Starhub 1Gbps Fibre Review

[minamikaze]

The Nokia will support both Ethernet backhaul and wireless backhaul.

It is a low end dual band AC1200 mesh solution. Performance will not be good with wireless backhaul. And the second node needs to have good connection to the main node. Try to make them have line of sight if possible.

Thank you for your info - it's the 1st time I'm trying out a mesh system. I was intending to put the unit in the DB box.. will need to experiment a bit, maybe put the 2nd unit in my living room.

 

[jonleelk]

Smart Wifi is Nokia Beacon 1 and the feedback is in general bad. The resale price is roughly S$40 in Carousell per unit.

But you can always use your own router, unless you need the Mediacorp FTA channels support with Starhub TV+ box support (then you have limited choice for the main router).

*************

Other than Nokia and Linksys provided by Starhub, any other routers that can support the the FTA channels on Starhub TV+? Some VLAN settings require?

 

[xiaofan]

Other than Nokia and Linksys provided by Starhub, any other routers that can support the the FTA channels on Starhub TV+? Some VLAN settings require?

The easy solution is to install MeWatch on the Starhub TV+ box.

But if you are the more advanced user, try this guide (Post #136 by Seowbin) to set up VLAN to use your own router as the main router, you will need a VLAN capable switch and you will still need the Nokia Beacon 1 as the secondary router.
https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/...a-on-starhub-tv.6380041/page-7#post-134944454

 

[vaxvms]

Thank you for your info - it's the 1st time I'm trying out a mesh system. I was intending to put the unit in the DB box.. will need to experiment a bit, maybe put the 2nd unit in my living room.

u can try out first so u know why some of us buying 500$ router

 

[Henry Ng]

u can try out first so u know why some of us buying 500$ router

Actually RT-AX88U at a good location will be able to cover everywhere in the flat.

 

[VestigeSoul]

thanks for the advice

i too reluctant to jump telco as most ard me is on singtel so better stay with green


went down n neg for a recontract
satisfied with the offer n sign
din know go down can get better offer than online.........actually i went down is to retur the starhub box

Could I also get more details on the recontact deal. My starhub broadband is due for a recontact and the deal I got over the phone isn't too great.

 

[rwozniak]

You cannot use the old SingTel router as the main router for Starhub. So the Nokia Beacon 1 has to be the main router.

What is the model of your old SingTel router? If it is SingTel AC Elite, AC Plus and AC 1900, then you can connect the WAN port to the LAN port of the Nokia. They will automatically run in AP mode. So you will gain 4 more LAN ports.

If you have older ones like Aztech, they may not be able to run in AP mode properly if you connect the WAN port, but there is a workaround, just connect the LAN port of the Aztech to the LAN port of the Nokia. You will gain three more LAN ports.

You can disable the wifi of the SingTel router if so desired.

Can someone explain to me why you can't use Singtel router with Starhub? I do have Singtel's Gigabit AC Plus router and I only managed to get it working as AP (so only one device can be connected) but I don't know who to blame for this – Starhub or the router.

 

[xiaofan]

Can someone explain to me why you can't use Singtel router with Starhub? I do have Singtel's Gigabit AC Plus router and I only managed to get it working as AP (so only one device can be connected) but I don't know who to blame for this – Starhub or the router.

The router is to blame. SingTel issued free router has SingTel VLAN built-in and can not be disabled. The SingTel VLAN can only be used for SingTel ONT users. Therefore they can not be used as main router for other ISPs. For SingTel ONR users, SingTel AC Plus will automatically run as an AP.

But it is not correct to say that you can only connect one device to the SingTel AC Plus when it is running in AP mode. You can connect 4 LAN clients and then a few more wireless clients.

IMHO SingTel AC Plus is the worst router (when function as a router) among all the free ISP issued routers since 2015 (eg: it is worse than my free Starhub issued DIR-865L in 2014). But you may still be able to use it effectively as an AP. It will actually automatically run in AP mode when connected to other routers.

 

[rwozniak]

But it is not correct to say that you can only connect one device to the SingTel AC Plus when it is running in AP mode. You can connect 4 LAN clients and then a few more wireless clients.

