A thread started by the owner of the popular VPN service, BolehVPN, in the Lowyat.net forum has grown to 109 pages, with subscriber after subscriber posting their bandwidth speed test results evidencing this cap.

TM apparently has taken cognizance of these complaints and its Vice President of Corporate Communications, Izlyn Ramli, released an official response:

Telekom Malaysia Bhd ™ wishes to clarify on our Fair Usage Policy (FUP) and address several comments in the blogosphere on allegations of a ‘hard cap’ for international bandwidth being enforced by TM.

Firstly, we apologise for the inconvenience that our customers are currently facing on our internet services.

We would like to assure all our customers that it is not, in any way TM’s intention to enforce any ‘hard caps’ on our customers.

As a matter of principle, however, TM needs to abide by a FUP to ensure that the network caters to all customers in a fair manner, and this has been in place for a few years for Streamyx which is a contended, best effort service. This means the Streamyx network is catered to be shared by everybody at any point in time to ensure everybody gets a “fair share” of the bandwidth. Currently UniFi is not affected, as it is a new premium service.

The Streamyx “Fair Usage Policy” is available on our website (http://www.streamyx.com/customer_care/customer_care.php?id=customer_care_fair_usage_policy) and it basically describes the list of specific heavy usage activities (like P2P and gaming) that will be managed during peak periods.

As you all know, this kind of bandwidth management or FUP is a global and common telco and celco industry practice. It is already in place in Malaysia amongst the mobile broadband players and aimed at making sure our broadband service is fast and reliable whenever in use. It is designed to benefit all users, especially normal or non-heavy users during peak periods, so that all can enjoy higher and fair browsing and surfing speed.

In general, TM’s FUP and implementation is aimed at providing an optimum internet experience to all Streamyx customers by rationalising the internet speed during peak periods (3pm – 1am).

Of late, our traffic profiles are changing quite rapidly, and we are noticing that network congestion can hit different parts of the country at different times of the day or week. When congestion hits, depending on the usage patterns, customers subscribing to the same package but generating different traffic patterns may experience different levels of service performance.

In an effort to ensure a fair distribution of resources amongst all customers at all times, whenever congestion occurs, TM’s network is able to calculate how many users are active at any given time and allocate dynamically the resources across all customers with active sessions.

In rare cases of heavy congestion, we ensure that no customers may get below a minimum threshold of international bandwidth, but there is no ‘ceiling’ to the bandwidth each customer can get.

The problems some customer are experiencing now may have stemmed post a successful pilot of a new traffic management model we ran a few months before, following which we went nationwide about 3 weeks ago. Clearly there is room for improvement and we are working hard to resolve this.

As dynamic allocation of bandwidth requires some specific settings that need to be fine tuned area by area, we elicit and welcome feedback on the experience in different parts of the country at different times of the day. We have set up a special email account where you can send your readings for our review: impact@tm.com.my effective 1 December 2010.

From our analysis, the current traffic patterns are, for most part, in line with our expectations on traffic management, and the speeds being delivered should suffice for a smooth internet experience.

Where the internet experience falls short, we will further investigate both individual cases and the service in its entirety to address specific concerns that they may be facing, and will respond to these customers directly.

Rest assured, TM takes note of all customer feedback to continuously ensure improved customer experience end-to-end.

From a market communications perspective, the FUP awareness campaign is already ongoing and we will further clarify as to the rules we are implementing – and why.

In fact, a bloggers briefing has already been scheduled for 17 December post our engagement with LYN and Kambingz earlier. About 40-50 selected bloggers will be invited to represent the wider blogger community to keep them abreast with our efforts to improve service delivery and customer experience overall, and to seek constructive feedback on these efforts. We hope to address, or at least start to address many concerns at this forum.

We thank you for your continuous feedback and ask for your kind understanding and patience as we work to deliver on our commitment to service quality and overall customer experience.

