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.

Subscribers will have a choice of a 12 month contract with what looks like a free USB Modem or a contract free option that requires RM239 up front for the device. A RM100 deposit is required for the device on the 12-month contract. REDtone didn’t provide much details on the modem except that it looks like a red little box that fits in your pocket. We also wonder that since Intel has launched a new range of laptops and netbooks with WiMAX built-in, REDtone should have look into offering their WiMAX service on them as well. Since the WiMAX module supports 2.3GHz, there shouldn’t be a problem for it to work as long as REDtone’s network is ready for it.

In addition, we noticed that REDtone has expanded its coverage beyond the capital cities of Kuching and Kota Kinabalu. At the moment, we are seeing coverage in Miri, Sarawak as well as Sandakan and Tawau in Sabah.

Miri

Sandakan/Tawau

REDtone has been quite slow in its WiMAX roll out but currently it stands as the 2nd WiMAX operator in commercial service after P1. AMAX, the other WiMAX operator has temporary suspended its service for reengineering purposes until further notice. P1 previously had mentioned that they will be entering East Malaysia around this year. We hope that happens soon to give REDtone some competition in this underserved region.

[ Source ]

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 ]

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

The units available are:
Lenovo IdeaPad V360
Intel® Core i3-350 CPU Processor
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium Edition
500GB SATA HDD (7200rpm)
2GB DDR3 SDRAM
nVIDIA® GeForce® 305M DDR3 512 MB
Bluetooth
New Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N+ WiMAX 6250
13.3in LCD Screen
6-cell Battery

Acer Aspire One
Intel® Atom Processor N455
Windows 7 Starter Edition
250GB Hard Disk
1GB RAM
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 3150
Bluetooth
Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N+ WiMAX 6250
10.1in LCD Screen
6-cell Battery

MSi U135
Intel® Atom Processor N450, NM10
Windows 7 Starter Edition
250GB Hard Disk
1GB RAM
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 3150
Bluetooth
Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N+ WiMAX 6250
10.1in LCD Screen
6-cell Battery

Right after the introduction of Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung has been working overtime by introducing a total of 5 variants of the Android device! One of the notable ones is the Epic 4G which will be offered by Sprint. This also comes with 4G WiMAX capabilities just like the HTC EVO 4G.

The key differenciator of the Epic 4G over EVO 4G, is the slider keyboard. Although a QWERTY keyboard offers more typing feel for input, we reckon that Swype would have done a faster job.

Engadget had the opportunity to try the Epic 4G for a shortwhile. They reported that the 4″ screen although smaller than its EVO 4G and Droid X rivals, it doesn’t look much different in size. The slider keyboard adds more weight but it doesn’t add too much to the thickness.

Processor, screen and software wise, it is similar to the Galaxy S with 1GHz processor, Super AMOLED and it also runs on Android 2.1. Android 2.2 Froyo would be coming soon.

The Samsung Epic 4G now becomes the 2nd WiMAX embedded Android phone and we are eager to see how well does it fare against the EVO 4G.

Check out the first impression hands-on video below:

[ SOURCE ]

The WiMAX Inside plan for WiMAX embedded laptops and netbooks have been revealed, which is called 1NSiDE and it goes for RM89/month with 15GB monthly data.

Download speeds are uncap which allows you to download up to 10Mbps. However they are quick to point out that the average download speed is between 1-3Mbps and upload 300-500Kbps which is roughly what we got for average speed during our Road Test.

As part of the early promo, there are 2 offers for netbook and notebook/laptop buyers. Netbook buyers will enjoy free WiMAX usage until 30th September while Laptop buyers get 6 months free starting from the day you get the service. This means you’ll only get billed on the 7th month if you register your laptop with a WiMAX subscription.

Those who subscribe now will also get a lower subscription rate of RM49/month which is a RM40 off from its normal rate. The plan is also contract free which means you can terminate at anytime without any penalties.

