A closer look:

Does this mean I have to write more posts on wimax and get another feature?

Latest Standard Packages

Personal/Home Use :

P1 W1MAX 400

Download: 400kBps
Upload: 150kBps

No Contract: RM69/month
12-Month Contract: RM59/month
24-Month Contract: RM49/month

P1 W1MAX 700

Download: 700kBps
Upload: 300kBps

No Contract: RM89/month
12-Month Contract: RM79/month
24-Month Contract: RM69/month

P1 W1MAX 1200

Download: 1200kBps (1.2MBps)
Upload: 500kBps

No Contract: RM109/month
12-Month Contract: RM99/month
24-Month Contract: RM89/month

P1 W1MAX 2400

Download: 2400kBps (2.4MBps)
Upload: 500kBps

No Contract: RM269/month
12-Month Contract: RM239/month
24-Month Contract: RM209/month

Office/Business Use:

P1 W1MAX 400

Download: 400kBps
Upload: 150kBps

No Contract: RM79/month
12-Month Contract: RM69/month
24-Month Contract: RM59/month

P1 W1MAX 700

Download: 700kBps
Upload: 300kBps

No Contract: RM109/month
12-Month Contract: RM99/month
24-Month Contract: RM89/month

P1 W1MAX 1200

Download: 1200kBps (1.2MBps)
Upload: 500kBps

No Contract: RM169/month
12-Month Contract: RM159/month
24-Month Contract: RM149/month

P1 W1MAX 2400

Download: 2400kBps (2.4MBps)
Upload: 500kBps

No Contract: RM369/month
12-Month Contract: RM339/month
24-Month Contract: RM309/month

One-time Charges:

Modem Price: RM999
Registration Fees: RM100
Activation Fees: RM50
Stamp Duty: RM10

Optional Charges/Services:

Installation Fees: RM80
Paper Bill Fees: RM5/Monthly
Nationwide Access: RM10/Monthly

Things you should know when subscribing to P1′s W1MAX:

1. Monthly bandwidth limit 20GB
2. Speeds are best effort
3. You’re paying for modem from P1. At the moment P1 has not come up with any packages that allows you to rent the modem.

Now there’s not much info about YMax except for some news excerpts from major newspapers.

An excerpt from The Star dated 11th September 2008

The company recently announced an introductory service that is focused on providing high-speed enterprise data and wireless Internet broadband access to a selected number of corporate customers.

According to Y-Max, subscribers can currently enjoy speeds of up to 2Mbps (megabits per second) and are charged between RM80 and RM160 a month.

“The service is now being deployed at two five-star hotels and a cafe in Bukit Bintang,” a company spokesman said. YTL-e said the service is being offered to a limited number of corporations in order to get valuable feedback that will help it improve its full-scale WiMAX service rollout.

There’s not much to go on but after poking around in Lowyat forum, I found out that YMax is selling their services & products at rather high prices. Here’s a quotation from one of the forumers:

DL/UL = Price
1.0MB/512kB = RM399
1.5MB/1.5MB = RM599
2.0MB/512kB = RM669

Installation Fees = RM150
Activation = RM100
1 Year Minimum subscription

All packages comes with a fixed IP address, free e-mail and a free WiMAX account for your laptop. What does it mean with the free WiMAX account for laptops? I’m guessing it’s a separate account for those people who wants to use this service on their laptop with the on-board WiMAX modem (Intel Pentium Centrino 2).

Which means, you could be getting 2 accounts for the price mentioned above. One for your home, another for your laptop while on the go. That would be a good thing if you travel/work around the area a lot. But are there any jobs which does that?

Maybe for VCD peddlers with tiny cellphone with WiMAX enabled warning system.

My opnion on the price however wasn’t too happy to begin with. Lets not talk about the location they are covering first. The prices *quoted* are very expensive. VERY VERY expensive. I rather sit out on this and stay with Streamyx a little while longer till a better deal arises.

