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Iron Man 2 Review…
May 25th
Watch Iron Man 2 with my wife recently. Celebrating her birthday.
Anyway, booked a couple seat, 11.30pm show. Was a bit late because we went to Ikea earlier and need to send my brother and aunt back home before heading to Jaya Jusco Bukit Tinggi.
Anyway, I’ll keep it short and simple.
Iron Man 2
It all started with an appearance from Tony Stark in the Iron Man suit to officially launch/open the Stark Expo.
Now he help to maintain world peace with his suit. The palladium in his arc reactor in his chest is slowly killing him and he need to find a new replacement for the palladium. Unable to find the replacement for the palladium and he is dieing, he appointed his former personal assistant/ his girlfriend as the CEO of Stark Industries.
There’s too many conflict in this movie but the story is more towards Tony struggling with himself and the government giving him the pressure to share his technology. So, these people from S.H.I.E.L.D. a secret agency who sent Natalie or her real name in the movie, Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow) played by Scarlett Johansson to spy on Tony Stark.
And there’s a guy named Ivan Vanko (the guy with the whip) is seeking for revenge at Tony Stark. He’s not actually bad to my opinion. Very intelligent villain which he later developed few drown that fights Iron Man and War Machine.
As for War Machine, Tony Stark’s best friend Lt. Colonel James Rhodes (played by Don Cheadle a character originally played by Terrence Howard in the first Iron Man movie) took Stark’s Mark II armor for a reason (you need to watch the movie for details) and pass it to the military which is then modified by Tony Stark’s rival weapon manufacturer Justin Hammer.
Anyway, to keep it short, Tony Stark with the “help” of his father and not forgetting his computer J.A.R.V.I.S. managed to create a new element to cure himself and defeat the villain, other robots and become a hero.
Summary
Overall the movie was OK but not as what I expected. I like the ultra portable but not so realistic Iron Man suite that transformed from a briefcase to a suite. There’s too much of thing that’s going on or to understand in such a short time.
Out of 5 stars, I will give 3 stars.
Celcom Wireless Broadband Service 2nd Review
Feb 8th
After few months using Celcom Wireless Broadband, here is my second review on the service.
Honestly the service is getting worse. On my first review, the service to me is very good compared to other wireless broadband service providers at that time in my area. Now I’m not really sure.
The Speed
Here are the speed test results that I tested recently.
At Home
First place that I’ve tested is at home (Pandamaran Jaya). Below are the results:
The speed is a lot slower than before, the speed before is 1.23 Mb per second but now, it is only 0.20 Mb per second. That is more than 1 Mb per second difference. The connection is still strong. The indicator showed 4 bar of HSDPA connection out of 5 bar. Just imagine that I have a nearly perfect connection and that is the speed for it. The opposite thing happened to the upload speed. It is a bit faster than before by 0.03 Mb per second.
Kampung Raja Uda
Compared to before, the data transfer speed in Kampung Raja Uda (my parent’s place) is very fast… The fastest from all the places that I’ve tested the service.
Before the speed is 1.82 Mb per second. The speed change according to my location in the house.
Jalan Young
As for my in-laws place at Pandamaran Jaya (Jalan Young), the speed is 0.18 Mb per second which is the slowest among all of the places.
I hope that Celcom will improve their service or their customers might change to other service provider as it is a lot easier now to subscribe with any broadband service provider compared to before.
Conclusion:
For the time being, it is still OK with me (just give them a bit more time) and I’m hoping that they will improve their service in the near future as more and more competitor in the wireless broadband industry are coming in. The price and the broadband limit is affordable to me (RM98 for 3.6Mbps with 5GB of bandwidth) compared to other service providers that provide less broadband limit at a higher price.
Celcom Wireless Broadband Service Review
Apr 25th
After using it for a few weeks, this is a review for Celcom Wireless Broadband based on my purchase of the Celcom Wireless Broadband at the PIKOM PC Fair 2009 (I) and from the usage of my brother’s Celcom Wireless Broadband before I’ve purchased mine.
Installation:
It is easy to install the modem. Everything is plug & play nowadays. You just need to insert the USB Celcom Vodafone Modem in the USB port and follow the simple instructions of installing the driver for the modem.
Connectivity & Speed:
Connecting to the wireless broadband is very simple indeed. You just need to plug-in the modem if it is not plugged in and run the Vodafone Mobile Connect Lite. The program will scan for the device (Vodafone modem) and then try to link to the wireless broadband service that can be detected.
I’ve tested the service at 3 different places. First would be at home, then my parent’s house and my in-laws’ place.
At home (Pandamaran Jaya) have the 2nd highest speed among the 3 places that I’ve tested the wireless broadband. From the screenshot below you can see the download and upload speed of the service at my housing area.
At my parents’ house (Kampung Raja Uda) the speed is a little bit slower than my housing area and it is the slowest among the 3 places. The speed vary in different area in the house itself as when we check the coverage, that area is in between the HSDPA and 3G zone. So the connection and speed changes in different area within the house. Please refer to the screenshot below to see the average download and upload speed.
Lastly is my parent in-laws’ house (Bukit Tinggi) have the highest download speed among all. Refer the screenshot below. It reached more than 2 Mbps at times.
It seems that it a great service for me as all the area that I always go around have more than 1Mbps speed.
Usage:
The usage is limited to 5GB a month. They will tell you that the service is unlimited but that is all just crap. The only broadband service provider that gave unlimited usage is iZZi and Streamyx. If you are a heavy downloader than you better get a Streamyx line or other options (if any). It works fine with me as sometimes my wife like to watch some drama series that she missed at www.tv3.com.my and it still didn’t exceed the 3GB after a few weeks. I just use to blog and check my email and sometimes watch some YouTube videos.
