Anyone experienced and knowledgeable please advise
Status: Have finish my last contract with Singtel (3mb) which is sometimes quite slow during peak hours. So now is free to sign with any provider
Usage: For youtube/video streaming, and sometimes MMO gaming plus download games. Shared between family members.
Price: Want value for money,
Considering:
1) M1, Starhub or Singtel Fibre. If you have recommedation for other companies (viewquest, myrepublic) please state your review of their service.
Or
2) Recontract Singtel Broadband but with the 15MB plan which is around $39 (with phone line cost included)
Checked online say no Fibre installation, called up Openet the phone operator say my area have already. So not sure what to believe. Think most likely my unit need to pay them install the fibre point which is $200?
1) Do you need a landline?
2) Do you use mobile phone as nowadays internet providers like to provide triple play (Except ViewQwest and MyRepublic)
Pros and Cons (Summary) of each provider based on
holistic triple play usage:
Starhub
Pros
- Allows to opt for 3000 reward points to offset bills, where the savings can be used to cover the cost of getting a better quality router that will save all the hassles in future.
- Symmetrical plan.
- Most competitive mobile pricing in terms of amount of data bundled to you.
- Cable TV's content is the best in the town.
Neutral
- Has nothing to shout about for online service. Never used IDA broadband report as reference like M1 or Singtel simply because they are mediocre.
- Starts from $39.90 for 100Mbps or on par with Singtel's 200Mbps at $49.90.
- List of one time fee at here (Basically it is Installation Fee + Delivery Fee + Service Activation Fee)
Cons
- Default router is AC standard. However, there are threads to complain the quality of the device.
- However, they have not completed their nation-wide 4G service, and indoors coverage lagi worse. Hence unless you are certain that Starhub reception works in your area, this is a big minus point.
- No more true per second billing as they implemented first minute block like Singtel.
- Landline (Digital Voice) need to pay $2+ until further notice, original rates at $10+.
M1
Pros
- Highest International (US) download and overall upload speed and lowest packet loss (The lower packet loss is, the higher quality of broadband - However there are also other factors as well.) based on July 2013 IDA report on 200Mbps plan, which is a de-facto for now.
- Cheapest mobile rate overall as they are true per second billing and lowest excess data charges
- First 4G nation-wide coverage and have the best street level coverage, or perhaps on par with Singtel
- Most affordable Internet plans as 200Mbps for $39 / 300Mbps for $49
- First to introduce symmetrical plan in town at such an affordable rate. It is also "True Symmetrical plan" as base on IDA reports all the while, Starhub's symmetrical plan can never match with M1
- Landline is provided for free
- Provides Asus N56U for free, can upgrade to AC66U for $135 which is like half price of retail. No doubt Asus is the best in the router market based on many reviews, including HWZ
Neutral
- Check out with M1 thread for more details about it's one time fee.
I remember that M1 charges termination fee even after completing 24 months of contract and then wishes to terminate.
This is because the cost is charged by OpenNet. Some ISP charges these cost upfront so that when one jump ship later would not be shocked of these charges but apparently M1 is confident that few would ever do that / wish to provide most savings and hence this is the so-called hidden charges.
- 4G network no dual band coverage for higher capacity. However, one would only use one of the band available in the sense of dual band coverage and dual band coverage does not equate to twice the speed.
http://info.singtel.com/sites/all/themes/singTelRed/bom/pdf/typicaldownloadspeeds.pdf
M1
Hence, a dual band coverage is a plus point, not having it is just neutral.
Cons
- However, out of contract price for $39 / $49 plan is $99 / $139 respectively, making it the most expensive plan as well if one forgets to renew contract on time.
Singtel
Pros
- Free landline (Digital Voice) / Only option for analog line (With actual usage charge applies).
- Have an app to watch EPL on the go, exclusively for Mio TV users.
- Dual band coverage, something that M1 did not provide. Useful for iPhone 5 users as M1 uses 2600MHz on coastal areas which is not compatible with iPhone 5. Dual band offers higher capacity on a crowded area like festivals / Countdown / Concerts. Personal mileage varies too with any telco for such events.
- Most SMS given. However who uses it that often now with WhatsApp and such?
- Provides 10GB storage and an email account. However, who actually uses them?
Neutral
- Look out for their one time charges as well. No termination charge / "hidden charges" like M1 as I am aware of.
Cons
- Best marketing gimmick. Seriously.
Quote an example based on brochures for Comex 2013:
While they are the "Champions" for 8 times in a row (and more) for best download speed, they are comparing 100Mbps plan.
However Singtel do not offer 100Mbps plan anymore and more are requesting / call in for free upgrade / renew contract / pay a bit more $$ for extra channel + 200Mbps plan instead such that it is comparing of apple to orange.
