A Mechanism for Refunding Streamyx Subscribers

* Post inspired by Jon. Not plagarising you dude, juz working on the idea. :-P *

Step aside, mechanism for racial relations.
Step aside, mechanism for judicial appointments.
Step aside, mechanism for government transparency.

Behold...

THE MECHANISM FOR REFUNDING STREAMYX SUBSCRIBERS.

Intro:
Lately (as a matter of fact, it has always been), Streamyx (an internet service provided by the government-linked TM Bhd) connections have been below satisfaction. Subscribers of all categories were furious and disappointed by the kind of service they have been provided. Not only that the service provided was in spite the high price of the package, but also the assurance and promise by the government to provide fast and stable internet connection to the people. Despite the target of the government to have a broadband-penetration of up to 50% by 2020 (how many percent I dunno la, but it's quite an ambitious target), efforts so far have been deminishing.

This mechanism is designed to comfort the subscribers' frustration and disappointment for waiting hours to load a 1 minute clip on Youtube or retry 4 thousand times just to log into their Windows Live Messenger account. The comfort will be in the form of cash returns/rebates calculated based on a set of simple equation.

Extra info:
Although it has been known that the undersea cables near the coasts of Egypt has been damaged, the mechanism should still be implemented as the speeds promised by Streamyx was of a 'best efforts' standard. What it means is that the mechanism should be implemented to punish Streamyx for not putting in their 'best efforts' to ensure the connections are re-routed to the appropriate servers.

Modus Operandi:

The rebates will be calculated based on every kBps that Streamyx missed for that particular second. Id est, rebates will be calculated every second.

Terms
8kb (kilobits) = 1 kB (kiloBytes)
1 day = 24 hours = 3600 minutes = 86400 second

Equation:

You know, we can use some kind of widget or gadget to monitor the current connection speed. I have a desktop gadget that monitors connection speed, so I do know that Streamyx is screwing with my connection.

Let's apply the equation to my case:

Assume average kBps lost is 10.
Subscribing to 66 package (512 kbps = 64 kBps)
Total kB I SHOULD be getting per month = 64 kB X 60 X 60 X 24 X 30 (assuming that it's on 24 hrs a day) = 165888000 kB or 165888MB or 165 GB.
Therefore price per kBps is 66/165888000 = 3.9786X10^-7, or 0.0000004 sen

Therefore Streamyx should be rebating me 10 X 0.0000004 = 0.000004 sen every second.

Multiply it for a day and a month = 0.000004 X 60 X 60 X 24 X 30 = 10.3125

Therefore in my case, Streamyx should be refunding me RM10.3125 every month, so my package should only cost me 56 instead of 66.

And do not forget 10 kBps less is like the best speed I can get. Most of the time I'm at 25 or 30, which means I'm deprived of 39 to 34 kBps most of the time. Multiply by 3 and I should be rebated RM30 every month.

Or even better, to punish Streamyx, we set an amount for every kBps missed, for example 1 sen per kBps missed. Not bad huh?

Yes i know, what about the spikes like a sudden increase in bandwidth that's above our subscribed speed? That's not our business la. They give us free, what to do? So no negative rebates for every kBps above our subscribed speed. The kBps missed shall be put zero.

A more accurate way of applying the equation would be:
for example,

1300.00 PM - 63 kBps = 1 kBps deprived
1300.01 PM - 54 kBps = 10 kBps deprived
1300.02 PM - 2 kBps = 62 kBps deprived
1300.03 PM - 15 kBps = 49 kBps deprived

total kBps deprived in that 4 secs = 1 + 10 + 62 + 49 = 122
in that 4 secs, Streamyx should refund me 122 X 0.0000004 = 0.0000488 sen.
In the long run (by billing date), it would add up to a big amount.

Discussion:
There's a flaw in the equation coz not everybody leaves their connection on 24/7, me being one of them. Taking the unused bandwidth into consideration is impossible coz Streamyx might argue that it's available 24/7, juz that the user does not use it.

Streamyx could not also argue that when user weren't using the service, the connection speed is assumed to be maximum. This is because there were people who leaves their connection on 24/7 and can monitor the fluctuation.

The equation is perfectly applicable to limited bandwidth users, like the Rm40 package subscriber. Time is money, and money is time.

Conclusion:
The government should open up the market and allow for more competition in the broadband business. This is to ensure the Streamyx service is still competitive and affordable enough. For the time being, a mechanism to rebate subscribers should be employed to ensure a fair treatment of consumers. If no mechanism can be deployed, Streamyx is welcomed to employ my equation.

LOL. I really wished Streamyx would rebate subscribers. So that we can use that money and subscribe to another package to make up for the desired speed we want.

Taking matters into our own hands? We should've been a long time ago.

P/S: As of writing this post, my speed is lingering around 15 to 18 kBps, with one youtube vid loading. SMH Streamyx. No wonder people hate you. Damn it even went down to 500Bps at one point. WTF.

EDIT: Hrmm there seems to be a REAL compensation mechanism for Streamyx subscribers. You can file a complain when there's a downtime and possibly ask for some form of compensation. Dunno how well this 'writing in' thingy works, but if each and everyone of us flood them wit complain mails, maybe they will initiate an automated compensation mechanism.

Unofficial Streamyx FAQ

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