The Streamyx connection on my end was plagued with frequent disconnection and slow browsing speed for the past 3 weeks. The speed would become progressively slow after each disconnection. The phone technician came after I lodged the first report on February 17. There was line noise. He referred the case to the Streamyx technician who promptly downgraded the broadband speed from 1.5Mbps to 1Mbps. That solved the frequent disconnection for a few hours.

When the same problem cropped up again shortly, I lodged another report on February 19. This time, the phone technician and the Streamyx technician came. They replaced the phone, checked the line at the wall socket end and then at the point where the line came into the house. The diagnosis was that the concealed part of the phone line was causing the problem and I needed to get a contractor to pull a new line.

They then offered to “repair” the problem for RM80. What they did was bypass the concealed section of the cable and reconnected the line from outside the house to the internal cable. That, too, solved the problem for a day or two. When the same problem appeared, I called the technician and he informed me that the distribution box and phone cable in the backlane will be replaced. In between waiting for the faulty box and cable to be replaced, I called up technical support several times to request for a port reset. That solved the problem for a few hours.

When the problem still persisted after 10 days, I called technical support to lodge another report on February 28. The Streamyx technician called to ask about the problem, then came over to check. At that time, the connection was up and the speed was good. He asked me not to use the wireless router which he said was causing the modem to disconnect. The disconnection and slow speed returned a few hours after he left, even with the notebook connected directly to the modem via the network cable. I borrowed a modem just to check if it was a line problem or modem problem. The same problem persisted with the borrowed modem.

Around this time, the cables at the back were being replaced. After they replaced the cables, they came to check on the line. There was no line noise, but only temporary. It appeared a few hours later in the evening. Pierce sent a complaint letter to TM on my behalf detailing the problems that I was facing on March 3. There was no response to that complaint. I lodged another report on March 6. The next day, the technicians returned to continue with the cabling works. I was told that they were replacing cables to all the houses around the area where I live. Since then, the connection has been downloading at a top speed of around 109 Kbps without any disconnection for the past 12 hours.

It was not the problem with the internal phone cabling, modem or wifi router after all. The speed downgrade was unnecessary. The “repair” that cost me RM80 was needless. The unplugging and plugging back of devices, and the configuring of the notebook broadband dialler when I called technical support to lodge reports were also needless. The problem was never on my side. Thanks to the incompetent TM technicians, I had to endure 3 weeks of Internet hell for nothing.

Imagine, being a child, waking up to a Christmas full of toys and more toys. I would have been elated beyond words. That was how I felt when I walked amongst the teddy bears and toy soldiers and snowmen and clowns that was part of the Christmas deco at Mid Valley Megamall. There even was a carousel, Jack-in-the-box and a musical box ballerina. While we were taking photographs at the Centre Court, we managed to catch a dance performance by an elf, clown, toy soldier and ballerina that received warm applause from the shoppers.

Toys and even more toys at Mid Valley Megamall’s Funtoystic Christmas.

Teddy bears and snowmen adding merriment at Centre Court of Mid Valley Megamall.

Dance performance consisting of an elf, clown, toy soldier and ballerina at Mid Valley Megamall.

1 Utama Shopping Centre really outdid itself for the Christmas celebration this year. The LG Oval was turned into a small Europen village replete with life-size houses and shops offering goodies, gifts and deco for the festive season. There was an abundance of potted Poinsettias. Christmas trees gaily decorated with big shiny baubles, ribbons, gift boxes and sparkly fairy lights. There was an air of anticipation and happiness with shoppers busy posing and clicking away on their cameras while others were busy looking for bargains at the shops. The gaiety really got me into the Christmas mood as well.

An European village Christmas atmosphere at 1 Utama Shopping Centre.

Shops chockfull of Christmas gifts and deco at LG Oval 1 Utama Shopping Centre.