Wireless Broadband… Which to choose?…

For quite sometime I don’t have any Internet access at home. I’ve been accessing the Internet from office all these while. Now I’m ready to go online again outside the office.

I’m looking for a wireless broadband because I want to buy a notebook/laptop in the future and I’m barely at home.

Now there are 4 choices that I know of in the market:

First we have the famous, most advertise, Maxis Wireless Broadband. They are doing nationwide promotion on it and now they have these modem skinning thingy that comes with it.

The second choice is the Celcom Wireless Broadband. The third is the Izzi Mobile Wireless Broadband and last, the Surf With U.

Maxis Wireless Broadband

I think we can see their advertisement or their agent nearly everywhere, but how about the coverage? I will cover about that later.

It cost RM138 per month for 3.6Mbps and one time activation fee of RM100. The limited edition skin is available at certain location, mostly in Klang Valley. You can send SMS as well (that will be a different charge). Now they have taken out the contract terms where last time, you need to have a contract of 12 months with them before you can terminate the service. The funny thing is that they giving you 7 days of trial period (they called it cooling-off period) where you can try it and terminate the service (you have to return the modem as well) with no extra cost if you’re not satisfy with it. They will return the activation fee to you too. If you have pass the 7 days period and you want to terminate the service, you need to pay a handling fee of RM200.

As for the coverage, it is improving. Compare to a few months back, it was really bad and I receive a lot of complaints from a lot of people.

My opinion: A little bit expensive compare to the other services providers, good 7 days cooling-off period, the coverage and the speed is getting better and cool looking modems.

Celcom Wireless Broadband

Celcom have 2 type of plan. The Basic Plan and Advance Plan.

The Basic Plan cost RM 99 a month for a maximum speed of 384 kbps comes with a free modem (same as the Maxis’ White color modem).

As for the Advance Plan, it cost RM 129 a month for maximum speed of 3.6 Mbps with a free modem as well.

They give you the option to purchase a different type of modem for RM499 that can handle up to 7.2Mbps. But now you don’t really need that because they cannot support that much of speed for the time being anyway.

As for the coverage, I think Celcom have the widest coverage here in Peninsular Malaysia. There is no doubt about that but I’m not sure about Sabah & Sarawak.

If you want to terminate the service, you need to pay RM350 penalty. The bad news is that you don’t have a trial period if you subscribe to this package.

My Opinion: Price is better than Maxis, no trial period and better coverage compare to others.

Izzi Mobile Wireless Broadband

Izzi Mobile Wireless Broadband has several packages.

The one that interest me is the iZZiyou6 package. It suites my criteria of finding a wireless broadband compare to their other packages.

The maximum speed is 1Mbps for only RM98 a month but you need to subscribe for at least 6 months and pay it in advanced for just RM 699 inclusive of the activation fee (you can also pay it monthly if you are applicable for their 0% easy payment scheme) and you will receive a free modem as well. They have “Money Back Guarantee” policy where you can try it for 7 days and if you’re satisfy with it, you can get a 100% refund (terms and conditions apply; same like anything else).

The main drawback for me is the coverage. The coverage is only within Klang Valley for the time being.

My Opinion: New technology: “4G”. Lack of coverage, price is a little bit high and you need to pay in advance.

Surf With U

Surf With U from U Mobile is new in town and they are marketing themselves very well.

Same as Maxis, they do not have any package option. For RM78 a month, with 3.6Mbps speed it is the cheapest compared to the other service providers.

You will need to pay RM50 for the activation fee and you will be tied to a 24 months contract. You will also receive a free modem, the smallest of it kinds (that is what they claimed, for me it looks the same as the Celcom Blue Cube modem).  This service is just for a limited time only.

My Opinion: Very cheap. Very long contract period. Limited coverage. High bandwidth speed.

Conclusion

From what I can see the most suitable service for me is the Surf With U. I did not travel outside of Klang Valley that often and it is very affordable comparing to the speed.

But still I need some opinion or suggestion on this topic and if there is any other service provider that you know of, please let me know for example Jaring. Please share your experience if you using any of the services above.