Maxis Home Wifi - First Impression

Maxis Home Wifi – First Impression.

Just change to Maxis Home Wifi, the RM99 monthly version comes with the following

· A Cordless Phone (Panasonic I think)

o Come with 200 min free call to fix line & mobile phone nation wide

o Additional charge as RM0.10 per min above 200 min

· A Wifi Modem

· Speed of 7.2mbps

· 20gb Quota Total per month

o 5gb during 8am to 2am

o 15gb during 2am to 8am

· 12 month min contract

· RM100 activation fee (during promo period)

Why? I do think it’s worth it. For RM100 activation fee, you get a free wifi modem (lock to maxis?), a cordless phone. The Monthly RM99, RM70 of it is equivalent to my current celcom broadband, 5GB, the extra RM29, I get, 200 min of free calls, 15GB of extra quota for download, between 2am to 8am, and at much faster speed of 7.2mbps.

First Impression – Good (touch wood)

· Good Service by the Maxis Man (did the set up for me)

· Surfing was Fast – Good

· Downloading at 2am to 8am - 2.2mb download, 0.4mb upload (Best ever, see speed up to 400+kbs)

Items To do over the next few day

· Set up the cordless phone & start calling

· Do a speed test

· On Monday - Cancel celcom broad band the RM68 version ……,

Celcom Broad Band after 4 Month of use

@snapshots

If you have the PATIENCE, the Celcom Broadband Basic for RM68 a month (3g speed), is adequate for your simple online needs most of the times. That is my basic comment after living with a Celcom Broad Band (3g speed) from Nov 2009.

My Details comments are

1. Web Pages do take some time to load, and when it get really get slow, you cannot even do a speed test – that with the modem blue light on (3g connection), When the Modem Green light is on, it time to go to bed.

2. Many times web pages do not load properly and fully, eg facebook, and even G Mail may have problems from time to time.

3. The Mail (text message) that you get with the subscription comes from a wide verity of people selling XXX flicks, celcom pushing their wares and now what is channel c and channel X - and are very entertaining and boredom relievers

4. In this Multi Tasking Days, please do not multi task, open one web page at a time.

5. I can still blog, thank to finding a photo resize, it’s slow though, been waiting 5 min for blogger to open.

The Good is the 5gb allocation, (much more the other service so you can do some downloading) may consider going for a streamyx connection, but that not portable you know.

I am Lucky, I still get 3G speed, and most of the time the HSPDA Sign is on. My co worker, in December he gets 3G speed at his house, in March He is getting EDGE.

Speed Test II

Not bad today, when it work properly it works. ;-)

Speed Test

Testing the Streamyx line speed. just about as good as wireless broadband i am using.


on Nov 28th 2009 in the morning

on Nov 29th 2009 in the afternoon

Celcom Broadband Installation and First Impression.

The neighbourhood computer man gave me a call at 4 pm this Monday evening as promise informing me that the Modem (Huawei E1550) have arrive, I drop by after work at 6pm, and he was kind enough to install the Broadband for me.

The Modem (Huawei E 1550) come with a short extension cable, a very simple manual in good English.... (see picture)



We connected at the computer shop which have HSPDA speed but as my subscription is only RM68 a month I am basically limited to 3G speed any way. Not much problem there.

I headed home and after my bath, started to play around with it. The software say that I have HSPDA connection at home, even though the celcom map (on line) say I will only get 3G signal. So I will have the option of upgrading to RM 98 package fro faster speed.

I did a speed test – Result see picture

As today at the office we have some problems with streamyx connection, I log on to gmail and started surfing.

First Impression - Well at 3G speed it’s definitely not as fast as wifi or with fix line connection, my surfing style will have to change, and I have to be more patient for the pages to download especially with the pages with photos. Overall it ok.

Secondly down load speed is Ok at around 30 to 50 kbs per sec on my down load, which is almost as good as the wifi / fix line I use.

However I do get dropoff / cut off starting at around 8.30pm at night, and have some problems in downloading some web page at that time, congestion I believe .

Overall on this first day, satisfactory, i feel that it is no worst then fix line in terms of broadband service in Malaysia.

I am now going to post this on my post using celcom broadband.

Registeration for Celcom Broadband.

I pop into the Neighborhood Computer store to register for the Celcom Broadband, Unfortunately they are out of modems! Details take, payment made, they say the modems will be in on Monday.

Ok Let see how it goes! With this I will have use digi, maxis and celcom services.

Celcom Broad Band some usefull information

Am doing some research on Celcom Broadband , the amount of complaints, rants you find on mobile broad band is astonishing, complains of drop line, slow speed is all over the internet especially forums, for all the various ISP's. I do have to note that comments on Celcom services is that it indeed has the widest coverage as well as in general most do agree that celcom provide is better then the rest in general.

From all the comments, I gather that speed and connection have to do with "congestion" ie the number of persons connecting to the same transmission tower at the same time, that is with more ppl try to connect and use broadband service at the same area, drop line, slow speed, time out will crop up at least till they upgrade the tower concern to cope.

P2P usage like down loading torrent is a no no, either it will be very slow, ie speed cap or not allowed (maxis I think), but then with my current download speed of around generally 10kbs to 20 kbs with the occasion speed of sub 50Kbs, who knows it may actually end up to be faster ;-) i hope. There is also a comment that if you keep your brouser active (actuall surffing instead of leaving the computer switch on to download only) you will get faster speed.

