Izzi Broadband

Review Date : 25 October 2007

Izzi BroadBand (iBurst) Izzi broadband (www.izzi.com.my) might a new player in Malaysia market but what they can offer definitely could eat any big boys out there.

Izzi package (PCMCIA, USB and Ethernet)

* Mobility (even traveling 100 km/h in car)
* Speed (1 Mbps, almost consistant, not offering 3.5 Mbps but 95% of the time getting 350 kbps…. Telco M for example)
* Price (RM 98 definitely cheaper than Streamyx + Phone Rental cost)
* Radius of Coverage (effectively 13 km, compare to 5 km for ADSL or streamyx).

I spend almost a week scouting every single information about this service. Every single page in LYN forum regarding Izzi. No need to mention googling like nerd. But, thats really worth consider so many wireless and wired broadband player in this market has so many dirty tricks under their sleeve.

Imagine you subscribe to Maxis broadband 3.5 Gbps, but have 3 GB max download per month, able to heavy download from 1 AM to 6 AM only and most of the time you just enjoy 10% of the advertised speed. This is really a nightmare. I really thanks to God for making my maxis broadband registration pain in the arse which I cancel it before I bonded to their contract. Lucky me.

And what about streamyx? I used to use this service for years (start from TM reduce the broadband package to RM88 (at that moment RM88 for 512 kbps )). And for years, I can’t count how many times I call their customer service, or pay a hostile visit to TM Clickers. No matter what I do, I still need to wait my problem to be fixed in 3 to 2 weeks. Yup, the longest one was 2 weeks. And I felt like a cripple man when I have no broadband at my disposal.

No need to mention about disconnecting problems, bittorent throttled down speed, high latency to US server (especially for online gaming), bandwith quota and had no connection when raining day. WTH man, we are in Malaysia, not Africa. The rain season could last couple of months. And for couple of months, I just say… ” Oh please god…please”. Luckily I never call any “Bomoh Hujan” yet.

So, Streamyx is not an option for me any logger. And any 3G broadband I consider as crap. Too many ports closed, so many limitation, slow speed and high latency connection. WiMax? So expensive. I will not spend more than RM100 for my broadband. That’s my ceiling. So, Izzi is the best bet I have. And well, the outcome ….. a very happy and satisfied customer.

And this is my point of view for izzi. The picture you may see here is my download speed in kiloByte. I am happy with that speed considering this is wireless technology, close to their promise really stable.

The latency to izzi server averagely 80 ms and to google.com averagely 350 ms. Pinging to microsoft.com avergely 400 ms.

Using uTorrent with default setting, I torrent couple of files last night, and I manage to get 90 kBps. But, due to the nature of torrent, sometime it fluctuate quite heavy. I could say 70 kBps is realistic average speed for my good seed torrent downloading. The best thing I love about izzi is, i can play my mmorpg online game even I was torrenting at that moment. That was close to impossible when i use Streamyx and ZTE modem. During the torture period, I am torrenting 8 movies, downloading 600+ MB roseonline client game (using download manager), and play rose private server. Everything run smooth without any significant lag in the games. Browsing speed also not affected much.

Overall, I have better consumer experience using izzi compare to streamyx and maxis broadband. RM 1258.00 for izzi iBurst USB modem + 12 months subscription really worth every single cent. I will pay more than RM 1400 if I go for streamyx. And streamyx will bond me for the whole 24 months if I am not mistaken.

The payment scheme for easy is more likely a prepaid version of broadband. For the first year subscription, you need to pay upfront RM1258 for USB iBurst modem. For a complete list for the product package, price and modem… click here . Afraid not, they offer interest free payment scheme for 12 months using major credit card. So, basically you will only need to pay more or less like any broadband subscription.

And after 12 months, they will not bug you anymore. If you want to use their service, you may buy the credits base on your need. 1 month, 5 months or any number of months. It’s really up to you. And base on my under understanding, they will discount for those who buy credit for the whole 12 months lump sum. Each month will cost you RM98 only. No hidden charge, no tax what so ever. It just like a prepaid. You pay RM98, you get 31 days izzi broadband. And the good parts is, the modem which worth more than RM600 (I doubt so..LoL) will belong to the user provided we subscribe the service for the whole year. For me this is more than worth. Paying RM 99 for streamyx 1 Mbps package (which RM 11 for 24 months for the modem) is really rip off. The modem could be bought as low as RM 70.00. Even ADSL modem + router + wireless + switch will cost around RM 150 only. RM 11 * 24 = RM 264. Ouch. You can use this izzi modem in any iBurst coverage (internationaly I mean).

There is a satisfaction guarantee policy. Most of the salesman will tell you, within 7 days, if you do not satisfy with izzi, they will refund 100%. DON’T believe this. This is utterly marketing gimmick by not so etiquette salesman. The truths is, the 100% refund policy is only subjected to everything BUT registration and admission fees (RM 180). So, bear in mind. And dont be a newb. Once you do your online registration, your RM 180.00 already fly to the salesman pocket and izzi. They say no question ask but I notice that there are 2 terms need to be met before you can claim your refund. No coverage AND download less than 3 MB. So be my guest.

75% refund before 3 month of usage, and 50% refund before 6 months of usage (in case their service down at your area).

So, I took ingenious step. During their roadshow at DigitMall, I ask is there any chance izzi salesperson to come to my home and demo to me about the connection speed, either using his notebook or my PC. (I am quite sceptical about wireless broadband, too many contributor to make the performance drop below acceptable level). And they give me their friend card and ask my mobile number. Not even 2 hour after I visit the road show, the sales person call me and ask me when can he demonstrate to me. I remind him that I will test the connection and if ONLY I satisfied with the product, I will buy it. The salesperson took this concept in very open and professional way.

So this guy come to my home (level 15 at Kelana Jaya). Setup the izzi USB modem (demo unit) to my PC (my PC located in a room with no windows). Login his account and let me try as much as I want. He just did his stuff and dont even care what I was doing. Things I do while testing :

* Dowload from nzones using download accelerator (12 segments)
* Torrenting the highest seeder torrent
* Browsing
* Test latency (ping) to several website (jaring.my, tm.net.my, google.com, microsoft.com and nzone.com)
* Speedtest.net and streamyx speed test
* Monitor the signal strenght (100% most of the time. But it can fluctuate a bit to 80% withotu antenna and I close the door)

So, after do all this things (not all at once), I really satisfy with the performance and pay him.

So, end of the day, I get a broadband which more stable than streamyx, as fast as streamyx (when streamyx in ‘good’ mode of course) and wireless. No need to mention I pay less too 🙂

Don’t take my word. As the sales person to perform short demonstration at your location and you decide.
Free download manager download at 75.5 kBps and Torrent at 20.2 kBps at once.