⚡️💻 [Official] README First! 2025 SG ISP Comparison & Latest Promo Deals! ✨

[mtjy89]

The Velop 4200 is the Smart Wifi Pro. You might find it cheaper to go with one Pro unit from StarHub and buy the additional units off Carousell.

The Pro units come free with the 2Gbps plan but are a paid upgrade for the 1Gbps plans (iirc, additional $6/mo for the first). I didn't opt for it as I have a decent enough solution in place.

Thanks for the clarification! And from what I gathered in this thread, the 2gbps plan is unnecessary for the regular user.

so the best option would be to go with the 1gbps plan and get the pro unit and buy another from Carousell would suffice for a 4room BTO yeah?

 

[firesong]

Thanks for the clarification! And from what I gathered in this thread, the 2gbps plan is unnecessary for the regular user.

so the best option would be to go with the 1gbps plan and get the pro unit and buy another from Carousell would suffice for a 4room BTO yeah?

Coverage is subjective as it depends on your home layout, including furniture. If you have built-in cabinetry, depending on placement, 2 may be insufficient.

Just be mindful of all the obstacles in between. Every obstacle causes signal loss of varying degrees, depending on material type. You will also need to consider situations where Wi-Fi is used with the doors closed.

To help you with visualisation, here's @Mach3.2's 5Ghz network heat map for a typical HDB BTO 5 room that he has previously posted. He has 2 ceiling mounted Access Points, so you can see how 1) solid walls, 2) drywalls, 3) doors affect the signal strength. and in cases reduce it to zero signals passing through.

 

[mtjy89]

Coverage is subjective as it depends on your home layout, including furniture. If you have built-in cabinetry, depending on placement, 2 may be insufficient.

Just be mindful of all the obstacles in between. Every obstacle causes signal loss of varying degrees, depending on material type. You will also need to consider situations where Wi-Fi is used with the doors closed.

To help you with visualisation, here's @Mach3.2's 5Ghz network heat map for a typical HDB BTO 5 room that he has previously posted. He has 2 ceiling mounted Access Points, so you can see how 1) solid walls, 2) drywalls, 3) doors affect the signal strength. and in cases reduce it to zero signals passing through.
View attachment 33627

Oh is it possible to install like LAN ports in the bedroom instead and connect the Velop to the LAN port in the bedroom to get a sort of “wired” connection? So the wireless signal strength in room will be stronger

Was not able to find guides/much information with such wired setup on the internet (or maybe I’m not searching it correctly)

 

[firesong]

Oh is it possible to install like LAN ports in the bedroom instead and connect the Velop to the LAN port in the bedroom to get a sort of “wired” connection? So the wireless signal strength in room will be stronger

Was not able to find guides/much information with such wired setup on the internet (or maybe I’m not searching it correctly)

Yep. That's what some here advise and recommend, so rather than use a wireless backhaul, they use a wired backhaul.

It cuts out the need for nodes to communicate to each other wirelessly, and you can place the nodes in more optimal locations to better cover your home.

More importantly, in future you can actually buy cheaper mesh systems that don't have dedicated wireless backhauls because you don't need them, so the cost of cabling pays for itself over its lifetime.

 

[mtjy89]

Yep. That's what some here advise and recommend, so rather than use a wireless backhaul, they use a wired backhaul.

It cuts out the need for nodes to communicate to each other wirelessly, and you can place the nodes in more optimal locations to better cover your home.

More importantly, in future you can actually buy cheaper mesh systems that don't have dedicated wireless backhauls because you don't need them, so the cost of cabling pays for itself over its lifetime.

Last question, for the regular user streaming videos on Netflix etc (3-4 users concurrently) maybe download stuff, no hardcore high end gaming, would 500mbps suffice? Can’t decide between 1gb and 500mb plans since can’t really quantify the difference

 

[firesong]

Last question, for the regular user streaming videos on Netflix etc (3-4 users concurrently) maybe download stuff, no hardcore high end gaming, would 500mbps suffice? Can’t decide between 1gb and 500mb plans since can’t really quantify the difference

Yep, 500Mbps should suffice. Besides, I believe you should have the option to upgrade mid-contract if you ever need to, but not downgrade. You only need 15-25Mbps to stream 4K with Netflix and Disney+ (it's officially published at their web sites) and having 8 simultaneous streams still shouldn't tax your bandwidth.

In any case, most people will feel that the internet is slow because their wireless coverage is poor. It doesn't help that the ISP provided wireless routers for basic plans are not very good, and few people have the understanding of how to properly cover their apartment sufficiently - the old practises of relying on a single router are still very much in their minds.