TELEKOM MALAYSIA BHD

In a nutshell, the slow international traffic experienced by Streamyx subscribers was caused by a new bandwidth management system coined by TM as FUP (Fair Usage Policy) which was deployed about 3 weeks ago to regulate traffic during peak hours; i.e. 3pm-1am. The system was supposed to assist in equally distributing the available bandwidth to all users, especially during peak hours, but instead of doing that, it is throttling everyone on a consistent and widespread basis.

Dato’ Sri Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa, CEO of TM also appeared on BFM radio this morning to address this issue. While defending the need for the FUP, Dato’ Zam said that TM will temporarily halt the implementation of the FUP pending review. He mentioned:

“We will find a way out immediately, today we are looking at some parameters that will allow the equilibrium of usage. If it’s still a challenge in the next 1-2 days, I’m going to pull that out first and then we will relook, get feedback from our users and see how we can do this better.”

You can listen to the full interview here.

Our latest check at the current postings in the aforementioned Lowyat forum thread reveals that the removal of the FUP cap is indeed in progress, with many subscribers reporting that their international bandwidth speed is back to normal.

It remains to be seen if TM will reinstate the FUP in the near future. If they do decide to do so, it would need to be properly regulated rather than just arbitrarily capping subscribers’ speed regardless of their usage. But most importantly, TM should inform its subscribers publicly through all available channels rather than implementing a system which would affect them without their knowledge. This is necessary in order to avoid the backlash like the one they have just faced.

UPDATE:  2nd December 2010

A visit to the LYN thread above showed that the cap is still being applied despite some relaxation thereof yesterday evening. This writer’s 4MB Streamyx line was also severely capped the whole of yesterday evening (average download speed was less than what one would expect from a 1MB line) and normal speed only returned at about 7am this morning. Hopefully Dato’ Zam keeps his word and pulls out the system in the next couple of days as it is obviously creating a plethora of problems for both individual and business users.

Telekom Malaysia (TM) suffers backlash from Streamyx subscribers over Fair Usage Policy originally appeared on GreyReview.com on December 1, 2010.

October 19 2009: Mystery Song on Radio
The song ‘Through My Window’ being played over the airwaves (HITZfm, HOTfm, Xfm) – hear Rudy of HITZfm announced it. No mention of the singer. The website ‘www.EveryoneConnects.net’ with the song (for download) and lyric. Also, with this phrase “Everyone Connects is about getting people to communicate & collaborate because when everyone’s connected, anything is possible.” Twitter, Facebook and Friendster profile pages also went live.

October 20 2009: The Star newspaper
Appeared on the front-page of The Star, “Unknown song rocks the nation.”

October 21 2009: Pixelated Images
Blurred images of the band who sang ‘Through My Window’ appeared on Everyone Connects’ website.

October 23 2009: The Revelation
It’s TM campaign. TV commercial started to appear in the evening on major TV networks.

Full version of www.EveryoneConnects.com launched.

Banner concert appeared on the website too; the first time it is being used in Malaysia. Also, there’s an online mixer for people to create and mashup the song ‘Through My Window.”

October 25 2009: Super Dance Online Extreme Connecting Dancers Tournament 2009 Kick-off
The tournament is designed to reach out and engage the online games community, specifically the 150,000-strong Super Dance Online Extreme players around Malaysia. This is the first time a campaign song is inserted into the game’s playlist.

October 25 2009: Sing Along Booths
Sing Along Booths appeared at shopping malls, universities/colleges, office buildings and cinemas. Videos of people singing were recorded and posted on www.EveryoneConnects.net.

November 21 2009: The Grand Finale
Today is the grand finale event for the month-long Everyone Connects campaign; currently happening at Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur. Some before-event photos:

The Anatomy of #EveryoneConnects originally appeared on GreyReview.com on November 21, 2009.

A recent New York Times article outlined the upside of global online games and described how Chinese game makers are expanding beyond China and outmaneuver industry’s heavyweights like Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard in the online space. The global online games set to explode, with revenue expected to reach $13 billion in 2010; China to capture more than 40% of the global online games market by 2011 (Samsung Securities). Typically, these online games are free to play; revenue mainly from micro transactions i.e. players buy weapons and accessories to advance faster to new levels. This is in contrast to the subscription model of the online games from Europe and United States. Chinese games makers are poised to benefit from the proliferation of broadband usage and slowly-but-surely shift toward online gaming.

