Starhub UltraSpeed 3Gbps/5Gbps/10Gbps plans

[Henry Ng]

Speedtest by Ookla

Server: GSL Networks - Los Angeles, CA (id: 50081)
ISP: StarHub
Idle Latency: 167.51 ms (jitter: 1.65ms, low: 167.48ms, high: 174.06ms)
Download: 3506.13 Mbps (data used: 5.5 GB)
254.63 ms (jitter: 78.61ms, low: 167.54ms, high: 599.98ms)
Upload: 243.00 Mbps (data used: 377.3 MB)
249.82 ms (jitter: 77.52ms, low: 167.13ms, high: 333.91ms)
Packet Loss: 0.0%


I have no packet loss at all even to USA server and DL speed at 3.5 Gbps which is faster than the ISP mentioned speed.

 

[Henry Ng]

I just do not understand why my local speed test can sometime drop to 2Gbps+ which is lower than my overseas speed?

 

[kashix]

10gbps give ONT but 5gbps give ONR?

 

[Henry Ng]

10gbps give ONT but 5gbps give ONR?

Yes and that is their promotion. My local speed can be 5Gbps or lower when I am on 10Gbps with ONR. Sometimes 2Gbps only. I believe after NLT upgrade of the NBN is completed then i will be fine.

 

[SojIrOu]

10gbps give ONT but 5gbps give ONR?

Yup if you call they will confirm 10Gbps now is ONT + EB810v whereas 5Gbps is WiFi 6 ONR (most likely Nokia left over from old 10Gbps plan).

Be wary that if you recontract from 5Gbps to 10Gbps, they might force you to re-use ONR because when I requested recontract for my 10Gbps, they refused to give me ONT and refused to help me bridge ONR. The only way I could get ONT is just sign 2x10Gbps plan then relocate my ONR plan back to my other house. So better to let the 5Gbps plan lapse then do new sign-up and terminate 5Gbps.

Yes and that is their promotion. My local speed can be 5Gbps or lower when I am on 10Gbps with ONR. Sometimes 2Gbps only.

I still have all my old speed test records at my other house (landed) it reaches 8Gbps during peak hours with my existing ONR (tested Feb and March 2024). Now my new place (condo) at best 4-5Gbps during peak and barely reaches 6-7Gbps at off peak.

I feel either Starhub has been actively reducing speeds recently to cater for more 5Gbps/10Gbps sign-ups or as the CSO claims it is "due to location" but as some had mentioned, it is not supposed to be location dependent.

 

[Henry Ng]

Yup if you call they will confirm 10Gbps now is ONT + EB810v whereas 5Gbps is WiFi 6 ONR (most likely Nokia left over from old 10Gbps plan).

Be wary that if you recontract from 5Gbps to 10Gbps, they might force you to re-use ONR because when I requested recontract for my 10Gbps, they refused to give me ONT and refused to help me bridge ONR. The only way I could get ONT is just sign 2x10Gbps plan then relocate my ONR plan back to my other house. So better to let the 5Gbps plan lapse then do new sign-up and terminate 5Gbps.


I still have all my old speed test records at my other house (landed) it reaches 8Gbps during peak hours with my existing ONR (tested Feb and March 2024). Now my new place (condo) at best 4-5Gbps during peak and barely reaches 6-7Gbps at off peak.

I feel either Starhub has been actively reducing speeds recently to cater for more 5Gbps/10Gbps sign-ups or as the CSO claims it is "due to location" but as some had mentioned, it is not supposed to be location dependent.

Yes i also do not think it is location dependent as we are all in Singapore regardless where we are in Singapore. May be SH worry that there may be not enough bandwidth during peak hours so do internet traffic shaping to control our speed. Most likely after the NBN upgrade completed, it will be ok.

 

[cyberet]

I just do not understand why my local speed test can sometime drop to 2Gbps+ which is lower than my overseas speed?

somewhere along the line to the speedtest server is congested

 

[Henry Ng]

somewhere along the line to the speedtest server is congested

yes may be possible too.

 

[sarhh79]

Wait guys so can someone tell me if I should change to this plan from my current 2Gbps plan I have for the last two years?

 

[xiaofan]

Wait guys so can someone tell me if I should change to this plan from my current 2Gbps plan I have for the last two years?

Not yet, wait for the plan to change to ONT first.

What is your current setup?

 

[HiHelloBye]

Wait guys so can someone tell me if I should change to this plan from my current 2Gbps plan I have for the last two years?

if you consider yourself as a power/advanced user, you could change to this plan provided if you're fine with using ONR setup

also, you might need to 'upgrade' your setup to enjoy 5Gbps...

 

[xiaofan]

if you consider yourself as a power/advanced user, you could change to this plan provided if you're fine with using ONR setup

also, you might need to upgrade' your setup to enjoy 5Gbps...

Hmm, I will say Starhub 1+1 plan is more suitable for a power user than Starhub 5Gbps plan using Nokia ONR, unless you are sure you can get the super-admin password and bridge the Nokia ONR.

IMHO power users do not use unbridged ONR in general. But that is just my personal opionion...

