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UPDATE: Paul Tan also pointed out that if you’re looking for a fixed IP connection on the cheap. Maxis offers fixed IP across all it’s business FTTH packages even the entry-level 4Mbps RM188/month plan. UniFi on the other hand, does not offer fixed IP for its cheapest BIZ5 RM199/month plan.

If you’re looking for a fibre broadband connection, there are alternatives to TM’s UniFi. There’s Time Fibre which offers FTTH service, but its limited service locations means its not really a feasible alternative for the masses. Then there’s Maxis FTTH which offers a low entry point for those looking at a cheap and reliable FTTH broadband solution.

But so far, the alternatives has been mostly focused on consumer plans, now Maxis has upped the ante with a range of FTTH packages catered for businesses with packages that nicely fills in the gaps of UniFi’s BIZ offerings. So let’s see how the Maxis plans stack up against the TM’s UniFi.

Where UniFi offers three packages — BIZ5 (RM199/month), BIZ10 (RM599/month) and BIZ20 (RM899/month), Maxis offers up four — 4Mbps (RM188/month), 8Mbps (RM388/month), 16Mbps (RM688/month) and 32Mbps (RM988).

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	Maxis, Players on the Field, TM, UniFi
	fibre, FTTH, High Speed Broadband, HSBB, Maxis, Maxis Broadband, Maxis fiber, Maxis fibre, Maxis FTTH, Maxis high-speed broadband, TM, TM Unifi, Unifi, UniFi BIZ

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

UPDATE: Updated Broadband Comparison with breakdown of Fixed, Mobile Broadband & Mobile Internet plans.

Our Malaysia Broadband Cost Comparison post is in dire need of an update since most broadband providers had revised/introduced new broadband plans. As demanded by you, we’ve updated the broadband comparison table as below:

Further breakdown with speed & excess charge by categories after the jump.

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	Celcom, DiGi, Industry in General, Maxis, P1, Players on the Field, 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

Update: We’re gotten some response from both Maxis and TM PR with more information on their services. Maxis says that their Home Broadband is currently available in the following areas — Bangsar, Taman Tun Doktor Ismail and Bandar Utama.

TM tells us that one of the other value added service that they offer with UniFi is the Streamyx ZONE WiFi hotspot access. UniFi subscribers get free WiFi access at over 12,000 Streamyx ZONE WiFi hotspots nationwide albeit limited to 384kbps. We have a feeling not many UniFi subscribers are aware of this, so to find out what your Streamyx ZONE login ID is give UniFi a call at 1 300 88 1221. Also TM points out that currently it has yet to enforce data quotas for UniFi subscribers across the board. This explains why TM have subscribers who download terabytes of data on UniFi.

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Maxis recently updated its HSBB service offering with three different plans where previously there was only one to choose from. This move makes Maxis a direct competitor to Malaysia’s premier HSBB provider, UniFi. This is good for the consumer because now there is more choice and more choice means better value as providers offer the best rates and services to vie for your attention.

On the surface this is the case but between the two, which provider offers the best value for money? We’ve assembled this comparison table for you to easily compare the offerings from TM and Maxis.

So how does the two fair? If it was us forking out the cash, which one would we choose?

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	Maxis, Players on the Field, TM, UniFi
	fibre, FTTH, High Speed Broadband, HSBB, Maxis, Maxis Broadband, Maxis fiber, Maxis fibre, Maxis FTTH, Maxis high-speed broadband, TM, TM Unifi, Unifi

UniFi celebrates it first year today with 60,000 customers subscriber to its fibre-based broadband service. In a press release issued today TM reports UniFi subscriber base has grown from a little over 30,000 at the end of 2010 to double that just before the end of the first quarter of 2011.

UniFi also celebrates its first year of service by being one of the faster fibre optics broadband networks in the world with over 60 exchange areas with close to 800,000 premises covered compared to a year ago where it launched its service in just four areas – Shah Alam, Subang Jaya, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail and Bangsar. TM expects to meet its 1.3 million premises covered by the end of 2012.

To celebrate UniFi’s first year success TM is offering FREE viewing of all 23 HyppTV premium channels from 24 March to 30 April 2011 to all our UniFi customers.

HyppTV currently offers 37 channels via UniFi residential packages. HyppTV’s 14 basic channels continue to be provided FREE-of-charge for all UniFi residential package subscribers. 23 PREMIUM channels are available for purchase on an ‘ala carte’ basis from as low as RM3 per-channel per-month whereas Video-on-Demand (VOD) starts from RM8 per title for all genres, including Hollywood, Malaysian, Asian and Bollywood. Popular Hollywood TV series are available from as low as RM48 per title (whole series) per season, viewable for an entire month. TM currently offers more than 1,000 hours of VOD anytime convenient to them.

As happy and satisfied UniFi customers we would like to wish UniFi happy first year.

Official press release from TM on UniFi’s first year after the jump.

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	Players on the Field, TM, UniFi
	fibre optics, FTTH, TM, TM Unifi, Unifi

Yet another TM parody account has cropped on Twitter, announced the official TM Twitter account. This one is called TMnow and so far there’s been very little activity in the account compared to the other more famous TM parody account, StreamyxMY.

Just so you know.

[source]

	Players on the Field, TM
	streamyx, TM, TMCorp, TMnow, Twitter

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 (09122010 1514hrs): TM issues an official statement on the outage. Work to restore service is still underway.

TM confirms via its official Twitter account that some 2,000 UniFi subscribers are affected by a network outage. Though TM didn’t immediately indicate what is the cause of the outage which UniFi areas are affected by it. The tweet only mentioned that restoration works are underway and that further update will be coming.

We’re awaiting updates from TM on details of this outage. Stay tuned.

	Players on the Field, TM, UniFi
	outage, TM, Unifi, UniFi outage