Celcom LogoIt 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.HahahaYou 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. CryFeeling 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.

AY’s note 31/12/2008: As confirmed by Sierra, the 3G Watcher is specific to Sierra Wireless Aircards only because they contain the necessary drivers needed to operate the Aircard. My apologies for any misunderstanding or inconvenience caused.

Celcom Broadband 3G Watcher

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:

Celcom Broadband Speed Test

Celcom Broadband Speed Test

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?

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