unlimited" free Digi-to-Digi call and sms after hitting RM150 usage within the month.

The new DG150 subscribers can also enjoy free DiGi-to-DiGi call and sms, but capped at RM300 which is not "unlimited" like the old plan. For example, once your current month unbill amount has touched RM150, you can start enjoying the free DiGi-to-DiGi calls/sms but limited up to RM300. After you hit the RM300 free call/sms, DiGi will start charging RM0.10/sms or RM0.10/minute.

It is confusing right?

What is going on in DiGi? Their postpaid plan sounded cheap, but it is so confusing and the free call/sms after RM150 is not transparent. We may not know which number is discounted or which number is not.

DiGi, are you still "The Smarter Choice"???

Reader's Letter: Experience using REDtone WiMAX

Email me your opinion and it might be published here!


Letter from Jonathan:

Hi Mr Kugan,

I'm one of your avid blog reader and want to thank you for an informative telco oriented articles which to be honest is scarce in Malaysia.

I realized that there is not much info about Redtone Wimax in Sarawak so I will share with you my experience so far. This my personal opinion coming from my own experience using Redtone Wimax.

The Redtone wimax here has started around April 2009 (if not mistaken) and initially geared towards to business/Office segment where the lowest price is as high as RM138/month including CPE (modem) rental for 1 Mbps package with dynamic IP and 1 year contract.

As of now, Redtone has offered 2 new packages targeted to home users 1Mbps@RM98 and 2Mbps@RM188 with download caps of 25GB and 45GB respectively.

As for me I got Office Basic Package 1Mbps and paying RM138 for that monthly.

The signal coverage at this moment is understandably quite limited as Redtone is still considered as new kid in town but they are expanding the coverage and actively promoting it as the fastest Wireless Broadband and I think they have the merit to claim that.

When I first got it I must admit I was surprised with the excellent performance. The speed could be considered perfect, really. Streaming youtube was a breeze with no stuttering at all. You could use it with dynamic DNS services like no-ip.org or dydns.org as the CPE (modem) hold true unique public IP Address like Streamyx does.

Since each user gets individual unique public IP Address, you don't have to compete with other user when using rapidshare or megaupload. Compared to Streamyx, celcom and maxis, Redtone Wimax wins hands down.

After several months using it, the performance degradation is now creeping in. I made my measurements and found out the speed in average is slower several hundred kbps than before. Youtube streaming now not as fast as it was. Video streaming stutters occasionally albeit not as bad as celcom's. Nevertheless the performance is still considered very good compared to other telcos.

However starting December 2009, Redtone has made a big mistake (in my opinion) by changing their network configuration. As a result, users does not get unique individual public IP Address anymore, instead they share a same public IP Address. The CPE(modem) now just getting private IP address. This is almost similar to Maxis and Celcom configuration.

So what does this means?

For normal users, the changes means that you cannot download from site like rapidshare or megaupload most of the time as you have to compete for a download free slot. If someone else already downloading from the site, you have to wait until it is finished and then compete for the free slot again. If you are lucky the download will start but most of the time you are out of luck. You will get EXTREMELY annoyed especially if you are already used to streamyx as streamyx DOES NOT have this limitation.

For gamers it means some of your online games might not work correctly as the connection cannot be configured for port forwarding. This is also true for torrent users.

For Office usage, dynamic DNS services are not working anymore. Furthermore you simply cannot access your Office remotely through VPN. You CANNOT do port forwarding if you want to host even a simple website.

The worst thing about this is that the package I got was and is still advertised/sold as Office solution which should at least enable you to access your office remotely through VPN and allow you to utilize dynamic DNS services. However, they literally throw out all the features that make it suitable for Office solution. As matter of fact it is now simply became the home package without download caps.

In all fairness, Redtone Wimax DOES offers you a very good performance but at a slightly high price compared to other telcos. That is the fact right now. However it may change as more user will subscribe and the service will be congested in a similar fashion as other telcos. We will have to see whether Redtone has the ability to handle it better than the other big boys out there.

If you planning to get Redtone Wimax to download files from sites like rapidshare or megaupload it is a BIG NO - NO as you cannot download from those sites most of the time (like when youre using celcom or maxis broadband) since you have to compete with other user for the free slot.

If you are heavy downloader from torrent or rapidshare you might tempted to get Office Basic 1Mbps package due to unlimited cap but trust me it will be a moot point as you probably can’t even reach the home user package cap due to the IP sharing and port forwarding restriction .

If you thinking about getting it for your office please make sure not to choose Office Basic RM138 package as it most probably will not meet your office needs or future needs. Choose at least Bizlite package as it has fixed IP Address but of course you have to spend more.

If you are streamyx user and already satisfied with the current service, this Redtone Wimax is not for you.

I think the most ideal user for Redtone Wimax would be someone who is casual downloader who doesn't mind to pay more to get better speed than other telco and doesn't bother to download from one-click-hosting site like rapidshare and megaupload or even torrents.

That sums up my experience at the moment.

Thanks a lot for reading and I hope you could share this view in you blog.

