Something very strange is happening.

I live in Domain 2, Cyberjaya. It's a new-ish apartment complex. We have no wired broadband access here. No Unifi, not even Streamyx. I don't think we can even get phone lines here. So a lot of people are fed up and wants to move out.

Last Friday though, I see Time broadband posters up near the apartment, offering the unlimited (8/15/something/50Mbps) and 100Mbps packages. So I look up the Time website and see that the apartment is not there in the coverage map. I also called the Time customer service, they say they don't think they have coverage.

So I went back and chatted a bit with the Pak Guard, who told me that because of the widespread discontent, the developers are bringing in Time broadband to prevent people moving out. And it's not a "survey" (which was done weeks ago), it's the real deal. I called the local distributor (on the poster) and she says that once the forms are submitted, it will take 2 weeks for the processing and installation.

So I'm a bit confused here - what's going on?

This post has been edited by Scolaris: Sep 24 2012, 12:15 PM

I don't think they'll let me into the riser room/closet.

Oh well, I guess I'll just submit the form. What's the worse that could happen?

(seriously guys, not rhetorical question - there shouldn't be any downsides to just submitting the form, right? I mean, I really do want Internet access)

Finally got my TIME connection yesterday. I subscribed to the 8Mbps package, with the intention to upgrade if (and only if) I find the service to be sufficiently awesome. Here is my preliminary review.

Installation

Time
I got a call last week saying that the crew will be coming at 2pm. At 2pm yesterday, I got a call from the crew informing me that they are now "pulling the wire" to my front door and that it'll take them 2 hours to get there. I'm not angry or anything - that means I have 2 hours to take a nap - although I have to wonder why it'll take 2 hours to do this.

The actual installation in my house though, takes about 3.5 hours and involves them drilling twice - once to get the cable into my apartment, and another time to get into my room. I would've preferred it if they just came in through the bedroom window (overlooking the garden), but.. meh. At least they did patch up the wall after the drilling.

Crew professionalism
No complaints here. They are polite and unobtrusive. Near the end of the installation, I can tell that they're getting tired, but they didn't cut corners, so it's a huge plus.

So overall, it took a bit longer than I liked, but it is an otherwise okay experience. Now, for the main event...

Performance

As stated earlier, I took the 8Mbps package, which means in theory, I can download (and upload) at a maximum rate of 1MB/s (1 byte = 8 bits mah).

Speedtest
This is where it gets weird. Using TIME's own speed test app in their website, and also using the speedtest.net page, I'm getting 8Mbps/16Mbps (Malaysian server). The 8Mbps is fine, but I can upload at twice the maximum speed? Well, more speed = more awesome, so yay.

At speedtest.net, I then chose a US server (a random one, I think it's in Syracuse), and the speed dropped significantly (forgot the exact figure, it may be 200kbps, or 2Mbps?), and the ping shot up to +200ms. Not good...

Torrent
But here, speed tests are useless; it's fine in theory, but what about practical usage of broadband? To try that out, I started to torrent two things - a recent anime release from TT, and also a game (for "research" purposes.. heh heh). The anime is 300MB in size, the game 12GB.

I am happy to report that for both, I'm getting speeds close to (and in moments, reaching) the theoretical maximum - 1MB/s. YAY!


IRC
I only tested it once, and I'm only getting 500KB/s. Now, it may be due to the user I'm leeching rather than my connection though, so bear that in mind.


MMO
Running retail version World of Warcraft and without using a tunneling software, I'm getting latency of 174ms. Which means HOLY SHIT I CAN NOW PLAY WOW! As reference, I'm usually getting 220ms with my old Unifi connection with tunneling.


The verdict so far

TIME is awesome. But to be fair, it may be because there are very few subscribers in my building - and I am told that my building is the only one with TIME connection (wonder what the developers did to persuade TIME), and there is no guarantee that, when more and more people starts using the service, the speed will drop.

But for now, yes, TIME is awesome. The price is lower than Unifi, and although it doesn't come with TV services, that's fine because I DON'T HAVE TIME WATCH TV.

Will report back my experience in a week, and then maybe after two weeks and a month, just to see if this winning streak continues.

I have a question: how do you setup your telephone?

During the installation, it wasn't done since my extension plug got a defect and I don't have a spare. So now I do, and I have no idea how to turn on the phone. I can't get a dial tone or anything, and the phone display just shows "Base 1".

Incidentally, I have:

a. connected the telephone wire to the ONU,
b. connected the phone to the power supply, and
c. turned off and on again the entire thing (ONU, phone and modem)

But still getting zilch.

Is phone service even included in the package? I think it does, because otherwise why give me a phone to begin with?

I just got back from my place, it seems that TIME will set up your phone after the initial line installation (in my case, after a week). I don't particularly care about the delay, since I don't have anyone in particular that I wanted to call (;_;), but just FYI for new subscribers.

The whole setup takes about 15 minutes. The phone quality is fine, and at least the phone looks nicer compared to what Unifi would give.

Apart from that... no further updates. Internet connection quality is as good as always. I think I'm running out of things to download.

This post has been edited by Scolaris: Oct 23 2012, 02:41 PM