The limited 'unlimited' 3G network

limit July 27 marks the 3rd month I am on 3G network. Thanks for the 'cheap' unlimited plan by Celcom, I finally able to enjoy 'broadband' too, which term was made exclusively only for fixed line users in the past. How cheap, you asked? At 68 bucks per month for the so-called 'unlimited' plan, it's only slightly higher than my monthly Astro bill.

Most of you may wonder what's the meaning with the words between those single quotes. 'Cheap' because it is still affordable for me, though I hope it was 50 bucks or less. 'Broadband' because it is peaked at 384kbps, thus allowing me to do some torrenting & listening to internet radio. 'Unlimited' because there is no time restriction, I can stay online for the whole day if I wanted to.

Seriously how 'cheap' this service actually? For me I'm like paying more than I was offered. They said it is 'broadband' but torrenting & any existing p2p network, just like the issue faced by all Streamyx users, are cruelly and mercilessly throttled. Not only I'm not allowed to do port-forwarding, due to the fact that all Celcom 3G client IPs are NAT-ed (Network Address Translation), I'm forced to comply with the monthly allocated 5GB data transfer.

Wait! Only 5GB? I can fill that in no time! I remember in the first month of my 3G subscription, that 5GB limit was reached within 2 weeks only, although I only downloaded 4 anime episodes and 12 mp3s, as well as occasional (weekly) online games session. I learned something on that time; limit the uploading speed for my torrent so other people are not eating my bandwidth too much. Sorry my torrent peers but I'm forced to do so. Celcom is Streamyx by another name after all.

Thank goodness Celcom did not ban the network for exceeding the limit. Instead they throttle everything down to the same level as a dial-up modem! That means I can still do some 'Twitting', 'Facebooking', blogging & emailing but downloading would be a pain. Can you imagine taking 10 minutes to download a 5MB mp3 when we are so used to downloading them in seconds before? Torrenting is a complete no-no when the full throttling imposed. I can't understand why Malaysian ISPs are so mean towards torrenteer? In the US 3G networks are not NAT-ed, allowed to do port-forwarding and even may have fixed IP, allowing one to host a website on a home server!

Oh yeah, I did mention about the so-called 'unlimited' right? The plan I'm subscribing to is indeed unlimited, to certain extent. Although 5GB is the maximum data transfer allowed for me, I can keep continuing for more without extra charges. However, this limitation is close to impossible if I must say. 5GB is too small for an avid downloader like me. Sure there are better but more expensive plan (HSDPA plan with double the amount of the bandwidth plus the 3.6MBps speed) but that would be overkill for me, even if it is only 98 bucks per month.

Digi recently launch their first 3G network but currently only available in the Peninsula. They used to have only EDGE network but only usable on EDGE supporting phone and no specialized modem for it. I'm thinking of switching to Digi 3G once they reach here but for now Celcom is my only/best choice. Well, Digi offers 50GB monthly data transfer how could I refuse? WiMax, on the other hand has made its move in Bolehland as well. Packet One Networks, the nation's first WiMax telco has launched their WiGGY service in May. Now, another provider, RedTone already make its presence in Borneo, offering "48x faster speed than any other wireless technology" as they claimed, premiumly priced at 138 bucks per month. I'd only consider subscribing to any one of these if the price dropped by 50%.

Seriously, I need around 100GB data transfer per month, judging from my usage rate. Using some rough calculation (based on 384kbps speed):
(384kbps)*(60seconds)*(60minutes)*(2hours/day)*(30days/month)=83GB
And that was assuming I on online at average 2 hours per day (though I think might be 4 hours or even more).

Now, comparing the speed before and after full throttling:

Before:


After:


Celcom is sick. Now I'm waiting for them to reset the throttling so I can resume my torrent again (weird? It's already the 1st day of August but it seems like my network is still throttled. They were never this late before). Honestly, the 5GB limit is a little too small for me. It is supposed to be a 'broadband' right? And being 'broadband' means they are geared towards heavy user like me, regardless they are mobile or on fixed line. What's the point of using the term 'broadband' if its usage is limited then.