We just happen to live in this part of the world, or rather this part of the country that getting proper internet access is so frustrating. 2 yrs ago, I intended to install streamyx b'cos tmnet is so sloooooow & costly with a high-user young man in the house who's so into online games & chatting with friends.
I've had many rounds of heart wrenching sessions with sonnie, reprimanding him for spending too much time on the computer, not only on the computer, but rather online. Then, I realized he's no longer the little boy who would be entertained with disney channels on the astro. Nor would he find satisfaction with playstation games. Moreover, being the only child, he's always playing the games or watching disney channels alone. That's the most boring thing to do!
So, finally, I made up my mind to sign up for streamyx. I did it online and the response came within 2 days. I took a day off from work and together with sonnie, we happily welcomed two young men sent by streamyx contractor to install the gadget for us.
Alas! the signal was very baaad. The friendly young men assured us not to be worry, they would get in touch with tm to fix the cables outside. True enough, a day later, the same young men came and shortly a tm personnel joined them at the backyard of my house. The 3 guys spent more than two hours under the hot sun, climbing up the tel pole and my roof top until they finally gave up as the gadget was still motionless, no sign of any damn signal.....
What next? They advised me to get someone to do the re-wiring of my house internal phone lines and they called their boss who assured us he would find some contractors for us and normally would cost around a hundred bucks or so he said. Fine, no obligation, just get them to call me.
I, too called my home boss for consultation. Hubbie told me not to rush things (that's one of my weaknesses), he checked with a couple of neighbours who had streamyx and they told him that it didn't make much difference after they did the re-wiring at their homes, signal was still poor, auto-disconnections happened very often. And finally, we found out that the boss of the 2 young men lived somewhere around our housing area and he said his streamyx performance wasn't up to his expectation. Neither did he keep his promise of recommending a contractor to re-wire my phone lines.
Then, my colleague recommended either celcom or maxis broadband, so we started using celcom broadband. It's very mobile, you can carry it with your notebook everywhere and get internet access very fast. So, I signed up, indeed the speed was great at my office but at home I had to find a spot in the house that could receive the signal properly, then, that's where you would place your little modem and your desktop or notebook will be moved to that spot. We were lucky this spot is located in a room upstairs which we later turned into a study cum computer room. You can imagine if this spot were in the bathroom...
Unlike my colleague who can easily get access at every corner of her house, my mobile broadband isn't mobile after all.
After a few months, we suffered from bouts of auto-disconnection, unable to sign in, lagging in download and upload speed. Many calls were made to the toll-free lines of celcom but to no avail. The last time I called, I told the customer service guy I wanted to cancel my subscription and he replied that someone would call me in 2 days' time to guide me on the procedures to cancel my subscription. Don't you want to know why I want to cancel the service? I asked and he was a bit stunned and paused for a few seconds, oh yeah, why, why madam you want to cancel? he asked. I started to complain again about the problems we're facing and he answered, yeah, broadband is like that... sighed...
Not giving up on streamyx, I registered online again when I saw their promotion on home wifi combo while at the same time hoping that the cables have been improved after 2 years.
Again, I was impressed at the prompt response. Two guys were deployed to my home and guess what, the same gadget went blinking unsteadily signifying poor reception. No signal again? Bukan tiada signal, madam, itu signal ada, tapi macam mau kasi tidak mau kasi, explained the older guy.
By now, I think I have to totally give up on the luxury of good internet access at this corner of the world where my family is living.....
Or perhaps not yet..... there's still a chance, my colleague's friend introduced Redtone Wimax to us, she has tried it and very happy with the speed, no buffering required when watching online movies and youtube.
That good? Really?
After telling hubbie & sonnie about this, sonnie was all for it, sign up, sign up! Hubbie wasn't so sure.
And now we're (so far) happily using this wimax gadget that cost RM138 per month and we added a wifi router that cost RM180 so that more than one PC can share the internet access at the same time ... and I can even log in with my wifi h/p ! I can connect at every corner of the house.
Keep my fingers crossed that this wimax little fella will allow me to surf in speed without any hiccups,
AMEN.
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