YTL Comms working on 4G mobile phone and 4G MiFi?

The devices shown above are for dramatisation only. We have no info on the exact devices that YTL will offer.

Little bits and bytes have been streaming into our modems and telling us that YTL Comms — the Malaysian WiMAX no show — is working on something epic.

Sources deep inside YTL have revealed that the aspiring 4G conglomerate is will be bringing Android powered 4G mobile phones and 4G MiFi devices.

All this sounds exciting but looking at YTL’s many no shows in the past, we’re sceptical that they will be able to deliver the goods. A 4G mobile phone is a big ask, YTL will need a bucket load of coverage areas to pull this one off and assuming that YTL doesn’t have the coverage, they will have to work with a telco partner to make up for the 4G blindspots. And if we know the telco boys, they don’t play nice together, so it’s going to be interesting how YTL is going to do this nationwide mobile 4G network thing.

We’re not too sure bout the 4G mobile phone but we’re pretty excited about a 4G MiFi. We’re perplexed as to why P1 have yet to introduce one if the market. From our observations, there is a great deal of interest for such a device here. And it sure is a hell of a lot easier to sell then a WiMAX laptop.

Anyways, we’ll be keeping a close eye on YTL in the coming most, already the are on a huge hiring drive, so something is definitey a brewing. If they do pull this off, its going to be awesome for all of us, but that’s a big IF.

Two new WiMAX laptops from P1

P1 has quietly added two new notebooks into their WiMAX laptop line up, making the total of five WiMAX computers available in the market today from four manufacturers — talk about choice.

New to the P1 WiMAX laptop lineup are two notebooks from Asus and MSi respectively.

The new Asus K42F has a 14.1in display and runs an Intel core i3-370M with 320GB of storage and an unimpressive 2GB of RAM (DDR3) — we’d expect at least 4GB from Asus, a manufacturer that prides itself in providing good value at even better prices. As you’d expect, wireless connectivity comes in the form of Bluetooth and WiMAX + WiFi b/g/n. Don’t however expect to do any worthwhile gaming on this machine as it run on Intel’s built-in card. Though as a media PC the K42F comes packing a HDMI out and Altec Lansing speakers with SRS Premium sound technology as well a pretty attractive gloss finish. Asking price for the Asus, RM2,699.

The other new WiMAX notebook is the MSi FX400 also with a 14.1in screen. It runs on Intel Core i3-350 with 500GB of storage as the same 2GB DDR3 RAM. Again, we would like to see more RAM included into devices in this price range. The good thing about the MSi is it comes with an nVidia GeForce GT 325M graphics card with 1GB RAM. Bluetooth, WiMAX + WiFI b/g/n all comes as standard. The MSi goes for RM2,699. No guesses on which one offers the better value.

We had the opportunity to play with the MSi FX400 for a few days a coupole of months back and if we had to choose between the two, our money’s on the MSi.

The six months free P1 1NSiDE offer is still on for both devices. That means if you purchase any WiMAX notebook and activate your P1 account, you’ll get free six months P1 1NSiDE broadband for free. The P1 1NSiDE plan gives you 15GB data cap a month with no speed cap for RM89.

For more details click here.

Is P1 throttling YouTube?

Ok before all the P1 haters out there take out their pitchforks, we’re making it clear, we have no conclusive evidence but based on our own use of the service and from feedback we’ve been getting from other P1 users, the YouTube streaming has been choppy of late.

Everyone knows that with P1, when it’s good, its really good but when it’s crap, you can’t do jack online. But we can’t help but notice that we’re getting consistently slow streaming on YouTube when on the P1 network. It’s been happening almost all the time in the past couple of weeks.

We noticed that we had no problems whatsoever surfing almost every other sites and even downloading torrents is as smooth as butter. So is P1 throttling down YouTube streaming? It doesn’t make sense for them to, if they want to curb data hoggers and network abusers, then they should go straight for the throat and clamp down on torrent downloading.

But so far, it has been the other way around, we’ve been getting good download speeds but very bad streaming on YouTube. Anyone else going through the same thing? Comment us.

Sprint compares 4G WiMAX phones – EVO 4G and Epic 4G

Sprint released a video podcast to compare the features of the HTC EVO 4G and the Samsung Epic 4G, the only 2 4G WiMAX enabled android phones at the moment.

First on the comparison is the screen which Epic 4G offers the Super AMOLED screen used on the Galaxy S. Also compared is Epic’s slider QWERTY keyboard and its DLNA capabilities that allows you to stream multimedia content wirelessly to a DLNA supported TV. Meanwhile the EVO uses a HDMI cable for sharing onto the big screen. Don’t expect detailed video comparison as it is merely compares on sales brochure details.

The Sprint Samsung Epic 4G will go on pre-sale tomorrow, 13th August at $249.99 with a 2 year contract and $100 rebate and will be officially made available on 31st August.

Watch the video after the jump

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YTL Communications on a hiring drive

We’re all wondering what’s cooking at YTL. Frankly speaking, we’re not too impressed with their this and that excuses. Bottom line is there’s still no network and they’ve been pushing deadlines on their network lunch so many times that we’ve lost count.

