Hi. Once again my article did not come out as intended. Anyway this was how it was originally written:

What's up with wireless HSDPA?
By Hazimin Sulaiman

IT is definitely been a long wait to have WiMAX finally up and running. Perhaps sometime mid of 2008 Packet 1, one of the WiMAX licensees will be able to satiate our thirst for neckbreaking wireless broadband speeds- exceeding even the fastest HSDPA services possible. WiMAX, will one day hopefully solve the last-mile problem that has deprived many of their broadband
Internet connection in Malaysia. HSDPA or 3G on the other hand, was never meant to actually compete with wired broadband Internet services.

What's the current situation in terms of 3G services? Well Maxis and Celcom are keenly pushing these services through roadshows, which are a common sight at almost every mall in Malaysia.

Maxis especially is striving hard to sell their packages which promise to deliver up to (another best effort dirty word) 3.6MBps at a monthly subscription rate of RM98; if you get the rather bulky ZTE Modem version. The USB version goes for RM138. Celcom however sells a similar service at 10 sen per 10 Kilobytes, RM8 for 24 hours or RM98 per month.The great thing about wireless Internet packages such as those mentioned: you get to almost immediately enjoy the wonders of broadband Internet access once you bring your modem home. There's no hassle of waiting such as with an ADSL subscription like TM Streamyx, which can be an extra bother for people who do not want to have to get a fixed phone line, (these would typically be people who are renting property like myself). It is potentially a moment of instant gratification: just plug it
in, turn it on and get connected.

But this can easily turn out to be a 'bored-band' affair when one discovers that there is no guaranteed minimum level of services when it comes to HSDPA/UMTS/3G services. Surely enough there are Quality Of Service guidelines, but one wonders if getting less than half of a promised speed is of any quality at all. Go to a search engine and search on grieviences of those that have subscribed to Maxis' wireless broadband packages and you will discover that many feel that they have been given a raw deal: never mind the fair usage policy and the 3GB monthly cap, it's the 18 months sign-up period which seems terribly unfair as far as contract terms are
concerned.You see, one who subscribes to the Maxis Power Package, cannot cancel the contract, no matter how bad the service is unless a penalty for every remaining month is paid up for.

Being a subscriber based in Damansara Damai near Sungai Buloh, since October, 2007, I must say the thrill of getting instant broadband has fast dissipated. Ever since then connection download speeds have steadily decreased. In the beginning there were moments when downloads came up to even 1.5Mbps, then it progressively went down in weeks to 800kbps, then 700Kbps, 600Kbps, 400Kbps and now after supposedly some upgrade in infrastructure, on a good day I get somewhere between 200 to 300Kbps, or less than 128Kbps. Calling up the helpline in the many instances could only resort to have the connection resetted or maybe going through some steps to change the connection type from WCDMA Preferred to WCDMA Only. The idea is that to fix it to WCDMA (UMTS up to 386KBps or HSDPA up to 3.6MBps) only
will ensure the ZTE Modem not to switch down to lesser EDGE/GPRS connections. These steps don't really help. Monitoring

This deterioration happened in less than 6 months and does not reflect well on Maxis; especially when it continuosly hypes and sells the services when it simply cannot cope. Granted however, that the speeds will go down with more subscribers, but shouldn't there be a set minimum for sake of fairness?

Coincidently, Perodua Engineer, Dzulhilman Sulaiman, when studying in Australia had come across technical contractors from a Malaysian telco, who were setting up Telstra's HSDPA services. "We actually hung around together and went out to eat. My friends and I were told that they were here to help setup the HSDPA stuff there. So apparently, technically speaking, Malaysian enginneers are competent enough to handle such a project. So what's the problem?," says Dzulhilman.

The mystery deepens, but three guesses could be spot on: economics of scale unrealiased, subscription not up to critical mass and inadequate infrastructure- money. Telstra's HSDPA stretches from Bondi Beach, the Blue Mountains and even the Outback. Sol Trujillo, chief executive officer, Telstra, Australia at the last GSMA Mobile Asia Congress 2007 in Macau said that Telstra's HSDPA services are now operating at 14.4Mbps, and 40Mbps by 2009. At the same congress, Ericsson's chief executive officer Carl-Henric Svanberg said flat rates for services, is the way to go. Svanberg cited data services such as '3' in Sweden with 7.2Mbps at US$30 for unlimited access, '3' in the UK with 3.6Mbps at US$20 for up to 1GB, and Maxis Malaysia with 3.6Mbps at US$32 for up to 3GB access. But with services the way they are, it would be a miracle to even get to that 3GB cap mentioned.