It took a week for me to finally be satisfied with Celcom Broadband. My account was activated on Monday, 10/03/2008 and until yesterday afternoon, the speeds I’ve been getting were extremely low — maximum around 45 kbps. I called Celcom Careline and not surprisingly, the person at the other end was amazed and did not seem to understand why I had this problem.
Getting impatient with the whole thing, I went to the Celcom Service Centre at Jalan Semarak, had a chat with the girl at the counter and we finally discovered why I’ve been getting such low speeds.
My modem — Sierra Wireless AirCard 875U — was not able to detect Celcom’s 3G network.
Okay… Not really something new because that was the one thing I noticed the moment I was able to connect to Celcom. The question is why was I not able to access the 3G network. The girl advised me to either do something with the modem (upgrade the software etc) or buy a new one.
Buy a new one, huh? Maybe not. The one I have right now costs me RM670 and spending another RM800+ is definitely the very last option I would take.
Anyway.. I got back in the car, turned the air-con full blast and considered my options while listening to Anuar Zain’s latest album.
You should buy, by the way. Great songs.
I’ve been using AT&T Communication Manager to connect to Celcom. No problem with connecting, although slow like hell. I actually installed Sierra 3G Watcher earlier but I took it out since it didn’t seem to be working. Okay, what the heck, let’s try the Watcher again. So I reinstalled the program and voilla! Nothing happened.
Feeling tired all of a sudden, I made some calls and set up a lunch date with a couple of friends.
While waiting for them to arrive, I played around with my laptop again. And whaddaya know… I finally got a pleasant surprise. The 3G Watcher was working and I was able to access Celcom’s 3G network.

I’m not sure how it happened but it did. I’ve been surfing continuously since yesterday and while there were ups and downs with the speed, all in all, it was much better than Maxis Broadband. At the very least, I did not get disconnected while surfing.
Speed? Here are samples:


I’m not going to comment on the server location. It is obvious Singapore is much better than Cyberjaya. But personally, I think I’ve made the right decision moving from Maxis to Celcom. How about you?
» UUM Open
· 17-18 October 2008
· Contact: Dila 017-574.2202
Mas 012-511.2996
» Rembau Open
· November 2008
· Contact: Puan Zaharah 012-635.9493
» Figos Open
· November 2008
» TNB Open
· 13-14 December 2008
· Contact: Cik Khairun 019-237.6799
bband
April 7th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
just want to know, what is your celcom BB plan? RM68/m or RM98/m
Awangku Yusli
April 8th, 2008 at 12:10 am
RM98 per month.
eLLiz
April 21st, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Modem for CELCOM bb tu memang compulsory ke?? or kena check modem yg built in dlm laptop tu compatible ke tak ek??
NOTE: My area is in NILAI, N9 and phone Line CELCOM and 3G tu memang full la.. so, speed for CELCOM bb ade prob x??
Thanks in advanced!
Awangku Yusli
April 21st, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Built-in modem dalam laptop tak boleh guna untuk this type of broadband. Bila kita subscribe, kita akan dapat satu sim kad sama macam henfon nyer sim kad (boleh pilih untuk data sahaja ataupun boleh buat call sekali). Kad tu kena sambung dengan satu device (usb modem atau henfon) untuk connect ke network. So nak tanak, kena la guna modem yang memang dah specialised untuk broadband jenis ni.
Untuk coverage, you can call Celcom Careline 1-300-111-000 untuk further info.
arisa
July 4th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
saya signup celcom broadband 3/7/2008, sehingga hari ni langsung tak dpt browse internet samada daru pc or laptop di opis atau rumah…. tapi yg heran bila g celcom cheras pg tadi, laju jerk dorang dapat browse. sampai sekarang nobody dari celcom careline yg bole tolong saya. balik2x dorang kata upgrade..
bukan masalah modem kan? saya guna hp nokia 5300 as a modem. any advice sir? thanks…
Awangku Yusli
July 4th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Firstly, saya takde experience connect ke internet guna henfon. Waktu test kat Celcom Cheras tu, dorang guna henfon tu ke untuk connect? Ke guna simkad awak tapi connect guna modem lain?
Secondly, Nokia 5300 bukan 3G phone, kan? Tu mungkin punca problem gak tu.. tapi saya tak boleh confirm sebab, macam saya cakap kat atas tadi, tak penah guna henfon untuk connect ke internet.
Dah try guna usb modem atau fon lain untuk connect?
anastasiaann
July 21st, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Dear Awangku,
Thanks to you, I finally can get rid of my irritating slow speed maxis bb without having to pay the RM200..(^_^) -> actually donno yet coz I’ve just receive a call from them this afternoon after my complain last saturday..
