Yesterday, in The Star, I read that there was a protest by a group of concerned citizen over the proposed wi-fi for Penang eventhough one of the tower is very near my home. Over at Malaysiakini, several people are either against or support this.
I am sitting on the fence eventhough I would love to see TMNet buried with their lousy Streamyx service. I have personally known a cancer patient who underwent radiotherapy who insisted that her throat hurts whenever there are mobile phone close by. She knew whenever I forget to switch off my mobile phone when I am in her room. Then, another woman discovered a hard lump near her spine and can no longer walk because of the tumor. She too insisted that she suspect it is the mobile phone’s fault as she usually place her mobile at her jeans back pocket when she was busy at her shop.
Having seen this, of course, I still have the selfish wish to get free wifi from anywhere in Penang as mobile and wifi are probably not the same. Eventhough the tower is near my home, I won’t get all excited and go out on the road to protest. I certainly will not jump to conclusion so fast.
Talking about The Star article, I do have something to bitch. One of the person who was interviewed by The Star was :
According to SJKC Shang Wu Parent-Teacher Association chairman Ong Bee Lay, there had been an increase in the number of students complaining of headaches and nose bleeds recently.
I was like, “Hai mm hai ah? Kum sai lek? Oo how siao boh?” I do not believe her. I mean, has she been collecting data of how many students have headaches and nosebleeds every single day for the last five or ten years? If it is only recently, these kids probably studied too much, have too little rest and were pressured by the kiasu parents to do well in UPSR.
So, nah ah, I don’t believe the ‘latah’ reactions. I shall just dum-di-di-dum wait for the project to takes off and then, I can give the middle finger to TMNet.
However, if you belong to the concerned citizens, kiasi group, you will want to read what CAP said on Malaysiakini.
Aih.. these people. TMNet has been running wireless internet around several areas, not sure if it is the same in Penang. 3G has been running all over Malaysia.
Basically, if it is too hazardous, Govt wouldn’t even approve the spectrum. Even Singapore has it running in their island, this teacher is more kiasi than our friends down south.
wuah, Penang so nice got free WIFI..I wanna live there now
I think we better not implement, then the whole world can die of cancer, and Malaysia can be the only population left in the world, either that or we are third world forever… hard to choose isn’t it…
I think we will all drown first before develop cancer… according to Al Gore…
Got WIFI no WIFI ppl also die everyday..haiya why protest to something that’s not scientifically proven.
We laughed at the story of some remote tribesmen who found a coke bottle. They enjoyed it for a while, then they had problems because of it. They then tried to get rid of it. Now it looks like those tribesmen will be laughing at us if they know we have a similar problem… hahaha…
Yes, having free WiFi is a tempting proposal. Still, CAP may have legitimate concerns, so why rush into things?
A proper discussion and analysis of the pros and cons should be made before deciding on this. Set a deadline for it, maybe 3 months to reach a reasoned conclusion, if time is of the essence.
I believe the problem is lies not so much with people wanting WiFi, inasmuch as the not-so great service from TM Net. Unfortunately, the Streamyx is NOT showing sufficient improvement, resulting in people clamoring for alternatives.
Penang, or Malaysia for that matter, is not a WIFI free zone. There are wifi frequencies all over the places. The only difference I see is when PR come out with free wifi, they just think it is their new found god damn right to protest against it. Why didn’t they protest against the former BN post paid wifi providers? Why don’t they just come out with no-wifi? Methinks it is the slave mentality after being so long under Gerakan until they cannot appreciate free thing anymore.
I personally thought it’s nonsense…
If you’re gotta ban wifi… then ban cell phone first lah… cell phone is 100 times more power than wifi… @@
come on, be realistic ppl. Smoking has been proven to cause cancer, has any country in this world banned smoking?? it’s abt choice. as far as i know, no scientific studies has shown conclusively tht wifi or even radiowave fr mobile phones cause ill health. If u read the review carefully, it merely ‘suggests’ a possible link! wifi or phone mast got relocated due to local pressure groups not because they cause cancer. Ppl can quote reports fr research or study, but how many care to read n interpret the results?
so, if u ‘kia ci’, just stay away fr wifi hot spots.
Talking about sensing radiowave, everytime I use my laser printer to print I’ll sure feel headache if I stand 1-2 meters away from it. Then after printing, the pain just stop.
Now everywhere also got radiowave wan lah, WIFI, WiMax, 3G, 2G, Astro, etc. The safest place to live is in the cave liao, where your phone has no signal at all. LoL…
Aiya, all this talk is going nowhere. CAP will definitely insist on their stand which I think may have been influenced by their share in TMnet or politically.
