deanoman

Hi everyone!

We've decided to take the plunge and move to Iskandar from Singapore. We've been in Singapore too long and are looking to have a change and reduce our expenses at the same time. We've done several recce trips and school visits and we'll be ready to make the move in the next few months once we get everything in order.

We've viewed a few houses and we're keen on Bayou Creek in Leisure Farm. We like the greenery.

The key concern for me is internet access. I've been lurking on this forum and a few others for a while and i can't seem to find any definitive info on Unifi availability. Basically, this is an absolute must for me as i will be working from home a few days a week and my work requires a stable and relatively high speed broadband connection. I've researched the other ISPs and it seems that TM Unifi is ahead in terms of reliability and speed. I often deal with huge files for my work so a sluggish and intermittent connection is out of the question. I'd go so far as to say that i'd rather forego the ideal location for a decent internet connection. Sad, i know but it's that important.

I've checked the "Location Finder" on TM's website and Unifi is not available in Bayou Creek. I've even sent TM's customer service an enquiry to double-check and it's also a no, no. The agent is telling me that it is connected, which he has obvious reasons for. I've also read on another forum that only a few streets in Leisure Farm are Unifi ready. In essence, i'm really confused and don't know who is right.

It would be great if someone could enlighten me on this?

Thanks in advance!

bakedbean

Just to say Welcome to the forum

deanoman

Cheers Bakedbean!

montakute

Hi deanoman,

I'm not familiar with the area so don't know if this helps but my search at the unifi coverage site found many houses such as house C-12 below (and houses E-03, N-07 etc) as being covered by unifi:

C-12 JALAN PERANGINAN LEISURE FARM - BLOK C PANGSAPURI BAYOU GELANG PATAH JOHOR 81550

Even if that's not them, this may help you search the site at least: first select state Johor, then premise-type landed, then click the + beside Search Address by Keyword (optional), then enter bayou in the far-right Address Keywords* field then click search below that field.

deanoman

Hi montakute,

Thanks so much for your help. I don't think the place we're keen on is Unifi connected, but I'd rather be disappointed now than having signed the tenancy agreement and finding out after! Strangely enough, I was looking at a different page (https://tm.com.my/#/explore) to the one you have given. This is just for anybody else who's facing the same situation.

I'll resume the search now.... Thanks again

geedee

Hi Deanoman

Welcome to the forum.

I am very familiar with the internet situation in LF... we moved to Ledang Heights from LF last year because it drove me nuts!

The "precinct" we were in did not have Unifi. It's why we left.

I think Bayou Creek, being new DOES have it.

So do some parts of Merbok Springs. Bayou Grove has it too. Everywhere else, as far as I know, does not. So if you go into one of those precincts you'll be OK.

Best thing is to pin your agent down before you sign anything. Trying to use internet with the hopeless wifi dongles is frustrating beyond belief. 10Gb a month.... wow... 2 movies!

deanoman

Hi Geedee,

Thanks for sharing your experience. This is exactly the sort of situation that i want to avoid at all costs! Super info - much appreciated. Can i take it Bayou Water Village (BWV) is one of the Unifi exclusion zones then? We are giving a bit of thought to BWV as a back-up location.

I'll definitely give the agent a good grilling before i sign anything, as a Unifi connection is a big issue for me. I can imagine the aggro with wifi dongles, esp. with a limit. I naively thought that Malaysia, like S'pore, would have unlimited data caps these days? I wonder what happened to Asia being leagues ahead of the West in connectedness eh.... I had no idea it was this bad.

I'll let you know how we get on.

quiltman

"I wonder what happened to Asia being leagues ahead of the West in connectedness eh.... I had no idea it was this bad."

Oh yes, it can be very bad! Here in Philippines it ranges from 100mb fibre to 100K via mobile data, if you can get a signal. Plus sky high prices compared to Europe.Seems similar to your situation. The newest subdivisions seem to be connected to fibre, some of the older large ones have been connected and for everyone else it's pot luck!

SushiFan

I am not familiar with Unifi, but TIME optic fibre has either an unlimited plan with approx. 10 - 30 Mbits/s download speed, or a 100 Mbits/s download speed with a monthly cap of 100 GB. So it is an "either or" situation.
Similar to you was I also surprised by how behind Malaysia is in terms of Internet connectivity.

deanoman

Cheers for the input guys.

I've just had a quick look at TIME and it looks like it doesn't cover Leisure Farm..Maybe i've put the wrong address in but it doesn't seem promising. 100MB is more than i could wish for, but the data cap, even though generous, is a bit of a put off. Do you top it up if you go over or is it a case of 'that's your lot'?

I'm happy to take a reasonable hit on the speed, but i want to avoid any dial-up circa 1990s or dongle (3G/4G) connection, as it would be truly miserable.

teejaydee

Neither. What happens is that the speed drops to a relative trickle. You therefore keep your connection, but for the rest of the month the speed is much reduced. I considered opting for this plan, but decided to go for the unmetered version (albeit at a slower speed).

On the subject of UNIFI availability, I don't know if you have seen the following thread on the Lowyat forum:

https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1461083/+2820

According to the more recent posts, the availability of UNIFI can be determined by looking at the nearby telegraph poles. If you see a black cable with a yellow stripe, together with a white termination box, UNIFI is available. There are photographs on the thread to show this.

Therefore, to be certain of whether UNIFI is available, you could look at the poles closest to your proposed residence and check for the presence of the necessary cable and box. If you see the cable but no box, you know it's work in progress. If you see the cable and the box, you know it's ready to connect.

deanoman

Just read the thread and seen the photos. That's great info Teejaydee! I'm really grateful for the helpful responses - this is the icing on the cake. I will be doing some serious black and yellow cable spotting at the weekend when we go for a second viewing! I might even find a white box if i'm really lucky

Harlow Lad

We been living in Bayou Water Village for around 2 years now. The Unifi line seems stable so far. I think Bayou Creek have them as well.

InVinoVeritas

I use TIME fibre and went for the 10Mbps option. I can boost up to 50Mbps plus they gave 100Mbps for free last Xmas and New Year. But here's the thing; you don't really notice the extra speed so much unless there are several of you using the same broadband connection. I guess there are bottlenecks further down the line, as it were, so 10Mbps is adequate if you are the only one using the connection.

I am mainly streaming TV and torrenting.

deanoman

Great to hear that Harlow Lad. We're definitely considering Bayou Water Village as a back-up so this is very encouraging. Thanks for sharing this!