MCMC Network Performance Report 2017: TM Doesn’t Fully Meet The Standard For Wired Broadband

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) earlier this week released the Network Performance Report for 2017. This particular report covered a number of topics including the performance of wired broadband in our country through DSL and fiber networks that belonged to TM, Maxis, and Time.

Based on the network tests throughout the country from January to December 2017, the regulatory agency stated that all of the ISPs above managed to meet the throughput (download and upload speed) standard that the agency has imposed on them. For DSL, it has to be at least 70% of the subscribed speed for 90% of the time, while fiber throughput must be 90% of the subscribed speed under the same duration.

However, TM’s DSL service didn’t meet the standard for latency and packet loss as well as the latency standard for its fiber service. According to MCMC’s requirement, the network latency has to be equal to or less than 85ms for at least 95% of the time while the maximum rate of packet loss is 1%.

The agency further noted that Maxis fiber service failed for the Central region to meet the latency standard but then again, the fiber network that the company utilized was actually leased from TM. Here is the breakdown of the overall test results for wired broadband as provided by MCMC:

MCMC has noted that latency and packet loss issues are certainly something that the ISPs need to work on. In another set of charts which are based on speed subscribed by users, the agency pointed that DSL services were not able to meet MCMC’s latency standard at all, while only fiber packages with speeds of 20 to 29 Mbps as well as 100 Mbps and above managed to comply with the standard.

The situation is not that bad when it comes to packet loss but DSL customers with 1 to 2 Mbps and 5 to 9 Mbps packages are facing more than 1% of packet loss rate. Fiber services on another hand are well within MCMC’s standard:

MCMC has also noted in its report that certain TM customers have experienced a drop in terms of internet experience after the company begun to offer free upgrades ast year. Additionally, the agency also stated that rural areas might be facing poor latency on their DSL services if their home is more than 1km away from the Access Node.

Despite all these shortcomings, TM still received positive notes inside the report on several fronts. It includes having the best throughput among all fiber providers,  alongside its effort to help users better understand the Wi-Fi network condition in their house – and the Wi-Fi technology itself – through the company’s Wi-Fi Analyzer App.

Meanwhile, MCMC has stated in the report that the agency is likely to issue a penalty to ISPs for not meeting the agency’s mandatory standards. It didn’t elaborate further on that matter though but nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how these ISPs react to this report as well as actions taken by MCMC in the near future.

(Source: MCMC)

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