Thursday, September 4, 2008

Telco Chiefs - don't take us for granted!

Dear Telco Chief(s),

I write to you in exasperation. Really so. And I write to you as a personal appeal regarding your much-advertised and much-touted connectivity services. I have a couple of grievances to share with you. There are a few more actually but these two are top of the list.

Some months ago, encouraged by our friends, I bought an Expresscard which promised me Internet connection on the go. I was told, and proven right, that I can have my daun pisang lunch at Raju in PJ and could surf the Net at will. I could also update my blog while waiting for my teh tarik.

I did both, successfully. I even did it when making a stop at one of the highway rest areas. Heck, I also did it whenever I wanted to. Well, at least till these last few days.

Chief, I began encountering serious problems from Merdeka Day till now. I checked my bill just in case I didn't pay up and if the line was barred. I went to your service and sales outlet in Bangsar and made enquiries. I was old my line is good, it wasn't barred. I was told to call the service line, which I did.

I was told a "case" would be made for me, meaning my grievance would be handled by an expert. Chief, I'll give your guys a couple more days before escalating it to you. But I must admit I did "drop" your name when I spoke to your girl.

For someone with such dependence on the Net, I found my patience was really tested these last few days. What with doing family errands and emergencies to tackle in between trying to update my blog. Your Expresscard failed me Chief! Miserably so, I must say.

I'm hopeful that service will be restored. These last few days, I took my Vaio and Expresscard to various parts of the house in trying to get the best possible connection - the living room, the patio, the kitchen, my bedroom, the garden and my rumah kayu office. All to no avail!

What happen actually?

As for grievance number two, I must complain about the number of drop calls I've been experiencing. For my friends who are not in the know about the term, drop call simply means your call suddenly ends as you pass certain areas, be it on the highway or right in urban KL! I'm not sure if Telco Chiefs suffer the same fate as we ordinary mortals.

Can't something be done Chief? If I were to believe your advertisements, I shouldn't have any drop call whatsoever. You fellas claim that this is your territory or that you provide the best connectivity on the highway! If you ask me Chief, that's sheer bull!

I thought that your industry is a lot more competitive now, and that this would mean you guys would be giving a lot more attention to service to your customers who in turn contribute to your personal and corporate well-being! Or have you guys lost sight of this and instead choose to ignore your paying customers?

Or are you taking all of us for granted?

I doubt if any of the above is true. But give me reasons to justify my faith in all of you. Please lah! By the way, I'm posting this letter at an Internet cafe in a small town up north.

Anyway, I hope you won't feel offended at my letter. My friends urged me to carry a placard in front of your office (which perhaps is not a bad idea 'cos I may get lucky and make it into the nespapers) but I think a simple letter should be sufficient.

I trust you will look into this matter ASAP as I'm not not the only one with this complaint.

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Dato,

You are not suffering in silence. I too, depend a lot on the net and found certain providers not providing the desired service. It's obviously `not their territory'.

What I don't understand is the basic telco package in Malaysia. The way its being packaged, especially. Look at Singapore and how they make the package look so simple, and `berpatutan'. They even give free phones, modems and such.

The telcos need to start to improve their service and convince us that they can do so much better!

Anonymous said...

Yep, you are very true. I couldn't tolerate Celcom anymore and that is why I moved to Maxis. And out from streamyx to Jaring. At least, life is much better now.............

Anonymous said...

Dato,

You are not the only one with this problem. I'm tired of complaining. Tks for highlighting this. I hope they all listen up.

Alex

Anonymous said...

Anout time this matter is put up for all to see. Telcos should stop bullying us customers..

Mahmud

Anonymous said...

So what's new? I lived in the much touted Iskandar Development Region and was one of the earliest applicants for the Streamyx service. It took me a good 4 years and many trips to the various Kedai Telecoms before I "accidentally" discovered the service was finally available. I said accidentally because I was told repeatedly that my house was more than 5km from the nearest exchange and hence no service despite staying in one of the most developed areas in the country. I happened to be in a shopping complex one day and my daughter said since they have a TM office there, why not just ask. Lo and behold! They said yes. and this despite my various applications still open.

Knights Templar said...

Sabar lah Brother, dari BAGHDAD kita boleh hantak gambak pakai SATCOM ini kan pula tak boleh upload blog dari Nilai rest stop huh.Pelik bin ajaib.

