yesterday the thomson router guy(he write the code for new firmware upgrade as well) visiting me, getting some useful insights, juz wanna share with you guys:-

1)xDSL linestate down
this has nothing to do with the intermittent lose of signal we're experiencing(more on this later)... if not mistaken, he said this signal is normal and correct because maxis is not using the dsl port, hence the message coming out

2)wifi ssid change to "THOMSON530..." everytime you restart the router
we take so much time on this and finally found the issue.... the ssid must be numerical(0 to 9) and character(a to z)... you cannot place a symbol or special character like $,%,&, etc... i got this problem because i place a $ sign in my ssid

3)new firmware
he is saying most probably there will not be a new firmware anymore... the U version should be the last... they have done a test with iptv on the U version firmware for stability, etc... so they will stick to this U version...

furthermore, the current router is phasing out as well... will be changing to a new model in a few months time

4)why maxis customer service for ftth takes forever to pick up your call
i ask him why it takes at least 5 minutes(if you're lucky) for the ftth cs to pick up our call... some of us is hearing the music for as long as 30 minutes

he told me the ftth support is outsourced to contractor... no wonder the service is sub-standard... and most probably maxis is not aware of this... the long awaiting time may due to under-staff and overworked, i am not sure... but the support guy told me they worked on 4 shifts, so it's only 6 hours per day

i've a suggestion, each and every one of us should email to customercare@maxis.com.my with the title "maxis ftth customer service"... in the content we should complain about the long awaiting time, average 10 minutes before someone answering our call... otherwise maxis may not aware of the issue... or even if maxis actually aware of this issue, with so many complaints, they are forced to do something on it in fear of facing the fine by mcmc

5)intermittent lose of signal
perhaps this is the main topic you guys would like to know... i tested on browsing while the thomson guy hooking up his laptop to the router, running an analysis software with it

whenever there is a signal loss during browsing where the page hang/freeze, he showed me the graphs from the analysis software(which show performance of many equipments simultaneously in one screen):-

a)there is no performance issue with the router... the graph is constant and only 2% of the router capacity is used

b)there is constant loss of packets with a red warning sign on the graph... this trace back to an ip address in the maxis server centre... this ip address is consistently having problem, based on 5 to 6 ftth users the thomson guy has been visiting and analyzing

c)as for the heat issue, he told me they are doing the full test(means using over 90% of the router capacity) running torrent, etc on the thomson router for 3 months and there is no performance issue

i would say the guy is honest.... some guys here placed the cooling pad on the thomson router(i do not place a cooling pad on my router) but still have the intermittent loss of signals... and based on the proof he has shown me, this is definitely maxis server centre problem

the conclusion is most of the problems lie in the maxis server... somehow we've been misled by maxis to believe thomson router is the culprit... furthermore, since the ftth cs is contractor, it's normal for them to push the problem to someone else

sorry for the long story, but i hope this give us a clear picture of what is really happening in the background of this problematic maxis ftth