Global Outlook, Local Flavors

Here’s a look at how a Chinese games being ‘exported’ to another country. Super Dance Online Extreme (SDO-X) is a Made-in-China online games. Its one of the most popular multiplayer casual online games in Malaysia, with over 150,000 unique active users. In Malaysia, the average number of users for a popular massively multiplayer online game is between 10,000 and 15,000; casual games with over 100,000 users are considered top-tier.

The game is published and localized by a Malaysian company, CiB Net Station Sdn Bhd. Besides Malaysia, CiB also publishes the game in Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. A publisher typically host online games locally and manage the infrastructure required for the operation of the games. Game creator granted them rights to publish the games in one or more countries by the game creator. Revenue-sharing is made between with the game creator and the publisher. Besides SDO-X, CiB Net Station also publish other online games like Crazy Shooter Online, Risk Your Life and TLBB and all are accessible from its integrated online games platform, CiB Mall Portal.

In Malaysia, its competitors are STEP, High Street 5 and Audition. To remain ‘fresh’ and interesting, new edition of the game is released every 3 to 4 months, with changes to its theme and accessories, among others. As a publisher of the games, CiB Net Station requests the game creator in China to localize and customize elements within SDO-X to fit the local markets.

The Gameplay

SDO-X is Guitar Hero for dancing. Players use keyboards to play (or USB dancing pad). Hitting the right notes, players earn points. Having hit a series of right notes (combo), the player earn bonus points. Skilled players can get clean full combination – meaning the player able to hit all the right notes. Below is a video of SDO-X players in action.

Similar to IRC environment, users can create public or private rooms. Anyone can access a public room, either to chat with others in the room or dance with others. Private rooms require password. Users range from 10 years old to 30 years old; the majority in the 16 to 23 years age bracket. Users can access the game from cybercafe or home with average time-of-play per user is 2 hours. In Malaysia, the game has recorded a concurrent users of more than 10,000.

Virtual Economy

Players can earn game points (CiB Points, or CP) by playing the games or purchase points from both virtual and physical distribution channels. On the Internet, users can buy the points via cibmall.net and also virtual points merchants like OffGamers, I1Game, ESA, Whoyo and Gogobase. Offline channels include 7-Eleven, Internet cafes, convenience stores and bookstores. There are over 2,000 selling points in Malaysia and over 100 in Singapore. Points can be used to buy accessories to beautify avatars (like suit and diamond ring) or buy tools like loud speaker (ability to broadcast messages across rooms).

Other than micro-transactions, it also undertake co-branding project with companies. SDO-X is one of the important components of the expansive, multi-dimensional branding campaign of Malaysian largest telcos, Telekom Malaysia, TM. The campaign, Everyone Connects, weaves itself into the SDO-X gaming experience. “This is the first time a song from a marketing campaign is included in the playlist of Super Dance Online,” said Danny Chang, Sales and Marketing Manager of CiB Net Station. “The TM campaign is a good example of a creative way to engage the online games community, specifically the SDO community.”

During the campaign period, the song is the default first song in the playlist. As part of its strategy to reach out to the teenagers and the early 20s, TM currently holding SDO-X Connecting Dancers Tournament 2009 in Klang Valley, Penang and Johor Baru. Finalists from each city will compete at the Everyone Connects Big Event, to held on November 21 2009 at Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.

Conclusion

With the proliferation of broadband usage, online gaming will continue to grow across the globe. It is becoming the social lubricant among the Generation Digital. The popularity of social gaming on Facebook, for example, epitomizes the upside of online games. For companies, the online games environment offers an exciting and vibrant new marketing interface and in coming months, we will see more innovative marketers creatively engaging the online games community.

Game On: A Peek Into Online Games in China originally appeared on GreyReview.com on November 19, 2009.