Speedtest .Net ranks countries BB connections on their website, and in their Upload Speed category:
#01 South Korea 35.85Mbps
#18 Singapore 14.05Mbps
#49 Vietnam 6.89Mbps
#57 Thailand 5.39Mbps
#96 Malaysia 2.61Mbps
Ok so the bad news is we're only the 96th fastest BB connection in the world.
On the Cheapest BB Connection In The World, here's what I found [US$/Mbps/mth]:
10 Netherlands $3.66 @ an average speed of 20.70Mbps
11 Sweden $3.93 @ 22.69
12 UK $3.93 @9.60
13 Denmark $3.96 @15.79
14 Germany $4.18 @15.97
15 Russia $4.20 @10.44
16 Switzerland $4.43 @16.35
17 Finland $4.90 @13.86
18 Belgium $5.16 @12.85
19 Austria $5.45 @9.00
20 USA $6.12 @9.98
21 Canada $6.58 @9.24
Malaysia's not listed. I did some research and came up with a comparison of the Cheapest Broadband (Wired) Connections in South East Asia:
- Singapore $0.95 (Starhub 100Mbps UL)
- Malaysia $3.95 (Unifi 20Mbps UL)
- Thailand $9.00 (3BB and TOT 4Mbps UL)
So comparatively, I guess we're doing averagely well in terms of cost. But are current BB costs in Malaysia reasonable? A typical Malaysian TM Net / Streamyx user pays about:
- US$12.70/Mbps/mth (Streamyx 4Mbps) or
- US$20.97/Mbps/mth (Streamyx 1Mbps) - which is the more usual package subscribed, really.
So let's look at the numbers, i.e. how much people are paying for 1 Mbps of BB connection...?
In North America, they pay an average of $6.30/9.6Mbps or 66-cents per Mbps. And in most parts of Europe (taking an average of the 10th to 18th fastest BB connections), they pay $4.41/6.1Mbps or 27-cents per Mbps.
Wait a minute! In the world's more affluent countries - where labour is very expensive - they're paying almost 50 times less what we're paying for in Malaysia. And achieving such high BB speeds.
So the question that begs to be asked is why is Broadband / Streamyx so expensive in Malaysia?
....because far too many people insist on voting for BN with their 'Malaysia Inc' platform? We know the only ones getting rich out of that policy - and it isn't us!
ReplyDeleteIn the end, I feel that unless we're in politics we can't directly effect change, but as paying customers we can talk to your MP or the telecomm watchdog MCMC. Which I have.
ReplyDeleteWhat has federal, local government, and MCMC done to get TM to enforce a better service level?
With regard to BN pocketing profits, I really can't comment because I don't know of any proof / info on this. But what I can see is that is that TM's broadband profits increased by RM200 million or so from Q3/09 to Q3/10. While TM claims that they have allocated spending 5% of profits on customer service, there is some progress some progress from '09 to '10 but is the rate of improvement commensurate with increasing (not decreasing) costs to the consumer?
I think the basic problem lies with TM's urgency to improve quality of services for the benefit of it's paying customers.
Personally, most upsetting is that in Oct/10 when my TM Streamyx connection got rectified for the 3rd time this year, they claimed that if I achieved 90% of the promised 4.0Mbps then it's reasonable.
ReplyDeleteIn Nov/10 & Dec/10, when I again had problems, an agent on behalf of the same Rapid Response Team at Jalan Pantai Bahru responded that this figure has now dropped to 80%.
While TM makes us sign a "Best Endeavour Basis" clause on contract, as a paying consumer I feel this is not acceptable. I will be making a 2nd complaint to the MCMC and will wait for their response.
Check out TMNet Streamyx User Group http://www.friedbeef.com/highlights-from-the-tmnet-streamyx-user-group-meeting/
ReplyDelete