There's an International Speed Tests thread that shows, even at 1Gbps, that connections to multiple overseas servers seldom require 1Gbps.
https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/threads/real-international-speed-tests.6405972/

 

[badbad2000]

	SingTel	StarHub	M1	MyRepublic	Viewquest	Whizzcomms
Plans	1Gbps, 2Gbps, 1+1 Gbps Gamer, 10Gbps Legacy 500Mbps	500Mbps, 1Gbps and 2Gbps	500Mbps, 1Gbps and 2Gbps	200Mbps, 1Gbps and 1+1 Gbps	500Mbps, 1Gbps, and 2Gbps	500Mbps, 1Gbps
Public IP or CGNAT	Dynamic Public IP	Dynamic Public IP	Dynamic Public IP	CGNAT	CGNAT	Dynamic Public IP
Static IP option?	No	No	Yes, $2+GST monthly	Paid option to avoid CGNAT, one time fee of $50.	Paid option to avoid CGNAT, one time fee	No
ONT/ONR?	ONR, bridging on case by case request. Legacy: ONT, with VLAN configuration required.	ONT	ONT	ONT	ONT or ONR (Bridging on request)	ONR by default, bridging on request
Additional VLAN Configuration required?	Yes for legacy plans; 10p0 Internet, 20p4 MioTV, 30 VoIP, 40 Management	No	No	No	No	No
IPv6	Tunneled through IPv4, limited router support	Yes, Native	Yes, Native	No	No	No
Cable TV	ONR: on any unused port ONT: Require VLAN configuration	Direct to Internet (connect to router) Legacy: On ONT port #2	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Voice	Free	$10.49/mo add-on* (Current promo rate of $2.10 until further notice)	Free	Free $18.99 port-in fee to retain existing number	Free* No porting in of existing numbers.	$2.99/mo add-on
Additional Remarks	ONR briging is not a guarantee. Users have reported rejections. Some users have been told by CSO there were additional fees, and there is zero clarifications from SIngtel staff on forums who have seen and acknowledged the problem posting. SingTel 1+1Gbps plan, only use ONR. The ONR will be configured as three port unbridged ONR ports and one port bridged ONR port, the bridged port does not require VLAN. Certain users have asked Singtel to provide a special configuration for the ONR with the 1Gbps plan, three ports for SingTel TV only without internet access, one bridged ONR port which does not require VLAN. Singtel 2Gbps plan: aggregated 2Gbps, must use Singtel ONR, not possible to bridge the ONR Singtel 10Gbps plan: use XG-PON ONR, 1 x 10G LAN port and 4 x 1G LAN ports.	Starhub 2Gbps plan: ONT port 1 and ONT port 3 used to deliver 2x1Gbps connection, ONT port 2 for Starhub Fibre TV. Great customer retention policies that are proactive.	Stability may be location-dependent. Users living in the Northeast region seem to report more downtime.	Little/no BT throttling Excellent routing ensures optimal latency	Little/no BT throttling Excellent routing ensures optimal latency Some questions on stability	Tier 3 ISP under Singtel, so all Singtel restrictions apply, with further deprioritisation.

Note that the above are consumer-level Home Broadband plans. I have left out SuperInternet from the table as they are very niche - enough that those who really want it will know to look for it.

best we can have latency test to famous web site for comparison. at the end internet performance is important.

 

[firesong]

best we can have latency test to famous web site for comparison. at the end internet performance is important.

Feel free to start your own and crowdsource the data.

I tried to start with a speedtest to some servers internationally - in US, Asia, Europe, Australia, but that thread didn't take off. Users just don't want to contribute, even if you script it out for them and provide the means for them to gather the data and collate it.

 

[lobukong]

Feel free to start your own and crowdsource the data.

I tried to start with a speedtest to some servers internationally - in US, Asia, Europe, Australia, but that thread didn't take off. Users just don't want to contribute, even if you script it out for them and provide the means for them to gather the data and collate it.

The data is great source of info , I think why it didn't took off is because it's quite troublesome to manually run it and parse it and keep doing it.

I think the solution is someone can write a program to automatically test and send the raw data to a server. The server then parse the data and periodically update posts.

 

[crazymond118]

My 2 years contract with M1 is expiring soon and I dont want to recontract again due to their connection problems over the past 2 years, would like to check with all bro here any recommendation for broadband now?

 

[xiaofan]

My 2 years contract with M1 is expiring soon and I dont want to recontract again due to their connection problems over the past 2 years, would like to check with all bro here any recommendation for broadband now?

If you read the first post, M1 is the better ISP out there. If not for M1, then probably you can go for Starhub. The only thing is that Starhub digital voice is not free (but I have not used my Singtel digital voice for a long time).

 

[Mach3.2]

best we can have latency test to famous web site for comparison. at the end internet performance is important.

You can host your own RIPE Atlas software probe which gives you credits to run your own measurements (ping/trace route, etc).

There are Atlas probes hosted on all Singapore consumer ISPs if I'm not wrong.

 

[badbad2000]

Starhub still no static IP option?

 

[xiaofan]

Starhub still no static IP option?

Starhub and Singtel do not offer static IP add-on for consumer broadband.

Just wondering why do you need static IP? You can still use DDNS providers with the dynamic IP. For example, I am using the Asus free DDNS on my Asus RT-AX82U and it works fine with things like VPN server (Asus Instant Guard).

 

[xiaofan]

A lot of users will tend to use the wireless router equipment provided by the ISP. I guess that is probably the majority. Many of the users do not know the differences among routers and would rely on the ISP to provide the support. Some informed users also choose to go with ISP equipment because of the good offer from ISPs.