Ahmad A Talib said...

Sdra Knights Templar,

Wah! Hebat lu punya nick! Beb, i masih sabar. Kalau tak sabar, i terus stop subscribing aje. Yang bikin i hot ni bukan apa - iklan kata semuanya bagus tapi bila pakai, mengapa tak menjadi? I heret laptop dgn expresscard dari rumah ke kedai di bangsar, kemudian ke PJ dan terus ke Kajang. Semua tak menjadi beb!

Salam ramadhan beb!

Anonymous said...

i believe that most of us are agree with above issue, all malaysia "Broadband Services" is Bullshitting people...!!
They know only to collect consumers money, but the service is really really SUCK..!!!!
when we call the customer service, the answer will be the same like this "sorry sir , your area was congested cause of heavy user"...i dont understand at all with that answer.
If they know that they have alot of user and they cant afford to cater, then why do the promotion , they selling the broadband service everywhere even at mamak shop
If they cant give service then stop promotion....lor.

Just imagine...they collect 1 consumer RM98 monthly, if they have 1 million subscribers, they collected RM98million monthly...then saying no profit...what a bull....
Cant they upgraded ???

You see singapore, pay $20 a month they got 10 mbps
Here RM98 monthly promise to get 3.5mbps....lucky if you get 500kbps....

What the MCMC is doing...?? Dont you do any work?
Stop their license lah...
At least other operators learn something to give good service.

Anonymous said...

i believe that most of us are agree with above issue, all malaysia "Broadband Services" is Bullshitting people...!!
They know only to collect consumers money, but the service is really really SUCK..!!!!
when we call the customer service, the answer will be the same like this "sorry sir , your area was congested cause of heavy user"...i dont understand at all with that answer.
If they know that they have alot of user and they cant afford to cater, then why do the promotion , they selling the broadband service everywhere even at mamak shop
If they cant give service then stop promotion....lor.

Just imagine...they collect 1 consumer RM98 monthly, if they have 1 million subscribers, they collected RM98million monthly...then saying no profit...what a bull....
Cant they upgraded ???

You see singapore, pay $20 a month they got 10 mbps
Here RM98 monthly promise to get 3.5mbps....lucky if you get 500kbps....

What the MCMC is doing...?? Dont you do any work?
Stop their license lah...
At least other operators learn something to give good service.

Kapten Luffy said...

MY MAXIS BROANDBAND IS TOO SLOW!!!

WHAT 3G?

WHEN DOWNLOAD ONLY FOR FILE SIZE 10MB CAN TAKE 30 MINUTES TO ONE HOUR.

Anonymous said...

Brother! buat macam aku. Pindah ka negara lain je! Habis cerita...hehe. masa cekdet memerantah dulu aku fedup so aku migrate lah. buat ape complain berbuaih ayor liur bukanye depa nak dengaq!! aku ingat bila anwar memerentah malaysia nanti guess who akn migrate pulak??

melayu bostonian

Anonymous said...

I got better connections during my time in Kuantan than in Putrajaya now. I thought living in the MSC, I can enjoy super access.

Mohd. Ramesh

Mr. Smith said...

This is actually a very mild letter. Even if all subscribers start writing similar letters, I think they just won't bother since they know we cannot do them any harm. More over they are well protected by the government.
In short they have nothing to loose.
It is we who loose, like having o pay the full monthly subscription even when there is no service.
Customer satisfaction is the least of priorities of Telcos?
All that matters to the ISPs is their bottom line and their bonuses.

scinomore said...

saya experienced benda ni dengan streamyx... geram punya pasal saya downgrade line kepada yang plg murah...RM20/bln drp RM77 sbl ni... speed? Huh! sama jer rasanya..

Anonymous said...

Yes totally agree with all the comments. The Telco companies are only blood suckers. Broadband services are slow and the charges are crazy !!

A KADIR JASIN said...

Sdr Pahit Manis,

Saya baru pulang dari negeri orang yang hujannya emas. Untuk seminggu saya melayari alam siber dari sana -- tanpa sebarang masalah.

Di Lapangan terbangnya juga begitu. Boleh blog guna laptop sendiri atau guna stesen komputer percuma.

