UPDATE BELOW
Unifi is Telekom Malaysia’s fibre Internet service. For years I have gone to their offices or desks and asked, “Can I get it now?” And usually they told me I could get it in six months. And the same answer when I returned in six months. And the same again in six months time – and so on. Condos seem to have priority, and we live in a house. But TM laid fibre down our street a few years ago, so since then I have expected to be able to get it.
A few weeks ago I got a text saying we can get Unifi. So I go to TM at Paragon – only to find a sign saying “out to lunch”, with a phone number. No staff to cover lunch? Anyway, I ring, and I’m told I have to wait for an hour. Terrible service. But she’ll ring me. I go home. Of course, I get no phone call.
Next I ask at the TM desk in the Tesco building, where I am (mis)informed that we can’t get it. I give up, thinking the text I received was a mistake.
A couple of weeks later I get a phone call from TM where they said I could get it, and then set up an installation date. The person on the phone said they’d send me a text and email with all the information they told me on the phone. I received nothing. They gave me a logon to use – the technician didn’t use it.
After the election the new government suddenly declared the two business days before my installation date to be public holidays, so I wouldn’t have been surprised if my installation was delayed. But instead I got a text from TM with the installer’s phone number, and it looked like it was going ahead. I called his number, but he didn’t answer.
I called his number several times, as the installation time period had passed, but he didn’t answer. I called TM, and they said he was coming at 2.30PM. I waited some more. He didn’t come. Then we got a text from the installer somewhat later to say that TM had a technical problem, and he would install tomorrow, but would call first thing in the morning.
The next morning there was a text to say to call and reschedule or the installation would be cancelled. So I rang TM, who said I had cancelled, and that I should make another appointment for three days’ time. I told them I had not, and that I had been waiting at home for two days now, and wanted it done today. They said they’d put in an urgent request.
Next we called the installer, who answered, and said he’d be here to do it in 30 minutes. 45 minutes later he calls back to say TM has a speed problem, and while he could install there would be no point. He said he’d call back when the issue is resolved – I get the impression this could be in one or two days.
TM sends you automated texts, and these don’t seem to be correlated exactly with the TM office, and neither with what is happening. Also, they don;t accept texts to this number. A communication problem in a communication company.
So later I get a text saying the technical problem had been solved and setting an appointment time in a few days time which is not convenient for me. An appointment time needs to be mutually agreed.
They have a live chat feature, so I connect to that – you need among other things a “service number” – no idea what that is. They haven’t given me one, and the one on my TM bill didn’t work – so I made up numbers until the app accepted it and I connected – then it turns out I’m 95th in the queue!! I waited for an hour and gave up. So far they haven’t managed to get one thing right. They make appointments they don’t keep. They don’t inform you when they are not coming, They set appointment times without mutual agreement. And they keep you in the dark about what’s happening – no communication.
A few days later…
I went out halfway through the appointment time they said, and later received a phone call to say that they’d come much later. I’d be back home then, so if they came, no problem. Once I’d finished what I was doing I returned home, and about 5 minutes later – much earlier than the latest time they stated, they arrived.
My advice with TM: Make an appointment time when you will be home anyway. Don’t expect them to actually come. If you have to go out, don’t worry about it, just go out.
Three men came – one to drive the van, one to carry the modem from the van to the house, and one to install and set up the modem. It took about 30 minutes to get it running and for me to ensure it was working properly. I was told I could change the WiFi logon and password, and the router logon and password. I logged on to the router later, and it’s got a very basic interface, and I could only change the router password, and none of the others.
So far the connection seems to work fine.
UPDATE
As the Unifi brochure offered new Unifi customers a cheaper price, this is what I expected. And I also wanted to know how to configure the router better. Trying to find out anything on the telephone wasted a lot of time, and they couldn’t understand what I wanted, so I went to the Burma Road office. There I could find out that the brochure / website was misleading, in that only new TM customers could get the special price – it wasn’t an offer to induce Streamyx customers to subscribe to Unifi as it appeared. I also found out that no technical staff were working in the office, so they could not answer my configuration questions. Instead they organised a technician to visit my house the next day. Had the technician phoned me I could have got the information I wanted, but two visited the next day, for about a minute, where they told me the logon for a more complex interface. So happily now I had everything the way I wanted.
The 10Mbps Unifi connection is better than the 8Mbps Streamyx one, the Wifi on the router is stronger and faster, and so after all the rigmarole I am now happy.
Tropical Expat 