So those who wish to try out WiMAX can consider getting a netbook/laptop with the Intel Centrino Advanced-N + WiMAX 6250 built in. The price difference with a non-WiMAX embedded laptop would be marginal.

At time of launch, there will be 2 Atom netbooks from Acer & MSI and a Core i3 laptop from Lenovo. More choices are expected from other vendors such as Asus, Dell and Toshiba.

This promo is believed to end by September 2010 and those who are eyeing for a netbook should act early to enjoy longer free WiMAX usage.

The only complaint that we have is lacking of plans with higher download quota. 15GB is definitely insufficient for heavy users and we wished that P1 allows top up add-on for customers to add more data to their plan. 128kbps download during throttle will be a pain to use.

Laptops today are getting more demanding with users requiring both work and play on the go. With growing dependence on online application and services, connectivity has become a vital need. P1 is launching a new breed of laptops today with the Centrino Advanced-N + WiMAX 6250 embedded inside allowing users to connect to the Internet using WiMAX.

P1 claims this new breed of WiMAX-Inside laptops offer the ease of use and flexibility of WiFi but with the performance and range advantages of WiMAX. To find out if this claim is real, we took a WiMAX-Inside laptop on a roadtest. Our roadtest covered ride on the LRT and also a drive drove around on some of KL’s busiest highways.

Head on over to after the jump to see what we found out.

Test 1: LRT Ampang Line

For the first round, we took a 20KM LRT ride on the Ampang Line from Sentul to Sri Petaling station. While waiting for the train, getting onto the WiMAX network was easier than we thought. All we needed to do was switch on WiMAX using the WiMAX Connection Manager and we managed to get connected in less than a minute. It is indeed very much like connecting to WiFi. With WiMAX now activated and running, we tried testing it throughout the journey to find out what kind of speeds we can get and more importantly whether the device allows for seamless connectivity as well as see how the device responds to signal loss.

Since WiMAX is considered as mobile technology, we expect the device to stay connected seamlessly as we moved around the P1 WiMAX network. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Along our route we experienced dropped connections when we switch between base stations. The problem is compounded by the fact that the computer didn’t come with a download manager to alleviate the problem. So whatever download we did prior we’re all interrupted requiring us to re-download all over again. The disconnection was so bad throughout the journey that we figured that we could only stay connected to one base station for approximately 500 metres before connectivity was lost.

Another possibility of the frequent dropped connections could be due to the covered parts of our LRT route, this is a theory that we will try to prove in drive test section later. In the meantime, despite the inconvenience of having to reconnect and connect again numerous times, we continued with the test to find out what speeds were achievable along the Ampang Line.

From the LRT test, only 9 out of 17 stations that we passed thru has good WiMAX coverage. Surprisingly the Sultan Ismail to Titiwangsa stretch gave us the best connection with speeds up to 6Mbps download but there were still disconnections in between.

Test results as below with ratings indicating experience of web surfing and streaming videos. Some sites are connected but were so poor that we couldn’t even complete the P1 speed test.

Test 2: LDP Highway

Next, we did a drive test from Penchala Link all the way to SS24 Taman Megah in Petaling Jaya on the LDP.

On this route we found that trying to get connected to WiMAX difficult where we could only get connected for short periods while on the move. Is some areas like TTDI, Damansara Perdana, SS2 and SS24 connection was very patchy. Looking at the route vs P1′s coverage map we realised that the route is laden with blindspots with gaps aplenty.

So to get good readings we had to do the speedtests while stationar. The results as follows:

This brings us to the next test.

Test 3: MRR2 Highway

Since the previous road test along LDP wasn’t a seamless one, we looked for a section of the P1 WiMAX network where there’s almost no blind spots. We identified MRR2 as the best P1 WiMAX coverage area where there’s full WiMAX coverage from Pandan Indah all the way to the big Jalan Cheras roundabout. As seen on the route map, and we expected to get seamless connectivity this time around.

