Twitter has become a legitimate avenue for customers to be heard both by other consumers as well as brands that are vying for their affection. Also, increasingly, Twitter has become an additional channel for brands to effectively track and address customer issues.

The latest to join the bandwagon and use Twitter as a customer service channel is TM. The brand today launched @TMConnects, a specific channel to address TM-service related support and queries. In terms of social media, TM was slow off the starting blocks being one of the last amongst the telecommunications providers to come on the social media space, but as they say, better late than never.

Looks like things are indeed turning around at TM and we applaud the telecommunications juggernaut’s brave move to bring more depth in its engagement with its customers online. The decision to come on Twitter is by no means easy for Malaysia’s biggest telecommunications company. Pleasing millions of customers and getting the right message across with just 140 characters will be a challenge for the new customer support channel but it is off on the right foot by making clear some rules of engagement to establish the right framework in conversations with fellow Twitter followers.

At the end of the day, the proof is in eating the pudding. The @TMConnects now needs to show how timely. proactive and social it is in addressing customer issues. Good luck guys.

Follow @TMConnects here. So what do you think of TM’s move to have customer support on Twitter?

On a side note. Of late we’re been experiencing sporadic network performance with our UniFi account. A quick check on Twitter reveals that we’re not alone. Over the weekend, there was a spike (as far as we can observe) in the number of complaints and negative mentions about the performance of Streamyx and UniFi especially at night. We hope the TM techs are resolving the matter.

	Players on the Field, Streamyx, TM, UniFi
	streamyx, TM, TM customer service, TM Twitter, TMConnects, Twitter, Unifi

Last Friday, we were invited to a blogger and Twiteratti briefing and feedback session by TM where a select few what TM considers “influencers” in the social media space were invited to share their feedback and get updates on some of the hot topic issues surrounding the company like security and Fair Usage Policies.

To be frank we didn’t expected much. We’ve been to one too many of these things and always we are met with the host organisation’s middle management who, for the most part, really couldn’t give us any real answers or provide the assurance that our feedback and comments will be put to action. Put simply, these blogger meets are usually free eats and lip-service with not much else.

The tone at the TM meet was decidedly different. We expected middle management but instead we were greeted by group CEO Dato’ Sri Zamzamzairani along with his team of top C-level executives like Chief Strategy Office Ahmad Azhar Yahya and Chief Marketing Officer Rozalila Abdul Rahman along with key people like EVP of New Media Jeremy Kung and VP of Group Corp Communications Izlyn Ramli.

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	Players on the Field, Streamyx, TM, UniFi
	FTTH, HSBB, HyppTV, streamyx, Telekom Malaysia, TM, TM Streamyx, TM Unifi, Unifi

38 hours after the outage affecting 2,000 Streamyx and UniFi subscribers in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Putrajaya, Cyberjaya, Puchong, USJ, Lapangan Terbang Subang, Shah Alam, Selat Klang Utara and Bukit Kemuning was detected, TM has issued a statement saying that the issue has been resolved and all affected subscribers are able to connect to the Internet.

The statement made available online informs that its UniFi and Streamyx services have been restored as of 0300hrs on Friday, 10 December 2010 and TM is currently monitoring the situation for any eventuality.

The statement however did not indicate if the affected subs will be compensated in any way. We have sent a question to TM on the same yesterday but have yet to receive a response. We will keep you updated if there is a response from TM on this.

In the meantime, can users in the affected areas verify that service has been fully restored?

	Players on the Field, Streamyx, TM, UniFi
	outage, streamyx, streamyx down, Streamyx outage, TM, Unifi, UniFi outage

Update (10122010 1158hrs): TM issues a statement to say service in affected areas is restored

TM has issued an official statement with regards to the service interruption of not just its UniFi fibre broadband service but also it Streamyx broadband service as well. The interruption is affects 2,000 subscribers and it looks like the the service disruption is still unresolved.

