How To Check Internet Line Quality

The first thing to check how good is the internet line connection is to check how fast the line is performing. This can be checked by going to http://www.speedtest.net to run the Speedtest. At the website, click "BEGIN TEST" to start the testing.

After testing completed, the result of line speed would be displayed. For example, the internet line that I subscribed is 5Mbps and the Speedtest results show that download speed is 4.94Mbps and upload speed is 4.49Mbps. Both download and upload speeds are above 4Mbps and this shows that my internet line is operating at a pretty good speed which do not vary much from what I supposed to get based on my 5Mbps subscription. Also the Ping is only 9 miliseconds indicates the data reach destination and come back fast enough. Ping with less than 20 miliseconds is consider a positive result. The lesser time it takes for the Ping, it is better.

To get the a more detailed testing on the internet line quality, can go http://www.pingtest.net to check on how much data is loss (measured in packet loss), how stable is the connection (measured in jitter) and the grade for the line. To start the test, click on "BEGIN TEST".

A good internet line should have 0% packet loss or close to 0% because higher % packet loss simply means there is a lot of data loss. A good internet line need to have the value for jitter as small as possible as it is a measurement of the stability. A high value of jitter implies there is a lot of fluctuation in the line stability.  Last but not least, a good internet line quality should be showing grade "A". 

Apart from using the method above to check the quality of the internet line, the tool that is available inside Windows itself can be used as well. 

 

Click on the Windows "Start" button. Type "cmd" in the search box. Click on "cmd" that appear under "Programs".

Type "ping www.google.com -t" in the command prompt box and press "Enter" on the keyboard.

A continuous connection testing to the "www.google.com" would be established to check the quality of the internet line.

Let the the testing run for approximately 1 minute and then stop it by pressing "Ctrl + C" button on keyboard. The results of the testing would be shown. Packets received that has equivalent number as packets sent means that the internet line is functioning at perfect condition as there is no data loss indicated by 0% loss. Average time is the average ping time it takes to reach destination "www.google.com" and come back. A good internet line would be having a less than 20ms average time.

An example of bad internet line results would be as below:

Messages such as "Request timed out", "Destination host unreachable" and "Genaral failure" that visible during the testing are the error messages indicating there is a loss of connection from the internet line to "www.google.com". The more frequent these errors appearing, the more worse is the internet line quality. Also, if the packet received is having a number much less than the packet sent, it means a lot data has been loss and would be having a high value of % loss. A high average ping time of more than 20ms means the internet line is in bad quality.

All the internet line quality testing should be done by using wired LAN connection between computer and internet modem and ensure there is no other devices is connected to the modem either wired or wireless at that moment of testing. This is important to get the accurate results for the testing.

Kampar Fish Ball Mee

Kampar Fish Ball Mee is a type of noodle that have different variety for selection such as Hor Fun (Kuey Teow), Loh Shu Fan, Yellow Mee and Mee Hun in either dry soya sauce, plain soup or curry. The ingredients for Kampar Mee are of many types as well to be chosen from such as fish ball, meat ball, fuk chok, tofu and others.

As its name implies, this noodle was originated from Kampar, Perak and now most of the Kopitiam in KL are having the Kampar Fish Ball Mee stall.

Those who are interested to learn about Kampar Fish Ball Mee and open a stall can contact the boss of the Kampar Fish Ball Mee which brought this noodle business all the way from Kampar to KL many years back then. He is now living in KL and still owning some of the stalls in KL but he has hired people to run the stalls for him. He is also the supplier for the Kampar Fish Ball Mee ingredients to most of the Kampar Fish Ball Mee stalls in KL and he is putting more focus on this business segment nowadays.

Above is the name card of the Kampar Fish Ball Mee boss with his contact number. 

Cyberjaya Has Grown

I had studied in Cyberjaya for 4 years and the last year that I stayed in Cyberjaya was in year 2010. The whole Cyberjaya area was so deserted and not much traffic as well. I had been staying in the same room, same house and same condominium for final 3 years during my student life in MMU Cyberjaya. The room that I had stayed was at 10th floor of the block C of Cyberia Condominium and there was a window. The window of my room was facing a super huge empty piece of land. Everyday, that empty land would caught my sight through the window. I felt the land is so wasted with no development on the land at that moment and I hoped that there would a shopping mall or some nice building to be built on that land.

After graduated, I moved away from Cyberjaya and I hardly stepped into Cyberjaya since then. In this year, 1 fine day I went to Cyberjaya just to take a sight-seeing of it. I went to the area that I used to stayed in Cyberjaya and I could no longer recognize it anymore. To my amazement, that empty huge piece of land that I used to see everyday has now transformed into many nice high rise buildings and condominiums as in the 4 photos above. These buildings are so  futuristic and have the state-of-the-art design. The photos talk the words. Cyberjaya is a good place for investment.                     

