TIME Fibre Home Broadband

Over the years, using Unifi as my internet service provider is always a love-hate relationship. But it turned over to a hate-only relationship pretty quick.

I was a Unifi user since June 2011. I subscribed to a VIP10 package that time with a monthly payment of RM199.

Then in November 2011, I upgraded my Unifi to VIP20, resetting my contract back to 24 months.

In October 2015, TM refreshed its broadband offering with new Unifi Advance plan, and in April 2016, TM revised the price of the plan to the following

TM UniFi Advance 30Mbps – RM199/month
TM UniFi Advance 30Mbps + HyppTV Jumbo Pack – RM229/month

TM UniFi Advance 50Mbps – RM249/month
TM UniFi Advance 50Mbps + HyppTV Jumbo Pack – RM279/month

TM UniFi Advance 100Mbps – RM299/month (Normal: RM329)
TM UniFi Advance 100Mbps + HyppTV Jumbo Pack – RM329/month (Normal: RM359)

But since my condo is still using copper wire, I only able to use VDSL2 modem with the max speed of 50Mbps. The 100Mbps speed is out of choice as it is only available for houses / building connected by fibre optic cable.

One of the biggest thing that even happened to Unifi was the launch of ‘Thank You Suprise’! campaign that was launched by TM when the PH government had pushed all Internet Providers to double up their internet speed. I was selected, but due to infrastructure (my condo is still on copper wire), I’m not eligible to redeem this turbo upgrade. What a sad thing knowing that if I’m on fibre optic connection, I could get internet with the speed 10x faster that what I’m currently getting – with no change in price and contract period.

In July 2019, TM has finally made fibre optic cable available at my condo. I’m able to upgrade to fibre optic cable FOC and with no change in contract period. Since turbo upgrade option is still active in my account, I then finally can submit the request.

But you know what, this request was suddenly disappeared from my account, and calling to their customer service, they told be that the offer is no longer valid. No matter how much I argue that I’m not able to apply earlier since the infrastructure is not ready, they said they can’t do anything about it and asked me to wait for future offer (if any).

My Unifi plan at that time was Unifi Advance Plus 50Mbps for RM199 monthly. Since there is no other option, I ended up upgrading my plan to Unifi 300Mbps – the fastest speed at that time, as 500Mbps and 800Mbps plan was not available yet. With that, I have to renew my contract for nother 2 years. And this is the starting point that I hate TM so much, and how bad that I want to move away from Unifi.

Also, if you look at the bill breakdown, RM60 is being charged for a TV service that you hardly watch. And there is no way to opt out for that. Not to mention when the STB spoilt last time, upon chatting with customer service, they told me that the contract will be renewed for 2 more years if I was to get the replacement. What???!!

My quest to find an altenative internet service provider started in October 2017, where I keep visiting TIME’s website and keep registering my condo into the wish list.

Then on 18th June 2018, I’ve been forwarded with this email by TIME’s Access Planing Speciality that they have prepared Technical Proposal after the site survey at my condo, and it’s waiting for approval from my condo’s management office.

I’ve contacted MO office a few days later, and MO said that they have given the approval. I really have a very high hope for TIME Fibre Broadband to be available at my condo soon.

Then 1 year passed. Still no sign of TIME coming here. Checked with the JMB in mid 2019, and the JMB president at that time told me that the internal wiring is completed. Just waiting for my condo to be connected to to the nearest distribution point.

Then came COVID. So this was in hiatus for another 2 years. Sigh.

On a fine 13th May afternoon, on my way to the car park, I saw a bunting at the lift lobby that TIME Fibre broadband is now available at my condo, and there is a registration booth in front of management office. Without further ado, went there right away for registration. Since currently I’m using a RM199 Unifi 300Mbps plan, so it’s no brainer to get the 1Gbps plan under TIME which is also priced at RM199.

And after almost 5 years of waiting, finally, my house is connected to TIME Home Fibre Broadband. The installer said there was 2 options – to using Unifi’s existing fibre optic cable, or to pull a new fibre cable from riser room.

At first I told them to pull the new cable, since my Unifi is still active. But after a second thought, when Unifi is finally terminated, then there will be 2 fibre optic cables coming to my house which is a nuisance. Also pulling a new cable meaning drilling a new hole at my wall.

Finally I just decided to use existing fibre optic cable, and the installation is a brief one.

The 1Gbps package comes with WiFi 6 router (it’s a combination of GPON modem and router) and 1 free mesh node.

But the GUI for this router is just too simple and too limited for my use. I will be using back my exisitng Synology RT2600ac router with 3x Synology MR2200ac mesh nodes. But I will need to convert TIME’s router to bridge mode first. That will be another story for another blog post.