Since i last posted on the forums long ago i have now finally worked for one of the core ISPs, so i get a lot of insight and also experience into different ISPs. So if you're going to grab some internet from the big main 3 heres a brief guide to help you choose. Sadly i can't provide speed test only information of how they work and do things.
Previously TM unifi was the package you wanted if you wanted cheap "high speed" international traffic, nowadays this isnt true and i have to VPN just to work datacenter (we have a few) just to get decent access to sites located outside the country, though our connections is pretty fast in terms of global latency but really not cheap.
I write this review having tested all 3 before with good hardware/configuration, so if you are experiencing a problem, consider changing your router to a good one. your wifi woes are the fault of the device not the ISP. Make sure your optical cable is in good condition and they hate sharp bends. The cable you plug into your modem is called GPON - gigabit passive optical networking. It is a plastic cable with a single core (hence you can't call it fiber). One problem all ISP staff have is if you live in a "rich" area they will treat you like crap
So first, TM. TM is currently the worst ISP offering out of the main 3. You'll never get the speeds you subscribed for (this past 1 year speeds have been slow. while upload is still okish on the 800/200 package, the downloads you can expect half in speed test). TM is currently still a wide provider of connectivity as many still rely on their infrastructure such as maxis but thats going to change soon. Currently i find that TM has significantly decreased in speed significantly though i never got close to what i subscribed long ago. While they also have mobile packages, they dont have much of a combined package like others offered. Speed to datacenters are good though so local traffic is fine (though most datacenters are managed by TIME). p2p transfers between maxis and TM home users are very very slow. Only good thing is that TM can move with you within contract.
Maxis. Maxis does decently in speed test in terms of what you subscribed and has quite a few offers to add on including mobile packages. So if the extra stuff you get cheap and having both mobile and broadband unified into a single package of lower cost, this is what you'll want. International traffic sucks except for links that maxis have (such as to india) while local traffic is fast but p2p transfers between maxis and TM home users are very slow.
Time. Although time offers very fast internet cheap, their coverage is small combined with a lack of other offerings. Not everyone needs high speed internet and doesn't need anything else or prefers to ala carte everything. TIME owns a lot of datacenters in malaysia both directly and indirectly and has the best localised internet speeds (not just subscribed but also you get what you pay for for local traffic). The only problem with TIME is that you have the worst international traffic speeds, this is based on my own experience as well. If you plan to host or visit sites outside malaysia such as video streaming some site at the corner of the internet in the US, you won't even get 1Mb/s of consistency that you will end up buffering a lot and calling support daily.
When picking a mobile telco, consider your main use whether it is in a static location or on the move. In main cities many of them have coverage everywhere. Its important to understand like with regular ISPs that they have tiers. maxis, celcom, digi own their own towers (or have some they share) while unifi mobile, yes, etc use other peoples towers, so you will find that their offers differ in this way. For instance digi may have a cheap offer compared to yes but yes coverage may be better due to being able to use more towers from different towers.
Like with all things, please make sure to read between the lines before you subscribe. Maxis cannot move if you move place but TM unifi can, so if you move before the contract is finished, this is something to take note. Things like traffic throttling and FUP on mobile packages are a problem so make sure to read it carefully. If you try to exit early while not paying, you could end up on telco blacklist or something which means you may not be able to subscribe to another provider till you finish paying up. Make sure to read early termination penalties.
Working in a malaysian coreISP sucks, because of the usual malaysians. I cant even approach someone without being complained about when i try to figure out how things work in the company and better understand the product. coreISPs essentially give you good routes and dedicated internet, along with other protections like DDOS and the company also offers other products such as physical server hosting, educational platform hosting, etc. The problem is its still a malaysian company and suffers from the usual mindset issues being a malaysian company, despite being better than average. I like the work, just hate the people. Unfortunately malaysian hosting will still suck since they still reject my designs (good hosting in malaysia is difficult to find).
This post has been edited by System Error Message: Oct 23 2021, 12:34 PM
Brief guide to picking between the main 3 ISPs
Oct 16 2021, 12:10 AM, updated 5y ago
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