Halfway through along MRR2, we got disconnected and then reconnected again in the next couple of minutes. With frequent disconnection even in a full covered stretch like this one indicates that P1′s network doesn’t seem to support mobile handover between stations. We point our fingers to the network because in the spec sheet of the Intel Centrino chip, it indicates that the WiMAX module is able to support seamless connectivity.

Summary & Conclusion

WiMAX enabled laptops are capable of delivering high speed internet that rivals ADSL service while having the ease of connecting to WiFi. However seamless handover between sites is not available at this point which badly affects the mobile internet experience.

Another issue we faced is the glaring inconsistency of speeds in between adjacent coverage areas. We assume that the root cause of this is congestion, something that has been plaguing the P1 network for some time now. We’re suprise that the issue is still not completely resolved. Having said that, in areas where the network is good, blazing speeds are achievable, in fact we managed a maximum download speed of 6Mbps at some places while in other areas where we could get connected, we got very poor performance well below 500kbps. In some cases, we couldn’t even load up speedtest.

So what’s our take on this? When working on the go, speed is important but its not the only critical factor. What matters most is the ability to stay connected virtually anywhere seamlessly while maintaining a consistent speed. This is something the network, not the device, can’t deliver at the moment.

At the present moment, P1 is the most progressive WiMAX operator in Malaysia with the largest coverage. However its coverage is far from what the 3G service providers can offer at the moment and still needs to be improved considerably. They really need to look into the speedy implementation of seamless switching between base stations if they plan to be a true mobile player.The promise of being connected while on the move is something P1 is not able to deliver at the moment so if you’re looking to stay connected while travelling, this solution is not for you.

Despite the shortfalls, we view this latest development as a usable WiFi alternative. As we’ve mentioned earlier, P1 markets the WiMAX-Inside laptops as offering a better range and performance then WiFi. If used in the same manner (that is, surfing the internet outdoors while stationary) then the product functions as indicated. Getting connected to WiMAX was a breeze, definitely as easy as WiFi and when you’re in the right place, you do get good speeds beyond what 3G can deliver.

So is the P1 WiMAX-Inside laptop for you? If the laptops are priced very competitively against non-WiMAX laptops then we would opt for the WiMAX laptops just to have the flexibility. If you’re the type of user who mostly surf outdoors while being stationary, then this is something you can look into. But if you require connectivity while being on the move, you’ll have to look elsewhere to get connected.

Tomorrow will be the official launch for P1 and Intel’s WiMAX embedded laptops where the packages will be made publicly available. Don’t forget to check back here for the latest updates as we bring you the latest.

Next, we compare the WiMAX embedded laptop with P1 WiGGY USB WiMAX modem. Which one is better? Watch this space in the next couple of days to find out.

P1 together with Intel will be launching WiMAX embedded laptops tomorrow. Over the weekend we got one WiMAX-Inside laptop to review and here are our findings. We’ve done quite extensive testing on this WiMAX laptop and its going to be diffficult to put our findings down in one post, so we will be spliting it into smaller pieces for easier reading.

We did promise a full on road test of the WiMAX-Inside laptopn and that’s coming right after this, but in the meantime, let’s take a look at what the technology has to offer.

Hardware

At the heart of the WiMAX-Inside laptop lies the Intel Centrino Advanced-N + WiMAX 6250 module, a PCIe Half MiniCard that offers a combination of both WiFi and WiMAX connectivity in one power efficient package.

For WiMAX, the module operates on the IEEE 802.16e Wave 2 WiMAX standard running on 2.3Ghz, 2.5GHz and 3.5GHz spectrum. In Malaysia, all 4 WiMAX operators are using 2.3GHz. In theory, you should be able to connect to any WiMAX operator as long as the operator is willing to register your laptop on their network. So far P1 is the only one offering this service.

