University of Oxford Said Business School conducted a global study on broadband connections of 66 countries. The results were announced on 30th September and can be viewed here.
Those of us using broadband and paying a hefty sum( when you are not getting value for money, that is excessive sum to me) each month would have known where Malaysia’s position is . Yes, we are among the last of the 66 countries ranked. We were ranked NO. 48.
We have wanted to be in the forefront of the internet revolution. We spent billions to create the multimedia super corridor and we created a city, cyberjaya , just for this purpose.. Yet, despite the billions spent, we are no where near our contemporaries, such as Singapore , Taiwan, South Korea or Hong Kong….
We are in the same group of poor nations sch as the Philipines.
This is the conclusion drawn by reading the results announced by prestigious university which has carried out indepth study on this.
We are not in this group of top 20,. SOuth Korea, Japan, HOng Kong and Singapore are in this group.
We are not in this group either… Taiwan is.
Yes, we are in this group of the last third..
Internet is the key to a knowledge society, which is the key for the future. Future growth will depend on the mastery of knowledge and its associated services, and not so dependent on commodities, like now.
We could have used our petrol money to put us ahead on internet infrastructure, internet highway and so on. But instead, we spent the money on the rescue of failed GLCs, and fancy projects like the F1 team…
Mediocrity is fast giving way to rots.
Dr. Hsu's forum 
Oct 02, 2009 @ 21:35:20
Dear Dr Hsu,
I kind of like what blogger steadyaku47 said something like this : ” Malaysia. Maybe this is the only country in the world where robbing the rakyat is institutionalized ”
I couldn’t agree with him more.
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Oct 02, 2009 @ 21:46:29
Whenever I am in Singapore, I enjoy surfing the net. Its fast and whether rain or thunderstorm the connection is always there. It is connected through cable, just plug it into the wall plug you get connected. No hassle and never experienced any breakdown.
With streamyx, it’s a headache, regular breakdown. Remember at one time the country streamyx connection was down for three days. They were repairing on/at the roadside telecom distribution boxes. The technician passed a remark, these are not the original chip boards.
Use substandard equipment you get lousy service.
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Oct 02, 2009 @ 22:53:43
I was in Wuxi, China recently for few weeks. The internet speed there was soooo….. damn fast, i can said 10 times faster than in Malaysia.
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Oct 02, 2009 @ 23:29:38
same copper cables, same technology.. but somehow other countries get 10x the speed.. for a 10th of the price.. is it the monopoly that sucks?.. it should, but sweden and switzerland, china and taiwan also have at least semi-monopoly national players and they can increase the speed and reduce the cost every half year..
my experience here: i first subscribed for streamyx 1mb best effort for 88RM in 2005.. i tried out the other services in the meantime and re-subscribed to streamyx in january 2009 for 1mb best effort for 88RM.. where’s the progression?
i asked streamyx for the over-priced 4mb package, but they are not able to provide it as i’m too far from their next knot (i stay in the middle of KL)..
i tried P1 WiMax that provided good speeds, but was unfortunately down 80% of the time and their customer services sucks even more than steamyx
i tried maxis broadband, but the speed was very low and the 2gb limit per month is just a joke..
i tried celcom broadband, and beside the huge deposit, the monthly limited slowed me down as well after 4-5 days..
i haven’t tied yet the new digi broadband, but reviews are great and people talk positive.. i hope they will soon cover KL.. looks like they have the right approach and can fulfill their promises.. how comes that the only telco who is fully government independent and with now 3G license can do it right?
i even was thinking of opening my company under the msc program, but once i went to cyberjaya (the proclaimed silicon valley of asia) i found a disney land with nice landscapes, big empty roads and no soul.. they might have the promised 2gb line, but no life..
ok.. that was a big rant.. but from my experience the study states the right thing about malaysia regarding broadband
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Oct 02, 2009 @ 23:33:21
btw, i have to download youtube movies to watch them as the connection is not good enough for streaming them – streamyx sucks
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Oct 03, 2009 @ 00:02:17
Meng. TM uses the same type of ADSL equipment that are used worldwide. Lucent, Alcatel and Huawei.
Streamyx cannot blame its poor performance on the equipment. It is about the people and management of the operation. As you know, Malaysia is not well known for these two factors.
One of the reason for the poor streamyx performance is the overbooking factor. TM overbook traffic heavily to reduce cost and increase profit.
Carrying internet traffic is much like the hotel business. One always book more customers than you have capacity. The bigger the overbooking factor the lower the cost but pay in poorer performance. The overbooking factor can 10:1, 20:1 and even 100:1.
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Oct 03, 2009 @ 08:39:26
Internet is the key to a knowledge society, as stated by the good doc.
Slow or inept internet connections will lead to less information dissemination. This is perfect for the incumbent govt, don’t you think ?
Can you imagine how much more efficiently informaton will travel if we are in the top third ?
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Oct 03, 2009 @ 10:29:37
CG, you are right. Which also explains the tortoise effort to improve Internet facilities at semi urban and rural areas particularly less developed areas in east Malaysia.
It also explains the government disrespecting the expression of freedom and completely ignore the introduction of a Bill to “Right to Information,” as a practice in some more developed countries.
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Oct 04, 2009 @ 03:23:31
in my travel across asia, each time i get online either in bangkok or even at remote area like makkassa or yushu, china…i admire the speed..and as i am in bangkok right now.i feel robbed cheated and worse, i am forced to accept this malaysian standard.when cheating short changing become part of us, the abnormal become normal.
thw writing are on the wall, either we ship out or we shape up ..we got to press harder penalties on these short changed ..
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Oct 04, 2009 @ 03:25:20
one theory for all these mega deals n hype up f one..i think the government know sooner or later they be thrown out..with all these deals it last attempt to suck as much as you can..when yr days are numbered
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Oct 04, 2009 @ 12:06:41
Streamyx broadband packages here: http://www.streamyx.com.my/get_streamyx/get_streamyx.php?id=getstreamyx_package_standard
Singtel (Singapore) broadband packages here: http://www.singnet.com.sg/plans_and_services/broadband/snbb.asp?snbb=3Matl
Compare and then you will understand why Singapore is @ #7 and Malaysia is @ #48. I won’t be surprised if we drop even lower than #48 in the near future.
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Oct 05, 2009 @ 00:51:50
Dr Hsu,
Yes i agree with you.
Rescuing the GLCs in one thing but since Najib became PM, hes also having hard time with this stubborn board of directors in GLCs, they dont want to make exits, at all despite gestures of
not wanting them anymore.
These are non-performing Directors in Malaysia & also causing the GLC to be sued by the county they delivered the project – inferior quality.
They are not business minded mentality to
begin with, CRITERIA NO.1, being Directors
in GLCs, the biggest mistake ever. Only hoping to be spoonfed by the Govt.
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Oct 05, 2009 @ 15:05:12
Want to know about MSC’s real progress? Visit Cyberjaya and get a real experience there. Or ask those who study at MMU, and u will get a real shock to know that there is no wireless broadband connectivity there until quite recently at certain hotspot only. When other countries go straight into wiring the entire city with copper and fibre optics, we are busy to into real estate show. Hence, we got our priority wrong.
We like visible grant statue and show case to the world how good we are but forget to plug in power supply. So, it can’t function and remain a redundant rubbish dump.
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