Zooming.......?

The 'other' mobile phone service provider here in Brunei has recently launched a new service, called Zoom! Broadband. With the service, subscribers are able to surf the internet at a speed of upto 3.5mbps which is considerably much, much faster than the current wired broadband service.

At the moment, subscribers would receive a free Dell laptop upon subscribing to the service. Is there a catch?, I heard you asked. Well, in order to get the free Dell laptop, the subscribers are 'tied' to a four-year contract at a rate of BND45 per month. And the subscribers have to pay the full 48-month package (BND45 x 48) in advance. The package comes free with a traffic volume of 2Gb; more than that, every 1Mb would cost BND0.50, upto a maximum of BND40. It is also worthwhile to note that even though the maximum extra charge is capped at BND40, there is no limit on the traffic volume. Meaning that for a cost of another BND40 per month, you can use as much as traffic volume as your heart desires. There is another package, where the contract runs for a 2-year period. Whichever package you choose, you would get a modem, which you connect to a USB port on your computer (or your free lappie). Wireless router can also be connected to the PC, enable you to share the connection with others. You also need to pay an annual license fee, but that amount is quite negligible! At the moment, you cannot make phone calls with the supplied SIM card; you are able to send SMS though.

Apparently some time next month, the original mobile phone service provider is going to introduce their own version mobile broadband, based on the 4G format (the other one is based on 3.5G). The 'extra' 0.5G apparently equates to 512kbps. There is no words on what is going to be offered. A free laptop would be nice, thanks very much!

I have been a loyal subscriber of the original mobile phone service provider, so I might wait until it introduces their mobile broadband service. But the temptation of the free laptop and the frustration with the wired broadband service might tempt me with the Zoom Broadband service.

So how?