What’s New at MCMC?: Mandatory Standards for Broadband Quality
The people at MCMC (or SKMM, whichever you prefer) are now looking at implementing a “mandatory standard for the quality of service for broadband wireless access service” and from what we here, this new standard could take off as early as June.
Currently SKMM is conducting a public enquiry to develop a framework of what the standards should be. Now is the time for you – the public – to voice you opinion and set the standard for quality broadband in this country.
So what are you waiting for? Details on the project HERE.
iDiGi: DiGi’s iPhone Plans Revealed
Make no mistake, this is not a botched up pseudo-leak like yesterday.
DiGi has revealed its iPhone plans dubbed the iDiGi plans today. Looks like there’s really not much difference from the FA’s the released yesterday and we’ll say it again – the plans are better than what Maxis has to offer.
We’ll go into the details of the plans and compare the two with more depth in the next couple of days but on the skin, the iDiGi plans look simple, packed with value and gives good flexibility with the affordable data roaming to selected countries.
For people who travel a lot, we know that you know that data roaming charges can really give you a heart attack.
So did DiGi (or its ad agency) leaked out DiGi’s iPhone plans one day before the official launch date? And was it deliberate?
Short answer: DiGi leaked it out and it was very deliberate.
Today, DiGi’s going to give the official word on its iPhone plans. Although a whole lot of you have been eagerly waiting for the launch of this, the real humdinger was, and probably still is, DiGi’s purported leak of the said plans one day before its official launch.
Many were wondering as to how such a (alleged) major faux pas could happen. Some were quick to point fingers to DiGi’s ad and creative agency for the leak but we smelt something fishy…and boy was it rotten.
Maxis Sponsors Lotus Racing?
Spotted on PaulTan’s blog on the official launch of a new Proton Satria Neo R3 lotus racing is a photo of Maxis logo on the nose of the Lotus Racing F1 car. This could signal Maxis being a sponsor for Lotus Racing F1 team.
More details here.
Update: It is not uncommon for teams to strike sponsorship deals specific for a particullar race so we think this Maxis thing could just be for the upcoming 2010 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX happening this weekend!
Update #2: Maxis has in fact signed up as sponsors for Lotus Racing F1. No indication or the duration of the sponsorship though but Maxis head honcho Sandip Das had this to say: “This is the pride of the nation and as the leading and most innovative Malaysian Telco, which is also globally respected, we wanted to be a part of this wonderful Malaysia moment,”.
Big boss man Das also said that: “Maxis’ commitment to Lotus Racing promises to deliver a more integrated F1 expereince to customers with immediate access to the latest racing news and information via their mobile phones, wherever and whenever they want,”.
Would be interesting to find out what this is actually as this is already officially supported F1′s official site HERE.
[SOURCE]
Leaked DiGi iPhone 3G Price Plans
A day before its official revealing of DiGi iPhone plans, we managed to get a copy of the leaked iPhone brochure.
From the leak brochure, we understand DiGi is offering iDiGi 88, iDiGi 138 and iDiGi 238 which rivals Maxis’s iValue Plans. Even the plan numbers 138/238 sound similar to Maxis old postpaid plans 10 years ago. What it offers nearly doubles of Maxis’s offering in terms of Data, bundled SMS and MMS.
If paying up front for the phone is too heavy, DiGi also has EPP plans for the iPhone that breaks it up in month installments.
High resolution brochures below:
Please take note that official price plans are only officially released tomorrow and may subject to last minute changes by DiGi.
Do check the official DiGi iPhone page tomorrow.
[ SOURCE ]
DiGi iPhone 3GS to be ready this week
Update: DiGi iPhone 3GS Price Plans leaked!
Those who pre-register for an iPhone from DiGi earlier should be receiving an email from DiGi soon.
The collection should be starting this coming weekend and also depending on the pick-up point selected in the registration.
There will be special payment plans will be available for Maybank, CIMB Bank, HSBC, Citibank and Ambank credit card holders.