Not to mention most if not all of M1's 100Mbps plan are on white ONT (Aka Nucleus Connect) which is the one Starhub is using. So if Starhub is not getting better, M1 back then was also using part of Starhub's infrastructure via Nucleus Connect will logically not going to be much better.
Hence, Singtel is competing on an not equal footing and virtually no competition.
- Highest packet loss based on July and August 2013 IDA report (Wonder why no report on June in M1 data) except net average, where it means that Singtel's packet loss is highest for local and US connection only.
- No symmetrical plan among the Big 3 telcos who throttles / network management anyway.
Food for thought:
Bad ISPs - VuzeWiki
- But does the app to watch EPL on the go works very well?
- Most expensive mobile plans as it has the least talk time and charges by first minute block and per 6 seconds block.
Food for thought:
Why should one pay for extra 3 seconds that one did not get to talk?
- Mio TV is a source of problems. It was fined few times for disruption during critical moments of EPL final race such as 2011/ 2012 and 2012 / 2013 seasons. Reliability is a real issue and this year is to be watch again.
- Router is the worst among all 3 telcos. Dual band is only recently given to 300Mbps / 500Mbps plan users. It was the only telco that used to provide only 1 Gigabit port out of 4 Ethernet ports which is a bottleneck for everything, click on the "Specifications" to see the truth.
- Only major telco with no peering with New Media Express. That cloud based storage is a local one, unlike 4shared or Dropbox but asking why local stuffs can never get popular despite free 100GB space, you ask yourself why. I have the email from NME to prove everything.
MyRepublic
Pros
- Most innovative ideas when introducing their plans
Example:
1: One of the pioneers to remove International Cap (Not sure is M1, MyRepublic or ViewQwest) when the Singtel has 15Mbps cap / Starhub's 20Mbps cap (Not sure Starhub, but definitely 15Mbps or more but no more than 20Mbps) in the 100Mbps plan era during the initial days which make actual experience no better than ADSL / Cable. Hence, this is the reason not to use any Singtel / Starhub service (Except SCV).
2: First to introduce gamer plan for better latency that M1 subsequently copied the idea
- Most personalized after sales service. They worked a bit similar to your financial consultant service and these people are actual customer of MyRepublic.
- Teleport service add on, unblocks certain geo-blocked content
- A whole new experience with pricing close to M1 ($38.88 for 100Mbps VS $39 for 200Mbps) without forcing one to renew contract before hand
- Does not throttle the connection like BitTorrent
- Default router is Asus N15 which is the most basic but powerful router than Starhub or Singtel's one. Can upgrade to better Asus one like AC66U for $259 (Not cheaper than M1).
- Attractive IDD pricing for their homeline
- Purple Vault - That rewards existing subscribers during every IT shows (Every 3 months round the year). It is like a Groupon.
- Actively listens to customer's feedback.
- (Gamer plan only) Various in-game benefits such as more experience point or rare items. Check with an MR rep for more details.
Neutral
- Activation / Installation charge of $128.40 is waived only for 1 year contract at $59 per month. For the $38.88 with 2 years contract, the activation charges applies
- Static IP is not bundled with all plans. It has a one-time fee of $50 for life.
- No mobile related triple play. I would put it as neutral than a con because that is not something MR can do unless IDA opens up more mobile telco licenses.
- Only ISP with presence to residential users is not an Op-Co for now (Nucleus Connect is Starhub subsidiary anyway and SuperInternet is a forgotten residential ISP since it is very difficult to survive in a mostly Singtel dominated market).
- Having ambitious plans to enter regional markets and hence the potential is there despite the problems seen in their thread for now. Reported in CNA.
Cons
- Home line requires one time installation of $49 and only digital line (Other competitors like M1, Singtel and ViewQwest comes for free) that comes without unlimited local outgoing call unless your call to another MR's number which is unlimited instead. It gives 1000 outgoing call should be practically unlimited though.
- China website issue is not so sure whether was it solved totally or not for now. It is an issue back in June 2013 period.
- No symmetrical plan. However, upload speed is mainly used on torrenting, video conferencing and sharing of image / video which for residential users, a non-symmetrical plan without throttling is better than a symmetrical plan with throttling.
ViewQwest
Pros
- Free Static IP
- No throttling / capping / shaping of any traffic
- Free homeline is included without extra cost
- Freedom VPN, unblocks certain geo-blocked content.
- Free workshop to showcase how to maximize the usage of NGNBN / truly unleash it's potential like no one else
- Probably the fastest ISP in the world
- According to their brochure, they used to serve financial companies for past 10 years using ADSL. Back then there is no NGNBN. So reliability is not an issue and they have been trialed and tested.
- ONT + Router in one device, Zhone 2426. Saves extra electrical port.