The affected areas are as follows:
UniFi — Putrajaya, Cyberjaya, USJ, Lapangan Terbang Subang, Puchong and Bukit Kemuning
Streamyx — Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Putrajaya, Cyberjaya, Puchong, USJ, Lapangan Terbang Subang, Shah Alam, Selat Klang Utara and Bukit Kemuning

TM says that restoration works are currently in progress but did not indicate how long this restoration work will take. Click here to see the official statement from TM.

Service disruption for TM’s UniFi and Streamyx started yesterday (December 8, 2010) since 1330hrs. If you’re keeping count, that’s over 25 hours of no Internet for the 2,000 affected subscribers. Bummer.

Are you affected by the outage? How are you coping without Internet at home?

	Players on the Field, Streamyx, TM, UniFi
	outage, streamyx, streamyx down, Streamyx outage, TM, Unifi, UniFi outage

UPDATE (110717) : Broadband Pricing Comparison in Malaysia updated for 2011! Check out the latest update here.

UPDATE (101130 2100) : Broadband Pricing Comparison in Malaysia updated with Maxis iPad Plans.

UPDATE (101120 1230) : Broadband Pricing Comparison in Malaysia now with Yes data pricing including rebates.

Recently after the appearance of yes 4G rates, everybody gets cost conscious all of a sudden about Broadband pricing. Some had quickly mentioned that yes 9 sen/3MB ain’t cheap with some pointing out that it costs RM900 for their average 30GB of download usage.

Since cost per GB is a hot topic now, we figured why don’t we compare all broadband offerings in Malaysia and find out how much they cost per GB. Below is our findings ranking from the cheapest to the most expensive.

Cost per GB

NOTE: So far we only considered plans either postpaid or prepaid that offer monthly access. Also added are the standard PAYU (Pay as you go) rates which includes yes and Tune Talk. There are different policies and terms for each plans with some only calculating download quota while others include uploads. There are also other factors to consider such as download speeds and excess charge if you exceed Fair Usage Policy. Streamyx ADSL was excluded due to the fact that they offer “unlimited access” with unspecified quota on a best effort basis.

We do admit that it is unfair to compare cost per GB across the board as there’s an obvious differentiator when it comes to application. In general, obviously fixed broadband is cheaper per GB but it compromises on mobility which often comes at a higher cost. To make it clearer, we have segregate the broadband offerings into 3 categories: Fixed Broadband, Mobile Broadband (Pure Data) and Mobile Internet (Add-on for Phone). Check out the other 3 tables in detail after the jump.

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	Celcom, DiGi, Industry in General, Maxis, P1, Players on the Field, Streamyx, TM, TuneTalk, U Mobile, UniFi, Yes
	Broadband Comparison, Broadband Price, Celcom, Celcom Broadband, Comparison, Malaysia, Malaysia Broadband, Malaysia Broadband Comparison, Malaysia Broadband Price, Malaysia Broadband Rates, Malaysia cost per GB, Malaysia Internet Rates, Maxis, Maxis Broadband, mobile broadband, P1 4G, P1 WiMAX, streamyx, TM, Tune Talk, U Mobile, U Mobile Broadband, Unifi, yes 4g

This video first made its online appearance in May and we have to admit, this is the first time we’re seeing this. It starts off showing an irate customer giving a TM Point front-liner a hell of a mouthing about, from what we can gather, is a problematic Internet connection.

Then the, we can only assume, branch manager steps in trying to find an amicable solution to the problem but the customer is having none of it and walks out. The branch manager look distraught and sets in motion a bee-hive a activity from the TM workforce to solve the customer’s problem. How the video ends, you have to watch it for yourself.

We guess the video-mercial was made with good intentions but it begs the question, why let it get to that point to begin with? We’re pretty sure if the antagonist in the video was a real customer he would’ve called TM customer service numerous times to get his Internet fixed. It’s not in the psychology of a customer to just barge into a shop and make noise without first being completely frustrated with the service being rendered.

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	Players on the Field, Streamyx, TM
	streamyx, Streamyx customer service, Streamyx customer service video, TM, TM custoemr service, TM customer service video

Both the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) and the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) said that social media savvy employees need to be careful what they put online about their employers or risk disciplinary action even dismissal for their words.

There is one caveat however and that is what’s mentioned must be “backed by facts and figures“.

