Register free Comexe Dynamic DNS domain name and use it in TP-Link router

Dynamic Domain Name System (DDNS) is a way for you to access to your home network from the Internet even if your ISP is assigning dynamic (non-fixed) IP address to you.

With DDNS configured in your router, you can access your home network using a domain name, regardless of what the IP address of your router has changed to.

TP-Link router provides 3 options of DDNS to setup with, namely:

• Comexe
• DyDNS
• No-IP

Among the three of them, Comexe provides free DDNS service, and doesn't need periodical account confirmation.

In order to use Comexe DDNS service, you need to register an account in their website:
http://www.comexe.net/member/reg_login.php

There are 5 fields for you to fill in:

• The 1st field "用户名" is your preferred account name, comprises of 3 to 16 characters. For free Comexe DDNS service, your free dynamic domain name is fixed to be your_account_name.kmdns.net. So, set your account name carefully.
• The 2nd field "登录密码" is your preferred password comprises 6 to 16 characters.
• The 3rd field "确认密码" is to reconfirm your preferred password.
• The 4th field "电子邮箱" is your email address, which will be used to reset your password in case you forget it in the future.
• The 5th field "验证码" is a captcha verification. Just key in the characters you see in the image.

When you are done, click on the left button "注册" below to register your account. The right button "取消" is a cancel button.

The registration might take some time. Do not refresh your browser while it is still running. You need to be a little bit patient.

If your account is successfully registered, you will reach the screen that looks like below.

Now, go to this URL directly: http://www.comexe.net/member/domain_free.php

You should be able to see your free DDNS domain name is ready for activation. You need to click on the "立即开通" button to activate it before it can be used.

Upon successful activation, you will see the message similar to this:

Next, login to your TP-Link router, and go to Dynamic DNS configuration section.

Select Comexe (www.comexe.cn) as your Service Provider, then enter your DDNS domain name and provide your account name (user name) and password in Comexe.

Make sure you ticked the "Enable DDNS" option, can click the Login button.

If you see the word "Succeeded!" in the Connection Status, then your dynamic domain name is up and running now. You can then proceed to click the Save button to save the DDNS configuration in the router.

In future, if you want to disable the DDNS service, just untick the "Enable DDNS" option and click the Logout button.

You can go to System Tools > Diagnostic section of your TP-Link router to ping your dynamic domain name. You should be able to see that your dynamic domain name is now bound to the current IP address of your router's WAN interface.

Auspicious dates for moving to new house / office in 2016

Here is the list of auspicious dates for moving to new house/office in year 2016, which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu. (Click the image to enlarge)

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

Using My U Mobile app to check monthly plan quota usage and perform other account management

Nowadays most Telco already have mobile apps for smartphone in Android and/or iOS to check for our prepaid or postpaid subscription plan quota usage and perform other account management, including doing top-up or monthly payment, etc.

Such official Android apps for various Malaysian telcos are:

• U Mobile: My U Mobile
• Digi: MyDigi
• Maxis: MyMaxis
• Hotlink: Hotlink Red
• Tune Talk: Tune Talk
• XOX: MyXOX

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any official Android app for Celcom (either postpaid or Xpax).

Among them, I found that My U Mobile is so far the best mobile app which is very clear and straightforward for checking quota balance with its simple user interface.

In its My Plan screen, you can clearly see what is the subscribed plan, what are included in the subscription package, and each of their individual real time quota usage, all displayed in one screen.

The mobile apps of other telcos also provide similar information, but might be spreading the information into several screens, and/or the user interface is not as straightforward to the user.

In the same My U Mobile app, you can also check your bill statements and perform bill payment with credit card too.

You can also use it to apply for U Card to collect points and enjoy privileges. The U Card can stay virtual inside your smart phone too.

I think My U Mobile is so far the best official Malaysian telco app in terms of design and development. However, it could be the worst in terms of maintenance and support.

Like you can see in the above screen about U Promotion, the same Starbucks 10% discount for U Card members repeated 3 times, showing poor quality control. We would expect it to show only once per item, or if it repeats, there should be some different between each items, and not exactly the same.

In addition, the server of this My U Mobile seems to be pretty unstable. Users can be completely cut off from the server for more than one week, rendering the app completely unusable. Worse still, there is no announcement or information from U Mobile explaining what happened to the downtime, and when will the service be available again, leaving their users in complete darkness.

So, I've experienced the best design and usability, together with the worst maintenance and support for this My U Mobile app. Can't we get the best from both side to have a perfect service?