Mobile Phones Drive Social Networks, reports IDC

Mobile devices are the preferred tools by social network site (SNS) users over PCs in at least four Asian countries, according to a recent IDC survey report.

The report, titled "Examining Usage, Perceptions, and Monetization: The Coming of Age for Social Network Sites in Asia/Pacific," said more than 50 per cent of respondents in China, India, South Korea and Thailand access social networks such as Facebook weekly via mobile phones.

In China and Thailand, 62 per cent and 65 per cent of the respective respondents use mobile phones to get news alerts and notifications, receive and reply to messages, upload photos, or update personal status and profiles on popular SNS.

On the other hand, 19 per cent and 25 per cent of the respondents in Australia and Singapore, respectively, registered the lowest percentage of users who access mobile versions of SNS on a weekly basis.

Full article here- PCWorld

Changing Blog Theme

I know this blog theme is too old. I am working on changing it to a new theme, but it will take some time.

If you wish to contribute to the design, send me an email-malaysianwireless@gmail.com

Hope to make the changes soon, wish me luck!

Poll: Are you subscribed to a Data Plan on your mobile phone?

I am doing this survey for a mobile related company that I cannot name here.

Please do me a favour by taking the poll on the top right sidebar of this blog.

Poll ends next month on the 27th.

Thanks.

P.s: I have included the poll within this post, please refresh if it doesn't appear.

Adv: Rural areas troubled by slow connections

A team of experts from Broadbandsuppliers.co.uk leading UK broadband comparison site recently conducted a survey amidst broadband users in rural areas of the UK posing questions such as: "Are you happy with the speed of your broadband connection?" and "Do you wish for a faster connection?" The results of which indicated that 87% of the respondents were "Unhappy" with their broadband connection's speed; and that 33% were "Extremely unhappy". Over 90% said that they wished for a faster connection broadband connection.

The team complied a report based on these findings concluding that the English countryside suffered 'significantly due to slow broadband connections.' The Royal Academy of Engineering which is also of a similar stand opines that the UK should follow suit with Ireland in launching competitions for broadband providers in Europe to provide broadband to the rural areas. The situation is no different in the rural areas in other parts of the world. In Malasiya, for example, work is on to bring forth quality broadband connections to the suburban as well as rural areas. Intel Malaysia and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission have joined forces to bring this into existence. The two titans are encouraging the use of community broadband centres in the said areas.

A blogging contest with the topic, "Why do I need broadband?" was conducted at the CBCs (community broadband centres) in the Besut district in Terenggan for the cause. Reportedly, about 350 blogs were submitted most of which were those of first time users of the services of the CBCs. Nazli Awang Had, the manager of business development at Intel Malaysia said that they were seeking a collaboration with the Government and private sector in order to 'bridge the digital divide' which will aid in attaining 50% broadband penetration by next year.

Broadband connections of adequate speeds are essential for users in rural areas of any nation as it will aid in the overall upliftment of their business and lifestyles. So, it indeed is heartening to see that many nations are keen on the job.

This is a guest post from Broadbandsuppliers.co.uk

Mobile User- Consumer Rights

Found this article while browsing the Consumer Forum of Malaysia website. The article is dated a 2 months back and was written by Harian Metro. It talks about the rights of mobile/telephone users.

Ketahui Hak Pengguna Telekomunikasi

Kebanyakan anda pasti pernah berdepan pengalaman pahit ketika berurusan dengan syarikat penyedia perkhidmatan telekomunikasi, malah anda mungkin beranggapan ia sebahagian persetujuan 'senyap' dan tiada apa yang boleh dibuat bagi menghalang masalah sama berulang.

Sebagai contoh, ada ketika, anda dapati bil telefon diterima tidak tepat sama ada bil talian tetap, telefon bimbit mahupun telefon pejabat.

Bagi pengguna prabayar, keadaan lebih mengelirukan. Sebagai contoh, anda membeli sejumlah nilai kredit prabayar dan membuat beberapa panggilan. Dalam beberapa hari, anda dapati baki kredit prabayar itu jauh berkurangan. Biasanya, anda hanya berkata, adakah aku membuat banyak panggilan?.

Jika keadaan itu berlaku, di mana tempat anda mengadu selain syarikat penyedia perkhidmatan itu?. Justeru, pelanggan dan semua pengguna telekomunikasi perlu mengetahui hak anda sebagai pengguna telekomunikasi yang bijak.

Continue reading on the CFM website

I am on Twitter and Facebook

Dear Telco Talk Malaysia Readers,

For those of you who are unaware of the Twitter and Facebook button on this blog, do add me to your to your social network.

On Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/kkugan

On Twitter- http://www.twitter.com/scamboy

I "spam" a lot on Twitter but these spam includes my personal views on telco, updated news and more about me. So you might want to consider adding me there, add me if you want to know me better.

P.s: My social networking sites has nothing to do with my work and involves my personal views.

Adv: REDtone WiMAX

Click image for larger view



Note: This is an ad

Your personal details cost just 10 sen

That's right folks!! Your identify is for up for sale, and it is only 10sen.

