If you experience slow Internet access, OpenDNS can be your remedy

Recently, I experienced slow Internet access both from my office and home. Even the Google search page also took a long time to load up. However, the "ping" and "traceroute" results to external sites seem to be normal, this made me suspect the DNS service of TMNet, the ISP.

Then I tried to change to use the free DNS service from OpenDNS. Woolah! My Internet access speed finally come back to normal.

If you are facing the same Internet access speed problem, you might also want to give OpenDNS a try. Just go to this website: https://www.opendns.com/start and click on Computer, select the operating system you are using, and there is step-by-step guide to help you make use of OpenDNS service. If you are connecting to Internet using ADSL, and your computer is configured to automatically get its IP address from the DHCP service in your ADSL router, then click on Router, select your ADSL router's brand and model, and follow the steps for the DNS configuration.

Hope that your slow Internet access problem can also be solved by OpenDNS too.

Now you can change service provider and retain existing mobile phone number

The Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service has been talked about in Malaysia since 2005, and finally it is materialized by today!

With the MNP in place, mobile phone users, be it prepaid or postpaid, and regardless consumer plan or corporate plan, can now port from one mobile service provider to another, for example from Maxis to Digi, or Digi to Celcom, or Celcom to Maxis, and so on... but retaining the same mobile phone number as before, including the prefix number.

This is a good news to all of us, because with this MNP service, we can freely change to the mobile service provider that provides the best service, the best price, and/or the most features & benefits, without worrying about the change in mobile phone number anymore. Our relatives , friends, colleagues, customers, ... can still use the same mobile number to contact us, and the same number being used for banking services, online services, etc. can still be used.

Prepaid consumer plan users in Klang Valley can start porting from today (29 August 2008) onwards, while postpaid consumer plan users in Klang Valley can start enjoying the MNP service from 15 September 2008 onwards. A Nationwide Launch to cover the whole country and including business plan users as well, is planned to commence in October 2008.

To perform the porting, you need to apply with the new service provider, a maximum service fee of RM25 will be charged, and your service with existing service provider will be automatically terminated upon successful porting. All supplementary lines must port together with the principal account. Supplementary line that doesn't intend to port to new service provider must detach and register as primary line with the old service provider.

During the porting process, you can still enjoy the same mobile services as before. Only the International Roaming Service will be affected as this service will be suspended upon your porting request.

Click here for the FAQ document about the MNP service.

FundSuperMart present in Malaysia

Good news to unit trust investors in Malaysia. FundSuperMart, the renoun and largest online unit trust distributor in Singapore has now come to the country.

The FundSuperMart in Malaysia is operated by iFAST-OSK Sdn Bhd, a joint venture between Malaysia’s OSK Investment Bank Bhd and Singapore's iFAST Corp. Investors are able to perform online unit trusts buy/sell transaction, as well as make use of their online tools to check portfolio and calculate return. There are also research articles and fund selection tools to help you select for suitable funds based on your investment strategy.

One of the attraction of FundSuperMart is that it has a comparatively low fund sales charges of 2% only. Currently, unit trusts of the following fund managers are available:

• Alliance Investment Management Bhd
• AmInvestment Services Berhad
• OSK-UOB Unit Trust Management Berhad
• Pheim Unit Trusts Bhd
• Prudential Fund Management Berhad
• RHB Investment Management Sdn Bhd
  

Meanwhile Tune Money, the online financial service portal of Dato' Tony Fernandes is also planned to sell unit trusts on their portal soon.