Looks like this rule doesn’t apply to Parliament members when it comes to presenting arguments in the Dewan Rakyat.

In a recent Parliement session, Bandar Kuching Member of Parliament Chong Chieng Jen argued that TM favours UniFi customers of Streamyx. The MP claims that Streamyx subscribers are getting slower speeds after UniFi was launched citing that TM is giving priority to its fiber optic service subscribers.

What logic possessed him to think that his beyond us. According to the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Information, Communication and Culture, Dato’ Joseph Salang, there are over 1.4 million Streamyx subscribers and about 6,000 UniFi subscribers’ and if you have any common sense you’d know that favouring 6,000 over 1.4 million doesn’t make much sense for TM.

What a douchebag.

Check out the Parliament session video after the jump.

[via]

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	Industry in General, Players on the Field, Streamyx, TM
	Bandar Kuching MP, Chong Chieng Jen, DAP, Dewan Rakyat, Joseph Salang, KPKK, Malaysian Parliament, streamyx, Streamyx Slow, Streamyx speed, TM, Unifi, UniFi speed

Streamyx users are crying foul by its move to throttle download speed. Users at Lowyat.net had reported that Streamyx had imposed throttling on video formats such as AVI and MKV. Some of them had proven the throttle by comparing downloads from their servers with different file format and the difference is clear.

In one example the original MKV file had a transfer rate of 35KB/s while the similar file renamed to RAR managed to get full speed of 571KB/s. There are many other examples showing the disparity in the forum thread as well. The quick solution for this is to change your file extensions if possible to RAR which allows download at full speed.

According to an unknown source in TM, such throttling exist for non-whitelisted sites on their networks. This could be TM’s new mechanism to pick on selected media formats for FUP (Fair Usage Policy) enforcement with exception for popular video sites such as youtube. So far this hasn’t affected UniFi subscribers.

Throttling is nothing new for Streamyx but it is expected considering how its “unlimited usage” is taken advantaged by power users. The least they could do is to make their FUP clear and known to public first before doing so.

[ SOURCE ]

	Players on the Field, Streamyx
	fup, streamyx, throttle, TM

Streamyx, the self-proclaimed #1 broadband provider in Malaysia, can really inspire the best out of Malaysians – the best irate customers that is.

We recently discovered this parody Twitter account taking pot shots at Streamyx and find the musings of its mysterious writer very funny. So much so that it’s worth a mention for you to have a look.

Lacking any social media presence whatsoever, we’re not going to expect Streamyx to respond to this or to the many other anti-fan Streamyx sites online. Streamyx is the only major broadband provider that doesn’t have any official social media presence, even newcomers like P1 have official representation in Facebook and Twitter.

They are quite a number of people out there who hate Streamyx with a passion capable of rivaling South American football fans. All you need to do it google “streamyx sucks” and you’ll see what we mean.

So where do you stand? Are you a Streamyx lover or hater? Hit us up with your comments!

	Players on the Field, Streamyx, TM
	parody, parody Twitter account, streamyx, streamyx parody, streamyx sucks, TM, Twitter

TM has put up an announcement on its website to tell subscribers that there has been a disruption of its Internet services due to circuit faults on the Asian American Gateway (AAG) submarine cable network at Lantau in China and at the domestic international link at Genting Sempah, Pahang, linking Malaysia to the United States (US) and Hong Kong.

If you’re keeping count, the last time TM put out an announcement about some cable fault in some sea somehere was about a month ago.

So TM subscribers can expect slow browsing while accessing content hosted in the U.S. and Hong Kong. That means, people using TM internet services, you’re screwed

Though, TM did say that they have rerouted some link to alternate routes to improve connectivity.

TM says that they’re working on a fix but as usual, they didn’t set a timeline on when it will be completed, so for all you know, it might take forever.

If you’re on Streamyx or UniFi, can you tell us how bad your service is affected or if you haven’t noticed any problems at all.

	Players on the Field, Streamyx, TM
	streamyx, streamyx announcement, streamyx service down, streamyx service interuption, Streamyx Slow, TM