It is good to see that ISPs are moving to Wifi 6 routers. As of now, Starhub, M1 and Viewquest are offering only Wifi 6 routers to new customers. M1 has the most choices. Singtel new plans are also mainly using Wifi 6 routers. MyRepublic and Whizcomms also offer Wifi 6 router choices.

Quite some of the Singtel offerings now are AP/Mesh node only since the Singtel ONR is the main routers for new users (since 2018?).

Singtel -- Airties 4960R AX5400, Singtel Mesh Extender AX5400 Askey/Arcadyan (AP or Mesh node only), Linksys E9450 (AX5400) and Asus RT-AX86U (AX5700). However, older AC ones like the Askey AP5100W (AP or Mesh node only) and Singtel Mesh Router, Singtel Mesh Extender (AP or Mesh node only) seem to be still offered. The ones from Airties/Askey/Arcydyan will have customized FW to support Singtel specific features like Singtel VLAN and SIngtel TV box.

Starhub -- Nokia Beacon 2 AX1800, Linksys Velop MX2001 (AX3000) and Linksys Velop MX4200 (AX4200); with custom FW to support Starhub TV+ box features like MediaCorp FTA channels.

M1 -- Asus RT-AX55 (AX1800) and TP-Link Archer AX72 (AX5400), Asus RT-AX88U (AX6000), Asus ROG GT-AX6000, Asus TUF AX5400, XD6/XD6S, TP-Link Archer AX11000. Asus Zenwifi XD6/XD6S, Linksys Atlas Pro 6 (AX5400), TP-Link Deco X50 (AX3000).

MyRepublic and Whizcomms are still offering a mix of AC and AX routers. Viewquest seems to only offer Wifi 6 routers now.

 

[xiaofan]

The following website is worth taking a look. As of now, Asus seems to be the better ones compared to Netgear/Linksys/TP-Link when it comes to wireless router.

The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) Cybersecurity Labelling Scheme (CLS) Product List
https://www.csa.gov.sg/Programmes/c...s/cybersecurity-labelling-scheme/product-list
The product’s registration ID is in the format: CSA/Date of Label Expiry in DDMMYY/Product ID number assigned by CSA. The validity of the label is the period for which the manufacturers will support the device with security updates, up to a maximum of a period of 3 years.

 

[firesong]

The following website is worth taking a look. As of now, Asus seems to be the better ones compared to Netgear/Linksys/TP-Link when it comes to wireless router.

The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) Cybersecurity Labelling Scheme (CLS) Product List
https://www.csa.gov.sg/Programmes/c...s/cybersecurity-labelling-scheme/product-list
The product’s registration ID is in the format: CSA/Date of Label Expiry in DDMMYY/Product ID number assigned by CSA. The validity of the label is the period for which the manufacturers will support the device with security updates, up to a maximum of a period of 3 years.

Hmm? Assuming your scope is the CSA site, are you basing "better" based on numbers who have achieved CSA labels? Besides, TP-Link trumps Asus by more than double, just based on a casual find. Not quite sure what you mean by "Asus better ones compared to ... TP-Link", or I am missing something in this comparison?

Numbers also reflect the number of models in the market per brand, so if Google has only one router on that list (their Nest Router) but has only one router in their current line up (as the old Mesh Router was depreciated), it's arguable that for compliance reasons, Google is 100% compliant because all their products are on CSA's list. Which no other brand can prove. By that same token, Netgear officially sells far fewer wireless routers in Singapore compared to the other brands, so their smaller number may still mean they have a higher compliance when you view their entire product lineup.

Asus:



TP-Link:


Netgear:


Linksys:

 

[xiaofan]

Hmm? Assuming your scope is the CSA site, are you basing "better" based on numbers who have achieved CSA labels? Besides, TP-Link trumps Asus by more than double, just based on a casual find. Not quite sure what you mean by "Asus better ones compared to ... TP-Link", or I am missing something in this comparison?

Sorry I should be more specific. What I mean is the CLS level achieved. Asus has minimum of Level 2 and some models achieve Level 4. The others only achieve Level 1.

 

[firesong]

Sorry I should be more specific. What I mean is the CLS level achieved. Asus has minimum of Level 2 and some models achieve Level 4. The others only achieve Level 1.

Ah, that makes it clearer. Yes, Asus has a few Tier 4 products.

Tiers 1 and 2 are close though. and IMO insufficient. It's Tier 3 and upwards that makes a difference since the testing is more rigorous and it is compliant with European (Finnish, and by extension the EU) standards.

But a few thoughts. Tiers 3 and up could also mean more expensive testing. We need to find out the costs. If companies are reluctant to go for more stringent testing because of costs involved, then it also reduces the accuracy of the tests.

Then there's also the prevalent security mindset - we have a "bare minimum" culture here. If CSA is willing to mandate all consumer routers must have Tier 4 (and up), things may be better overall.

 

[lobukong]

For home router, when no port is opened, it should just reject everything from WAN-side right, I don't understand how can any decent router be vulnerable.
Google search CLS only show sg results, I guess it's like PUB water saving ticks where more ticks doesn't translates to better products.