Maxis 3G Performance

There are so many wireless broadband service providers out there nowadays. All of them offer internet anywhere anytime with a USB dongle to hook up with your laptop. Easily everyone can name the big 5 (or 4) like Celcom and TM, Maxis, DiGi and Jaring to other new players like u-Mobile and iZZi. Since I have tested my 3G Blackberry successfully and the contract I have with the Blackberry is unlimited data package, I do not need to incur additional expense to get mobile Internet :) And here's the performance results.

I performed the test in my office, KLCC area with different settings: 3G, EDGE and GPRS modes. I ran the speed test from Jaring website and download iTunes from Apple.com for each connection mode.

If you are connected with 3G network, the performance was quite impressive even the device showed only 2 bars consistently on the signal strength. It's half of the speed of 1Mbps Streamyx (result attached below).


Since the Blackberry 8707 only has 3G and GPRS mode, I used my PDA HP6828 to test the EDGE. Strange and disappointing result. I thought it could be at least at ISDN speed like 96kbps or more, but download from Apple.com was not too bad with constant speed between 12kbps to 14kbps.


Lastly, the GPRS mode. I configured the network setting in the Blackberry to only connect using 2G mode. Expected result as GPRS is on par with old time dial up speed. One thing to note, your connection will drop when there's incoming call in EDGE and GPRS modes. And your Blackberry emails will not synchornize with server throughout the connected duration until you disconnect. You will see "modem mode enabled" on the screen and you may need to turn off/on the wireless from the device after you are done with your internet.


And for reference, here is the 1Mbps Streamyx result...

My company laptop and network are locked down that I can't install any software such as YM and access internet that is not business related. With this 3G connection and the Wind, I can now logon YM, check personal emails, downloads, and moderate an online forum that I am appointed as moderator. Ha! Work life balance! Perfect!

With that I can close up the "3G Project" happily and successfully, and now looking for side peripherals for my Wind, an ergonomic bluetooth mouse and a macho sling bag ;)