Thursday, April 16, 2020

What I think of TPG Mobile in Singapore

Honestly, I have used them for about a year using 2 lines..and I am testing using 4 sets of phones, a dummy Samsung J2 Duo (my late dad's phone), Neffos C2, Samsung J7 Prime and my iPhone 8..which is a fair bit of testing.

Legal disclaimer.. I am not paid for this and despite being given free subscription , this is part of their beta trial and legally, they can't even charge because they violated their IMDA QoS which dictates a mandatory > 99% outdoors and 85% indoors including car parks, basements and underground tunnels such as MRT etc and there is NONE in the MRT for TPG... due to tech reason...

I posted a commentary on their page for review which is quite nasty...
 Honestly guys...they are not actually allowed to provide service if the coverage is not at 99%, and their calls cannot go to other telco despite using 4g+ VoLTE phone, and yeah... you need VoLTE to call. So unless you got dual sim and this is for your cheapo data.. I would not recommend it at all... and their roaming is no longer working in Malaysia... huuuhuuu...

and I honestly believe they could do better if not for their shortfall of customer service, and what nots.

They were great when they offered (poor) partnership with YTL in Malaysia aka YES Mobile and despite limitations, connections were stable and works, except for boon-dog areas such as out of cities and rural roads.

Honestly.. how can they sell a service even for $10/mth when there is no coverage for indoors and signal is so bad even at ground level?

Come on guys... just sell the license to MyRepublic and let them bundle em with TaTa - Starhub and save the hussle. Work collaborately.





Sunday, April 12, 2020

COVID-19 Woes

It's been a long while since I wanted to pen something about this pandemic, aka WUHAN, aka COVID19.

The actual term, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Type Infecting Virus 2019 aka COVID19 is a pretty nasty one. It's a VIRUS with a bad attitude.

Being a sufferer of SARS in 2000 with the Borneo Variant aka OrangUtan variety, SARS2002 is a more troublesome one originating in China and mass spreading into HongKong which in turn, colonised the modern world. So many death, yet it blew away in 6 - 12 months.

OK, Now lets start with the good part.

T-12 , with T-Day being Chinese Lunar New Year, is the start of the chaos. Why? Because Hong Kong student riots start.and the start of a blessing in disguise. Why I say that? Because of the riots... people do not visit Hong Kong, activities goes to a standstill due to civil commotion. And because of the Hongkong people prejudice towards mainland chinese, the China citizens do not visit the SAR, causing a huge drop in tourist numbers and travel advisories from many countries worldwide, including ASEAN countries. Many left the island and head for safer havens like Singapore and the like. Europeans, especially the British went back home for good fearing for their safety. As such, the population of Hong Kong dropped by 30-50% as the foreigners ran for their lives as the Black Shirt movement whack anyone whom disagree with their views.

Come T-4, October 2019, the masses left HK and those in Singapore left for good due to the tightening measures of the employment passes, and the tourism sector for the first time felt the pinch with arrival numbers drop by 2%.

So, now T-2 Day , which is when the China government discovered that they had this mini problem and needed to lock everyone down. The virus, SARS Corona Virus Type-A was found to be leaked and nobody said anything. Even the whistle blower doctor who died did not know much of this. Just for your info, Wuhan was infected with TYPE-A Virus which is now rampant in Americas and mutated to type B. Type A is the variant found in bats , pangolin and wild animals , similar to SARS 2002.

Type B is the offspring of type A which is transmitted Human-Human and it rapidly spread throughout China within weeks. In order not to cause grief and chaos, the China government did it at the correct timing, after everyone is with their families during Lunar New Year. Lockdown, Communist style.

Village chiefs lock everything down, no one in and no one out. Same as with the resident community heads in city areas, everyone must help one another as a community to survive. Herd Immunity as the Trump Administration calls it.

79 Days later China declared a win on the battlefield of Wuhan only to be hit by another wave by the imported cases in the border city of HeilongJiang. It locked down the city a few days earlier to stem to outbreak with the army put to task of building new emergency hospitals.

