Wednesday August 31, 2005


Ipoh to be a giant hotspot for Net access

BY CHRISTINA KOH

IPOH: Residents in the city centre here will be able to get “almost” free access to wireless broadband by the end of this year for a one-time payment of less than a local phone call charge, said Datuk Bandar Datuk Hasan Nawawi Abdul Rahman.

He said city hall plans to build a tower to turn Ipoh into a giant “hotspot” where residents armed with laptop computers could surf the Internet even from their vehicles.

“We are aiming to provide wireless broadband in a 5km radius from the Ipoh city council headquarters,” Hasan said after launching the Greentown Square office suites here yesterday.

“At the moment, our headquarters' lobby is a hotspot, as are certain floors of the State Secretariat building and the Casuarina Hotel compound,” he added.

Hasan said the move, which should benefit about 400,000 people living in the city centre, would cost the people almost next to nothing.

He said users need only register with the service provider and pay a one-time fee of as little as the charge for a local phone call to use the service.

At the moment, he said, the state government and the council were discussing with Jaring and TMNet the best method of providing the service.

Hasan said he was expected to meet Jaring officials in Putrajaya on Sept 5 to see how they managed to provide wireless broadband service to three-quarters of Putrajaya.

“This is all part of Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Tajol Rosli Ghazali’s goal to make Ipoh the first city in Malaysia to go wireless by the end of the year.

“With this service, people in Ipoh can get the latest news and information anywhere, anytime,” Hasan said.

Sure or not...Im so not buying into this information :?

400,000ppl to get access! Ipoh will be like the Philadelphia of Malaysia! :cool:

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/8/31/nation/11913672&sec=nation

I used to be in the telco industry and I am one of the test user of wifi when I am in a reputable telco :D On top of that I am in the technical team handling wifi when I am in that company so I've been with the development of wifi all along.

What I can say is that it is impossible (if possible it would be very expensive) to cover the whole city. There would be too many blind spots to address to and too many wifi spots to maintain.

A large area coverage tecnology like WiMAX is the solution to Ipoh. Systems like those they used for Time's Webbit is too proprietory and the adoption rate wouldn't be as widespread ;)

A second take on the article confirms that those people in the article didn't know what they are talking about. :ohno:

They are confused between WiFi and wide-area proprietory broadband (like those used by Time and Jaring). :wallbash:

And what is the point of having an entire city coverage of wireless broadband when 80% of the population do not use the computer - let alone accessing the Internet! :lol:

Furthermore they din take into account of the hardware (the wireless modem) the consumers have to fork out and the computers they are using. No point having all things wireless when notebooks are beyond the means of the people and most people are still using non-Centrino notebooks or notebooks without WiFi cards/receivers.

As for desktop.....well....there's always the ADSL to be considered and it is cheaper to be deployed and maintained ;)

Perak To Be Wireless Internet-Ready By 2007
September 08, 2005 21:23 PM


PENANG, Sept 8 (Bernama) -- The Perak State Government is aiming to make the state wireless Internet-ready by 2007 in conjunction with its target to host the Multimedia Super Corridor-International Advisory Panel (MSC-IAP) meeting by that time.

Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Diraja Mohd Tajol Rosli Ghazali said the cost of setting up the wireless infrastructure would amount to about US$20 million with a major portion of the funding from parties willing to provide financial assistance in return for free advertisements.

"We are also looking at other countries which could assist us in the funding. The advertisements could be put on highway banners with catchy words such as 'Welcome to Wireless Lumut', sponsored by the company concerned," he said at a media briefing held in conjunction with the MSC-IAP meeting, here Thursday.

Mohd Tajol said the state government planned for Internet wireless coverage in most populated areas.

"We intend to start in Grik, a small town situated next to the Thai border by November this year," he said.

According to him, the whole of Ipoh, covering Jelapang in the north to Simpang Pulai in the south, will be a wireless city by the first quarter of 2006.

Mohd Tajol said the state government hoped to make the wireless Internet services free.

He said it intended to emulate the initiative undertaken by the state of Philadelphia in the United States in making available the wireless Internet facilities.

Towards this end, a delegation led by the state exco for information and communications technology (ICT) visited Philadelphia in June this year to have a first-hand look at the wireless model.

Mohd Tajol said next week he would be following a delegation led by International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz to Los Angeles to meet some people for the co-funding of wireless Perak.

Currently, negotiations were underway with many parties to attract grants and co-investors, he added.

Mohd Tajol also highlighted the development of an international telecommunication hub or carrier hotel based in Perak. "We intend to make Perak a transit for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls coming from as far as South America and going out to as far as South Africa," he said.

"All the calls that come through Perak will also be put on the cheapest available carrier," he added.

Mohd Tajol said the state government planned to attract companies from countries like Hong Kong and the United Kingdom to take part in the development of the carrier hotel (telecommunication hub) in Perak.

"These companies can take up a strategic stake in the development of the carrier hotel in Perak while the state government or state agencies will hold a small stake," he said.

"An added boost to this initiative is that a number of leading telco visionaries like Richard Siemens of Distacom has initiated interest in this project," he added.

Mohd Tajol said to date, the state has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with international operators last month to develop the carrier hotel based in Jelapang for the Asian market.

