Maxis Wireless Internet 3G Broadband Review

This post was supposed to be published two months after I've registered myself with Maxis Wireless 3G Broadband. At that time, I was no longer in their trial period. Well, as you might have known, I got sidetracked for a while. My first Maxis wireless internet bill arrived in my mailbox on 25th of June 2007 with an amount of RM162. Correct me if I'm wrong, if you want your money back (you don't actually, if you do it normally takes time), you will need to return your modem and the phone given to you between 30 days after you've submitted the form, in other word once your name is keyed into the system, the trial period begins. Again, if not because of I would really want to try and use this facility, I wouldn't have signed up for it.

If you are still interested and wouldn't like to go to KLCC, you can go to PJ Digital Mall or Low Yatt, they might have a booth somewhere where you can try out the demo computer first and experience it by yourself how good or bad this Maxis High-Speed Broadband is. During PC Fair earlier this month, there were so many of those Maxis Wireless Internet booth, I've lost count of how many there are but I do know that Maxis will heavily promote this wireless internet. Check out my visit to KLCC PC Fair 2007 write up.

Back to my story, I registered myself for Maxis High-Speed 3G Broadband on the 2nd of May 2007. 3 weeks later which was on the 19th of May, I got a call from Maxis and booked the 20th of May for the installer to come by and install. The installer guy came on the 20th, attached the modem to my laptop, tested the connection and the reception strength and I am instantly online. No charge for that unlike the RM50 installation charge where you have to pay cash when you install TM Net Streamyx. I'm not sure if the "on the spot modem pick up" I saw on one of the Maxis Wireless Internet booth during PC Fair is applicable. However, I don't want to bet you on that. Check out my laptop along side with the Maxis Wireless Internet 3G Broadband package :



Testing the speed out using TM Net Speedometer (June 2007), this is how my result looks like (I removed the screenshots since it's not really relevant now):

The connection is not as fast as my TM Net Streamyx connection, sometime it feels like using a dial up connection. However, as long we I can be connected, I wouldn't complain about it so much.

The next week my brother took the modem for some test at his office in Seri Kembangan, the connection was so-so. He brought it back to me and I fooled around with the simcard of the modem and the next day which was on the 24th May, I couldn't connect to the internet like I used to the day before. So I called up Maxis Customer Center and asked what was going on. They made me do all those self testing crap which I've fiddled around so many times already. I got fed up and I just leave the modem as it is and hope that the next day everything would be okay. 5 days has past by and the problem still persisted so I made another call to them. Again, some self testing crap but this time I think the customer care operator was good enough and lodge a report to their technical team. There was nothing I could do so I was told to wait for a few days. By the way, this was my problem:



Since I've already have TM Net Streamyx connection, I just left my modem on my desk and occasionally test the connection but the problem still persisted. I got fed up, so I waited and waited for the Maxis technical support to call me back. They called me up twice I think and one of it was to ask for my modem serial number. After that, almost 2 weeks passed by and still I couldn't connect. I called them up again and I was surprised to find they told me that the issue was resolved. So, I asked them to lodge a report again. I was frustrated with the service that I just don't want to think about it anymore. The next day, my brother who likes to fiddle around with handphone had this bright idea and asked if we could reset the SIM card of the modem. So, he called up Maxis Center and had the SIM card resetted and voila, the internet works! Gosh, I got disconnected on the 24th of May and reconnected on 24th of June. I've wasted a month of internet connectivity and paying for it. So, if you ever had any problem like what I've experienced, just ask the Maxis wireless internet operator to reset your SIM card.

The next day, my first bill arrived:


My Maxis Broadband Bill

I read on a forum last time that the first bill would be around RM188 or somewhere less than RM200. I've already set aside RM250 just to pay up so I guess getting the bill for RM162 wasn't too bad after all. If you really drill down the details, I think having a TM Net Streamyx internet connection requires more cost because of the need to pay for the landline alongside with the internet bill. The other plus point is the mobility and instant internet access that Maxis is providing.

Since I don't really need 2 internet connection, the intention of getting Maxis wireless is for Laadvamore since she wants to be in contact with me through Yahoo Messenger plus using it for her research studies. I then suggested her to hook up the modem using my old Prolink wireless router since my home network got upgraded already. By doing this, since she lives in a hostel, she can move around in her room without being stuck with the bulky modem plus I suggested that she share her internet connection with her friend and charge them a small monthyl fee. That would partially cover the bill and that would be great. The setup looks something like this:



Although the speed wasn't so good in Shah Alam but the connection there shows a High Speed Connection (HSDPA). Oh well, at least we can still chat and even do a conference call along with a webcam connectivity. This saves a lot of money for loving couple like myself. If not, I had to burn a hole in my pocket to pay for all those expensive handphone call charges. I just love technology.

Bottomline, answering my previous blog post question, I find Maxis Wireless Internet 3G Broadband worth my money. At least for now of course. ;-)