Artistic Controls Blog

In my last blog “Will Fibre Optics Coming to Home” I was wondering will the fibre optics infrastructure will be available to our Malaysian home. As we know fibre optics has been use widely in the backbone cable infrastructure and some business application but has not been available to home use. Finally the wait is over as we will be able to install new fibre optic link in our home as an option packages offered by Telekom Malaysia in the new Unifi packages launched last Wednesday.

Our normal telephone jack and computer network uses copper cabling to transfer data via electrical pulses. Copper cabling has been a standard for data transmission for many years. The maximum speed is up to 100Mbps.

What is Fibre Optic Cable?
Fibre Optic Cable is long thin strands of very pure glass or plastic about the diameter of a human hair. They are arranged in bundles called optical cables and used to transmit light signals for communications over long distances. It uses light pulses to transmit data and not electrical pulses. Light in a fiber optic cable travels through it by constantly bouncing off the cladding. The speed of transmission can be up to 1000Mbps or 1Gbps.

The advantage of using Fibre Optics is less expensive in cost in long run and able to enjoy 20 times faster in Internet browsing and able to watch high definition data live download without interruption.  The ability to transmit voice, data and video (IPTV and Video-On-Demand)  in the same cable infrastructure is the future for home technology.

In Malaysia there are currently only two internet service providers that offer the fibre optics broadband packages. Time dotCom offered Time Fibre Broadband a 10Mbps packages launched early this year and Telekom Malaysia with the Unify Fibre Optics Broadband packages offer up to 20Mbps packages launched last Wednesday.

I will definitely upgrade to fibre optics broadband packages once it is available in Puchong.

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Will Fibre Optics coming to home
Telekom Malaysia Launched UniFi High Speed Broadband

Last Wednesday on 24 March Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) launched the new high speed broadband called UniFi Broadband. For resident packages will come in 3 prices – RM149, RM199 and RM249 a month.

The three packages are the VIP5, VIP10 and VIP20 and the connections speeds are offered in 5 Megabits per seconds, 10Mbps and 20Mbps packages.  Similar packages will be offered to business subscribers for the same speeds at RM199 a month for 5Mbps, RM599 (10Mbps) and RM899 (20Mbps).

That means the up load and download data for VIP5 is 5 Mbps both ways.

The new service comes with a free standard installation worth RM300 and a free standard Customer Premise Equipment packages worth RM800 with a one year guarantee. Currently Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Shah Alam, Subang Jaya and Bangsar will have this access available now but soon more areas will be covered.

The only setback is that the packages is bundled with 8Mbps connection for a set-top-box for IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) and an initial access to 22 channels as well as Video On Demand library and interactive channels. The packages will also include a Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (Dect) phone as well as a Streamyx Zone ID for wireless web access and a 2GB email box. Telekom Malaysia is trying to penetrate the cable TV with the broadband transmission.

This could be some problem with those who just wanted the high speed broadband for internet access and not with this entire bundle.

Another setback is there will be a download cap on UniFi High Speed Broadband which is calculated on daily basis and if the cap was exceeded then their connections would be throttled down to about 10% of the purchased speed.

UniFi’s 5Mbps service is capped at 60GB of data per month, 10Mbps service at 90GB while the 20Mbps service has a 120GB cap.

Bu the latest good news is Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) on Friday clarified that the monthly data volume cap for its consumer UniFi packages will not be implemented immediately.

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Will Fiber Optics coming to home
Astro TV Launched HDTV on Dec 11

Astro B.yond

Last Friday Dec 11, our Malaysia’s Astro TV launched its HDTV or high-definition TV broadcast starting with  five HD channels starting with Astro Supersport HD, HBO HD, National Geographic Channel HD and History HD. More will be available from January on ward.

Subscribers will pay an extra RM20 per month (US$6) for the new Astro B.yond service.

Astro B.yond is  a multi-phased innovative service, starting with the country’s first high-definition (HD) broadcast. It is an Internet Protocol-ready next generation set-up box that can deliver high-definition TV.

Currently, Astro has 2.9 million subscribers in Malaysia, which translates to about 48% household penetration. Astro is targeting one million homes for the HDTV service in the medium term, with half of that figure expected in the first year to 18 months.

Subscribers wanting to take B.yond will get a new set-top box and smart card, a new outdoor dish and HDMI cable, and a new remote control. Customers returning an old box will have their installation fee waived.

As well as HDTV, Astro B.yond is offering a new and improved EPG and will in 2010 offer video recording through an external hard drive. Digital video recording, video-on-demand and IPTV connectivity are promised in phases over the next 24 months.

According to Astro there are about 1.2 million Astro customers is using HD-ready TV so it seem that the market is ready for HD content.