But neway, they give they word and based from your experience, I didnt expect it to be this fast.(^_^), maybe cannot tahan my angry voice..hehe.. Somehow, I feel very happy, great and relieve coz I finally stop being a good customer..Haha..
Now, I’m searching for a new BB, and of course as a student, my budget is quite tight.. Roughly, how much do i need to spend to get this Celcom bb? First registeration and monthly?
Thanks a lot, and best regards.
Awangku Yusli
July 21st, 2008 at 11:29 pm
It’s good to hear that somebody has benefited from my experience with Maxis broadband.
As for Celcom broadband, they are currently offering free USB modems for new subscriptions to their monthly packages. You pay RM99 for Basic (speed up to 384 kbps) or RM129 for Advanced (speed up to 3.6 Mbps). There are terms and conditions, of course. One of which is you have stay subscribed for 18 months.
You can also buy a modem from them for RM499 when you subscribed to their monthly plans. You pay RM68 for Basic or RM98 for Advanced. If you do some maths, they come out almost the same as the free modem package. Minus the 18-month contract.
If you can find a cheaper modem somewhere else, by all means, buy it. Another option is to use a mobile phone that supports 3G or HSDPA as a modem.
When you subscribe to Celcom broadband, you will normally be asked to pay one month subscription fee in advance. Plus, maybe, some service charges by the reseller.
Hope that helps
anastasiaann
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:57 am
Yes, that surely help..thanks a lot..
Quite cheap if I use my hp, samore no contract.
Will go to Celcom soon. (^_^)
Awangku Yusli
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Some words of advice… Celcom has its ups and downs, although not as bad as Maxis. So sometimes the connection will be slow.
I just thought you should know that before you storm Celcom after this. Hehehehe…
anastasiaann
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Sure, better than nothing..
kinda lazy to go to CC everytime… can’t count on the wireless in U also.. (^_^)
Nway, thanks 4 everything.
blackeyez
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:36 pm
is using phone as modem is just using the usb plug?
i also heard they say can try out the 3G speed paying RM8 for 1 day use..by dialling *118#. izzit true? coz i wanna try 1 day to see if the speed is stable here..
Awangku Yusli
July 24th, 2008 at 2:01 am
I think you will have to use the usb cable that comes together with your phone to connect it to your computer. Installation may also be required. So do have your mobile phone resource cd with you.
For Celcom’s Daily Unlimited Broadband plan (RM8 per 24 hours), you need to be an existing Celcom 3G subscriber first before you can use it. If you already are, then subscribing is fairly easy.
1. Dial *118#
2. A menu will appear. Type 2 for Celcom Broadband.
3. Then type 1 to subscribe to Daily Unlimited Broadband.
4. Type 1 to confirm subscription.
If you have problems, you may call Celcom Customer Care at 1111 from your Celcom mobile phone or 1-300-111-000 from other phones.
mahathir
July 24th, 2008 at 9:28 am
It is really commendable for you to spend your time providing replies to queries that have been posted even when you are not getting any profit for doing so….
epool86
September 11th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
im using celcom data services since 3 years ago.. at that time, 3g just been launched by celcom (celcom is the first operator to launches 3g in malaysia)..
but sadly, i dont have much money to buy 3G devices.. so i just stick with my gprs devices.. i use my hp as a modem, connected to PC/laptop. at that time, new celcom broadband plan not launched yet.. im using unlimited data plan, together with my celcom postpaid line.
what can i say is, celcom gprs connection is stable.. even it slow (of course, it gprs), but have no problem to surf internet..
nowadays, celcom still better than maxis in many factors.. first, of course the coverages.. celcom 3g coverages now is about 60%, while maxis is about 40% (according to MCMC).
in term of service quality, celcom still better (even not 100% ok, but much more better than maxis).. the average download speed is around 40KB/s (~320kbps) which is about 80% of full 3g speed depends on the server location.. for HSDPA, im not sure since im not testing it yet (although my devices support HSDPA)..
maybe we need some experts or any 3rd parties to do the test, since they know more about it rather than me. for example, let see a comparison test result made by 3rd parties for both maxis and celcom..
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r92/work_liao/celcom_3g_beat_maxis_3g.gif
Celcom also the winner of the Frost & sullivan 2008 Mobile Data Service Provider of the Year.
for details, visit http://www.telecomsawards.com.my/recipients.htm
To date (2nd quarter 2008) Celcom is the largest mobile broadband provider with largest number of subsribers in Malaysia. All this awards, test, and statistic shown us that Celcom broadband is better than Maxis broadband..
of course.. there is still lot of improvement to be done for both maxis and celcom.. but our question here is which one is better. that’s all..