Tuesday, 23rd June 2009 - 15:15CET

Melita switches data traffic to new cable, introduces new fast internet speeds

Switching works on Melita's new €10 million submarine fibre optic cable between Malta and Sicily have been completed and all data traffic has now been transferred to it, the company said.

"This is yet another milestone for Melita. It represents another building block in our strategic development programme to strengthen our network and technical infrastructure in preparation for future bandwidth hungry applications across our television, internet, fixed line telephony and mobile services," said Malcolm Briffa, Melita's Head of Marketing.

Melita also announced it is introducing new super fast internet speeds in the Maltese Islands. Speed of up to 50Mbits is being made available for the first time in Malta and Gozo and the minimum entry speed on Melita's internet platform has been upgraded from 2Mbits to 5Mbits.

"We consider this major upgrade as our second revolution in the local broadband internet market as customers are now able to experience unprecedented speeds of broadband internet, Mr Briffa said.

Melita now has packages of five,10, 20 and 50Mbits.

It is also offering new broadband internet subscribers free upgrades.

All existing customers on the M package will receive free upgrades: from 2Mbits to 5Mbits and those on super fast connections will receive a free upgrade from 30Mbits to 50Mbits.

The latest MCA market review has re-confirmed Melita as the leading broadband internet service provider in Malta and Gozo with a 52% market share and over 52,000 families and businesses connected to the network.

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Article © Allied Newspapers Ltd., printed on Saturday, November 21, 2009. This article is for personal use only, and should not be distributed.

Comments

Edward Vella (on 7/7/09)

@Nigel Lawrence why dont you downgrade the speed of the internet and then from time to time phone GO to give you a line test.

In My opinion melita made a good move because the people who don't understand the internet terms well will not know that their internet will become bottlenecked when sharing files. Lets say you download a file and share it at 512Kbps, which is your full upload capacity. once that is sharing you will not even be able to download at 50mbps, let alone 2mbps. it will become very slow. I would only consider changing if either company offers at least 2mbps upload speed.
if GO want to compete with melita, i suggest either implementing SDSL instead of ADSL. or slowly changing their telephone lines to fibre optic.

Jos.Farrugia (on 25/6/09)

Thats tough luck Miriam Galea cause when i phone up customer care ysterday although they were quite helpful apparently they had no access to clients details to switch auto.so i guess you'll have to get someone to apply for you with a sign piece of paper and your id from the nearest outlet to update from 2 to 5Mbits.

Kyle Bartolo (on 24/6/09)

Melita provide good products, come up with good offers to. But in my opinion, there after sales and customer care people are not helpful at all. Whenever you call customer care, the person always makes you feel like he/she is really doing you a big favor and cant wait to get off the phone. Also, the solution to every problem is to unplug the melita box. This is useless. Its not some modem which needs to reset an IP. If need be, they themselves reset the signal there giving.

After all, these people are directly talking to the end consumer. So these people must be professionals and leave a good image on the company. Its just a pity to have a company which have good products and so on, but then there "pons" dont give a good image.

Mrs.Miriam Galea (on 23/6/09)

Thanks for the e-mail Melite but i am housebound and cannot venture out let alone visit one of your stands, so where do i stand (did i say stand-LOL)? come on upgrade auto to existing customers and we will all be happy for ever more. Just as a matter of interest why can't we who reside in Gozo have our own tradefair, why is it always Malta this and Malta that, we are not second class citizen and want to be treated as equal - Agree?
Miriam Galea

Nigel Lawrence (on 23/6/09)

@Carmel Caruana

It's the same thing with GO. I'm paying for 8megs per sec, but I think I'm lucky if I actually get 4 megs

These people are basically advertising a product which does not exist.

Joe Galea (on 23/6/09)

Melita told me that they will upgrade me from 4Mb to 7Mb for free. That's great.

However, why do I have to visit their outlets? Can't they just make the switch and that's it?

I hope there's no "Made in Malta" catch!!

Stephanie Scerri (on 23/6/09)

Customers on the M and XL plans get upgraded automatically. What about the customers on the L plan?

Gianni Xuereb (on 23/6/09)

Malta still averages 56th place in download speed and 113rd place in upload speed:

Top Countries by Download Speed
1.19.56 Mb/s Korea, Republic of
2.16.29 Mb/s Japan
3.14.23 Mb/s Aland Islands
4.12.55 Mb/s Lithuania
5.12.54 Mb/s Sweden
6.11.73 Mb/s Latvia
7.11.60 Mb/s Romania
8.10.90 Mb/s Bulgaria
9.9.92 Mb/s Netherlands
10.8.71 Mb/s Moldova, Republic of
11.8.17 Mb/s Slovakia
12.8.03 Mb/s Germany
13.7.91 Mb/s Russian Federation
14.7.72 Mb/s Switzerland
56.3.11 Mb/s Malta

Top Countries by Upload Speed
1.8.65 Mb/s Lithuania
2.7.46 Mb/s Japan
3.5.17 Mb/s Bulgaria
4.5.06 Mb/s Aland Islands
5.4.71 Mb/s Romania
6.4.66 Mb/s Latvia
7.4.49 Mb/s Russian Federation
8.4.37 Mb/s Sweden
9.4.17 Mb/s Hong Kong
10.4.17 Mb/s Slovenia
11.3.60 Mb/s Andorra
12.3.37 Mb/s Moldova, Republic of
13.3.01 Mb/s Asia/Pacific Region
14.2.98 Mb/s Netherlands
113.0.38 Mb Malta

Zap Branagan (on 23/6/09)

Can they clarify whether the 50MB speed is only within Malta or also includes communication outside Malta? It might seem a silly question, but with the 20Mb connection one barely hits 8Mb when dealing with servers based outside Malta.

