KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 — Telekom Malaysia’s Unifi Fibre Broadband service has finally entered the gigabit era with the introduction of its 2Gbps and 1Gbps options. Unlike Time Fibre’s 2Gbps service which offers a true 2Gbps speed, Unifi’s top-of-the-line home offering offers 2Gbps as an aggregated download speed.

Essentially, the 2Gbps Unifi plan is a 2x 1Gbps offering. This means if you run a speed test, you could only get a maximum of 1Gbps from a single device. Instead of a higher maximum speed (2Gbps), you have double the bandwidth (2x 1Gbps) that can support more devices in the same home. If you live in a double-storey house, you could possibly have one router upstairs with its own 1Gbps bandwidth, while the other router downstairs has its own dedicated 1Gbps bandwidth.

According to Unifi’s FAQ, the provided Unifi Optical Network router has 4 available LAN ports and each port can deliver a maximum of 1Gbps to a third-party router, Mesh node or other devices via a wired connection. Subscribers of the 2Gbps and 1Gbps plan will receive one Optical Network Router that acts as the (Optical Network Unit) and another unit that acts as a Mesh WiFi to extend your home’s WiFi coverage.

To recap, Unifi’s 2Gbps plan is priced at RM399/month while the 1Gbps plan is offered for RM349/month as an introductory offer. The normal subscription rates are RM459/month and RM409/month respectively. The plan also gets free 600 minutes of voice calls and a Unifi TV Ultimate Pack that comes with 7 streaming apps. Also included is a free Unifi Plus Box.

If you sign up for a 2Gbps or 1Gbps plan, you can get a next-day installation (within 24 hours). If you experience any interruption, TM promises to restore your fibre connection within 12 business hours for greater peace of mind. The 2Gbps plan has an upload speed of 1Gbps while the 1Gbps plan has an upload speed of 500Mbps. In terms of availability, TM says the two new gigabit fibre plans are available nationwide subject to port availability. You can check your coverage here and visit Unifi’s Ultra page for more info.

From the looks of it, TM may not have deployed 10G PON technology which will enable faster fibre broadband connectivity up to 10Gbps. Time is the first to commercially deploy 10G PON in Malaysia which enables them to offer true 2Gbps connection for home users. Time’s 2Gbps plan, priced at RM379, is bundled with a 2Gbps-ready WiFi 6 router that has one 2.5Gbps LAN port and it supports AX6000 wireless standard.

In case you’re wondering, most fibre broadband providers in Singapore are also having the same 2x 1Gbps offering which includes ViewQwest, M1 and MyRepublic and Singtel. Earlier this year, TM signed an MoU with ZTE Malaysia to collaborate on optical network research to introduce the first 50Gbps bandwidth experience in Malaysia. — SoyaCincau