P1 WiMAX, cares for the staffs too

You know I’ve been writing about WiMAX for some time now because it’s a new cool technology that’s already in our shores, and I really can’t wait for it to arrive in Kajang, so we can get a taste of it compared to the lacklustre ISPs we currently have. So last Sunday, I was one of those that blogged about WiMAX that got invited to try it out at P1’s Flagship Centre in Jalan Templer. It was pretty exciting to note that P1 cares about their customers! If only I was living in their coverage area, I might have gone home with a free modem. Oh well.. Anyways, I was told that P1 actually reads people’s blogs, and if they find your article useful, they would actually want to use it in their online newsletter. This will help many bloggers get some exposure and traffic, so what are you waiting for?

It so happened that I was going down to a Footstoolplayers drama in Jalan Gasing, so the visit to P1 was just at the right timing. They share a building with Greenpacket , which is like an 11 floor hi tech building. Once I got there, we were given a short tour of the working environment, which is really cool, something close to Google perhaps?

By the way, P1’s Flagship centre is like a walk-in customer service centre at the Ground Floor, where anyone can come and experience WiMAX for themselves and talk to their people about the different packages. They have something like a showroom to showcase different kinds of products such as Packet Eyes, the white box modem and the USB modem prototype, and well, other memorabilia and freebies merchandise.

I tried out WiMAX at one of the workstations available, and I got a hands on experience with the 1200 package.

First thing I did was watch streaming HD movies on Vimeo, which was an ok quality. I would this package is great for those regular internet surfers, but I would prefer the 2400 package myself, if I wanted to watch streaming movies seamlessly. It was definitely fast and up to what I imagined, and the box modem was smaller than I thought, and pretty light as well.

This is Billy, the technical officer and tour guide. As you can see, some things like sign boards in the building is not really done yet, maybe this goes to show that P1 is not afraid of bloggers seeing their weakness. 😛

Now this is where the fun begins at the tour, we were first brought up to Network monitoring centre, where we actually got an idea how P1 monitors traffic. There were several workstations and a huge projected screen to show each and every technical detail. Now, this is not a job I’d want, watching other people surf and play games online, data-wise.

The staff wellness centre is what every employee would kill for, metaphorically. There were a couple of football tables, which I’ve played before and this table alone can create hysterical screams and laughter and bring any down trodden spirits up. I would guess this is a good place to hang out after a visit to the CEO’s office. 😛

In the same room is a pool table, for every guy to shoot some pride away. Over the corner we spotted some Plasma TVs, meant to be hooked up to PS3s…nice.

In another still empty room, we were told there were going to be some Ogawa massage chairs for relaxation. Now, everyone won’t feel like going home anymore. OT doesn’t sound like a terrible idea. Amongst other great things for staffs were a gym room, restaurant style dining area, conference rooms and more.

Phew, it was quite a tour, who wouldn’t want to work in such an environment? It’s especially great for those who doesn’t really have any place to go to after work, or if your home is really near. Whatever it is, it’s quite a nice touch for P1 to incorporate all these for people who work for them, especially since their staffs sometimes have to work on weekends and work late.