Say hello to high-speed fiber optic Internet

Last time I got my self a good-paying job, I indulged myself on a brand new car. This time I've toned down a bit and bought myself fiber optic Internet only. The Internet to me is one of mankind's greatest achievement. It made the moon-landing appears like an elementary school project. It's effect on me and billions of people around the world is incredible and far-reaching. I can go on life without TV, video games or perhaps food for a day but without the Internet, I would be lost.

Ever since I was introduced to dial-up Internet when I was 18, I've become deeply attached to it. When I first got my first wireless broadband 5 years ago, it was crappy at best. Maxis made such a mess of my Internet experience that I wish I just had dial-up again instead. The service was slow, they got disconnected all the time and the data cap was ridiculously low at 2GB per month. Then I changed to Celcom broadband which was a huge improvement from Maxis. Celcom is more reliable, their connection fast and stable and their nationwide coverage is the best. After some times though, I find that their 5GB data allocation to be insufficient. I dare not watch too many YouTube clips for fear of depleting my monthly quota. But even after much care and due diligence on my data volume, more often than not I usually finish up my 5GB after 20 days. That sucks but it's all I can afford at that time.

When I was out of job for a while, I can't even afford Celcom broadband at 68 ringgit per month. But since I can't live without the Internet, I bought myself Celcom's Instanet - their prepaid Internet plan. RM50 for 1.5GB a month is shit compared to my previous plans but it's a whole lot better than nothing. At least I still got Internet at home and only reload my prepaid Internet whenever I can afford and not tied down to a contract. Today though, since I've got myself a proper job again I've decided to reward myself with a proper fiber optic Internet connection - TM's Unifi. I applied for Unifi online at their website by filling up a simple form and two working days later, they sent a Unifi installer to my place. The installation process took less than 2 hours, maybe because I live in an apartment with centralized cabling so they only need to run a cable from my telephone jack to the modem. But the point is, 2 hours later my fiber optic broadband and HyppTV connection are all up and running. Very efficient. One more thing, TM doesn't seem to mind the fact that I owe them 600 ringgit and my name is blacklisted by the telco's database. Celcom doesn't seem to mind either. Maybe only Maxis and Digi doesn't want my money cause every time I try to register with them they declined saying my name is blacklisted. Your loss.

RM150 per month might sound a bit pricey but for heavy Internet user like me, it's worth every cent. First, it comes with HyppTV which comes with over 30 decent channels than I can choose from from Al-Jazeera to Nat Geo HD to Champions League football. For once, I can watch TV rain or shine unlike Astro previously. HyppTV is so good that I decided to end my Astro subscription altogether. Who needs Astro when I can watch pretty much everything from YouTube, live-streaming website or download movies and TV series from peer to peer web services? I don't have sports channel on my Astro anyway and last week I get to watch live streaming of an English premier league game in the comfort of my living room again. Websites such as LFChubs provides several different links to streaming video of my favorite football club every single week. With HyppTV and Unifi, I save like 70 ringgit on satellite TV. That means my Internet bill is only RM80 per month for 5MB bandwidth and unlimited download if I subtract RM70 savings on Astro and the sports channel. A bargain I must say.

Apart from that, Unifi also comes with free land line connection and they throw in a free dect phone as well. I can call TM fixed line numbers nationwide for free using that line which is even more savings on my phone bill. Oh did I mention, the first month's bill is also waived at the moment? So you see, getting Unifi is probably the best decision I've made this year. For a self-confessed Internet addict like me, high-speed fiber optic broadband Internet is God-send. Today I can watch every video clip on the web without worrying about my data cap and download everything I feel like from the Internet. Previously I would save every interesting video clips or even photo galleries with Instapaper and watch them later when I got access to a fast and unlimited Internet connection (usually at Bujal's place). It's sad, I know but I don't exactly have any other choice.

So guys if you're planning to upgrade your Internet experience, I would recommend something like Unifi. Forget 3G or LTE, they're just expensive and the download volume is often limited. Sure it's not mobile like 3G broadband but Unifi users can always logon to free TM WiFi available everywhere in the cities. Sure some of you might not like TM for their monopolistic nature but if customers like me profits from it, why not?

High speed fiber optic Internet at home. My life is complete. I could not ask for more.

Okay maybe a MacBook Air.

or an iMac.

And a proper kitchen.