Color Shampoo vs Normal Shampoo

There is 1 special type of shampoo called "Color Shampoo". As its name implied, it is a shampoo formulated specially for hair with color dyed. As I do sometimes colored my hair, so I have tried before using the normal shampoo and colored shampoo. Color shampoo is actually better compared to normal shampoo because it protects the hair color from fading/changing color too fast and gives the hair shining look. This is due to the the color locking capability in color shampoo ingredients.

Normal shampoo usually would make the hair color fade faster and would change the hair color into different one. After spending the money to dye hair with color, definitely hope that the color would last as long as possible. Choosing color shampoo to use would help to achieve that purpose.

IDD Talk Card and How To Use

Recently I needed to make a call to overseas from my handphone but unfortunately my handphone number didn't have the overseas calling service activated. To activate the service on my handphone line would be very expensive. So I looked for alternative which was to get a prepaid IDD (International Direct Dialing) card as a more cost effective way. As the first time wanted to use prepaid IDD card, not quite sure where to get it and unsure how to use it even after got it. So I did my own research and finally successfully got it and use it. Now in my blog, I am going to write about how to get the a prepaid IDD card and how to use it as a reference guide for those who want to use IDD card but don't have any knowledge about it.

ITalk is the most famous and can get easily prepaid IDD card in Malaysia to make overseas call. It it produced by TM. The most easy way to buy ITalk is from online portal such as through Maybank2u banking website. The minimum amount ITalk that can buy is RM10. When buy from Maybank2u website, there is no physical card given but will be given information such as "Serial Number" "Reload Number" instead.

After having the "Reload Number", it is ready to activate the ITalk service. Activation is needed for one time only and below are the steps to activate:

Activation Steps:
1) Dial "1 800 87 3636" from the phone.
2) Follow the instructions given by the system and when requested for card number, enter the 12-digit "Reload Number".
3) ITalk prepaid service would be activated and it is now linked to the phone number that the call was made just now.
4) Call to overseas can be made now by referring the below: Steps To Make Overseas Call.

Steps To Make Overseas Call:
1) Dial "1 800 87 3636" from the phone that has activated ITalk prepaid service.
2) Enter overseas phone number followed by #. For most smartphone, after dialing the phone number and the line is still engaged, the keypad only allows to enter numbers only and the "+" sign is not allowed. So to enter overseas number such +6512345678, enter 006512345678 instead. Putting 00 is equivalent to "+" sign.
3) To make future overseas call, just repeat steps 1-2.

Call to overseas will have the charges automatically deducted from the ITalk prepaid value that purchased.

New Year New Tyre

My car front 2 tyres already used until not much tread left anymore. Can feel the tyres gripping power has been reduced significantly when driving through rough surface. A worn out tyre's thread can be quite dangerous especially if driving during raining days as wet road condition requires much more gripping power.

Old Front Tyre (Worn Out Threads)

So while I was at hometown for celebrating Chinese New Year, I went the tyre shop that I used to change my car tyres last time to check out different brands of tyre and the pricing. The shop is selling the brands like Yokohama, Falken, Goodyear and Michelin.

I have used before Goodyear Eagle NCT5 and Silverstone NS-223 tyres and I will never use them anymore because they were easily skid when driving through wet road condition and they were very noisy. I have used before Yokohama tyre also. Yokohama tyre is the best tyre that I have used so far because it did not skid even when driving through a very wet road and it was very quiet. The price for a Yokohama tyre is RM175 for 14 inch size and for a Michelin tyre is costing RM200++ for the same size.

New Front Tyre (Full of Threads)

New Falken ZE-322 Tyre

Because of tight budget this time round, Yokohama and Michelin tyres were out of consideration. Since the price for a Falken tyre of 14 inch is RM125 only and I have never used it before, so I decided to give a try to use Falken tyre at both front side of my car. The Falken tyre model I am using is ZE-322.

Total price I spent was RM290 whereby RM250 for 2 front tyres, RM30 for balancing & alignment and RM10 for the small rubber valve.

The shop address:
Wan Hua Tyres Service Centre Sdn. Bhd.
G17, Block Bunga Raya 2,
Jalan Abadi 1,
Taman Malim Jaya,
75250 Melaka.

Ikut Kiri Apps

There is one automotive apps for smartphone called "Ikut Kiri" which is a very useful apps for both car parts sellers and car owners.

This apps provides the functionality for car parts sellers to list their items and sale.

For car owners, they can use this apps to buy automotive parts listed inside. Not only that, car owners  also can use this apps to check roughly the price of the items as a benchmark for price comparison against the price quoted by the workshop when there is a part change required. This will give car owners the ability to identify if the car workshop is overcharging the price of a particular item.

This apps provides the car parts price list for all kinds of automotive brands ranging from normal Proton car up to luxury Porche car. It is a very informative apps indeed.

How To Know If Car Air-Cond Gas Is Lesser

On my last visit to workshop to service my car, I learnt something new about car. After the mechanic done checking on my car, he told me that my car air-cond has lesser gas already and need to top up. I was quite skeptical about that. So the mechanic showed me how to know if the gas in car air cond has been lesser or not.