-- BERNAMA

Ipoh - Perak
From Ipohtalk community

http://penangpage.com/pics2/brewster14.jpg

http://penangpage.com/pics2/brewster16.jpg

http://penangpage.com/pics2/paloh21.jpg

PRIVATE CLUBS

http://penangpage.com/pics3/ipohclubx.jpg

IPOH TOWN HALLS

http://penangpage.com/pics3/challipohx.jpg

http://penangpage.com/pics3/conmain10.jpg

http://penangpage.com/pics3/conmain19.jpg

Perak Turf Club ...

http://penangpage.com/pics2/perakturf26.jpg

http://penangpage.com/pics2/perakturf29.jpg

http://penangpage.com/pics2/perakturf21.jpg

http://penangpage.com/pics2/perakturf20.jpg

http://penangpage.com/pics3/fairpark11.jpg

they call this project red snapper

funny thing is at my parent place

suddenly when i try to search for some wifi hotspot...i manage to find a red snapper hotspot- trial site

i wonder whether in the end the investment can be successful or not but now i am enjoying the free service...it is still not stable yet...it is using 802.11g.

oh well Taipei is trying to get the whole city equiped with wifi and wimax equipment too....so it is possible to get a city connected thru broadband using wireless technology but again....the $ plus the community,....whether they need wifi/broadband

taiwan is a country tht have a high penetration rate...ipoh....i doubt tht.

SmartCard for library members
Saturday September 2, 2006
TheStar


THE Perak State Library Corporation has introduced SmartCard for its members.

Its director Mohammad Nazari Abdul Hamid said the conventional library cards would be phased out with the implementation of the new integrated library management system.

Speaking to reporters after launching the Smart-Card at Kinta City Shopping Centre on Aug 27, he said the new membership card could be used at the Perak State Library at Jalan Raja Dihilir, Ipoh.

“The process of borrowing and returning books will be faster as members only need to scan their SmartCard.

“It can also be uploaded with credit for members to pay for other services in the library.

“Later, members can also log onto the system and perform tasks like extending their books’ due date,” he added.

Mohammad Nazari said the RM1.5m system would be extended to all branches, towns, villages and mobile libraries by the end of 2007.

He also anticipated that membership would increase with the SmartCard usage.

”Our survey revealed that people are reluctant to be library members because it is inconvenient for them to submit their applications with three passport-sized photographs,” he said.

He added that the public could also use their MyKad as a membership card.

“However, members cannot use MyKad to carry out cash transactions,” he added.

It costs RM12 to be a member for three years using the MyKad and RM32 for the SmartCard.

For details, call the corporation at 05-2491883.

Hehehe... My city... Gambateh!

Actually, I think the first Malaysia's city that go wireless is Teluk Intan... It is done!

^^^ Really? where did you get your sources from?

well..they did launched the wireless broadband internet service at Tapah R&R few months back....so thats a start..but i remember reading from newpapers..cant remember which one..they mention something about long ranger wifi technology..whats that supposed to mean? can anyone enlighten me? thx..

seem like now my parent's place's wifi hotspot have changed from
jaring-red snapper trial site to just jaring red snapper

it should mean it is up and running.

i guess now around 1 to 2km from MBI building, you get wifi connection

but the quality still depends on location....coz i cannot use it in every room....i have to use it at a specific location at the house :)

at least it is better than nothing

seem like now my parent's place's wifi hotspot have changed from
jaring-red snapper trial site to just jaring red snapper

it should mean it is up and running.

i guess now around 1 to 2km from MBI building, you get wifi connection

but the quality still depends on location....coz i cannot use it in every room....i have to use it at a specific location at the house :)

at least it is better than nothing
The state government or city council will announce when it is ready.

Perak's dream of being wired slowly coming true

17 Oct 2006



IPOH: The state’s bold plans to provide wireless Internet access to the city and the rest of Perak is firmly in place.

At least 10 base stations are up and running in soft trial mode in the city.

The wireless fidelity (WiFi) Internet facility is provided by The Red Snapper (M) Sdn Bhd, which aims to cover the city and the Manjung and Kuala Kangsar districts by Dec 31.

The company will cover the districts of Larut, Matang and Selama, Kerian, and Batang Padang in the second phase.

Chairman Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff told reporters yesterday that the company was tasked with completing the project next year, and aimed to finish by February.

He said the company had to conduct meticulous studies of the radio frequencies in the areas concerned prior to setting up the base stations. This took a minimum of two weeks to do.

He said the company had to ensure that the transmitters actually worked and were not set up just to show progress in the project.

According to Rais Hussin, areas now covered include Meru Raya via the Perak Techno Trade Centre, Ipoh Padang, SMK St Michael and the railway station via the State Economic Development Corporation building, Jalan Raja Dr Nazrin Shah and SMK Sam Tet via the Casuarina Hotel, Maju Rapat and Jalan Lapangan Terbang via the Megoplex shopping complex and the State Secretariat, Kampung Manjoi and Jalan Silibin via the Syariah court complex.

Rais Hussin and Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli Ghazali were at the launching of the Datuk Ahmad Said, Gugusan Manjoi town project yesterday.

Tajol Rosli said the state government would push for extensive WiFi coverage of the 15 municipalities first before expanding the network to the whole of Perak.

Source: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/n...le/local1_html

so guys... what's the latest information about those wireless in Ipoh? I do try my wireless along the Ipoh highway last week, on the way to Jelapang... they have list "Jaring - Red Snapper"... but i can't connect to them.. dunno why... even the signal strenght is high there.... huhu....

can anyone give me an insight and rationale into the extra taxes (about 10%)imposed on technology products like handphones and laptops?

i can't understand why such a policy exists....