U Mobile today claims the crown of ‘Malaysia’s Fastest Broadband‘ with the announcement of mobile broadband services of up to 42Mbps in Klang Valley, Seremban and Port Dickson. This comes back-to-back with the availability of this service in Johor Bahru just last month. With the deployment of the new sites, U Mobile is now the leading telco in data space to have the highest number of 42 Mbps sites in the country that is commercially ready. U Mobile has currently over 1,300 42Mbps sites within the central region which includes Klang Valley from Shah Alam to Bangi, Putrajaya, Cyberjaya, Seremban, Port Dickson, and Johor Bahru in the southern region. This aggressive expansion is expected to continue to Penang within the next 6 months.
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Dr. Kaizad Heerjee, Chief Executive Officer of U Mobile Sdn Bhd said at the launch, [quote]“This announcement has brought new levels of connectivity and mobility to internet users like never before. It is also a realization of the commitment we have made to our customers in October last year. We thank our strategic partner, ZTE, for their support in helping us realize our vision”.[/quote]
Joining Kaizad Heerjee at the launch was Dr. Pang ShengQing, Senior Vice President of ZTE Corp China and Mr Zheng Bang, Asia Pacific President of ZTE Corp China.
U Mobile announced a strategic partnership with ZTE earlier this year, which promises steady upgrades from its current 42Mpbs to 84Mbps and eventually 100Mbps in the future.
U Mobile is making this high speed broadband service affordable by allowing customers to “rent” the 42Mbps modem for as low as RM20 per month. There are two data plans depending on individual usage requirements – the 5GB plan from RM48 per month and the 20GB plan from RM108 per month. U Mobile also offers a 7-day money-back guarantee with no additional charges to ensure customer satisfaction.
Here’s a snapshot of the plans:
For more information about the package offerings and locations of U Mobile Service Centers, visit http://www.u.com.my/
My take:
I’ve been a paying subscriber of U Mobile’s services for several months (since the launch of the unlimited internet plan, actually), currently on the RM28 per month unlimited internet prepaid plan. While mobile phone speeds will never reach 42Mbps as compared to a broadband modem, a theoretic 3.6Mbps to 7.2Mbps peak download speed is possible depending on the mobile device. My experience throughout the couple of months using the plan as a secondary line has been very positive. While the weakness for U Mobile’s HSPA/3G network is ultimately coverage, in areas where coverage is available, speeds are consistently at 1-2Mbps, at least. It has one of the better data throughput performance I’ve tested so far over 3G/3.5G. With the prepaid plan, it’s very cheap to run and the quota of 500MB per month is sufficient for moderate use. The big plus side – users do not get cut off when they run out of credit, instead throttled down to 128Kbps. My gripes include limited coverage area and very low upload speeds, which can be rather frustrating even for uploading an image or tweeting.
Speaking to several users regarding U Mobile performance, I’ve received very positive feedback pertaining their mobile dongles, with impressive throughput performance overall. One user on U Mobile’s prepaid mobile prepaid plan, Fadlisham Fadzil, commented that there is no congestion within 3G coverage area and download speeds are fast. Fadzil also lamented that he would highly recommend the prepaid plan to friends. Calls from U Mobile to U Mobile are free. While the positives outweigh the negatives, the general view is that U Mobile needs to widen coverage overall.
For now, U Mobile offers a cheap and fast alternative to other mainstream mobile broadband services out there in the market.
[spoiler title=”Show Official Press Release”]
News Release
U MOBILE BRINGS MALAYSIA’S FASTEST MOBILE BROADBAND TO KLANG VALLEY, SEREMBAN AND PORT DICKSON
“U Mobile Now Has Over 1300 42Mbps Sites in Central, Southern and Northern Regions”
Kuala Lumpur, 23 September 2011 – Fresh after declaring the availability of 42Mbps broadband in Johor Bahru last month, U Mobile is today proud to announce that Klang Valley, Seremban and Port Dickson are now offering Malaysia’s fastest mobile broadband, successfully making U Mobile the leading telco in data space to have the highest number of 42 Mbps sites in the country that is commercially ready.
To date U Mobile has over 1300 42Mbps sites within central region including Klang Valley from Shah Alam to Bangi, Putrajaya, Cyberjaya, Seremban, Port Dickson, and Johor Bahru in the southern region. The expansion of the network will continue to grow and Penang will be a new member of the “42Mbps City” family in the northern region within the next 6 months.
With the launch of 42Mbps in said areas, residents will now have access to the fastest mobile broadband that is 3 to 5 times faster than any of the other current market offerings. Subscribers can now enjoy ease of files transfer and streaming of high quality video to mobile devices and laptop either at a fixed location or on the go.
In keeping true to the company’s testament of putting customers first, U Mobile is making affordable this cutting-edge technology to the mass market by allowing customers to “rent” the 42Mbps modem for as low as RM20 per month when they sign up at any U Mobile service centres or U Mobile authorized dealers. For further flexibility, customers can opt from two data plans depending on individual usage pattern – the 5GB plan for as low as RM48 per month and the 20GB plan for as low as RM108 per month. For ultimate assurance of quality service, U Mobile offers a 7-day money-back guarantee with absolutely no additional charges to ensure customer satisfaction.
Speaking at the launch, Dr. Kaizad Heerjee, Chief Executive Officer of U Mobile Sdn Bhd said, “This announcement has brought new levels of connectivity and mobility to internet users like never before. It is also a realization of the commitment we have made to our customers in October last year. We thank our strategic partner, ZTE, for their support in helping us realize our vision”.
For the remainder of the year, we will continue to innovate and grow our fastest internet speed coverage area to ensure more users nationwide will be able to enjoy this exceptional service. I am pleased to say that we are on track, on target and are progressing well within the planned time frame to claim our position as a leader in the wireless data market,” added Dr. Kaizad.
Also present at the launch was Dr. Pang ShengQing, Senior Vice President of ZTE Corp China and Mr Zheng Bang, Asia Pacific President of ZTE Corp China, who flew in from China to participate in the launch event.
U Mobile’s strategic partnership with ZTE as announced earlier this year for a three-pronged development strategy will see consistent and steady upgrades from 42Mpbs to 84Mbps and eventually 100Mbps in Malaysia. For the remainder of the year, U Mobile will continue to deliver affordable and quality service and remain committed to meet the sophisticated demands of today’s technology-savvy consumers.
Customers can visit U Mobile Service Centres to sign up for the data package. Special gifts await early bird sign-up. For more information about the package offerings and locations of U Mobile Service Centers, please visit http://www.u.com.my/
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