I'm not having any luck with getting any other clients (neither LAN nor wireless) connected through it. Only the first client connected to AP gets Internet. All the rest get their IP addresses assigned but stay without Internet (maybe that's the limitation of Starhub, dunno)

 

[xiaofan]

I'm not having any luck with getting any other clients (neither LAN nor wireless) connected through it. Only the first client connected to AP gets Internet. All the rest get their IP addresses assigned but stay without Internet (maybe that's the limitation of Starhub, dunno)

That should not happen. You may want to try again.
1) Connect the WAN port of the SingTel AC Plus to the LAN port of the Starhub router
2) If method 1 does not well, connect the LAN port of the SingTel AC Plus to the LAN port of the Starhub router

Anyway, no point using the SingTel AC Plus if you can not get it to work. You can get D-Link DIR-868L at around S$10 and the performance is much better. Or you can spend a little bit more to get Linksys EA7500 v2 (S$10 to S$20) and that will perform even better.

If you got the free Nokia Beacon 1 (another lousy ISP issued router but it should be better than the SingTel AC Plus), You can get another unit from Carousell at around S$40 to form a mesh.

 

[vaxvms]

Could I also get more details on the recontact deal. My starhub broadband is due for a recontact and the deal I got over the phone isn't too great.

u can go down n neg ....e-apt and waiting time is <5min for me

it is better than using ntuc member or ocbc promo

basically do not pay > 39.9 for 1 g and "suck" them as many free subscription mth as u can

g6

 

[vaxvms]

Actually RT-AX88U at a good location will be able to cover everywhere in the flat.

not everybody has the luxury to place router at central good location nowadays

yes AX88u wifi strength is strong......i'm using it as AP guest room

 

[xiaofan]

u can go down n neg ....e-apt and waiting time is <5min for me
it is better than using ntuc member or ocbc promo
basically do not pay > 39.9 for 1 g and "suck" them as many free subscription mth as u can
g6

Good point. It seems to me for recontract Starhub can often give the best offer among all ISPs for 1Gbps plan.

As seen from the past reports, people could get there to six months free for 1Gbps plan at S$39.9 per month. Interesting to know that you can still get such good recontact offer now.

For me I stick to the 500Mbps Starhub Fibre Internet at S$29.9 per month, no contract plan. It is good that they do not increase the price after contract expires.

 

[omelet]

Anyone signed up recently? What ONT do they use? Wanted to know the size of it. Thanks

 

[baseline]

Possible to sign up the broadband now but start at a later date?

 

[VestigeSoul]

u can go down n neg ....e-apt and waiting time is <5min for me

it is better than using ntuc member or ocbc promo

basically do not pay > 39.9 for 1 g and "suck" them as many free subscription mth as u can

g6

Thanks, I've actually tried both going down to the store and calling their hotline. For me, I kinda got a better deal on the phone and my experience with them at their bugis store was that they don't really want to nego a recontact with you. So they just give the default recontact plan and was giving the 'take it or leave it' attitude

3months + 2 Nokia beacon or
4 months no router

 

[VestigeSoul]

Possible to sign up the broadband now but start at a later date?

It is possible. But the contract date would start on the day you sign. You can delay the fibre installation to start at a later date if that is what you mean.

If you are currently on a different carrier and want to switch over as the price is good. It is possible for some households as their building is equipped to accommodate 2 fibre plans. However, you have to pay both fees.

 

[VestigeSoul]

Anyone signed up recently? What ONT do they use? Wanted to know the size of it. Thanks

They are giving out this small black box. You can have a look as it is actually on their website when you Google "starhub ont". It is about the size of your hand length-wise. Quite a small device.

 

[xiaofan]

I have not done the speedtest for a while for my Starhub 500Mbps plan. Today I changed the main router to Huawei AX3 Pro. Then it is connected to the TP-Link Deco M4 Mesh.

Huawei AX3 Pro does not support Singtel 6rd IPv6 but there is no issue to support Starhub IPv6 with the default IPv6 settings.

Wired speed from AX3 Pro.

Wireless from AX3 Pro

Wireless from Deco M4.

 

[VestigeSoul]

u can go down n neg ....e-apt and waiting time is <5min for me

it is better than using ntuc member or ocbc promo

basically do not pay > 39.9 for 1 g and "suck" them as many free subscription mth as u can

g6

Alright I confirmed with an on the phone sales from starhub. They said if the customer signs up for starhub TV and fibre bundle together and it expires. You can recontact and cancel the starhub tv to get 6 months free on fibre alone. He said that's a long running promotion and it's a hidden thing where you have to ask to get.

Best they could do is 4 months free + 1 Nokia router so in a way its 5 months free once I sell the router. (Depends on the sales representative. Some don't nego, some really can help you nego to get the best deals.)

My guess is that different sales have access to different privileges and resources on the system. So some would not nego and just give you 3 months free while others can give you a bit more.