On paper, the module is capable of downloads up to 20Mbps and uploads up to 6Mbps on WiMAX. Since users will be moving around a lot, it also supports optimized handover which allows you to stay connected while on the move. This roughly translate to mobile connectivity, which means you can be in a car or a train and stay connected to the Internet via WiMAX. Although the module capable of doing this, the network must be able to provide mobile connecitvity as well. And in our findings, P1 is not yet offering mobile connectivity, but more on this in our roadtest report.

Moving on…

The benefits of having WiMAX built-in is not just for aesthetic reasons but also for power management. In addition to not needing to carry around a fiddly dongle, you also get a longer battery life Intel claims. Lacking a non-WiMAX laptop with similar specs from the same manufacturer, we can’t really vouch for this, but during our roadtest, the WiMAX-laptop did show exceptional battery performance, though this could just be extra cells in the battery.

On WiFi capabilities, it supports the full gamut of WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n standards with transmission speeds up to 300Mbps. Of course, the 300Mbps support is dependent on your network’s 802.11n capability with 2 receive spatial streams for maximised bandwidth.

Connection Manager
Getting connected to a WiMAX network is fairly easy. Upon registering your laptop’s MAC Address with a WiMAX operator, you won’t need to do any authentication or configuration each time you go online. Currently we are only able to connect to the P1 WiMAX network as that is the only WiMAX operator the laptop could detect. We have to also point out, that even if the laptop could detect other networks, the network provider must setup its back end to provide a service to the the WiMAX laptop. And right now, we only know of P1 being able to provide this service.

Some of you might be wondering, if tyou can switch on both WiFi and WiMAX at the same time. the short answer is, no you can’t. You can run either WiFi or WiMAX but not both together at the same time. It is a pity because the laptop we got has the capability to share WiFi connectivity with other devices (something very simillar to MiFi) and having WiMAX and WiFi on simultanously can provide extra benefits such as a personal WiFi Hotspot powered by WiMAX.

We’re not too sure if this was disabled deliberately because of possible WiMAX-WiFi interference as both frequencies run very close to each other, 2.3GHz and 2.4Ghz respectively. But considering P1 offers a WiMAX modem with WiFi connectivity running simultaneously, we don’t see why running WiMAX and WiFi at the same time on a lap top as a problem.

WiFi connectivity is pretty standard and it still uses the familiar Intel PROSet WiFi Connection Manager. Mind you that Intel manages WiMAX and WiFi on separate connection managers. We thought that this is weird as well, it would’ve made more sense for Intel to have a connection manager that can manage both connections allowing you to seamlessly between wireless connections.

myWiFi Feature
As an added feature, Intel has something called MyWiFi which allows you to tether your current internet connection to up to 8 devices over WiFi. So you can share your laptop’s connection be it LAN or 3G (via mobile phone or dongle). You can even share a WiFi connection. Unfortunately it is a pity that you won’t be able to share your WiMAX connection using MyWiFi due to the WiFi-WiMAX limitation.

For more details on the Intel Centrino Advanced N + WiMAX 6250 module, read them up here.

So how well does it perform in real life scenario? Check out our road test.

We’re pretty sure that you’re seeing this first right here on SoyaCincau.com. We’ve just gotten our hands on a WiMAX-Inside laptop ahead of the full on launch next week and this one is specced to the gills with kit!

As you can see, its an engineering unit so the specs might have not been finalized yet, which means we can’t really talk much about what this baby is packing.

But we we’re informed that the WiMAX chip inside and the connection manager is the final build and is the same version as what consumers will get when this unit and units from the other five manufacturers hit the market on June 29.

Over the weekend, we will be looking specifically into the WiMAX performance of this unit and how it fares against external WiMAX modems.

In the meantime, as always, if you have anything you’d like to know about WiMAX-Inside devices, hit us up with a comment.

Intel and P1 organised a media and blogger sneak peak yesterday to show off their range of WiMAX embedded laptops that will be hitting the Malaysian market next week. We got a first look of what these WiMAX-Inside devices have to offer.

