The Streamyx Rant
This seems to be a favourite local pass time at the moment, so I figure why not. Afterall, I do have some pet peeves against the service provider. I’m kinda cheesed off at the stance and approach that TMnet has decided to take on broadband connections in Malaysia.
It all started with some silly statement that Dr Fadhullah Suhaimi Abdul Malek, general manager of TM Net’s corporate and strategy services, made in The Star. In that statement, it was claimed that P2P traffic coming from 20% of broadband users were hogging some 80% of the available bandwidth.
Unlimited Broadband Internet Access
With applications such as video streaming, large file downloads, online games and video conferencing fast becoming the norms, Internet users are increasingly looking for faster connection to the internet.tmnet streamyx brings the web’s rich multimedia content to life, at speed from 512Kbps up to 2Mbps which is much faster than the ordinary Internet connection.
- Excerpt from TMnet’s website describing Streamyx -
Consider the extract above that TMnet so shamelessly displays on their Streamyx portal. According to the statement above, subscribers would naturally assume that they have unlimited usage and bandwidth access. While TMnet is honouring that statement, I find it utterly distasteful that a member of their senior management should point a finger and blame their bandwidth woes on consumers who are simply making full use of their paid service. But hey, we’re just consumers, who cares what we think, right?
Anyway, I’m actually satisfied with my subscription. It serves me well, allowing me to get some personal work done at home, as well as the occasional bittorrent anime download over some anime crazed periods. Heck, I wouldn’t even be writing this if not for some random marketting encounter with a Streamyx reseller.
It was just after MATTA Fair and I was walking towards the Komuter station when I was approached by a guy in his late teens promoting the latest Streamyx package. I told him frankly that I was already a 512kbps unlimited Streamyx package subsriber. The guy proceeded to try and sell to me Streamyx’s 2MB connection. That was the last straw and I vented on the poor guy.
Firstly, I don’t particularly like the fact that everywhere you go, you’re bound to get ambushed by Streamyx resellers. Its worse than illegal VCD/DVD sellers and porn pushers at local eateries and night markets (pasar malam). At least the VCD sellers and porn pushers know how to take no for an answer. These people appear everywhere, like mushrooms after a rainstorm. They are legal and they harass the bejeezus out of you in broad daylight!
Secondly, and this being the biggest peeve, what do I want a 2MB line for? What does the average Joe at home need a 2MB line for if not to download and share stuff over bittorrent, Kazaa, or eDonkey? Is there any rational reason for purchasing bandwidth that you won’t utilise? Do they expect consumers to get a 2MB line so that they can IM and surf faster?!
Me: What are they thinking?!
Friend: What gave you the impression that they do?
- Conversation with a friend -
On the one hand TMnet is complaining about bandwidth congestion but on the other hand, they are selling packages that encourage bandwidth hogs. Are they daft or something? If you don’t want people to stream videos, then don’t provide the means to do it. Worse still, DON’T use it as a tagline for your marketing! You don’t put someone on a diet and then go about tempting them with ice cream and hope that they will excercise some willpower. Come on, put brain in gear before coming up with lame ideas on promoting broadband. If you want to do something, then do it right.
What do you think? Are you as cheesed off as I am? Rant away. Its good therapy.
Related posts:
Random tech rant
Streamyx Speed Test
Christmas in the office
When Broadband Gets Worse Than Satellite TV
PIKOM PC Fair 2009 (III)
GraZer Said,
April 7, 2006 @ 12:15 am
All ppl who work in GLC’s are idiots. Most of the time they don’t know what they’re doing. Makan gaji buta saja. The current 2 big clown GLC companies are good examples. As that Murphy guy who came up with Murphy’s Law said “If there’s any way to do it wrong, he’ll find it.”
His most famous law is “If anything can go wrong, it will.” (murphys-laws.com)
He’s quite a pessimist by the way…. but with all these GLC’s around… it’s kinda hard not to be!
Simonsays Said,
April 7, 2006 @ 9:40 am
A 2Mb line would be useful for a huge Debian aptitude upgrade or for being a php.net mirror :)
But seriously, there are two sides to the coin. The first is of course our beloved TMNet, which you have well elaborated on above. The second problem is of course, TMNet’s customers - the other side of the coin. Somebody once said people who want to operate a computer should get a certificate first. I couldn’t agree more, especially those who surf the net with an Administrator account. Clueless users like these are providing easy zombie machines to those who have the ambition to shut down the Net. This could recursively be pointed in part back to TMNet’s fault for failing to educate the consumer on the dark side of the Net. Hang on, this coin also has another face - the middle. This whole bandwidth saga is also Microsoft’s fault and the fault of PC vendors to educate customers about computer and Net usage. What then is the solution? Well, we already know how inefficient our government is, so no solution from them. The answer lies in brave (and knowledgeable) souls from the public to rise and show the way to ordinary people about how to use computers properly. If you’re reading this and know exactly what I’m talking about, I challenge you to consider, er, this challenge :)
And no, using an Administrator account with an antivirus is still not good enough! That’s another story for another day.
menj Said,
April 11, 2006 @ 3:37 pm
2MB line?? Are you kidding? I’ll subscribe at the first opportunity if this is true!
- MENJ
gbyeow Said,
April 11, 2006 @ 5:18 pm
Grazer: Murphy’s law. Haha. That resulted in a comedy.
Simonsays: Did I miss out saying ordinary Joe somewhere in my post?
menj: While its cool to have, I find that their stand on the matter to be somewhat distasteful. Also, while the 2MB line is available, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be getting that bandwidth.