AhTim.com » Tmnet

Phone line down, again

AhTim — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 09:04:01 +0000

Life is so tough. After web hosting down for less than a week, my house phone line broken! So unfortunately, it happen on last Saturday night.

I came back home and my wife noticed our house phone line has been cutted. The phone line from wall to telephone pole (behind my house road side) has been cutted into 2. Phone line laid on the ground. It happened 3 years ago, and now happen again. Suspect broken by truck or tall lorry.

Really can’t imagine. This is not normal streamyx down. It was physical phone line broken. Looks like “somebody” do not want us to online huh?

1st Call

At that night, I made my first phone call to TM at 100 using a fixed line. *sigh* Don’t know how to phone them using mobile phone. A guy pick up my call after 10 minutes put me in call waiting. As normal, I describe my phone line was broken and create a case for me. I asked whether any charges for repair? He said No. I purposely asked when can fix the problem? He said within 24 hours!! Wow. Surprise me, TM technician is working on Sunday? I confirm with him again, and he answered “Yes. We work on Sunday.” I thought TM has better service now. His answer change my view on TM. Somemore, it is Free.

2nd Call

On Sunday, I keep awake for any TM technician passing by. None come to my house except my uncle. I went out in the afternoon, still nobody come. I came back at night and saw the phone line still lying on the ground. I was wrong! TM never change to better service. They are still the same telekom, no matter what name they change to. As expected, I have to phone them again the next day.

I made 2nd call this morning. This time is a lady pick up my call. I gave her my report id, same with house phone number. I describe the same problem and she know I’ve reported the case on Saturday night. She asked “Is your internet line ok?“. Hey friend, this is a funny question huh? But she insist asked me twice. I asked her back, “Do you think without a telelphone line, I can connect to Internet?“. “This is a normal house phone line, not 3G broadband“,I said. She laugh on the phone shamelessly.

I clarify with her again the respond time. She said should be within 24 hours. Then why yesterday nobody come to fix? “We don’t work on Sunday”, she answered. Then why your colleague said technician is working on Sunday? She didn’t answer me. So, TM technician work on Sunday or not? She asked me to wait and call back TM if nobody come to repair.

Well, I rest on Sunday too. I didn’t blame them don’t work on Sunday. But, TM please train your people to give correct information to customer. This can avoid misunderstanding.

My two cents

According to my wife, TM technician came this morning after 10am. They replaced the phone line quite quickly. Once got dial tone, they have gone away without request to sign any job report. Fantastic like a dark knight. Gone without knowing who did what.

So fortunate, we don’t need to wait days to fix. In my opinion, TM can improve their service by provide job report so that customer know what they have done.

I think, I’m not the first experience this. Are you one of them? How fast TM technician respond to fix your problem? Please share with us your experience.

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TMNet Streamyx Broadband Connection Activated !

AhTim — Wed, 07 May 2008 02:26:15 +0000

Finally, my streamyx broadband connection for home has been activated! Out of my wish list, I have applied streamyx broadband since last week. After 3 working days (total of 6 days), it was just activated after I called up TM yesterday night!

Actually, I have called up TM 3 times before it activated successfully. First time and second time was the ADSL line not stable. After that they fixed the jumper and call me back to test. Once the ADSL line looks stable, I call the third time to activate my account.

Why Apply for home?

Maybe you cannot imagine why I only apply for a broadband at home after 7 months of blogging Since now I have 2 bloggers at home my wife and I, broadband can save our time and a lot of work. We can save money to pay for cyber cafe or slow yet expensive 56k dial up connection.

The second reason why I think should apply a broadband because I can write post even at home, holiday or sick. So convenient. I believe with this broadband, we can connect to our family members easily without hassle. Third reason, of course its also because I have withdraw my money from Adsense earning! I think the money should be enough to pay 1 year broadband fees for me.

ADSL Modem settings

I would like to thank Joshua for selling me the ADSL modem with cheapest price. Although it is not famous brand, but it has all features that I want such as DDNS, Firewall, and Router.

Instead of using manual broadband dial up method, I have set up my ADSL modem router to dial automatically. This means I have to save my streamyx user account and password inside the ADSL modem. There are a few security concern that I want to highlight here:

1. SNMP – Turn off this protocol or change the community string name to something else instead of “public”. SNMP is a dangerous protocol that expose your network to hacker’s scanning tools.

2. Do not use bank account password in your modem. Remember, no matter how long or how strong is your password, your modem’s basic firewall function can’t stop a professional hacker. Hacker might use these account and try on your bank’s.

3. Change default IP range – Change the default IP 192.168.1.254 to something else. Of course change for your computer too. Different IP range harden your network protection.

Have you did the modem settings? Please tell us what you have done to protect your house network?

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FTTH launching in Malaysia ?

AhTim — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 04:01:00 +0000

What is FTTH ?

FTTH stand for Fibre To The Home !Recently Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) invited the media for a preview of TM's new product FHHT trial development at Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur.

Why use FTTH ?

The new edge solution is an end-to-end fibre optic connection for the development of high-speed broadband services to homes. This service will be targeted at users requiring premiuim broadband services. Unlike DSL (Steamyx) technology, it offers high speds and better throughput quality compared to copper wires; which have a distance limitation of up to 5KM from the nearest exchange.

Where to get FTTH ?

The first roll-out of FTTH, expected in year 2008, perhaps will see it being offered in the Klang Valley and other major urban centres of Peninsular Malaysia. Be pattience for those who stay in Sabah and Sarawak

Full news at TmNET Newsroom

My two cents

In my opinion, this project is a good starter to bring us towards real high speed broadband if TMNET able to provide quality and reliable network like FTTH ! But before that, there are still a lot of improvement on the current DSL broadband services that need to be done. Why don't apply an upgrade to 4MB Streamyx broadband for your home ?