I need my internet!

Today, we had no wireless internet. I am absolutely frustated. I rely on internet. The real issue? DiGi haven't rolled out their 3G. Wait, you're telling me to jump the wagon and hop on Maxis or Celcom? No, no, no... I am not that desperate to enjoy HSDPA. Of course, I want a low latency, high speed, uninterrupted, unfiltered * cough*torrent*cough* connections with no filters and intrusion of privacy. I want a connection that I can be proud of whenever I speak of it, and whenever I use it.

DiGi has always somehow managed to tailor their products and services to my appeal. Back then when 384kbps / 512 kbps broadband were the hype / rage of the day (that was way back in 2003/2004) I took up DiGi EDGE because Celcom didn't have anything of that sort, and Telekom were completely hopeless with their own wireless based landline broadband (it wasn’t even available in Kota Kinabalu back then!) It was not long enough until DiGi actually had a better offering than Celcom in terms of all in one package. Better call rates, better SMS rates, better packaging, everything. It was evident that I soon dumped Celcom in favour of DiGi. Well, I have been a ‘faithful’ DiGi user up to now, and I don’t really see a reason why should I change or add another telco (even though I am tempted to buy another new phone from time to time).

Yes, like many other DiGi customers and mobility broadband enthusiast, I am quite upset at DiGi’s “failure” to obtain a 3G license. Some says it may be a rigged ‘competition’, I don’t know. I won’t go as far to support that claim, but neither will debunk it. I mean, come on… DiGi being one of the largest telco companies in Malaysia would lose its 3G bid to Time Dot Com and MiTV, just because Telenor (the Norwegian supercompany in the telecommunications industry) held a 51% controlling stake in DiGi. I blame the minister of Energy & Communication at that time. But let’s not dwell into that, shall we?

So DiGi loses out on a 3G deal. Big deal. Yeah right. But life goes on. I still need a mobile internet, and like others I was tempted to hop on the Celcom / Maxis bandwagon. However, something made me laughed real hard at Celcom and Maxis at that time. Till now they haven’t ‘fix’ the 3G coverage, let alone the bandwidth allocated. One base station, affirmatively can only manage up to 10 users at one time. So users who were expecting a full HSDPA (3.5G) would be really disappointed because in really congested “peak time”, there would only be 10 HSDPA users, and the others would be kicked to a mere EDGE connection. Now, the real reason why people can’t get UTMS connection when there are others hogging on HSDPA connection is that HSDPA and UTMS equipment share the same hardware, but the only difference is the software coding. (Source: Mobileworld Malaysia 2005). So 10 lucky users get to using HSDPA, and the others will be running with EDGE / GPRS (if they really have EDGE)

So here was what was happening back then. DiGi were rolling out EDGE on virtually every base station that they can reach (yes, even the most interior of places, the most ‘ulu’ of places were getting EDGE connection!), and they hit fast, and they hit hard. Notably, at that time, EDGE did had an edge over UTMS connection in terms of data packet handling and also stability. Hey, it runs on GSM connection, so expect the fullest out of it! Constant fine tuning were done to EDGE, while Maxis and Celcom were desperately trying to outdo each other on the ‘nifty’ 3G market. Of course, the market take-up is low. Very low. And then a snag happened. It seems that since both telcos only got the license without the equipment, and there were lots of bugs that needed fixing. Maxis went ahead and installed 3G stations in Klang Valley (with exception of ‘The Round Table’ (the area that encircles KLCC Petronas Twin Towers) and Celcom were hastily trying to conquer the less illustrious but equally rewarding Johor Bahru area. DiGi were then still very, very comfortable with their EDGE offering