Presenting a LYN Social Experiment: Living on a 64kbps Connection

As we enter the age of 4G LTE connectivity, it is easy for those living in big cities to take fast Internet speeds for granted. Almost every local telco today offer high speed 3G Internet for its postpaid and prepaid customers, with the some already rolling out the latest 4G LTE connections in selected areas around the country.

But what about those who don’t even get to enjoy a basic Internet connection? For every area with LTE in Malaysia, there are dozens more with only 2G (EDGE) connections. For every angry consumer who audibly complains about the slow 3G connection on their Galaxy or iPhone smartphones, there are more who are still using basic feature phones.

With the new #Hotlink prepaid plan, local telco Maxis looks to be changing all that. For as long as the prepaid line is active, those on #Hotlink can enjoy free unlimited Internet data on their phones. Of course, there’s a little caveat beneath it: users will only receive Internet speeds of up to 64kbps. The idea is not for you to be able to post a selfie on Instagram, but for you to send and receive potentially important emails or instant messages on WhatsApp. Some may not get it just yet, but it could prove to be the catalyst of something amazing.

That got us wondering, however. What can you do on a 64kbps connection?

To find out, I was forced have willfully volunteered myself to be part of a unique experiment conceived here at HQ.

Article continues after the jump.

Over the course of 7 days, I will be living my life as normally as I can, with the exception of using the new #Hotlink prepaid service on my personal smartphone. And, only on the basic free Internet that is offered. Any credit that is in the #Hotlink prepaid pack will be used for calls and SMS.

I will use WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram as well as be connected to my work email. #Hotlink will be powering my personal smartphone to fully simulate just what I can and cannot do on a 64kbps connection.

For professional reasons I will still keep my personal number. However, there will be two stipulations I will have to live by:

• my work number (which will be connected to another phone) cannot be connected to any mobile network;
• neither my work phone nor my personal phone (with #Hotlink) can be connected to any WiFi network.

Sounds simple enough, right?

Over the next week, I will be noting the various challenges I faced with basic Internet, and how I overcame them (if I did). I will record all my discoveries once every two days in a post here on Lowyat.NET, as well as a video entry on our Lowyat.TV YouTube page.

Honestly, I have had my fair share of time spent on 2G connectivity, but never for such an extended period of time. I’m not that active on social media, but I do visit them at least once a day on my phone. While I think I won’t be too affected by this, I can already imagine what I’m in for. Also, my line of work requires me to be constantly connected, so living on a 64kbps connection will obviously present a challenge.

But that’s what the experiment is all about.

Will I last the full 7 days? To be very frank, I don’t know. One thing is for certain, though: we’re all about to find out.

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