I reckon we are really paying a high price just to get a better than dial-up speed connection. Thanks to TM Net, i think the broadband connection availability at our area will remain in our prayers for a long time to come. We check the StreamyX Web site every now and then to test the service coverage at our area, hoping that one day the connection would be there miraculously.
It did happen, or rather, the illusion of it happened. One fine day, we checked the connectivity again and it returned a positive result. We then thought TM Net had finally set up StreamyX at our area and we had finally fall within the 5km of service coverage limit. We were so happy and was ready to submit our application. Who knew that a few days later when we re-checked the connectivity, it showed us the oh-so-familiar message again:
This went on for a few days, with some days returning positive results while some negative. So what we thought as a miracle turned out to be just a mirage.
We were really fed-up with this mixed results and went to one of the Telekom offices to enquire about the service availability. We spoke to two Customer Service Officers and both of them said that the lines need to be further tested (and i've heard that like more than 10 times already!). They told us to fill in the application form so that the TM Net technicians could proceed with the testing. In the end we left the Telekom office with the same outcome as three years ago.
The whole encounter with these two officers weren't pleasant at all. They gave us the feeling that they weren't very keen in helping us out. They even asked us to fill in the application form ourselves through their Web site instead of helping us on the spot (since we were already at their office). And the most ironic of all was that we saw a plaque that was proudly displayed in the office for the award of good customer service provided by this branch, and also pictures of the officers who attended to us on a notice board under the title "Employees of the Month".
So what can we do with the services provided by Celcom 3G and TM Net? Nothing really. Nothing at all. Just like with any other things that went wrong in our country, we would feel angry at first but after a while we would simply accept it so matter-of-factly. We still feel xian about the inconsistent 3G service but wouldn't bother to call Celcom anymore. We were still disappointed at the slow development of broadband infrastructure but couldn't bother to feedback to TM Net anymore.
I guess this is the mentality of Malaysians (including me of course). We accept products and services that are of substandard. It is acceptable to be mediocre because we are a developing country and one should not have high expectations; it is NOT acceptable to demand for the better because if you do so, you are simply a "si bey yim chim" (very fussy) customer.
Will we ever improve then? For sure we will, just that i'm not sure if i'll still be around to see that day.
