Going through the various booth at the recently concluded PIKOM PC-Fair at the Miri Indoor Stadium yesterday, the Redtone Broadband booth caught my attention.
GCH.com International Sdn. Bhd. is the authorised reseller for Redtone’s WIMAX services. There was a demo unit for the patron but unfortunately, while I was there.. it couldn’t be use due to (the usual answer) technical problem. It is a nightmare to have your product not functioning during an exhibition! That was a pissed off!
Anywhere, looking at the rates, you’ll need to pay RM123/mth inclusive of modem rental for a 384kbps uplink and a 1Mbps downlink. The package comes with this WIMAX modem.
How fast and whether it is available in your area, the GCH.com technical team needs to conduct a check and see if there is coverage in your area (even though they claim it is available). What if we do not want to subscribe after they conduct the test at our home? I asked the lady manning the counter this question – can your signal penetrate our walls? Comparing it with CELCOM 3G signal penetration rate. Answer: we need to test and check it at your house.
The guy (at the booth) added that if the modem (as shown above) couldn’t receive the signal, then they’ll installed a Motorola outdoor modem unit! Wahhhlauehh! That good ah?
Anyway, the service only comes with a modem, so, if you are planning to share the broadband connection, you may need to purchase a switch (for cabled) or a wifi-router for shared wireless network.
Am I convinced? As of now.. nope (fren, there shouldn’t be any technical issue during the exhibition. If it happened in the Indoor Stadium, you can imagine, our homes with a lower ceiling!) By now, I suggest that those who are in the technical team to give a better and realistic technical answer. If there is no coverage, we will accept answers that concern the bottleneck, the infrastructure, etc. If its Telekom Malaysia’s fault, say so lah.