If purchase is made by cash outright, the iPhone prices as follows:
- iPhone 3G 8G RM1990
- iPhone 3GS 16GB RM2490
- iPhone 3GS 32GB RM2990
Outright purchase price is similar to Maxis however what we’re anticipated is the iPhone + postpaid bundle plans which is expected to be announced tomorrow.
DiGi’s BlackBerry Curve 8520 Crazy Deal is back!
If you missed the previous BlackBerry Curve 8520 deal from DiGi, fret not! DiGi is bringing it back again for only RM549! If you’ve been eying for one, you have to rush to Lowyat Plaza Concourse from 29 March – 4 April 2010.
This offer is bundled with DG Smart Plan which is a BlackBerry Postpaid plan at only RM58/month. If you’re on an existing DG50 and DG150 customer, you are entitled too by just adding RM58/month for BlackBerry Internet Unlimited.
This special promo is only happening at the roadshow so hurry before its too late.
Specification on BlackBerry Curve 8520 here.
[ SOURCE ]
TM UniFi’s Daily Cap on Download Usage
When the issue of TM UniFi capping is not enough, here’s more fuel to the fire. Reader Gary has brought to our attention a disturbing term from TM UniFi’s Important notes.
5. Monthly maximum download volume is distributed evenly on a daily basis.
This simply means that a UniFi VIP5 with 60GB monthly download usage will be capped at 2GB/day over 30 days. We find this totally unacceptable to cap on a daily basis when the package is a monthly subscription.
As comparison, 3G Broadbands offers from daily to weekly and monthly subscriptions. The subscription download usage is capped according to its purchased quota. If a user buys weekly or monthly, the user is able to determine when to utilise its download usage as long as they are within the download quota and validity. If a user subscribes to a plan that allows 5GB of usage a month, he should be able to finish up 5GB at uncapped speeds before its validity period.
TM UniFi’s daily cap is disadvantage as users will lose out if they fail to use UniFi even for a day which is equivalent to lost of 2GB/day for VIP5. If UniFi faces technical problems or downtime, is UniFi going to give their affected customers additional 2GB for each day of inaccessibility? We doubt it.
The way TM UniFi hide this important term on daily cap is totally irresponsible and done without class. Telcos should be transparent and up front with their terms & conditions especially when it affects their customers greatly. The least they could do is to make it clear up front that monthly usage is distributed by daily basis. Not all customers are as sharp as one of our readers and this would obviously trap unknowing customers in a unfair contract.
Daily capping only works if the service provider charges on a daily basis and we hope TM UniFi will remove such clause. Users that pay monthly deserves to utilise their monthly download usage whenever they want to without restrictions.
Yesterday, TM’s CEO Zamzamzairani while commenting on suspension of capping said that “To us it is not a cap, it is a trigger point. We want to implement a fair usage policy for this new service, it will not be done immediately, we will monitor usage first.”
Dear CEO of TM, your UniFi customers will be tied to a 24 months contract and how such Fair Usage Policy will be implemented is of great concern. All customers deserve to know how this is done fairly and clearly before they sign up or else they will be a victim to TM’s whim and fancies.
Thanks Gary for the heads up!
U Mobile revamps website
U Mobile has updated its site with a fresh new look. It sure looks a whole lot better than the previous one.
We like the way it looks and how it presents its current products & services.
After the news of U Mobile’s possible new Singaporean stakeholder, we believe that U Mobile could be making a come back this year. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.
Maxis & DiGi supports Earth Hour
In the Telco industry in Malaysia, Maxis & DiGi has played their part to support Earth Hour. Check out the screen shots that we have taken off from their site.
Earth Hour is happening tonight 27th March 2010 from 8.30PM-9.30PM. This annual event organised by WWF that started in 2009 acts as a reminder to all on the importance of Climate change.
We would also like to remind everybody that Earth Hour is not just an hour a year thing and we should try our best to reduce any waste of power consumption possible in our daily life.
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