At the moment they cover a small area, Bukit Bintang to be exact. I’m not sure who are their target customers are, but judging with the prices *quoted*, I think mainly aimed to SOHOs or on-the-go businesses. I also think it’s because Bukit Bintang is also YTL’s home base. There are loads of properties that belongs to YTL in that area.

Will the prices drop? Will the packages be more tempting in the future? Time will tell.

Home/Personal Use

P1 W1MAX 1200

Download: 1.2MBps
Upload: 500kBps

12-Month Contract: RM99/month
24-Month Contract: RM89/month

P1 W1MAX 2400

Download: 2.4MBps
Upload: 500kBps

12-Month Contract: RM229/month
24-Month Contract: RM199/month

Business Use

P1 W1MAX 1200

Download: 1.2MBps
Upload: 500kBps

12-Month Contract: RM99/month
24-Month Contract: RM89/month

P1 W1MAX 2400

Download: 2.4MBps
Upload: 500kBps

12-Month Contract: RM229/month
24-Month Contract: RM199/month

One Time Charges:

Registration Fees: RM100
Activation Fees: RM50
Stamp Duty Fees: RM10

Optional Charges:

Installation Fees: RM80
Paper Bill Fees: RM5 (Monthly)
Nationwide Access: RM10 (Monthly) currently not available

Things you should know when subscribing to P1′s W1MAX:

1. Monthly bandwidth limit 20GB
2. Speeds are best effort
3. You’re technically getting a fully paid modem from P1. In standard packages, you’ll need to pay for the modem you get. At the moment P1 has not come up with any packages that allows you to rent the modem.

Usually the best price to specifications laptop is the XPS laptop’s 13 inch range. Of course it will cost around RM3500 but still it’s a pretty good deal if you ask me.

Think of it this way, you’re paying RM3000 for the XPS laptop, and RM500 for the 2-3 years after sales support. Believe me that RM500 is worth every penny. The CompleteCover accidental damage protection plan is even better if you could afford it.

Another thing about buying laptops from Dell, if you plan to customise, always customise from the lowest/basic configuration laptop. It’s cheaper, for some reason. And usually the best prices would be during PC fair week.

However, with WiMAX creating a big fuzz in the computing industry in Malaysia, it’s best NOT to buy a laptop now. Reason why is because of Intel’s latest processor, the Centrino 2. Centrino 2 is the 5th generation of the Centrino processor range where the predecessors supported WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n, DDR2 RAMs, as well as support for HSDPA connectivity.

The new Centrino 2 supports the above and together with WiMAX as well, which should be your main consideration when buying a new laptop within this 2 years. Any laptops that you buy now without Centrino 2, will not be able to enjoy the comfort of having WiMAX connectivity.

Besides support for faster RAMs (DDR3 800MHz, 1066MHz) and wider support for external screens, I believe the main selling point of this processor is the WiMAX connectivity. It even uses lesser power than the previous Centrino processors.

Well of course you can buy a WiMAX modem separately but consider this; you’ll be using a USB port to connect your WiMAX modem, which will consume some of your battery life, or you may be grounded to use a power adapter for your WiMAX modem.

WiMAX is about mobility and being free from wires. That should be applied to laptops as well.

With the NDS you can even connect to your wireless router to join your friends at their homes for some Mario Kart action. But still, you’re limited to the range of your own wireless router.

I stumbled upon this new console, yet to hit the shelves, by Flyvo.

[Source] Imagine the possibilities.

If wireless gaming with WiMAX is possible, what about peer to peer sharing on WiMAX?

I wrote a research paper for my last semester regarding the future of ubiquitous computing and actually I find it really interesting to think back what I wrote for that assignment.

Imagine having a MP3 player the size of an eraser with WiMAX capabilities built into it. Of course it would have all the usual features that a normal MP3 player would have like to store 4GB of songs, radio, etc.

But what if that MP3 player can connect to another similar MP3 player and share music between each other? That’s 8GB worth of songs! If there’s 10 people using that MP3 player, that’s 40GB worth of songs. We can even extend it to sharing videos as well.

Of course with the current piracy and copyright laws there should be limitations to such sharing. Maybe just streaming the songs from each other.

