Good + Bad experience with P1 W1MAX

Alhamdulillah. Money seems to come rolling this month. Starting with the Google Adsense payment, and yesterday, upon opening the letter that I received, saw this cheque.

Actually, this money is the refurd from my cancellation of P1 W1MAX last time. They payment being the deposit at the registration time, which according to them that time, only 70% will be refunded if the service is cancelled within 2-weeks period.

But since when I’m using P1 W1MAX? Well, last 30th August, there’s this P1 W1MAX roadshow around my house area in Sentul. Been hearing about P1 W1MAX before that and how fast it is, finally I managed to test run it myself.

I have to tell you, the speed is very impressive. Testing it using bandwidth tester, it gives the download speed of 1500+ kbps. My speed test using Speedtest.net to the server outside Malaysia, especially the one in US give the same speed as well. I guess the real test visiting Youtube website. The movie plays instantly upon clicking without the need waiting time for buffering.

Fascinated with the speed, I sign up one for myself. Furthermore the starting cost is only RM100. I guess I can use this as my internet source on the road around KL, replacing my Maxis Broadband.

Here it is, the box containing the Wimax modem.

And the usual unboxing process.

The box package content.

According to the promoter, you can start using your modem 2 hours after you register it. Pretty impressive huh!

So, why I cancel my account when the speed is so good? The thing is, in the high rise residential, the speed is only guaranteed from 10th floor downwards. With my house being at 25th floor, I guess the signal is too week to travel that far. The good thing is, the promoter that time did warn me about this, but being able to get 70% of the deposit refunded if cancelled within 2 weeks time, why not trying it.

When I tried the modem in my bedroom, I have no luck of connecting to the network. Then I moved to the living room, no luck as well until I place the modem next to the window. But I’m only getting the orange signal only – means signal is not so good. And at that time, browsing internet is so fast. But it won’t last. After a while, the red LED starts blinking again meaning that it cannot get the signal.

Oh man. I’m so frustrated. Why it cannot support houses at floor 10 and above. I kept using it for 4 days, and each and every day, it’s the same situation. Very hard for the modem to get the signal, and only the orange LED is lit whenever there is signal, and the signal is intermittent.

So I gave P1 a call, telling my problem and my intention to cancel the subscription. The good thing is, the guys that handles the technical call is very friendly. I also voiced out my concern about my difficulty to go to Bukit Jalil to return the modem. Luckily, they said that they will send someone to get the modem from me.

Well, my overall experience with P1 W1MAX support is pleasant one. The only bad thing is, the coverage cannot be considered wide. But when I’m reading Wimax technology in the web, the transmitter can even be placed on top of the hill that gives Wimax coverage to the whole city. Not quite sure why it’s not the case for P1 W1MAX. Anyway, I hope P1 do keep up with the good customer support that it’s showing.