After a few years of implementation and months of testing, TM has finally launched Malaysia's first fibre optic network, Unifi, offering triple-play services, i.e. phone, internet and TV offered over a broadband connection last week. Today I woke up around 1pm, and after sending a work-related email, started to browse through lowyat.net to see what the response was like. The rest of today was pretty much wasted.
Unifi has three packages for home consumers: 5Mbps/60GB/RM149, 10Mbps/90GB/RM209, and 20Mbps/120GB/RM259. I was expecting some positive feedback on LYN, but when I saw what the response was like, I was surprised that many people are not content with the 60GB cap on the 5Mbps package and the price (Chuah was one of them to respond so to the price, when I mentioned about Unifi to him). Everyone is generally saying "with such high speeds and such a low cap, whatever do we need such speeds for?". TM also tweeted that until the end of this year, there will be no actual capping as they will be monitoring usage patterns to determine the best capping system.
Currently my household is paying RM110/month for streamyx 1Mbps and fixed line (Combo package). To me, the 5Mbps package seems very affordable. Without taking into account the probably-useless-IPTV, a potential five-fold increase in speed and free calls to TM numbers at an increase of RM39 per month is definitely worth it, plus I get 2 HD channels to watch (instead of paying astro an additional RM20 a month). Cap-wise, 60GB would pretty much suffice me and my brother's needs - we don't download too often, neither do we Youtube a lot, so 5Mbps would at least let us get things done faster.
One forumite made a very excellent remark: an increase in internet speed lets us do things faster; it lets us become more efficient. Just because we can download the same amount of data in less time, doesn't mean we should download more than before. I totally agree on this and the so-called "Malaysian mentality on buffet meals". And I hate to sound cliché-y: just because you paid for it, doesn't mean you get to use it to the max or "kao kao".
As for concerns regarding TM's international links not being able to handle the increasing traffic coming from the rollout of Unifi - I have to disagree on this. Even though I have only recently started using streamyx again, speed-wise there has been a lot of improvement, at least from my perspective.
After reading through hate-threads on LYN and getting sick of it, I paused and wondered: when will Malaysia ever get Internet done right? When will we be like other countries, whereby you don't need to think twice before clicking on a Youtube link during a Skype call? Or pausing your torrents when your brother is in an online multiplayer session of COD4?
Maybe 10 years down from now, I could start my own ISP company and provide services at prices and conditions that I dream of now. Yeah, maybe that could happen.