But that’s just MP3 players, portable video players and such.

In my research paper I wrote about car stereos having those capabilities may eventually replace radio FM altogether. With podcasting a hit now, radio companies may phase out the good ol FM and replace them with WiMAX transmitters instead. I also wrote about how cars stereos can interact with other cars by sharing each other’s songs, movies, etc.

I’m not too sure of the implementation wise of it, but it never hurts to imagine the future. One day it may even be a reality.

Every time there’s surely things to buy, something to get fixed or something new to add to my electromagnetic environment at home.

So kan, this time there are a few things that I’m gonna buy.

• Notebook: RAM 2GB DDR2 667MHz x2. Est cost RM260
• Desktop: Sata HDD 500GB 16/32MB x2. Est cost RM600 OR
• Desktop: Sata HDD 750GB 32MB x2. Est cost RM750
• NAS DLink DNS-323: Est cost RM430

My notebook needs a little upgrade now because it’s quite slow when doing post processing for my photos. Crazily slow already. And now it’s gonna be even worst when I start doing my FYP. 4GB should be enough.

Next, why 2 harddisks? It’s because of the last item, hopefully cheaper in PC Fair. NAS – Network attached storage. Somewhat like a dedicated computer that saves all my files in one place, and lets it share with other computers at home.

We have at least 3 computers at home for a family of 5. 2 for me.

Some how the 750GB harddisks are cheaper than the 500GB ones, $ to GB. 500GB is nearer to 60cents/GB, 750GB is about 50cents/GB. Should be cheaper in PC Fair. 1TB at the moment is above RM500. If it’s at RM500 in PC Fair, I may get one of those instead. Times 2 of course.

Oh 2 harddisks because I can do RAID 1 or RAID 0. Something n00bs will not know. Geeko stuff.

The NAS has some good features in it, but being a DLink product I’m a little skeptical, but that’s the best value for money now. It has a webserver, bittorrent capabilities and also can act as an iTunes server. Good if I have over 10GB of songs but all stucked in my computer.

PC Fair also giving out some freebies for every purchases of RM300 in a single reciept (or RM200 if you’re a student). Most likely some stack of DVDs but hey still free.

Guess what. WiMAX will also be at PC Fair. I stumbled upon P1 WiMAX (or W1MAX)’s website the other day and it seems that they are having a simple contest.

Go to P1W1MAX website and click on this logo at the top left of the page.

Which will lead to this page:

The questions are very simple, for 2 of them at least. Haha

• Who is the first in Malaysia to launch WiMAX on the 2.3 GHz spectrum?
• What is the name of its WiMAX service?
• In less than 15 words, tell us why you want P1 W1MAX.

Pretty simple I guess. I’m joining it hoping I’d get some test runs on WiMAX. Hahaha *wishful thinking*

Oh wait! Thomas said they are giving out FREE WiMAX! Grr. Can’t wait to go tomorrow. Hahaha. Also, if you’d check out P1W1MAX website you’ll find a place where you can sign up for a free trial. I’ve signed up because it covers Gombak! Weeeeee!

(Damn, I just proved my point before event posting this. Last time it was RM88 WITH modem. )

So they use it regularly like an average user basic SSD; surfing, streaming, downloading. For me, I’ve downloaded gigabytes of movies, songs, programs, etc. You name it, I MOST LIKELY have it.

So 1Mbps is equivalent to around 125kBps. Note the capitalisation of the B in Mbps and kBps. Big B is Bytes, small b is bits. 1 Byte = 8 bits. I’m not sure whether it’s my location or what, I can never reach that speed. Fastest is 105kBps and that’s also on major sites like Microsoft.com or Adobe.com. But seriously, who surfs there? Tech people maybe, but not average users. Why are they providing better connection to those sites and not to Facebook, Flickr, Blogspot, and all sorts of sites that the USERS usually go to?

Only them knows why.

So taking the package price, RM88 divided by 100kBps (rounded down just to simplify the maths, my maths suck anyway)

RM0.88 per kB. (we haven’t included the hidden charges, the price of your modem, etc.)