Summary:
So far, I’m very happy with the Celcom Wireless Broadband Service compared to iZZi that I took last year. Hehe… You can check my review on iZZi. Maybe because of the Celcom coverage that is very big and I will try to test it at a few more places and we shall see how good Celcom Wireless Broadband really is.
Anyway, for RM98 a month it really didn’t disappoint me in terms of the coverage that it provide and the speed.
If you have similar or any experience using Celcom Wireless Broadband, please leave your comment.
My iZZi Review
Oct 29th
It sounds iZZi but it is not.
As I’ve mentioned on my previous post that I’ve subscribe to iZZi Wireless Broadband, so this post is the review of the service.
Let me start my review with how it all started at PC Fair II 2008.
It’s all started at Pikom PC Fair II 2008, where I went there to buy a thumbdrive, check out the latest technology and latest offer for Wireless Broadband services as I really wanted to have an Internet connection without the hassle to subscribe to a land line. At the end, I end up at the last hall of the PC Fair and at the end there was a group of wireless broadband service providers and Streamyx booth as well.
After listening to the explanation of the promoter, I’ve decided to subscribe to iZZi. The key point that makes me subscribe to iZZi is because the promoter told me that their station is very close to my housing area and the station covered an area of 13km radius. So for me that is a very big coverage. The station is in Pandamaran and I’m staying in Pandamaran Jaya, Pelabuhan Klang. The other point is that the other service providers have a limit of 3GB file transfer in a month as for iZZi, she said it is unlimited.
As I didn’t bring so much cash, I paid a deposit of RM50 and return back to PC Fair with my wife, my son and my brothers on the next day (2nd August 08).
I took iZZiyou6 package that cost me RM699 (need to pay upfront).
The review begins
At Home…
I can’t wait to test it out right after I got back home.
Installation…
I just need to insert the installation CD that will install the driver and application software. It is very simple to install it. Then I just need to plug in the modem using the USB port. Windows will detect the device straight away.
Below is the pictures of the modem and installation CD:
The signal strength is around 20 to 40 percent but most of the time it will be at 30%. I keyed in the temporary username and password that they provide to activate my account on the web and I’m connected to the wireless broadband. It was really slow when I tried to register the iZZi account. It took me more than 40 minutes to complete the online registration as the connection keep on disconnecting and I need to re-submit the form a few times. I’m a bit frustrated at that time but I’m telling myself that it might be for a short while.
I disconnected the temporary ID and use my own username and password. All of a sudden it became faster than before. The signal strength is still the same but the speed is a lot better. To tell you how fast is the speed, just imagine opening a Google.com page takes you up to 4 to 5 minutes. Just imagine that! To make myself happy I’m blaming the Internet Explorer, so I downloaded Mozilla Firefox.
After installing Firefox the speed is still the same. I’ve managed to call the sales promoter and she said that I need to put the modem close to the window as it cannot get a good signal if there is any blockage. For me that is ridiculous as why we need to move our PC close to the window just to get a good signal. The device was supposed to be mobile, so it should be able to get a good signal anywhere.
Once in a while the broadband speed increases and I managed to download my AVG AntiVirus updates and Mozilla Firefox after leaving my computer to run for quite sometime.
A few days later…
I still testing it after a few days. I took it to my parents house in Kampung Raja Uda, Pelabuhan Klang and my parent in-laws’ house in Pandamaran, still the signal is either very weak or there is no signal at all.
For 1 to 2 days I was able to use the service in low speed. On the fourth and fifth day, I tested out the connection after work and there is no connection at all. That is the main reason I want to get a refund.
I text messaged the sales promoter to return the modem and she told me that I need to return the modem at Menara Olympia, Kuala Lumpur in order to get the refund. The office is open only on weekdays and on office hour. Luckily that I’m working in Kuala Lumpur and my employer is good enough to give me a release time for this purpose I managed to go there. Just imagine you’re not working in KL, I bet that you need to take at least a half day leave just to make the refund.
Refund
The refund process is very simple. The person in-charge will come and you need to answer a few questions and they will give a copy of the form to you as a reference. She told me that they will charge me if I use more than 3MB of data transfer. I was shock as the promoter didn’t tell me about it. To me, “Whatever…” as long as I get my money back. She told me that it will take around 1 month for them to process the refund and they need to check my Internet usage as they will charge me if it is more that 3MB.
After a month, I started to call them as there is no call from their side for my refund status. The first time I called, the person told me he cannot find my name in the system. I was a bit tampered at that time. Anyway, I asked him to check it for me and call me immediately after they manage to find my name or what is my refund status. There is no call and I called them back a few days after that. Then they told me that they just started to process the refund and it will take a few more weeks.
Just imagine that. You need to pay up-front immediately for the service and they need to take nearly 2 months to process your refund.
Anyway, to cut it short. After a few calls and few weeks, I managed to get the refund on 26 September 08.
Conclusion*:
- Don’t subscribe if you are not really in Klang Valley center area, like Kuala Lumpur.
- Don’t subscribe if you’re not sure the area that you want to use the service have a good coverage. Because they will charge you if you exceed the 3MB limit, although you return it within 7 days (Please lah… even the Mozilla Firefox download is larger than 3MB.)
- They are not sincere when they mentioned about the 7 days money back guarantee as they still charge you the processing fee RM82 (that is quite high for just processing) and usage above 3MB.
- Long refund period. It took me nearly 2 months to get my refund.
*This is based on my personal experience and it may differ for each individual as it might be because of other factor.