Bottom line it’s stupid and pointless to debate this further. Its the same as saying we all shouldn’t drive because there is a high chance we will get into accident and die. We should all stay locked up at home like hermits. If the CAP get their way then it will start a chain of event of ridiculous protesting over something that’s not even worth mentioning. What’s next?
Most office with Internet, has a WIFI router.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_electronic_devices_and_health
The Health Protection Agency claims that if a person spends one year in a Wi-Fi hotspot, they will receive the same dose of radio waves as if they had made a 20-minute call on a mobile phone.
Why nobody make noise on the WIMAX network? It is high power network compare to WIFI.
Bryan: Woi!!! Lu punya printer manyak powerful lah!!! Itu laser tembak lu ar? Wakakaka!!! *cabut*
Yes, very powerful wan! Konica Minolta brand.
I use other laser printer like HP to print no pain wan. LoL…
……………
Tan Silly – Why you so interested in Bryan’s laser ah? Since when you turn gay ah? *laff till fall off chair*
Lilian, it should be WiMAX not WiFi…
In Klang Valley, p1W1max is now offering WiMAX connection in Subang Jaya and KLCC. Anybody complaining on health concerns? I don’t hear that. If KL folks find WiMAX is hazardous then they would have protested long ago. Furthermore, wireless broadband was rolled out by Time via its Webbit service. Again, I don’t hear people saying a word about health concerns.
You should call up GreenPacket and ask them explain about health concern about WiMAX usage. They should know it best.
Facts are facts. Nonclusive evidence are not facts. Hence, nosebleed probably happened because the parents gave them too much heaty food..hahahaha
Jeffrey – Yalor, so exaggerated mah. That’s why I always stay far-far away from PTA because those parents are really ‘gek si lang’. One time hor, got PTA meeting, they gaduh about the teachers’ teaching skills. Doh…Faster give us a new option because we Penangites beh tahan this TMNet service liao.
boon kheng – Penang people super kiasi mah…
Eyyer. You so dirty minded lah. If Bryan and I turn gay, a lot of women will commit suicide. No more purpose in life liao. LOL. *shields from rotten eggs*
It’s ok if CAP can be able to make the free wifi to be called off but then we will get the documents and ban the whole Malaysia wifi provider. Other Asean country might interested in the jualan lelong of wifi infrastructure…
Makes no diff-la… Like what Bryan said, everywhere got radio waves what. Even if there is no free WIFI, a lot of shops these days install a WIFI router… Just that they don’t open it to the public. 😆
Haiii… If really mau regulate, why govt let developers build houses NEAR overhead electrical towers. Check out the latest canggih-looking houses along the Federal Highway towards Shah Alam… It’s almost 200-300m near the electrical tower-le..
I agree with HoyoHoyo, Bryan and Angie Tan, i think certain people purposely wanna make big this Issue only. Cellphone also got radio wave, now a day almost every cafe got Wifi, is that call no radio wave?? can every area got radio wave cellphone wave, satelite etc.haha… Come on…. everything that we do sure got good or no good one.
If we wanna avoid this kind of wave, better stay at jungle, pure…..
Internet also have bad and good ma rite?? why we use? because we want develop our country ma….if no other people will say “you are outdated”….
Do you have a microwave oven?
Go look at the owner’s manual … what’s the power rating?
150Watts? 250Watts?
Microwave ovens use the same 2.4GHz frequency band as Wifi 802.11 b/g. The only difference is this … The antenna of Wifi 802.11 b/g uses about 150 mWatt of power. That’s milliwatt, or 1/1000th of one watt.
150mW as compared to 150W, do yer math … what’s the difference? 1,000 times, right?
There’s one more thing … one of out four microwave ovens leak !
And the radiation pumped out by a leaking microwave oven may be 500 to 1,000 the effect of a Wifi 802.11 b/g antenna.
There are times I’m totally amazed by people complaining of “radiation hazzard” only to discover that they are using microwave ovens to zap their food.
Oh, btw, do you know that the cellphone that we all use … their power-rating is 4 to 10 times that of a Wifi 802.11 b/g antenna. Plus …. how we use cellphones? We glue them to our ears, right?
How far are our ears from our brain? Less than 1CM !!
Can you imagine having up to 10 Wifi 802.11 b/g antenna glued next to our brain?
But we are doing that all the time!
Why is that okay, but when talking about Wifi, it ain’t okay?
I juz say FAST FAST APPROVE!!! haihzzz my hostel room cant get that sucky wifi signal… poor signal from the university router… and oso all those youtube sites get banned from access. Bleahhhhh
Wireless@Penang Forum
Organized by:Penang State Government / MCMC
Time: 2-5Pm
Place: Dome Komtar
Admission :Free – just bring your own makan if you wish.
Date : 8 November 2008
Forum is organised to address health / social issues related to WIFI/WIMAX implementation. Please forward to your friends.