As you able to recall, TM has recently announced a new 1Mbps Streamyx package that will carry a monthly fee of RM 38 which is around 57% lower than existing package. To be available for consumers on 16 June, the new package comes with a data cap of 1GB though – a first for any TM’s fixed line broadband packages.
However, TM didn’t actually mention what will happen to the service once users hit the data cap in its original announcement. Hence, we have reached out to the company for further clarifications and it turns out that the answer is something that you might not have expected.
According to the reply that we received from Imri Mokhtar, the Executive Vice President of Consumer and SME at TM, the service will cease to function automatically once users hit the 1GB data cap on the new RM 38 1Mbps Streamyx package. In other words, TM will not throttle your speed once you hit that cap but will just cut it off instead.
Not only that, users will have to wait till the next billing cycle for the service to resumes again. In fact, TM will not be offering any volume top up option for this package.
Imri pointed out that the new RM 38 1Mbps Streamyx package is designed for light users that usage patterns are more towards social media, e-mails and web surfing. For those who are inclined to use more than 1GB of data, they are recommended to sign up for the unlimited Streamyx packages with 1Mbps or faster connection speed instead.
Frankly speaking, the 1GB data cap might work for mobile broadband but not for a fixed line broadband service such as Streamyx especially given the increasing usage of interactive and bandwidth-heavy contents on web these days. By not providing data top up option to subscribers, this package is certainly not flexible at all.
All in all, the new 1Mbps Streamyx package might be quite affordable at RM 38 per month but it is also highly restrictive even for a typical Internet users due to its permanent 1GB cap. You definitely might want to look at other Internet packages out there instead unless you are really sure that your data usage at your home is under 1GB.
[Images: Benjamin Tan, Hariri Ariffin, deanmad]
