So, this is what a product tester feels like...

A week ago, I was given a chance to test a new product called WIGGY when I was invited with a few other fellow bloggers on how it works. Read about the product launch here. Actually Wiggy is a product which is a step up from the company's original products that was like a speaker. That speaker was intended for household use and was to give an area the size of a house enough wifi coverage. That old modem and wiggy is supposed to be of higher speed than wifi or even landline broadband. 

 

The highway I tested the car on

This is not the first time I tested a product. Some 7 to 8 years ago, when I was friendly with this one editor who runs a weekend magazine on cars for a local newspaper, I got to test drive with him two cars. One was a Korean car and one was a Japanese car. In both cases we travelled the length of Peninsular Malaysia from Kuala Lumpur to the northern tip. As we need to see how good were the cars handling and all the gadgets both of them and to offer such as the cruise control and the cornering, I, as the driver drove the car like a race car driver and in one instance even got a summons to prove it. The editor foot the bill for the summons.

As the wiggy is actually very new and the targetted market for the older boxy version of P1 Wimax were for certain area, I had trouble to logged in at a few areas. I went around town at my favourite places and just couldn't. However, as new products goes, the company did have the courtesy to check with us on how good was the coverage of their broadband. They even readied a test link on their website for us to go and check the upload, download and the latency (which according to wikipedia is the delay between the time something is initiated to the moment the thing become detectable). I have given their point person the places I have done the test and I emphasised on the places where there was supposed to be coverage according to their map but I just couldn't connect.

 

Not every place I get a blue LED like this

I believe they have one of the best products in the market as I actually have a few friends who are just waiting for them to extend coverage to their areas. I have also a few sceptical friends who is even more well-versed in IT than me but for me, as long as I am entrusted with a product to be tested, I will just do it for the sake of keeping to my promise. What they do with my data is their problem. Just like that car, I helped my friend wrote a review and after some times, the car manufacturer did manage to rectify the problems that we found. If a company really believe it has a good product, I just hope they are willing to hear criticism, especially constructive one and do something to rectify it...