Another important factor is the upload speed. A 100Mb DL speed is useless if the upload speed can't request the information and confirm receipt of data packets. A 20Mb connection should have a 1.5Mb up speed to make use of the 20Mb connection. So a 50Mb connection should have at least a 3.75Mb upload speed. Otherwise it's just marketing talk.

carmel zammit (on 23/6/09)

just spoke to customer care melita on the phone and only new subscribers are to visit outlets or tradefair.for those who have the service already are to be upgraded auto for the time they are with melitafree of charge.

Carmel Caruana (on 23/6/09)

I'm om 10mbps - so no freebies for me - however I'd rather get what I am paying for - since upgrading to 10mbps I never managed to reach the advertised speed - it usaully varies from 7.5 to 9.5 - actually I might now downgrade to 5mbps given that the extra speed does not justify the difference in price.

Phil Press (on 23/6/09)

@ Iina, yes but an upgrade is an upgrade, why sholud one have to visit a stand, to receive it. For new customers, yes. But surely not for exsisting customers. Will Melita credit me with my travelling expenses, from Gozo?.
Upgrades are either given free or charged for, the article in the paper, does not say you must attend, the trade show to qualify, for what they say is an upgrade, in todays Times.
I have sent Melita an email, to this effect. No doubt i will now get a speedier reply, thank to the extra Mbits. Not holding my breath, though. Lol.

M. Cachia (on 23/6/09)

Called Melita customer care and asked about my 2Mbps connection and they assured me that it will be upgraded in July or latest August for free and not for limited time. For a change Melita answered my call immediately and have finally given me a "freebie" that's truly worth it.

Oh and the best thing is that I will get this upgrade without having to venture to that dreadful Trade Fair !!!

Maria Spiteri (on 23/6/09)

Congratulations to Melita!!!! But very disappointing when it comes to patients in Mater Dei Hospita. Would you believe that its service is being offered for EUR10 per day to patients. This is right robbery as it costs EUR13.85 per month for the internet including the telephone line, and EUR29.99 per month for the TV service. Mathematically it should only cost a person EUR1.41 per day and not EUR10. This service should be seen too as not all patients can afford this kind of money everyday.

karla tonna (on 23/6/09)

@Lina - I received it too, but it's the actually opposite of what you said. The email I got said that the free upgrade will start in July/August and that it is permanent!!!!

A Cachia (on 23/6/09)

@ Lina Mangion and all others

To Activate the 5Mbps,you have to visit one of the Melita Outlets or else the stand at the trade fair, otherwise you will remain with the 2Mbps.

There is no catch, but those that do not visit Melita, will remain with the old internet speed!

And Lina, the offer is NOT only for July and August, dear.... its for the whole duration that you are subscribed to Melita.

lina mangion (on 23/6/09)

From the email i received re the upgrade I understand that the free upgrade is for July andAugust only,
After August I will have to pay for the upgrade or refuse it.

Brian Maloret (on 23/6/09)

j.camilleri

Exactly; Melita is one of the poorest performing companies that I have come across when it comes to customer care and sales services. I won't go into detail but to say that their sales team is incompetent is only putting it mildly my thoughts of this company.

Aaron Meilaq (on 23/6/09)

It’s good to know that Malta is at the forefront of technology. Melita’s latest development really puts us up there with the major European countries. I happen to be a bit of a tekkie and to be blunt I had not expected any Maltese internet service provider to take this step in the foreseeable future. Good for Malta!!

Phil Press (on 23/6/09)

I had an email off Melita to day, stating that i had to attend their trade show, visit their stand, before the upgrade would come into effect.
So "upgraded from 2Mbits to 5Mbits", has not come into effect, for me until i visit, their trade show.
For the next hype!!.

Noel Cutajar (on 23/6/09)

...and are you getting what you are really paying for?

j.camilleri (on 23/6/09)

... and what about after sales service ?!

C Borg (on 23/6/09)

"All existing customers on the M package will receive free upgrades: from 2Mbits to 5Mbits and those on super fast connections will receive a free upgrade from 30Mbits to 50Mbits"

Have just received an email to this effect, but strangely enough am being asked to visit their stand at the trade fair or at one of their dealers. Where is the catch?

Melita switches data traffic to new cable, introduces new fast internet speeds

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