Check out these 4 articles from Thestar, all appeared yesterday:

• Beware, your data’s on sale
• Your personal details can be bought for just 10 sen
• Little protection under the law
• Identity theft a real threat

So how serious is identity theft? Personally, I have a DiGi mobile number that I rarely use it over the past 1 year, but surprisingly, I get more spam(sms) and calls from unknown numbers versus the number of calls and sms I use. And these numbers does not include the amount of unwanted SMS that DiGi sends me.

A bigger question here is who leaked my number? There could be a number possibilties since that number is almost 6 years old. Who could it be? A customer service representative working with the mobile operator? My bank? My online accounts? Credit card? It's really hard to know.

My advice to all users out there, be carefull with the information that you reveal. Someone could easily steal you identity and you could end up facing the consequence(like a paying for a credit card or bill that you are not aware off).

So does anyone out there looking for a database of Datuks and Tan Sri contacts?

The New 3 in 1 Ministry Will Now "Joget" As Well

Now we have a new ministry for Communication. It's called Information, Communications and Culture Ministry. No, I did not wrote it wrong, I did say CULTURE Ministry.

It took me a while to write this post because I was still thinking. How would Culture blend with Information and Communications? Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has elected Dato' Seri Utama Dr. Rais Yatim, 67, as the Minister of Information, Communications and Culture(pict.).

No offense but I am seriously tired about all these joke. In my opinion, this country needs a new leadership especially when a Communication Ministry does not have Digital Native. With this new Kementerian who can sing and dance now, WE ARE NOW A FEW STEPS BEHIND.

This quote was taken from the MalaysianInsider:

"This experiment, which took the communications industry by surprise, could see the nation’s broadband goals set back by as much as five years, say bemused but not amused industry sources.

That is how long it could take to sort out merger issues, such as alignment of corporate culture, and integrate the various organisations and processes and get the new minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim, who previously looked after foreign affairs and culture, arts and heritage, up to speed on things like spectrum management and broadband competition regulation."

Isn't it a time for the Information, Communication and Technology to stand on its own? All these are related to each other and if we don't do this now then when?

As for now, which comes first? Arts, Batik & Joget or MEET OUR NATIONAL BROADBAND AGENDA(Ongkili: Broadband rollout slow)?

http://www.moi.gov.my/

Note: KTAK is now known as Kementerian Tenaga, Teknologi Hijau dan Air.

Must read related post:

• Call for ICT Ministry goes unheeded
• 'Arts' dropped from ministry's name
  
• New ministry a plus for content industry
• Rais Yatim- be Minister for Broadband instead of Minister for Propaganda and Blogs
  
• New Malaysian premier snubs ICT body
  

Top 10 ISPs on malaysianwireless.com

Here's the top ten ISPs that readers used to visit this blog for the past 1 month:

A few Interesting Facts:

• A lot of readers are using Celcom, about a few hundred higher than DiGi users to this blog
  
• It appears that there are more DiGi users(EDGE, 3G) who are visiting this blog versus those on Maxis(3G) although the numbers of visitors between DiGi and Maxis are quite close.
• Increasing P1 users to this blog, about half of Celcom numbers.
  

HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition, a Designer's Touch

The HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition is designed with fashion in mind and it is the first designer Mini PC. As all the other HP Mini(s), this netbook is small in size and rich in features, but trust me, you don't buy this netbook because of its features.

Design

Designed by Vivienne Tam, a fashion designer born in China who produces, design and markets women’s contemporary apparel distributed in major department stores, specialty stores and independent boutiques throughout the U.S.

In other words, the HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition has a "women's touch" and if you love fashion then you would love this piece of mobile device.

The HP Mini Vivienne Tam Edition

One of the best thing when it comes to the HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition is the size. This limited edition fashionable device is less than 1-inch thin, so virtually it can fit anywhere. The screen is a 10.1 inch BrightView Infinity widescreen display (1,024 x 576 resolution) with flush glass and LED backlight. There is a built-in webcam and microphone and the netbook is powered by Intel Atom N270 1.6-gigahertz (GHz) processors and runs on Windows XP Home.

There is also a 1GB DDR2 Ram, 60GB Hard Drive, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, High Definition Audio, Stereo Speakers, WLAN, Bluetooth, 2 USB Port, LAN, 2in1 Card Reader and more.

The keybord of the HP Mini Vivienne Tam Edition is about 92% of the original size, similar to those found on other HP Mini(s) but this one has a unique design.

All this comes at a recommended price of US$799 or about RM2,900. Not sure about the availability in Malaysia, but in Australia, this cute little device is sold at AU$899 or about RM2,600.

Check out the commercial video of the HP Mini Vivienne Tam Edition here:


Here's a very short explanation from HP about the HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition:


Visit the HP Mini Vivienne Tam Edition website here for the full information

Note: This is a paid post, however there were no influence on the content and was written on a honest opinion.

Mentioned on Malay Mail

My blog was mentioned in Malay Mail yesterday.

Although I used to be a Malay Mail reader, a number of years back, I regret not getting a copy of it yesterday.

Thanks to NJ Ahmad who wrote the article, you may find it online here- At last, broadband with real speed

Note the last paragraph.