Assalamualaikum, friends...

It's been a very long time since I write anything in this space of mine. My apology for that. In fact, a lot of things has been wandering in my mind, but I just couldn't really dig some time to put it all into typed words. It's been really hectic in the office at the moment, with me alone has been allocated the responsibility of finishing two products by October 24th, with additional task of overseeing two other products which due on the same date. Part and parcel of being senior engineer, sigh... sometime I missed the time when I was only a junior, where all I should be concern about was my work, mine and only mine ;) .

Still, I would like to share with you people, some of my thoughts regarding what happened in this country at this particular moment. Things that really annoyed me, particularly because we, the consumers, has been pressurized, albeit veru subtle though, to accept whatever discrimination and unfair treatments towards us even when we are the one who are paying for all those services at the first place. I won't share my thoughts on fuel-price-hike though this time around, because that issue has been widely covered by a lot of bloggers, so I will focus on some other issues which is strikingly relevant but we normally grew tired of moaning about.

First thing. Astro, they has been doing business of providing the masses with satellite TV for almost 10 years now, but the quality of the services provided is a far cry from being satisfactory. The reception quality is a major drawback, with near-zero signal reception on bad wheather and stormy condition. The reason given by the Astro and cronies was simple, just because Malaysia (where Astro is HQ-ed) is situated in a tropical climate which subject to thick clouds and strong winds, make it almost imposible for the satellite signals to penetrate the clouds on a heavily raining days. Which makes me wonder, why the hell does Koreans and Japanese has been able to enjoy their paid satellite TV coverage in the midst of heavy rain and typhoon, despite the fact that the signal was projected from Hong Kong (for StarTV and HBO), and the clouds and winds and rains at the particular moment is several magnitudes stronger than what we experience back here in Malaysia??? (speaking from personal experience, the wheather is so bad outside, but I still be able to enjoy HBO movies in a Korean hotel)

It should be noted that the broadcasting facility in Malaysia and Hong Kong are of the same par, so by right, the reception of signal in Malaysia should be not far off from their Hong Kong counterparts. The answer was pretty simple and straight-forward, Astro has been saving up on their power cost all this while. Every single Communication Engineer knows, to strengthen the broadcasted signal, all you need to do is pump-in a larger power to the system. With larger power consumed, a stronger signal would be generated. It is a direct correlation, simple principal!!! I cannot believe after being in this business for almost 10 years, Astro still couldn't come up with a plan to saving up the cost while providing a decent broadcast signal. To keep the customers, their main income generator, in the dark of this blunt fact and keep on providing lousy services and excuses is simply uncomprehensible!!! Come on Tan Sri, show a little decency in your business, please!!! Afterall, satellite TV penetration in Malaysia ranked third in Asia Pacific region, behind Japan and Hong Kong. We deserve a much better services than what currently served!

Now, for Celcom. I not much of a loyal customer, so the fact that I had never subscribe to any other Telco all this time had really amazed me. I don't know why I was so loyal on this particular Telco, maybe because out of all the Telco around, they are the only people who provide satisfactory coverage for the whole East Coast, and that is important because I am from Kuantan, my parents is in Kuantan, and I live in Klang Valley. It is important for me to be in the news of what happen in my hometown and how is my parents doing. But lately, ever since the price war among Telcos heat up several notches, the services of Celcom is getting worse by day. First, when they promised to provide zero-cents SMS charge for prepaid customers after 2400hrs till 0600hrs the next day. OK, they kept the promise of making it FOC for that period, but they forgotten a very important aspect of their campaign... the availability of their resources to cater for great increase of SMS traffics at that period of time. No wonder the SMS I sent out at 0015hrs only being received at 1215hrs the next day, a full 12 hours delay... a huge screw-up by "national biggest and widest coverage" Telco.

Secondly, what happens seemingly every working day now, the network simply "down" from around 1600hrs until around midnight, definitely not just happened to me because few of my friends does experienced it as well. The interesting part is, the phone still shows it has full reception, but then any attempt to make a call or send an SMS or MMS would be totally a waste of time, because nothing will happened. The call just 'dropped', SMS sent would 'failed', even an attempt to call the service center prove to be a heartbreak since the call just ended for no reason. Celcom should really try to compensate our frustation by giving out some kind of rebates of sort, because we still so loyally hang on to their network services despite all of this unexplainable shortcomings on their part. The least Celcom could do is to come out with a general apology, and start to beef up their services to a more satisfactory level.

I would hate to switch Telco provider now, since the other big Telco around the corner is being own by the Astro's Tan Sri, who really owes me hours of viewing time,.. If those hours could be compensated, let say for every hour signal lost would be compensated by RM50, I think I could easily afford a new Nokia 3G phone now, as we speak :p .

I hate to write this kind of entry, but once in a while, I just have to... to bad I am just a 'semut merah' in a world of 'gajah' and dinosaurs.

Wassalam.