WTF?

What the f&^%? All connections to international sites just went down, except for Blogger (?)...local sites are fine. What the hell are those people doing? It has been painfully slow for the last few weeks and now it's almost totally out! They should give refund for each day services are disrupted!!! Best effort basis my ass...

Edit: I know what the f*&^%#$^ problem is - the stupid IP address! 60.50.xx.xxx sucks!

More Throttling

Well, well, torrenting speeds leave very much to be desired these days...it is likely that TMNet has resorted to more aggressive throttling of Bittorrent programs. Here's a snapshot of my download speed as opposed to download peers; these has been the kind of speed I am getting over the last one week:


Another thing too - lately I find that when I torrent, I have slower browsing speed elsewhere too, especially graphic-laden sites. I just wonder whether this is TMNet's methods of capping each Streamyx user's bandwidth... Everyone knows that since our total bandwidth is limited, and TMNet does not seem to have the desire to upgrade or increase the bandwidth (blaming it on poor copper wire quality and user-hogging!), I believe this traffic-shaping is being used to divert bandwidth to the 4Mbps users at our expense. Guess this is how broadband services will continue here in this country!

I just wish that they would just come out and say it straight to our faces, and then take the response like a responsible corporate citizen! I only wish there are other equivalent alternatives; but that is like wishing for the NEP to be abolished...

Frustrated!

Is it just me or has Streamyx gotten slower since its so called upgrading exercise over the week? Website page loading, Youtube, Blogging...you name it - everything is so slow since then!! Not to mention of course: BT; while I fully expect them to clamp further on file sharing to enhance speeds, I could not have expected surfing to be equally affected.

But then again what do you expect? Malaysia Boleh! Or is there an ulterior motive? After all the unwanted publicity from the blogosphere and YouTube...maybe they have a bone to pick?

4Mbps surfin!

Well there has to be a reason why there is so much throttling recently, and now we know why!!

The gist of the package is this:
1. 4Mbps download and 512kbps upload (sic!) for an introductory offer of RM198/month (offer period 1 month only) after which the actual monthly price is RM268
2. Available only in KL and Petaling Jaya areas, up to 3km from the exchange (but not all areas, it seems)
3. Minimum subscription period of 12 months
4. Some other associated free offers as sweeteners

Oh come on...4Mbps package? And they can't even deliver proper service to the other packages, and they're talking about a 4Mbps one. How long do you think it will last? A few months before they start throttling this package as well? Probably, since we use broadband mainly for p2p downloads...

No one needs 4Mbps just for surfing...or is the picture giving us a hint?

Throttled...Part Deux

Well, I think it's official...our only broadband service provider has throttled local p2p connections too!! It is bad enough that throttling has taken its toll on foreign p2ps, but now even local ones...this is enough to make anyone's blood boil! Speeds crawling at single digits! And talk about killing the goose that lays the golden egg; don't these people understand that it is applications such as this that promoted the widespread use of broadband??

There are a lot of angrier people out there, but we have no voice or means to take action. Once a company has monopoly such as this, there is very little we can do. For me, it means I will downgrade my package - why should I pay an exorbitant amount just to surf the Net? Maybe if enough people cancel or downgrade their subscriptions, they will sit up and take notice.

Yeah, right...

Something to remember by

Streamyx gripe

Ahh...another article of interest, mainly for old times sake...

No change

Had been going through some local forums and blogs of late...actually more out of boredom than anything else; and there are a lot of pissed off people out there about this TMNet throttling of p2p sites.

Basically TMNet says that 20% of users are hogging 80% of bandwidth (something like that) for p2p use (I guess primarily torrent-ing); as a result other users experience slowdown in Internet access - hence the need for throttling the p2p access.

So the questions are:
1. Why throttle p2p access when this is the original demand that created need for broadband?
Currently throttling seems to be limited to international p2p sites (local connections are relatively
fast) and more pronounced during the daytime - less after 12 midnight until about 8 am!!
2. Why TMNet is unable to increase bandwidth capabilities?
3. Why TMNet is still promoting broadband services, knowing that they are not able to provide the
bandwidth?
4. If TMNet is unable to provide proper services, why doesn't the government allow competitive
services to the public (ie. why the bloody hell is TMNet still monopolising broadband services)?
5. And since late last year - TMNet has been including our download/upload usage in our bills: what
is that for? Is TMNet going to start imposing a limit to our broadband activities?

Personally I feel that the problem lies with the reluctance of TMNet to invest in their infrastructure (read $$$$) and increase bandwidth capabilities. I guess that most of us would pay extra if the services are reliable and consistent. And the fact that lack of competition would make TMNet sit on its laurels, a giant sloth that does not need to respond to changes in its surroundings. I don't get the promotions either; it'll lead to more complaints, duh!!