Other then that here are some usefull tips and some special fixes..... which may or may not work, and some very mix signals as well

I also found various tips like from this tread ..... http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1136512

To increase modern speed

“For severe connections, I also learned of a way to boost the modem signal. Of course probably most of you guys here already heard or tried such method. This method is physical modification to your modem stick, but unlike the more extreme method (astro dish, wok, etc), it uses the concept of electromagnetic.

Basically, what you need is a string of insulated copper wire (like phone cable) and a 9 volt battery (the square type). Wrap around your usb modem with the copper wire 12 times to look like a coil and then connect both ends to each of the battery's pole.”

“althou the coil is a valid trick but connect directly the wires to the battery confirm direct shorting of your battery... be warned that the battery may broken due to high current flow due to direct shorting”

“Thx for the early warning. Will try and circumvent that problem. Probably would be safer to use a thicker copper wire. Something like a power cable.”

Celcom Humber to call

Number to call to complain 03-36308888

Broadband Number

Ask for it when registration or check on Bill

Open DNS

“Set to Open DNS to get better speed “

“I used OpenDNS before but nowadays it seems to block so many websites ?”

Getting mix signals!

Which Modem?

“E220 can detect signal stronger than E160...E160 need xtra antenna in order to have strong signal detection as E220...”

“i got 2 modem, e220 n e160 , tested on thm, e160 signal is stronger n stable lol”

Getting mix signals here!

And on this tread

http://www.bloganything.net/1166/celcom-broadband-review

“if you experiance problem using Celcom Broadband, this is my tips. always use usb 3g to usb cable using supply usb cable or buy usb cable extention.Put it near window to get the outdoor coverage. Locked your signal to 3G only or UMTS only or WCDMA only. Even your 3g signal is low, as long as you in 3g couverage area you still can received good internet access. even the download speed can’t reach 384 kbps it’s better then 64kbps GPRS service. This is what I learn from my 2 years research and experiance studying 3G Broadband”

http://www.bloganything.net/1157/optimize-celcom-broadband-connection

further tips

1) Improve the signal

Assuming that your modem and laptop is located inside a building, the transmission of the 3G/HSDPA signals will be affected. You will need to get a long 15m/3m usb cable so that you can put your USB 3G modem near the roof in order to improve the signal that the device receives from telco’s transmitter. I bought one during Pikom PC Fair and the 3m USB cable costed me an affordable RM15 (USD 4.2) with a life-time warranty.

2) Optimize your modem setting

This is the setting that is often left unoptimized. Here’s a quick fix to it.

1. Right click on My Computer then click on Manage.
2. Go to Device Manager -> Modem ->
3. Right click on your 3G USB Modem and choose Properties
4. Go to Modem tab, adjust maximum Port Speed to the max. Save the new setting by clicking OK.

3) Upgrade your modem firmware

This can be done by referring to the instructions by the modem manufacture. Go to your respective modem manufacture website to find out how to do it.

One of the benefit is you might be able to uplift the download speed limit for your modem, for example 7.2Mbps instead of the conventional 3.6Mbps (Huawei E220). Upgrading the firmware also often improve the overall performance of your device.

Wireless Broadband ISP

Am hunting around for a Wireless Broadband ISP, as due the the mobile factor in my career choice, having a wire broadband will give the telecom contractors much of my hard earn money ever time I move.

As such with the current state of wireless broadband (wimax or others), we have currently 4 suppliers ie Mr Potong (P1), Celcom, Maxis, and new boy on the block Digi. 3 others have the lisence but have not roll out anything yet.

All the service provider is not having a contract period......... espeically if you purchase the modem.

Service area.

I did not take P1 in to consideration, as there are many places it do not have coverage....... (ie out of major towns .......... my career path may take me to smaller towns ....... like currently even if I want to take P1, there is no service in my area. other then that Celcom has the best coverage, Maxis is 2nd and in last place is Digi.

Score is Celcom = 10, Maxis = 8, Digi = 6

Type of Service and Pricing

I am only looking at Basic service for the Post Paid Wireless broad band, (to qualify the the Income tax relief) and all 3 service providers have it.

Celcom is price at RM68, Maxis is price at RM78 with a RM 10 rebate for the 1st years, and Digi is at RM58.

Score is Celcom = 18, Maxis = 14, Digi = 14

Speed

Speed is not that inportant for me for this package as my main LSP is atmy work place, and this broadband service is mainly for the my family usage, and for my off day.

For the Basic Package

Celcom - 384 kbs
Maxis - no speed mention / no cap mention
Digi - 700kbs

Score is Celcom = 24, Maxis = 24, Digi = 26

Cap in Usage Volume

Celcom - 5mbs per month
Maxis - 2mbs per month
Digi - 3mbs additional charges if use more then this limit

This is bad!

Final Score is Celcom = 34, Maxis = 28, Digi = 28

Conclusion

In other words, Celcom is the best choice of me in terms of Mobility, highest usage volume, at the 2nd highest price basic package, and the lowest promise speed. I am targeting if i have the spare funds, to get the package in a few months time.....

Just wondering Lowest promise speed, but the highest cap in usage volume, what will it mean it with a higher promise speed but a lower usage cap?