Kembali ke negeri sendiri yang hujannya batu, namun saya gembira. Teh se kosong, roti canai garing, sambal belacan, ikan masin melegakan lebam dan bengkak akibat hujan batu dan kepemimpinan kepala batu.

Kalau pemerintah sendiri bercakap kosong mengenai kecekapan, integriti dan sistem penghantaran yang mampam, mestikah kita terperanjat kalau telko kita yang oligopolistik turut tidak cekap, sambil lewa dan hisap darah?

Atau apakah ada sesuatu yang tersirat di sebalik perkhidmatan yang lambat, lembap dan sering terganggu itu?

Namun, saya tidak mengalami masalah baru sejak akhir-akhir ini mungkin kerana sistem yang saya gunakan sudah stabil. Tapi memanglah wireless connection, termasuk dalam bentuk 3G, kerap tidak stabil, lambat dan putus-putus.

Terima kasih.

Elle Syeila said...

memanglah xguna, kalau bayar lambat tahu nak potong jea....tapi servis ntahahapa, mmg sakit jiwa mengenangkan nie...

bayi said...

Damn the telcos. I have a host of complaints about Streamyx. After upgrading, my speed is now even slower than before!

Anonymous said...

hmm.. pelik tu tok. expresscard tu rosak kot? saya ni duduk kat kg di ceruk daerah sepang; edge takda apalah lagi 3g, so tiap2 malam saya layan internet pakai 2g je kat rumah walaupun slow setengah mati. kalau tok pi komplen tolonglah komplenkan utk saya sekali. bukan apa, kalau kita ni yg komplen dia pandang sebelah mata je tok..

Anonymous said...

Dato',
Saya terasa hati sangat bukan sebab service tak elok, itu dah expected.
Tapi masa org subscribe tu terangkanlah elok-elok apa limitation, apa kelemahan, supaya orang faham. Kalau orang dah nak pakai tu, orang subscribe jugak. Nak lari ke mana lagi, dua tiga tu je yang ada.
Kalau nak buat iklan tu, berpada-pada lah sikit. Jangan sampai orang yang dah subscribe sakit hati sangat bila tengok iklan tu.
Mana tak sakit hati, kita bayar untuk dapat HSPDA..4Mbps konon. Kalau dapat 5kbps dah kira baik. Bayar rate tu jugak.
Conclusion, they need to be more upfront with their customers. Biar masa orang bayar bil tu tak lah terasa hati sangat.

Anonymous said...

Dato',

If you drop by at the nearest Telco (which is big in providing wireless broadband), they will say "We are now testing our 7.2G connectivity".

It seems, they cant even resolve basic connectivity, let alone something that wonderful.

The consumers, like you and I, need our rights to be stand up for. We have invested money for services they failed to provide. MCMC should seriously look into these things rather than ways to penalise bloggers and errant commentators.

Have a good Ramadhan. Maybe the 'sabar' be with you, always......

Anonymous said...

Che Mat, I'm sure it must have been really exasperating, for I don't think you would have written a post about it here if the situation was `merely annoying'.

If it were someone else, I might dismiss it as "just another one of those ngada-ngada city types who have nothing but complaints about everything".

Maybe my standards are lower, or maybe it's because I've become a easy-to-please guy but I'm okay enough with what I'm getting right now. As compared to what most people here have, mine are probably "crumbs class". BUT I'm okay with that.

I don't know about Expresscard - I'm using Celcom `Broadband' cheapest package. It's supposed to be UMTS (3G) 384Kbps, but I'm only getting GPRS at 53Kbps most of the time since I signed up six weeks ago.

I should rightly scream "TIPU!", right? No, I'm not - I'm just grateful that I have any sort of Internet connection.

Ah, the relief of no longer having to go to a cybercafe five miles away just to check my e-mail! (with a USB Flash Drive containing TXT/RTF messages previously typed and waiting to be pasted or attached when online)

It might only be GPRS, but the signal strength is excellent (four full bars most of the time). As for downtime: in the past six weeks, I had experienced it only twice. And the longest was just two hours.

BTW to the guy who had complained about Celcom and switched to Maxis: For me (in Kelantan), Celcom is better. Although the areas covered are probably the same, Celcom's signal strength is usually superior.

However, Maxis is now almost level.