FYI: For Streamyx in-a-box & without modem package EXTRA charges:

1. 1st bill received will include the following fees:
   1. RM75 for activation.
   2. RM88 for installation (if applicable).
   3. First and 2nd month advanced subscription fee.
   4. RM10 for stamp duty fee (effective 1st May 07).

So that would be around… RM… Count yourself yeah.

So what’s the best alternative? You have Izzi, and all whole loads of stuff. But which is better?

For me, I use VPN on top of suckystreamy. And I do pay extra for VPN, but it allows me to do other things as well with VPN including downloading torrent at around 50kBps. Another post about VPN next time.

But answering the question, I’d rather stay with what I have and wait for better alternatives, such as WiMAX. It’s due soon you know.

AFAIK there’s 4 companies that’s licensed to sell WiMAX services, I’m sure this will provide competition prices, but still I think it wouldn’t be that cheap yet.

Mainly because:

1. The prices of WiMAX modem is not cheap, because… *do you see people selling them in Low Yat?* I think it’s a proprietary product. Unless companies like D-link, 3COM, etc starts selling them retail, I don’t think it would be that cheap.
2. Faster speed = more $. Typical market demand-supply thingy.

But comparing with what we have now, I will jump ship anytime if there’s these following items:

• WiMAX Modem comes built in into laptops and allows us to connect to WiMAX (with the same account) no matter where we are, and even if our home PC is still connected to the home-based WiMAX modem.
• Please come in PCI Express 54!!!! And please don’t charge more for that because us Dell laptops only come with PCI Express 54. *don’t discriminate dell users! *
• Better customer support, and are IT literate!

To be really honest, I’d love to see WiMAX initial prices start off near Streamyx current prices. It will surely allow users that relies a lot on the Internet to jump to a better and consistent service.

1mbps connection in the car. Wow. I really hope the government doesn’t pass a bill on laptops being used in the car.

Imagine the amount of things I can accomplish in the toilet compared to another person in the toilet not doing anything. Ok lets not think dirty here okay. I can blog, surf, download, watch videos, listen songs, remote control my other computers all from the comfort of my toilet.

Well that’s when I’m at home. On the go however, I need to be around areas like Starbucks, or anywhere that has a WiFi connection. Feels that I have wings, but I’m being chain to the ground. If you’re in my shoes, don’t you feel the same way too?

Imagine, in the public toilet, but no Internet connection. Sigh.

Of course there’s the 3G Broadband and all, but I feel somehow our slow wired stimix is still better than 3G. 3G is expensive as well. Not only Data rate charges is expensive, but also the devices. I also wouldn’t want to plug in a USB device into my laptop when I’m on the go because that sucks up more power from my battery, especially with a slower bitrate/connection.

So what’s next?

Nothing I guess.

Maybe can try out WiMAX, hopefully launching soon. As a typical geek, I’d love to splash my audience with loads of technical stuff, but I’ll skip that for now.

But the low down of WiMAX.

• WiMAX is Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access.
• Each transmitting towers has a range of 70KM, compared to WiFi’s 10M. 3G has a wider area coverage of 140KM, but continue reading.
• Maximum theoretical bandwidth is 70mbps, which is faster than your stimix times 70. Imagine that! All the … you get what I mean.
• Supports vehicular movement up to 100kmph (yeah I had an assignment on this, so I remembered about it)

So now, if only WiMAX is out now in Malaysia. I can sit in the car, as a passenger of course, travelling from 40-80kmph while still be able to enjoy all the things I enjoy doing in the toilet. Of course, I don’t need to state the obvious:

*DIE STREAMYX DIE!*

WiMAX actually comes in 2 different forms, one for fixed placements like for homes and one more for mobile/portability like phones or laptops. I’m really looking forward for Malaysia to have it’s own WiMAX services soon, especially the mobile ones, so I won’t be bored in traffic jams again.

Come to think of it, I had an assignment on a similar topic, but I think I’ll share it another time. Sleep! Need to get a Gold medal tomorrow!