Tmnet Streamyx
Just a quick intro to Streamyx, as you might know TMnet is the main provider of Internet broadband in Malaysia, they handled the backbone of network in Malaysia. So no matter what service provider you subscribe for your internet services, whether Maxis, Jaring or Izzi, they all will come through TMnet’s network. Any problems involving slow connection to international websites, its all because of the TMnut. Easy to say, any problem , they’re the fault. If you google about Streamyx, you’ll find all sorts of post regarding this issues. So far there’s no way of solving these except hoping the TMnut’s stop blaming the consumers and start taking responsibilities
Streamyx has 2 types of service which is PPOE and PPOA. PPPoE, Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet, is a network protocol for encapsulating Point-to-Point Protocol PPP frames inside Ethernet frames. It is used mainly with ADSL services where individual users connect to the ADSL transceiver (modem) over Ethernet. In other words, users are assigned a dynamic IP address, which changes every time they disconnect and reconnect again. Actually this is quite useful to users as we can change our IP address whenever we want to, especially getting past those websites that requires us to wait before doing any downloading eg rapidshare. And for some websites that logged our IP address when we login or register, we can simply create as many accounts or logins as we want, provided that we delete our cookies , history and internet temporary files.
PPPOA or PPPoA, Point-to-Point Protocoll PPP over ATM, is a network protocol for encapsulating PPP frames in ATM AAL. It is used mainly with cable modem, DSL and ADSL services. In other words, the user has a fixed IP address. Mostly , the users that subscribe to this are companies that runs a server or an always on connection.
Now to the interesting part of Streamyx , the service and support for it. The quality of the connection is ‘at best effort’ terms, which means even though they promote the speed is 1MB, but it depends on your connection. Things that affect speed, distance from the DSLAM, phone line in quality, phone line setup in the house, network congestion and few others. The ‘best effort basis’ minimum is 70 % of the subscribed speed eg 1MB minimum is 700KBps, they will only give support if speed falls below the minimum.
The best part about Streamyx support, they are not even maintained directly by Tmnet. They outsource it to their subsidiary company, VADS Bhd which maintain other projects also beside Streamyx such as Tabung Haji Linksys. VADS Bhd which is located in formerly IBM building in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, are responsible for taking the blame on poor quality support of Streamyx users. VADS and Tmnet doesn’t develop a close relationships in terms of up to date information, which resulted sometimes in poor handling of customer service.
On next posts, i will explain the inner working of customer service at VADS Bhd.
Being part of the network fraternity, I may have a different point of view on the Internet broadband - Streamyx. We should be skeptical on certain aspects like the bandwidth management etc, but there should also have rooms for constructive criticism rather than blatantly accusation towards TM Net and the intricate aspect of routing policies. For instance, not every ISP in M’sia will come through TM Net’s network as every ISP with unique AS number will sometime have their own backhaul or establishing their transit with international providers.
The preconceived hypothesis that every slow problem to international websites is at TM Net fault also does not reflecting the actual complexity on performance measurement of latency, contention ratio etc, en route to destination.
Referring to your intention to disclose the inner working of customer service, i am looking forward on it. I would concur that there’re pains for people who always called to the call center on complaining of their services. I, for one, do not like their SOP at all. However, it would be unlikely if your case were left unattended. May be we should play in their system. Get a tracking number and making sure that all info is there (Service number/Login ID). If our info is incomplete, how on earth will TM Net going to solve our problem? As far as I know, most of the TM Net technical people worked until very late in the evening. Being one who has a technician stay on my problem once until 10:00pm is the proof that they did carry out their work. The probability that work wasn’t “been done” could be due to the overloading amount of works that the technical people would have to attend to. And we should not deny on the possibility that the problem could be due to our equipment. (One thing for sure, they’re not put any extra charge on this…at least until now).
Perhaps, your good self may thinks that I am on TM Net side, but I would consider myself as in between. Though I may not condone what is of all of TM Net has done so far - I would consider myself as being one of the users of TM Net and knowing what I have asked of service from TM Net, knowing what they have been doing so far, I would agreed that their best effort has been achieved.
yes, u are right on some parts. for u and me as streamyx subscibers, i havent had any big issue to complain since all my problem is resolved within the stipulated deadline. with my blog, i would at least like people to be informed and educated on how to troubleshoot their problem and so making a report to customer service would be easier and more specific.
but as a former customer service,the middle-man, we cant really blame the customer as customer is always right policy. there a number of times where we as customer service really needed updates and information regarding certain reports, but the technical dept just wouldnt bother to give us any in the reports after the deadline has passed. lack of communication from the technical dept is really an issue at customer service dept.
I do admit there are some good technicians, but the rest just lack the technical knowledge and discipline. There are a few times where even the technician called customer service asking for some guides.
using i-care is a good option, but the problem will always lie to the person who’s on-site to give good feedback on problems.
i have to admit, i am no professionally certified anything network engineer, but i’m talking from the customer and customer service point of view. We expect the best, and even paid for it, so it is assumed that the best ISP in Malaysia should give us better service or at least better feedback instead of blaming the customers.
Yup..i read through most of the troubleshooting guide..clear and concise
seems that u have enough experience in the call center. Nonetheless, the term ‘reset port’ is really intriguing since this keep on coming for the most of it…i’m pretty sure that the term denotes an initiation for sync from ATU-R and ATU-C so that ppp active discovery can be triggered in exact sequence (well..u should be able to grasp this concept aren’t u…) seems to be less-practical for the so-called ‘reset port’ to be applicable on logical issue.
From your discretion in the call center, I’m quite sure that TM Net call center do have some apparatus to probe and executing non—intrusive tests, for instance, the excerpt concerning the step to validate the operational status ( I guess this is referring to DSL parameters where attenuation and noise ratio are the defining characteristics to verify on the physical health).
Technically, if this procedure is well implemented – even in the call center, most of the problems can be further scrutinize towards the root cause especially if the crux of the problem is due to the physical access.
Be of the same mind, there shouldn’t be a linear communication in the organizational structure especially between the customer service and the tech dept. Same goes to the better service or at least better feedback from TM Net. I’m taking my position from customer point of view too…the slight different is that, the infusion of diminutive tech exposure and sound discretion. I do expecting something from my Streamyx line, but definitely not the ‘best’ as everyone may have define it differently. With less than rm100 every month, the service is categorically on par with its deliverables if we really understand the notion, predicament and constraint of Internet connectivity. Certainly, I would spare the exclusion for certain problems with no indication of ETTR or timeframe.
If I’m not mistaken, this Streamyx ISP has been realigned to TM – I do believe, this stands as a reflection of an encouraging news and good initiative to improve their QoS
yes, from my experience, i do think that the port means the ATU card (they didnt teach us that in the training actually). They have a software called BMS installed at the center specifically to check the connection from TM’s server to the customers modem. From there we can check the attenuation/noise ratio and the status of the port. We are only allowed to reset it once in 1 hr.
On the communication part, i agree that direct communication can create confusion for customers and/or the less experienced customer service rep (csr) since mostly it’s in technical terms. But at least the csr can relay some feedback to customers in layman’s terms instead of having the customer on the line for 30mins-1hr. This in turn will create some better image for the customer service. There are a lot of unsatisfied customers out there and mostly vent their anger towards customer service, even though they are not the one that repairs all hardware problems. that’s the life of customer service.