- Speedboost of up to 1Gbps is done during the holiday period, including recent August 2013 Hari Raya + National Day period with the weekends (4days). Hopefully they will give a speedboost again in Christmas week til New Year's day
- 24 / 7 technical support. Even on Sunday, I do get a prompt reply from VQ. Mileage varies for various subscribers but if everything goes smoothly, all it takes is just for one to call in or email to them, and they will call back (For email requests)
- Focused more on peering, which gives one of the best latency plans in the market. (Gaming application when compared to Gamer plan is a different issue)
- Actively listens to customer's feedback.
Neutral
- $133.75 installation / activation charges. However, it provides the flexibility to pay $5.57 for 24 months which is something Singtel does not do. No termination charges also when one jump ship. But why would one do so?
- No mobile related triple play. I would put it as neutral than a con because that is not something VQ can do unless IDA opens up more mobile telco licenses.
Cons
- Most expensive plan in town. Or I would say, 一分钱一分货. You pay peanuts, you get monkeys. However, comparing to Singtel's $49.90 for 200Mbps, the difference is only $15 and there is a big difference in standard (Singtel tech support all the while not 24 hours as an example).
- Zhone 2426 comes with only 2.4GHz band N standard. Unless the device is configured to use 40MHz (Which many laptops, Apple products has disabled due to interference), the max Wi-Fi throughput is 144Mbps and max actual usage at about 110Mbps. It is an issue for some budget laptop (I have one out of 3 laptops) that comes with Fast Ethernet port (LAN capped at 100Mbps instead of 1Gbps).
- No Groupon, no premium laptop bundle or discount for a better router (For Wi-Fi use) ever (M1 used to have such but recent Comex also no such plan). Looking at the other side of coin, it means these costs are used to upgrade the infrastructure even more than their competitors.
- No symmetrical plan. However, upload speed is mainly used on torrenting, video conferencing and sharing of image / video which for residential users, a non-symmetrical plan without throttling is better than a symmetrical plan with throttling.
- Xunlei is blocking VQ's IP such that some Chinese content cannot be downloaded.
Summary:
Personally, I use ViewQwest because of general good recommendation in the forum (Not only me) and I do not have extra electrical sockets for ONT. I opted to pay the activation charge $5.57 monthly over next 24 months as installment instead since there is no difference anyway. Quite honest charging, frankly speaking although some may feel heart paint when the premium is a bit higher than the competitors.
However, I do recommend MyRepublic as well if China website issue does not apply to you
and you need a
balance between cost and quality of service.
But, if for most basic user, M1 provides the best value for mobile + fiber which also allows yearly upgrade of handset with no early fee (Except iPhone for $100). Other telcos like Singtel and Starhub do provide this but both need to bundle with their paid TV and landline (Starhub land line is optional component) as well despite
only Singtel is providing true free yearly upgrade without early recontract fee including iPhone.
Other options:
Singtel ADSL 15Mbps? Barely enough for Youtube HD streaming. With MioTV lagi worse unless getting a free second line provision. Don't even think about it as I am a ex 6Mbps Mio Home user who failed to get a second line for free. (Mileage varies with Singtel, but mine obviously a bad one)
Side notes:
Did you live in a condo? Your condo management might have rejected the first TP installation. Even if HDB, you might have brought a resale unit whose previous owner has rejected OpenNet during the "conspiracy era" (Initial days where Starhub / Singtel seriously handicapped the fiber speed for international usage to no more than ADSL speed except local content such as Mediacorp Toggle or XinMSN. Opps, back then got Toggle or not?) where many do not see a need to install the TP as it is an hassle since drilling the walls are involved and the aftermath need to do a bit of house cleaning etc etc.
For that, your best option are below if you want to avoid $235 upfront charges:
MyRepublic - 24 month Home Passed $59 plan (100Mbps) / $65 plan (150Mbps) / $75 plan (Gamer 150Mbps) without paying the $235.
M1 - Go for $49 for 300Mbps plan instead ($139 once out of contract)
or $55 for 200Mbps Gamer plan ($75 once out of contract, surprisingly cheaper than $99 for normal $39 plan when out of contract) for free TP installation.
ViewQwest - 24 month plan that comes with extra $9.82 monthly installment option.
Singtel - Starting from $69.90 + $1.90 (Mio box rental, $4.90 out of contract) for the Mio Home 200Mbps bundle, the installation worth $571 is waived (New feature, probably includes the $235 / $481 installing TP's cost). But if you are not using MioTV, then why pay extra? (Putting on another coin, you do get a TV content while paying the TP's installation fee while other's don't.)
I am not aware of any Starhub plans that waives installation charge. Feel free to add in.
If your's happen to be a new BTO flat a month or two ago or some low income flat, then chances are it is that your block is ready for first TP installation but you have yet to install the TP as you have not jumped into fiber bandwagon. For that, $235 does not apply and mind you, I fall into this category one.
) Is cable bb better than phoneline bb and is the above Starhub offer worth it to jump? Pls advise
