Tag Archives: streamyx

04/17/11

Bandwidth Caps Today vs Yesteryear

Here’s an interesting thought I had about bandwidth quotas recently…

Ever since the dawn of “broadband” (xDSL or its variants) way back in the mid 90s (approximately?) there have always been users who would attempt to maximize usage of their connection. Why is it that only recently quotas have conveniently popped up?

Early xDSL started at (from memory) about 256kbps but 512kbps was far more common during the early 2000s – let’s take 512kbps for our calculations. So, in this example, our random 512kbps connection would be able to download approximately 150GB per month way back in 2000.

Now, here we are in 2011… bandwidth prices wholesale or consumer have dropped considerably. How is it that companies like Telekom Malaysia are pushing out the “latest” in FTTH fiber optics at 5/10/20Mbps but with quotas of 60/90/120GB per month? Based on this logic, a POTS copper xDSL 512kbps connection from 10 years ago would theoretically be able to download more than a fiber optic 20Mbps connection today in 2011.

Have I missed something or is Telekom Malaysia trying to tell us that bandwidth costs are more expensive today than 10 years ago? Hmm…

01/1/11

2010 in Malaysia according to biatch0

So, yet another New Year is upon us… big whoopdedoo!!! Here’s a quick round up of what happened in 2010 according to the Gospel of biatch0.

Telekom Malaysia (TM) announces UniFi – The FIRST Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) solution in Malaysia. Obviously, it isn’t so cool when you take into consideration that no other ISP could possibly do this in Malaysia even if they wanted to; thanks Telekom Malaysia for having the monopoly to the Malaysian last-mile. Also announced at the same time, TM announces Fair Usage Policies and Quotas for UniFi that are more suited to wireless ISPs; 60GB, 90GB, 120GB for 5Mbps, 10Mbps, and 20Mbps respectively. Huge uproar in the general public ensues and they “temporarily” remove quotas saying that they were “listening” to their customers feedback thus generating “some” positive press for them. Well, guess what, the bloodsuckers at TM have obviously “listened” since the quota system is due to be implemented this year with no changes to the data caps.

Obviously, copper couldn’t provide these speeds which is why TM (and the Malaysian government who so graciously added RM2.4 billion give or take) had to invest in fibre. Oh wait, look at this interesting bit of information, ADSL2 which works over copper goes up to 24Mbps!!! Strange, now why would TM and the Malaysian government spend billions of taxpayer dollars to implement something that could be done over existing infrastructure? IT OBVIOUSLY COULD HAVE NO RELATION TO THE AWESOME BENTLEY AND MERCEDES BENZ THOSE TM AND GOVERNMENT GUYS ARE DRIVING AROUND.

Telekom Malaysia (TM) UniFi is rooted – Numerous security flaws in the wireless routers supplied by TM to consumers are found; interestingly, some are thanks to the awesome technical prowess of TM technicians. Team SexyKambingz shows proof of concept for various interesting things, and are called in to provide input on security. Now obviously since Team SexyKambingz are Malaysian, they should be so incredibly thankful to TM for providing them with INCREDIBLE Internet all these years at UNBELIEVABLE prices and as such should provide any and all information they have to TM gratis. Unfortunately for TM, Team SexyKambingz are a bunch of people who for some reason think TM are the bloodsucking offspring of Satan himself and REFUSED to provide free security services to TM. Pfft… the gall of these people!!! We should be so thankful to TM for providing us awesome Internet all these years that we are giving up our first and second born to them!!! (In case some packets are lost in transmission, insert the <sarcasm></sarcasm> tag liberally in this post)

Telekom Malaysia (TM) holds meeting with highly technical customers because they deeply value our feedback – Due to the previous issue of UniFi security in combination with the widespread growing hatred the Malaysian public harbor for TM (without basis might I add *COUGH*); TM chose to hold a meeting to see what the community had to say about various issues such as their Fair Usage Policy, Quotas, and security. TM essentially came up with a bunch of random numbers that defied the laws of physics as we know them and used those numbers as justification for incredibly fair quotas!!! I mean a 60GB cap for a 5Mbps connection is really fair when you take into consideration a 1.5Mbps connection could do about 500GB a month easily. Right? Right? Essentially, what TM was saying at this meeting was that they are unable to cope with the bandwidth demands of their customers. Surprisingly, this MAY occur when you have close to a 100 to 1 contention ratio (I’m pulling this number out of my ass but won’t be surprised if it’s actually close to what TM is really doing). TM also made it very clear that their earlier stunt of removing the quota was a publicity stunt to avoid their beautiful building being burned down by the Malaysian general public – because it’s pretty clear they STILL want to implement the exact same quotas they originally planned. Listening my ass… I mean my ass literally does as much listening as the guys at TM. Considering the number of years that TM has been sucking money out of every single Internet user in Malaysia (save a few fortunate souls who live in TIMEdotCom or other wired ISP coverage areas) they should very well be able to afford more bandwidth than Akamai and Google put together.

