贝 said my post on 8-Jul was cheating as it was just a compilation of non-sensical questions without much writing. I beg to differ. I can write anything on my blog, and this may even mean making a list of anything that i wanna keep a record of, including a bunch of non-sensical questions. Maybe when i read it back a year later then i can still have a good laugh.
It's no joking when people say "desperate time calls for desperate measures". I guess when you are really desperate for something, you will do your best to get it no matter what. My experience in seeking for a faster Internet connection sure gave credence to this proverb.
Since Telekom Malaysia (TM) launched it's StreamyX service, i've wanted to subscribe desperately. I've been using 1515 dial-up service since 1996 and couldn't possibly count how much time i've wasted in waiting for the slow Internet connection of 56.6kbps or less.
Before i subscribed to it, i would have to check for service availability at my housing area. As stated on the Web site of TM Net:
The customer must be within 5km of the supporting tmnet streamyx TM exchange... Upon any application of the tmnet streamyx service, TM Net will check that all requirements are fulfilled before the service can be provided to the customer.So i submitted my online application and waited for a reply. This was like at least three years ago. I waited and waited but there was no reply so i called them up and was told that they would need to send someone over to my house to check out the availability. I didn't know why they need to do that then but i kept my hope high anyway, yet TM people never showed up. Over these few years, I've re-submitted the online applications at least four times, went to the TM office to fill up the application, and even fill up applications during their roadshows at some shopping malls. What did i get? Nothing, not even a confirmed answer of "Yes" or "No". I'm mature enough to deal with disappointment and a negative reply of "No", so at least tell me something. What kind of f*cked-up service was this by just keeping mum and simply ignore me???!!!! I can totally understand why people called the service as SteamX or ScreamX in the forums (mypdacafe.com and lowyat.net); even though i'm not using the service, it was already making me steam and wanna scream!
It was only recently i found out that my house is situated somewhere in between 5km to 7km of the StreamyX exchange. I was told that the StreamyX service was available to some areas within this kind of distance and testing (Huh? What kind of testing?) was required to confirm the availability. If the service is not available at my area, then i would have to wait for TM to set it up. How do they decide whether or not to set it up? Well, easy, economical factors of course. If there are more people from my area applying for the service, then they may finally decide to set it up since this indicates that the service will not be under-utilized and cause them to suffer a loss.
Well, let's have a look at what's written on the TMNet site for the StreamyX service:
With applications such as video streaming, large file downloads, online games and video conferencing fast becoming the norms, Internet users are increasingly looking for faster connection to the internet. tmnet streamyx brings the web's rich multimedia content to life, at speed from 512Kbps up to 2Mbps which is much faster than the ordinary Internet connection.Oh, so they actually know that Internet users are increasingly looking for faster connection to the internet? Then why was it so difficult for me to get one? If i'm living at those kampung areas then maybe it is understandable that TM didn't build the infrastructure to cater for rural areas. However, i'm staying at one of the biggest housing estates in JB (connecting 2nd link to JB town center) and gotta put up with this crap! Isn't it comforting to know that our country's telecommunication infrastructure lies in the hand of such profit-making corporation and how we are moving towards our Vision 2020?
As such, i was left with five options:
- Sell the house and move to another place with service coverage
- Continue using the dial-up connection and pray really hard that the service will be available by year 2020
- Access Internet in the office and stop using at home
- Harass all the neighbours living on the same street as me to apply for StreamyX so that TM will set up the service here
- Hire a fengshui sensei to re-arrange the fengshui of my home to have my luck changed (since i could only blame myself for being so unlucky in staying at this awkward location), and then maybe TM would miraculously decide to set up the service here
The signboard near where i stay reads "THIS IS CELCOM TERRITORY", so of course the answer to our problem is Celcom 3G.
It costs RM180 per month for a speed of 384kbps. Compared to StreamyX with a download speed of 1mbps and upload speed of 384kbps at RM88 per month for unlimited access, i would be paying about double every month for half the speed. This has not included the one-time cost of purchasing the Hua Wei data card and signing up for a new Celcom mobile line, which would amount close to RM2K. Nevertheless, it is more than 7 times the speed of dial-up connection and i guess everything comes with a price (although this one is a bit hefty).
To get 3G connected was not a smooth sailing either. We were sent on a wild goose chase over three weekends. On the first weekend, we went to the Celcom office and the friendly-but-knows-nuts customer service lady told us that the data card is only sold by authorized dealers. She said there were only two authorized dealers in JB and told us where they were located. We went to the first one at City Square and couldn't find the person-in-charge. Then we drove for half an hour to the second one which was located at Johor Jaya. The store keeper didn't even know what we were referring to at all.
Just as we were so pissed off at being directed to the wrong places, we stumbled across another Celcom office on our way back to City Square. We went in and a guy appeared to be a dealer with a counter inside the office told us that he sells the data card. However, he said he didn't have the stock with him and convinced us to sign up for the Celcom mobile line and 3G connection first. We would have to go to his store to buy the card personally. Since it was almost time for an appointment, we decided to purchase the card the following weekend.
贝 went to another Celcom office the following weekend and this time was fortunate enough to be attended by a knowledgeable customer service personnel. He told 贝 to visit the Celcom road show at City Square since Hua Wei was also having a booth there. At the roadshow, 贝 was again informed by the Hua Wei staff that the card could be bought only from the authorized dealers and they, as the distributor, do not sell the card. One of the dealers was also having a booth just beside Hua Wei's so 贝 decided to check with them. The dealer told 贝 that there was a promotion that gave a RM500 rebate for each card purchased. However, he also said that he didn't have stock and we gotta wait for a few days for him to place the order.
This was the part that really puzzled us. Why couldn't Celcom sell the data card themselves? If only the so-called authorized dealers were selling the cards, then why didn't they carry any stock at all? Not that i wanna belittle M'sia by sucking up to S'pore, but the telcom service providers in S'pore have this one-stop shop (e.g. Singtel's Hello Shop) where you can buy the hardware as well as sign up for services at one place, instead of having the customers going to places just to get one service up and running.
Anyway, we've finally got the data card the following week and also terminated the TM 1515 service.
Hua Wei data card package
Hua Wei data card
After going through all these ordeals, we can now enjoy a faster access and stay connected 24-7. We're quite happy with the connection speed and we can even be connected remotely as long as there are 3G coverage from Celcom. This means i can continue blogging when i visit 贝's hometown at Bukit Mertajam, unlike what happened on 23/6 to 27/6 when i couldn't do so. However, one problem remains: only one of us can be online at anytime. As both of us are somewhat considered as Web addicts, hope this will not become a point of argument in future for us.