Intel and P1 reckoned that these WiMAX-Inside laptops will offer the same ease of connectivity as WiFi but with the added performance and coverage advantage of WiMAX. We had some time fiddling around with the range of notebooks and netbooks they’ve put out during the sneak peak and we have to agree with that statement.

The WiMAX connection manager looks very much like the WiFi connection manager that you get on your computers right now and it allows seamless and easy management of all the wireless connectivity features built into the laptop. This mean you can toggle WiFi, WiMAX and Bluetooth with relative ease. From what little time we had with the WiFi-WiMAX laptops, connecting to the internet with WiMAX built-in is definitely heaps easier and faster than fiddling with a USB dongle. That is a convenience that we can really get use to.

In fact, the way you connect to WiMAX is very similar to the way you would on WiFi. We’d go as far to say that it is almost the same, which makes it very easy for everyone.

Currently Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, MSi and Toshiba have committed to produce WiMAX embedded laptops bound for the Malaysian market. With their combined market share amounting to over 60% of laptops sold in the country, you can expect quite a number of WiMAX embedded laptops in the market soon. This would mean a lot of good things for P1 – the sole WiMAX operator spearheading the WiMAX-Inside program with Intel – as the devices, we’ve been told, are pre-set to log on to P1’s WiMAX network by default. The exposure would be enormous.

Apart from the demo units, we didn’t get much details on the plans and pricing of the laptops. On top of that, we’re not sure if the units demoed are the final versions so we can’t reveal much on specs either.

But we do know that pricing would be within the range of similarly specced laptops today. P1 even said that the “WiMAX-Inside” laptops would be priced so attractively that it would be wrong to choose a non-WiMAX laptops . In addition, we know that most of the laptops will be running Intel’s latest crop of Atom, Core i3 and Core i5 processors. No word on Core i7 WiMAX laptops for now. And from the presentation, we’ve gathered that WiMAX embedded laptops will be sold in much the same way as normal laptops. That means you can get them at any computer store.

How the P1 W1MAX service will be offered to WiMAX laptops owners is something P1 will not tell us at the moment. Guess we will have to wait until June 29 to find out. But we would expect a prepaid option and a daily pass option on top of a standard monthly subscription model to cover all the bases from hard core users to casual users.

In the meantime, you could win yourself a WiMAX-Inside laptop worth RM2599, just head on over to the P1 What is inside teaser site for details.

Pictures courtesy of @P1Media.

It’s no secret now that P1 and Intel are going to launch what appears to be Malaysia’s first range of WIMAX embedded laptops very soon. We know that both brands will be organizing a media briefing on 23 June but have revealed little else. But the media invite that we’ve seen gives a great lead to start our snooping.

With some blind guessing and a load of luck we found a teaser site highlighting WiMAX laptops. The site doesn’t give much details either but we now know that there’s a “guess and win” contest where you can win yourself a WiMAX laptop apparently worth RM2599. You’d probably be one of the first Malaysians to win a WiMAX laptop and we also know one of the WiMAX laptops is priced at around RM2599.

We still don’t have much details on what the specs of these devices will be, how much they will cost and what kind of subscription plans will P1 offer together with the laptops. Will subsidies be offered? We don’t know and will have to wait until P1 or Intel gives the official word.

In the meantime, have a look at the teaser site. P1 has also set up a Twitter account, a Facebook page and a series of teaser videos to promote the WiMAX laptops.

Prominent on the teaser site is a countdown timer that shows what appears to be about 230 hours till the launch of the WiMAX laptops (at the time of us writing this post). 230 hours equates to about 9 and half days to the launch date. Nine days from today (20 June) is 29 June. This will obviously be the launch date of the WiMAX laptops, not on 23 June as some have thought.

P1 have yet to make any official announcement about this teaser site.

Not the first time we’ve uncovered something like this from P1.

Take a look at the first teaser video after the jump.