A friend who has both services told me this has been so in his area (Repek, Pasir Mas) where Maxis' bars are now full (five bars).

Previously it was only at two, so this might mean a new station was recently set up. It has also improved at a few other locations that he usually go to.

Ahmad A Talib said...

Dear Cendana787 and commentators,

I'm quite well connected actually. I mean from the connectivity perspective that is! I use two mobile phones with 2 different numbers from the country's two biggest service providers. I also have a home wifi. Plus push mail via the Blackberry. Then, as someone with itchy backside and after seing the Scribe and Rockybru blogging from wherever they were, I joined them and got the Mobile Connect which promises me HSDPA/3G/GPRS. Wonderful I thought. In the first few weeks, I encountered no problem whatsoever. Then it got worse and the decline has been steady and gradual. This is the fifth or sixth day I've not been able to use the express card. It looks quite nive with the red colour and all. I'm still waiting for the expert from the service provider to call me, as promised by the company's customer servcice people. She didn't tell when the call would come but I now assume it must be before Raya.

Salam.

hasnah said...

I can't even say Poor You, cos it applies to me too. I sent my blackberry for repair, sampai sekarang takde response. Apa ni...

Anonymous said...

Che Mat, since you're already at it, might as well get another connection - the recently rolled-out WiMAX. Bagi cukup korum, when it comes to connection:-)

There's yet another one: satellite. Don't know much about it, but I presume this is the only connection that can claim "Anytime, Anywhere"(?) Is anyone here familiar with it? Isn't this what Datuk Azhar had used to send e-mails during his voyage?

I do know of one person who appear to be using it regularly - Mat Salo. He's the "Borneo Blues" guy, who is working with an oil company. Often gets stuck in "real ulu" and God-forsaken places. But he can blog from there:-)

His blog is http://matsalo.blogspot.com Personal website: http://matsalo.com Real interesting guy, this Mat Salo.

King-Fx said...

Hi,

I was in HK for about a year. The telcos over there were very efficient compared to our HOMELAND.

I've enjoyed a 6mbps internet connection at my apartment. No hassle, unlike Streamyx or Celcom Broadband and bla bla. And the price equivalent to RM100.

Malaysia BOLEH Blahhhh

Anonymous said...

Dear Dato,

I wonder if this is one of the reasons why Malaysia is still referred to as a "developing" country and not yet a "developed" country ?

Something to ponder....everything is "best effort" !

Reminds me of a song by SM Salim.."apa dah jadi? " ;-) !

Practice Tolerance Dato. The price we pay for Monopoly/Oligopoly !

Single Malt !

Unknown said...

What the fuss uncle? Why so surprise. Just take a look at the nation's leadership. fail lah. More kuah than isi. telcos ni ads je lebih. Service is like sh1t. Telcos objective is more on getting more customers but not keeping the loyal ones. They keep on introducing new packages but continuously fail to ensure good service.

Anonymous said...

Maybe you should check the settings. In Mobile Connect, click the settings tab, go over to the "choose connection type" and select "3G only". Usually its only the settings that needed tweaking. Sometimes its the settings at the "Network Connections", etc. Sometimes its as simple as unplugging the modem, take out the sim card, then putting it all back and restarting.
I use a VAIO too and many times the connections setting get 'automatically' changed. Especially after travelling+surfing on the go quite a bit. I don't know why. So maybe the problem is on our side. Maybe lah...

Mohd. Ramesh

Nex said...

Dear Dato,

Sorry to use this sarcastic expression on you, but, 'Welcome To Malaysia'...ha ha ha

The lesser, title-less mortals like us ordinary folks have been suffering in silence for many many years, even with fixed line internet Streamyx. Just check my posting below:

http://fast-c-nation.blogspot.com/2008/08/telekom-you-suck-big-time.html

Complaining is futile, so just get used to it...

MCMC only good for blocking access to blogs. Should be renamed MCC (Mung Cha Cha - 'blur' in Cantonese).

Malaysia Boleh!
MSC Boleh!

Anonymous said...

huh, saya la ni ada kat Jepun, line rumah la, ada la 20Mbps, rasa macam nak pindah sini terus.. dah terkena dah dgn Maxis 3G tu, pakai seminggu, nak membetul makan 2 bulan.. tunggulah sampai anak cucu nanti baru dapat merasa kot...

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