But a posting on Twitter has got us intrigued. Officially, YTL Communications, the self proclaimed soon to be creator of the country’s first nationwide 4G network, is on a recruitment drive. They will be holding walk-in interviews for a whole list of positions from Management Trainees to Business Analysts and almost everything in between. If you’re interested you can check out the details here and attend the walk-in interview at JW Marriot KL from 14 to 24 August, 10am to 4pm.

If there’s a hiring drive, then that’s means the company that’s doing all the hiring is gearing up for something big. Could we be looking at a possible YTL 4G network launch within this year?

Though we remain skeptical that YTL will deliver the goods, we’re not discounting the fact. Come on YTL, show us what you got!

P1 WiMAX new DX-230 modem, reduced 2.4Mbps plan pricing

P1 has introduced a new modem, the DX-230 which features 802.11b/g/n WiFi, 2x LAN ports and 2x phone ports. Design wise it looks more aesthetically pleasing as their current DV-230 has a separate WiFi module sticking out from the back.

We also noticed that the older DS-300 has been dropped from the website and the DV-230 is offered for its lower 400kbps package. With the DS-300 phased out, WiFi sharing is now standard on all P1′s desktop offering.

Existing users can purchase the new modem at RM399 at P1 P@ddock and P1tstop outlets.

Apart from the new modem, there’s also a revision of WiMAX pricing.

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YTL Comms to cover UTAR Kampar campus with 4G WiMAX

YTL Communications has signed a MoA (Memorandum of Agreement) with UTAR (Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman) Kampar, Perak to offer in-campus WiMAX coverage. Similar to its announcement with UTM, Skudai in Johor, this will be the 2nd campus under YTL’s Education Partner Programme (EPP) which offers Free 4G WiMAX service of 300MB/month to university students. The Kampar campus has 12,000 students and it is believed that the programme with extend to other campuses as well.

YTL is one of the 4 WiMAX operators in Malaysia alongside P1, AMAX and RedTone. They believe in launching Malaysia’s first nationwide WiMAX service as oppose of other operator’s roll out in phases. While they have yet to launch WiMAX commercially, they have focused instead on university collaboration in these recent months. Nobody knows when they are going to launch as we foresee them failing to meet its coverage targets again.

We believe everybody is waiting for YTL’s hyped up WiMAX experience but sadly they haven’t delivered anything to date. We sincerely hope YTL can prove themselves capable of rolling out WiMAX else their 4G promise is nothing but hot air.

[ SOURCE ]

REDtone WiMAX offers USB Plans, more coverage in East Malaysia

REDtone, another WiMAX operator has quietly launched its portable USB WiMAX offering. The portable USB WiMAX modem comes with 2 plans, the Flexi50 and Flexi80.

Flexi50 offers 512kbps download and 128kbps upload with 8GB quota at RM50/month, while Flexi88 offers 1Mbps download and 384kbps upload with 15GB quota at RM88/month. The packages looks similar with the recent P1 WiMAX Wiggy postpaid plans of WiGGY 59 and WiGGY 89.

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YTL launches Free 4G WiMAX service for public universities

YTL Communications, another 4G WiMAX operator in Malaysia has announced a Education Partner Program (EPP) for students. This program allows free internet access for 3 years per student with a quota of 300MB per month.

YTL has formed its first EPP partnership with UTM, Skudai in Johor and they plan to create more 4G Campus networks in all public universities by end of 2010. We all have heard promises of commercial launch which has yet to materialise. This could be YTL’s early test site for its 4G WiMAX network and at the same time use it as a showcase of what YTL can deliver.

However even if YTL manages to cover all public universities, they will still fall short of WiMAX deployment targets behind P1, AMAX and Redtone. After all the publicity stunts and PRs, we are still waiting to see YTL’s WiMAX to be launched commercially.

On the EPP plan, 300MB per month which calculates to 10.8GB for 3 years is barely enough for average student use. But who are we to complain if it is free? We wonder if YTL would come out with a paid student package for those who are serious about subscribing if the service is good.

If you’re studying at UTM Skudai, you can sign up here and do let us know your feedback.

You can check out photos from the EPP launch on their Facebook page.

[ SOURCE ]

P1 selling WiMAX-Inside laptops at really low prices

This is crazy,P1 will be selling the just announced WiMAX-Inside laptops at ridiculously low prices.

WiMAX netbooks will start at RM99 and notebooks start from RM999!

Obviously with these kind of things, available units are extremely limited so you will be looking at an overnight stint standing in line.

But be warned if demands exceed supplies there will be a lucky draw to decide who are entitled to purchase the laptops. At prices this low, there will definitely be more demand than supply so you can expect the lucky draw to take place.

The sale will be done at Berjaya Times Square, Saturday 10 and Low Yat Plaza, Saturday 17 July, 1200hrs.

Good luck!

Head on over to after the jump for the laptops that will be on sale

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