Come to Hong Kong, the second wave of riots despite the Covid outbreak shows that Hongkong students are a silly bunch of Raspberry Millennials who do not have a care of public health and well being. China styled lockdown make them go on the streets again and tear gassed by the police, a wasteful of resources when it can be channeled to saving lives.

Singapore on the other hand, shut air borders with China, HK, Macau and anyone from the PRC and these cities from transit into the island state to curb the spread of the virus. It was after the citizens yelled at the ministers online to shut it after East Malaysia shut their borders upon hearing the Wuhan Virus Outbreak, sacrificing their golden goose, the Chinese tourist industry.

Having learnt fro SARS make Singaporeans very fearful for their lives, stockpiling essential items and sanitary products such as face masks, sanitisers and the lot. Thermal checks are put in place in less than a few days of the movements and without any recall of troops or civil resources. Everyone seems to know what to do and what to watch out for. Kids in school are to take temperature readings, assemblies revoked and social distancing put into play with masks being distributed.

That was 2 months ago.

Now,  days after being put into Circuit-Breaker mode aka "DORSCON PINK" as Singaporeans put it, work places are shut, Schools are shut with everyone working from home or even Home Based Learning. How and why it was called Dorscon Pink... well.. as blindly we put it... everytime the Prime Minister do an address in Pink... it's BAD NEWS... and CB is a vulgar language in the Hokkien Dialect , simply put it... "Don't be a CB (****) and stay at home, You die, I die, everyone die"


It's from a local movie quipped by Warrant Officer Muthu (RIP)... so a local punt as we say it.
We guys will say.. Don't SABO! meaning do not be a jerk and kill us all.

However, the Europeans don't seem to take things in stride. Italy for example, was on a brink of financial collapse, feeding on handouts from the EU and with a broken population of aging people and young ones gone elsewhere to earn a living, its a far cry from being even called overstretched.

The Italy spread was caused by a British national who attended a company retreat / conference in Singapore and went to have a holiday in French Alps and spread it forth. He was infected by a colleague who went to Wuhan earlier and did not show any symptoms. This ski lodge spread forward to over a few hundred more in the days to come.

Now the bad news

Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia is deemed infected with Covid-19 Type C, a more bad ass than the WUHAN variant of Type A-B and the world is battling with type B mainly except in Americas , it's the Type A that is rampant.

What can be done?

As far as I know, nothing much. SARS, 20 years on, did not have a cure or vaccine for it, same as MERS and other Respiratory type related syndromes. It can only be blasted with the anti bodies within ourselves and whatever the underlining problems may be.

Some antibiotics are useless now, such as Amox,Cloxi, Doxy, Ampi-cillin type etc and  a higher dose must be used to whack the trouble makers. Keep in mind, this is a VIRUS and like any virus, innoculation comes from within.

A fellow comrade whom is a virologist suggested a cocktail of antibiotic waves be used to fight respiratory issues such as Brochitis-Pneumonia infestations which cause yr body to be weak. It includes a start with 4x Azhitromycin (2000mg) TDS, followed by 500mg OM x 4 ..resulting in 16 x 500mg dose, costing about USD80. After day 5 and it does not still go down, other concoction will be needed depend on the person. Do note taking a huge dose of Azithromycin will cause a big tummy ache and full flushes of LAB aka yogurt drinks ( I suggest 3 x 700ml bottles) or yakult will do a little comfort. This is a recommendation for EARLY STAGE if one feels lethargic, chesty cough and aching muscles around the fibula. These are tales of being smacked by the flu and it must not be dismissed.

Though there are claims of anti malaria drugs being used to treat COVID, these are experimental but cannot be dismissed entirely. Everyone has different reactions to different drugs and likewise the human body needs to be fully nourished to fight this bug.

TCM or even herbal medication can be a supplement in the fight of the disease and the best cure is to avoid being down. With a proper diet and loads of multi vitamins, the body can repair the under lining problems and smack it in the back.

More to come... I promise.