He started my car engine and let the air-cond running, after a few minutes there was some bubble forming up inside the small glass hole located at the engine compartment area. During the topping up of my car air-cond gas, it can be seen that the bubble forming was lesser and lesser until there was no bubble forming at all.

After few months, I checked again my car small glass hole indicator while the engine and air-cond are running. There was no bubble forming up and this indicate my car air-cond gas is still in the right amount and there was no leaking of gas from my car air-cond system.

The air-cond gas condition can be identified by looking at the small glass hole indicator located near to engine compartment area. The small glass hole is connected to air-cond system. When there is bubble forming inside the small glass hole while the air-cond is running after 5 mins-10mins, it means some of the air-cond gas has been disappeared. The more bubble is seen, means more air-cond gas has been disappeared. A car air-cond system that is good in condition and has good amount of gas will not have any bubble forming inside the glass hole during air-cond is running.

Free Cake From Starbucks

I was actually given a free cake by Starbucks. Why is that so? It is because this month of February is a month of birthday for me. As a cardholder for Starbucks card and I have registered the card, I was entitled a slice of cake for free after I bought a drink using the card during my birthday month. The free cake can redeemed anytime using the card within birthday month.

I was entitled to choose any 1 cake from the cakes available in the shop for free redemption. So I redeemed for myself a slice of marble cheesecake as I love to cheesecake a lot. The marble cheesecake was very yummy and it was a perfect match with a cup of cold creamy green tea frappuccino.

This Starbucks card has been very rewarding. It is great to own this Starbucks card. I have written a post on the benefits of Starbucks card previously and here goes the link: http://stylocoolblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/starbucks-card-and-apps.html

Food To Eat In Melaka

I and my friends went to Melaka on last month and we have visited quite a number of places within 3 days time. So I decided to make a blog post on the food that we have hunted successfully during the trip.

1) Coconut Shake @ Klebang

There are now many places in Melaka are selling coconut shake nowadays. But the most authentic coconut shake can be found at Klebang, Melaka. The shop is just next to Caltex Petrol Station and is some distance away from the new big hospital (Oriental Medical Center) on the left when coming from Melaka Raya direction. The coconut shake is super nice and refreshing to drink on this hot weather. The shop is always packed with customers every day especially on weekends.

Address:
Klebang Original Coconut Shake (Besides Caltex)
Jalan Klebang Besar,
75200 Melaka.


2) Chicken Rice Ball @ Batu Berendam

There is 1 shop at Batu Berendam selling chicken rice ball that is tasted much more better than other shops at Jonker. In this shop, the chicken is more tender and more juicy with the rice not too oily and not too dry. It is a perfect combination between the rice and the chicken. This shop name is "Huang Chang Chicken Rice Restaurant" and it is having a good management system. When reach the shop, just go directly to the counter to make order and pay, then they will deliver the food to the table.

Address: 
Huang Chang Chicken Rice Restaurant
BB-376 Taman Melaka Baru,
Batu Berendam,75350 Melaka.


3) Red Square @ Taman Melaka Raya

This shop Red Square is located at Jalan Melaka Raya 8 and it is offering a wide range of wonderful chinese dishes. All the dishes are tasted great. Give 5 stars to this restaurant.

Address:
Red Square
Jalan Melaka Raya 8,
Taman Melaka Raya,
75000 Melaka.


4) Pak Putra Tandoori & Naan Restaurant @ Kota Laksamana

The best tandoori and naan in town can be found in Pak Putra Tandoori & Naan Restaurant and it is located at Kota Laksamana. The location is very strategic as it is within the walking distance from the famous Jonker Street. This shop is always packed with customers.

Address: 
Pak Putra Tandoori & Naan Restaurant
Jalan Laksamana 4,
75200 Melaka.


5) Medan Selera @ Bukit Beruang

This Medan Selera is a food court located at Bukit Beruang near to MMU Melaka. The nice food available at here are the curry chicken rice and fried chicken. The prices of the food here are not expensive and is a good eating place for MMU students.

Address:
Medan Selera Bukit Beruang
Taman Bukit Melaka,
75450 Bukit Beruang, Melaka.


6) Ban Lee Siang Satay Celup @ Ong Kim Wee

Satay celup is similar to "lok lok". The difference in satay celup is the foods will be dipped into a hot boiling pot filled with the spicy satay sauce. There a few satay celup shops around Melaka. The most famous and with most people would be the Capitol Satay Celup but it is always hard to get place and wait for a super long queue. So the second best satay celup shop that can go is Ban Lee Siang which is also nice and having a lot of people but at least not need to queue so long.

Address:
Ban Lee Siang Satay Celup
Jalan Ong Kim Wee
75300 Melaka.


7) Cendol @ Jonker Street

That day we supposedly wanted to go Jonker 88 shop to eat Melaka cendol. But too bad, the shop already closed its operating hours by the time we reached Jonker. So we went to Sha Shu Gong shop to eat cendol instead. It is a big corner shop facing the Stadhuys. The cendol there is having a very nice packing but is too sweat and pricey. One of the best cendol in Melaka is still in Jonker 88 shop. It is located at the middle of jonker street.