TRENDS: No ordinary plan

It was a mismatch of network performance and users’ broadband experience in P1’s offerings, so its chief technology officer Ti Liang Seng looked for a solution. Rozana Sani has the details

IF you’re frustrated with the quality of broadband access through the mobile dongle at home, you have no one to blame but yourself. Or so it seems.

Mobile dongles are optimised for outdoor use, not indoor use, according to wireless broadband provider Packet One Network (M) Sdn Bhd (P1).

Its chief technology officer Ti Liang Seng says: “For indoor use, you need a device with a larger antenna and connected to a higher-voltage power source for stronger signal strength. The mobile dongle, with its smaller antenna and powered through a laptop, can’t possibly perform as well as a home modem, especially through layers of walls indoors.”

This was one of the key findings from P1 after the company went looking for answers to subscribers’ complaints of poor broadband experience following the launch of its successful Sudah Potong? campaign two years ago.

At the time, a check with the network engineers proved that the network was holding steady. Tasked to find out the root cause of the poor broadband experience, Ti quickly identified three areas P1 had to focus on to improve its network: Quality, capacity and coverage.

“In terms of quality, we had 26 key components to measure, including system downtime, packet loss, latency and success rate of connection. We also studied customer behaviour to adjust network capacity to suit the location and surfing times of customers. We invested RM720 million in the network infrastructure,” says Ti.

But a vital information that P1 had was from a Frost & Sullivan study it commissioned: 93 per cent of broadband users in the country compromised their broadband experience by using their mobile dongles at home and as a result, were frustrated with their broadband services.

Many subscribers also didn’t realise that usage quota on mobile broadband plans was meant only for light web surfing, emailing and social networking on Facebook or Twitter.

Armed with these findings and the upgrade work in network infrastructure, P1 came up with the One 69 Plan, under its current Potong Stim campaign. This plan, which complements its three

One Plan offerings that were launched in July, makes quality 4G broadband at home and on-the-go even more affordable.

What’s also interesting is, the One 69 Plan comes with a money-back guarantee, making P1 the only provider locally to offer such a plan.

Under this plan, subscribers get two modems — P1 4G home modem with WiFi and a nifty P1 4G on-the-go modem — and voice service. They only pay RM49 a month as a special introductory offer for the first three months. The plan promises 1Mbps for both modems and a shared quota of 3GB.

The home modem provides WiFi for the whole house and up to 10 devices can logon and use the same Internet account. This includes any WiFi-enabled device such as the iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, Android phones or game consoles.

“Using the right modem in the right environment is important to get a better broadband experience. Using your mobile dongle at home is ’Potong Stim!’” says Ti with a smile.

He has also revealed that P1 will provide Internet protocol television, video-on-demand and other rich multimedia services next year following its partnership with Telekom Malaysia Berhad to accelerate the delivery of high-speed broadband services to all Malaysians, powered by the latter’s HSBB infrastructure.

Also, look out for P1’s 4G WiMax/TD-LTE dual network soon, teases Ti