Switching away from Streamyx...or use together with Maxis

The last few weeks have been pretty frustrating for me.
I can't access public servers in an acceptable speed and some anti-virus websites and even my online banking was crawling to a halt. I notice the problem is affecting all streamyx users as i tried in office, in my house and confirmed with other collegues in areas like Damasara, Ampang and Puchong. Even trying out kids games like http://www.bigfishgames.com/ for my kid and http://www.standardchartered.com.my/ was slower than a 28.8 modem.

I did notice there are some "cheats", access to google.com and youtube.com is fast however try something else it drops dead. Seems like Tm.net is using somekind of packet shaper, one that is implemented in a very very bad way.

But there is this happy guy in my office that seems to be talking greek when we complain about Streamyx woes lately and he is using Maxis broadband. Heck, i thought give it a few more days maybe it will improved after all nothing beats experience and that is what Tm.net is, a veteran in Malaysia as an ISP.

While we oogled over his fast connection response in the office the inconvenience of terminating the Streamyx and trying out something new kept me unmoved.

Finally today, the last straw broke so to speak... I needed to prepare a demo and that particular site is slowing to a crawl when accessed by streamyx.

2 hours later and RM 100 poorer (for the wireless modem), i connected it to my exising wifi modem/router which i am using for streamyx, pulled off the phone line, some simple configuration and wahla! Everything works normally, my wife wont even know i switched when she comes home and use her other notebook.

^_^

There is ONE big catch though :

http://www.maxis.com.my/personal/broadband/termncon.asp
Excessive Usage
5.3.1
Each customer’s total usage per month shall NOT exceed 3GB of data volume transmitted (total upload and download usage). This is to ensure that no individual hogs the bandwidth at all times.
5.3.2
If a customer wishes to use more than the volume permitted,
a written request should be made to Maxis.
5.3.2
Maxis reserves the right to reject the said application or charge for any additional data volume transmitted from what is already allocated.

This is the only part that makes streamyx still the most popular choice. 3GB is nothing as you and i know for today's internet need. Heck even free emails has 10GB free volume.
Did i read this policy? NO, the promoter never talked on this problem nor show you the policy.
So I was right, Maxis is inexperience on this area, but for now, It will have to be or lets hope Maxis will have some sense and make a more realistic limitation.

**** Latest update ******
A technical guy from TM has informed me that there is a MAJOR problem on their international link that will affect many access outside of Malaysia. The problem is promised to be fixed by
5th March 2009.
Well, i guess i will keep both ...until a super isp emerge.


Since most servers in Malaysia is under streamyx and if you are in IT you will need to support these servers or remote in etc, i suggest you use the following "batch" file so that you can access out of malaysia servers via Maxis and local servers via Streamyx to alleviate the current problem :

Assuming your Streamyx router is 192.168.1.1 and your Maxis is 192.168.2.1, point ur gateway to 192.168.2.1 and put the following into a *.bat file which u need to execute whenever u want to connect to local malaysia servers.

route add 219.0.0.0 mask 255.0.0.0 192.168.1.1
route add 118.0.0.0 mask 255.0.0.0 192.168.1.1
route add 218.0.0.0 mask 255.0.0.0 192.168.1.1
route add 60.0.0.0 mask 255.0.0.0 192.168.1.1
route add 202.0.0.0 mask 255.0.0.0 192.168.1.1