In this country, people have already accepted the fact that things would not change for the better...not by a long shot, until there is a paradigm shift in the government (change perhaps?). And all Malaysians know that this would not happen even if the fat lady sings...

So what are we to do? Live with it, and just keep complaining...at least there is still an outlet for our frustations!

Full speed ahead?

Yes...TMNet seems to have lifted the throttling late last week...I'm able to download at the max speed available - by that it means around 150-160 kB/s - much faster than most of my friends. They joke that I must be hogging all the bandwidth :)

Hope this stays...

So far so good

Well, there's no throttling for the last 36 hours...thanks God...while the luck still holds I better download as much stuff to last me for another week...just in case they go throttling the torrent sites again!

Throttled

OK. The gist is this. Ever since the undersea earthquake that disrupted Internet traffic to other parts of the world, we Malaysians have been having problems with downloading and file-sharing. While the former has been rectified, the latter is still a problem. Personally I haven't been having much problems until last week: I could only download my torrents on Thursday, and even then for 12 hours...thank God I managed to download four series and two movies...not bad for 12 hours eh? Then zip...until last night, but downloads were really slow.

Main Entry: ¹throt·tle
Pronunciation: 'thrä-t^&l
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): throt·tled; throt·tling /'thrät-li[ng], 'thrä-t^&l-i[ng]/
Etymology: Middle English throtelen, from throte throat
transitive verb
1 a (1) : to compress the throat of : CHOKE (2) : to kill by such action b : to prevent or check expression or activity of : SUPPRESS throttle creativity>
2 a : to decrease the flow of (as steam or fuel to an engine) by a valve b : to regulate and especially to reduce the speed of (as an engine) by such means c : to vary the thrust of (a rocket engine) during flight
intransitive verb : to throttle something (as an engine) -- usually used with back or down throttled back>

From The Merriam-Webster Dictionary

So, this is the new word I learned from an Internet forum site. With regards to how our broadband service provider treats us on p2p downloads. With p2p downloads I mean Bittorrent and other movie/music downloads. I guess there are frustrated people out there...voicing out opinions which they can really do on mainstream media.

For one it's illegal. Well I admit to that, but the alternative is to wait for it on terrestrial television, or pay inflated prices on the Internet or original CD/DVDs. Or as they say here in bolehland go to the nearest pasar malam and make your pick (err, pirated vcds etc). So much for throttling the Internet download activities...it's just shifting one illegal activity to another. But I guess the authorities don't get greased so much by illegal Internet downloads than by money-making pirate distributors or peddlers. Well it's just a matter of time they find a way to make money that way in bolehland.

So what are we paying our broadband for anyway? Most people do not need broadband unless they need to download huge files or need to be online 24 7...and we are paying RM 88 (myself anyway) for shared bandwidth space (btw it means that we don't really get 1Mbps as advertised...should I sue our broadband service provider for false advertising?) It is frustrating for most people, although I use boadband for other stuff apart from movie downloads. But of course all this whining is not going to stop the monopolistic company to do anything about it...because it's all monopoly, and there's no way the people on the street is going to make a difference.

And to another point: why are new customers being offered RM 77 (promotional) while existing customers (read me!) still have to fork out RM 11 more? I think this happens only in bolehland...again because of the monopoly. That a few steps backwards for business in this country.

But I think I must stop here...just in case they find grounds to sue a poor blogger like myself...uhm, then maybe I'll be famous for a change, who knows?

Control freak

It befuddles me how our government tries to control every facet of our lives. There are certain areas of national importance which I fully understand, but there are areas which I certainly do not.

Broadband has really made a difference in our lives. But wait a minute. Why would a regular day-to-day user like want to use broadband, unless I want to access the Internet and need high download or access speeds? There lies the crux of the matter. TMNet (almost the only Internet service provider out there) has decided to regulate the amount of access speeds to certain sites. I mean in my case torrent sites (for the uninitiated, torrent sites are sites where individuals may download programs, music, movie etc. for free - granted that the sites may be illegal) and P2P file sharing sites. Downloads are awfully slow recently. A TV show of 350 MB takes me about 18 hours instead of the usual 2 1/2 hours to download. Imagine downloading movies of 1 GB...

Their excuse is that these sites take up the bulk of the bandwidth available. Of course it does, and it's about the only reason why we would pay RM 88/month for Internet access: so that we can see and download our favourite shows/movies, which we could not get here (or wait for it to arrive here)!!!

Changing service providers is not the option, since the only other competitor is being priced out of the game. In short, we are at the mercy of TMNet.

What will be next: other sites? It will never end. It's about time that the government grow up and trust us, or provide us with alternatives (which are currently not available).

In the mean time, please be a good and understanding big brother...