The Star reports that Telekom Malaysia DOES NOT have a monopoly on Malaysian Internet – Yes, this is true, also, I am next in line to be the Pope, I am actually the real person who founded Facebook, Twitter, Google and Yahoo, and I am an immortal. Deputy Information, Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum needs to start sharing whatever he’s been smoking because it sure seems like some good shit. TM are pretty much the sole reason the Internet in Malaysia is only comparable to places like Afghanistan or insert random war torn country here. Tell our well-informed Deputy Information, Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum that when every ISP in Malaysia can provide service over public infrastructure that was conveniently “claimed” by TM 20 odd years ago, then I’ll believe that TM doesn’t have a monopoly. Until that day, TM and whoever thinks otherwise can shove whatever they think right up their No Entry exit.

YTL finally launches Yes 4G – These guys almost stole the limelight from TM with the awesome blossom that was their “launch”. They used the term 4G at their launch a week after the ITU announced the 4G standards (which Yes 4G did not meet) but fortunately caught a lucky break later when the ITU lowered the standards to cover the technology used by YTL. Free Internet was found by some people much to their glee, before the YTL website buckled under the load of a (reportedly) 300,000 hits per second DDoS, and team HITB foolishly (I say this in retrospect) provided YTL with consultation gratis to fix certain “issues”. Limited disclosure here for reasons which will remain withheld.

TIMEdotCom rebrands and releases their own fibre connection – TIMEdotCom is as far as I’m concerned the only REAL ISP in Malaysia. Buy a 2Mbps connection from them, and guess what, you get 2Mbps. An amazing concept I know!!! So anyway, these guys are unfortunately stuck with providing proper Internet to people in condominiums where TIME has an agreement with the building management or property developer. You will most likely never hear any complaints from their users about them – except possibly that they roll out new technologies fairly slowly. Well, that’s the price they have to pay for not sucking the blood of the Malaysian public for the past 20 years.

04/19/10

ISPs and Contracts in a country with monopolies aplenty

I’m slightly unclear on the logic behind binding people to long (or any) contracts at all; especially when, the majority of the time, the customer has absolutely no (other) choice if he/she chooses to terminate the contract. Malaysia seems to be full of these people who seem to be unclear on what the main purpose of the contract is (beyond the obvious). In countries with an open last-mile (and as such, numerous competing ISPs in the same area), contracts tie down customers to a certain ISP for a certain amount of time… giving the ISP time to bleed make some profit from said customer over the contract period without having to worry about the customer scurrying off when another ISP offers better value. Now, over here in Malaysia… Let’s just say that Ah Kao is staying in landed property, this leaves Ah Kao with only 1 real choice (which makes it NOT a choice I guess?); Telekom Malaysia StreamyX. Now, why do I say 1 real choice? *Random shouts of P1, Amax, Maxis, DiGi* All of the aforementioned ISPs delivery method is wireless… meaning:

(a) they tend to be as reliable as Astro in Malaysia (which is basically a pile of shit but Malaysians don’t have a choice) – completely unreliable
(b) have completely retarded data caps

Any remotely heavy user (if you are heavier than a starving African child then you are a remotely heavy user) will most likely not be suited to any of the wireless ISPs… leaving StreamyX. So, Ah Kao signs up with StreamyX, but notices that there are some minor perks to signing a 2 year contract (like a free mug or something that costs the ISP almost nothing). Why lock down Ah Kao to a 2 year contract (everybody hates contracts) when it’s pretty obvious that Ah Kao has absolutely nowhere else to turn to? It’s not like Ah Kao can ring up TeliaSonera or BredBandsBolaget and get the service of an ISP that isn’t completely full of shit (like 99% of ISPs in Malaysia).

But hey, keep going ISPs in Malaysia… continue to extort money from customers in return for your subpar and overpriced services. Yes, I said subpar and overpriced… stop comparing Malaysia to Zimbabwe, Zambia, Vanuatu, Sudan, and other war torn countries and pick on any one of your direct neighbours. The half-assed opening of the last-mile will solve and improve nothing… just like 2 year contracts when no other real option exists.

09/11/09

@starintech : Locals forced to log on in graveyard

According to Star Intech: Locals forced to log on in graveyard: Irish residents surf with the dead…and you thought our broadband connection was bad.

IMHO, ONE village in Ireland has “bad” Internet access… is this any excuse for pretty much our entire country (Malaysia for the international readers) to have bad Internet access? Using that same logic, since HAR2009 (which was held in a field like Woodstock (with cows grazing nearby)) had a 20Gbps network link… shouldn’t every rice field in Malaysia also have 20Gbps of connectivity?

That’s right folks, between all those grazing cows… there were 20Gbps worth fibre network links sticking out of the ground, growing like sunflowers. If I’m not too lazy I’ll photoshop what a fibre network link growing out of the ground looks like later.

So, in closing; Stop making excuses for our ridiculous Internet access in Malaysia. It’s a complete disgrace; especially given the amount of idiotic claims our government chooses to make about how “advanced” our infrastructure is.

EDIT: starintech hi there..thanks for your thoughts. In any case, our tweet was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. we suffer the same connection too đŸ™‚

Sadly, that tongue-in-cheek approach is likely never to work… but then again, the constant straight up and full on screaming-blue-murder approach doesn’t seem to work either (that cool beans MP3 recording of some chinese guy on the phone with TM support seems proof enough). Does that mean we’re stuck with utter bullcrap for Internet for eternity?