 

[SojIrOu]

Wait guys so can someone tell me if I should change to this plan from my current 2Gbps plan I have for the last two years?

If you’re paying more for 2Gbps I don’t see why not. Don’t let the ONR dissuade you especially if you don’t need public facing IP for your use case.

 

[xiaofan]

If you’re paying more for 2Gbps I don’t see why not. Don’t let the ONR dissuade you especially if you don’t need public facing IP for your use case.

If using ONR is not an issue, IMHO, Whizcomms 2.5Gbps plan at S$21.80 is good one to go, much cheaper than Starhub 2Gbps plan or 5Gbps plan, using ONR and quite stable.

 

[sarhh79]

Not yet, wait for the plan to change to ONT first.

What is your current setup?

I just use my laptop that's all. I'm on their 2gpbs plan and it has that black box optic fibre cable thingy. I am not a tech person at all so... will need guidance nia... the 5gpbs plan is cheaper than my 2gbps plan but i'm worried there's a catch...

 

[xiaofan]

I just use my laptop that's all. I'm on their 2gpbs plan and it has that black box optic fibre cable thingy. I am not a tech person at all so... will need guidance nia... the 5gpbs plan is cheaper than my 2gbps plan but i'm worried there's a catch...

Downgrade to 1Gbps plan or 500Mbps plan, that is a better option for you than to upgrade to 5Gbps plan.

You may want to watch the four Youtube videos in the sticky thread. I assure you that it will be time well spent to understand the very basics of home networking.
https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/threads/understanding-the-abcs-of-home-networking.6653421/

 

[sarhh79]

Downgrade to 1Gbps plan or 500Mbps plan, that is a better option for you than to upgrade to 5Gbps plan.

You may want to watch the four Youtube videos in the sticky thread. I assure you that it will be time well spent to understand the very basics of home networking.
https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/threads/understanding-the-abcs-of-home-networking.6653421/

OK sometimes I game also la that's why i got the 2GBPS plan... Should i keep it in that case?

If not it's mostly just streaming on multiple devices. Sorry bro but can explain the rationale behind downgrade? I just scared i regret then stuck with slow speed for two years...

 

[xiaofan]

OK sometimes I game also la that's why i got the 2GBPS plan... Should i keep it in that case?

If not it's mostly just streaming on multiple devices. Sorry bro but can explain the rationale behind downgrade? I just scared i regret then stuck with slow speed for two years...

I actually have doubts whether you really use Starhub 2Gbps plan to its ability or not.

Starhub 2Gbps plan is a dual 1Gbps plan, basically the idea is to have two seperate networks, each one has dedicated 1Gbps bandwidth.

The following setup is from Starhub 2Gbps FAQ. You can see the idea is to have the personal device (eg: a gaming PC) to have the dedicated 1Gbps bandwidth. Then the others can use another network. In reality, it is not a good idea to connect the personal device directly to the internet, rather it is better to go through a router (which has firewall function).

Starhub ONT Port 1 -- wireless router 1 -- network 1
Starhub ONT Port 3 -- wireless router 2 -- network 2

If you are using only Port 1 or only Port 3, then actually you are paying for the 2Gbps plan but use it as an 1Gbps plan.

Power users may use a router with Dual WAN Load Balancing with Starhub 2Gbps plan but I believe you are not using that setup.

Reference: Starhub 2Gbps FAQ
https://www.starhub.com/personal/support/article.html?id=IzWmqNLUyB2z3slc37MV16

Please also read the following thread: Dual 1Gbps plan is a niche plan and usually not useful for most of the users.
https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/threads/how-did-you-put-good-use-to-2-x-1gbps.6884027/

 

[SojIrOu]

OK sometimes I game also la that's why i got the 2GBPS plan... Should i keep it in that case?

If not it's mostly just streaming on multiple devices. Sorry bro but can explain the rationale behind downgrade? I just scared i regret then stuck with slow speed for two years...

Currently your 2Gbps plan is actually 2x1Gbps which means you won't exceed the 1Gbps on any device you connect right now. So it's pretty much the same as subscribing to a 1Gbps plan unless you are sharing your internet with a large household who is streaming/downloading at the same time.

For online gaming, it actually uses very little bandwidth except downloading the game itself what you need is good latency. Frankly I switched from 1Gbps plan to 10Gbps and don't notice any difference to my usual browsing/streaming speeds except during huge 100gb+ downloads (my steam download only maxes out at 200-300MB/s on very high spec PC). With my old 1Gbps plan I could still max out at 110MB/s so benefit is very limited.

Since you're probably paying more for the 2Gbps plan, you can consider the 2.5Gbps plan @xiaofan mentioned or 5Gbps plan for a little more (but unlikely you will benefit without hardware upgrade). Otherwise, you can "side-grade" to 1Gbps plan and then upgrade later on with no penalty.

 

[xiaofan]

Currently your 2Gbps plan is actually 2x1Gbps which means you won't exceed the 1Gbps on any device you connect right now. So it's pretty much the same as subscribing to a 1Gbps plan unless you are sharing your internet with a large household who is streaming/downloading at the same time.

For online gaming, it actually uses very little bandwidth except downloading the game itself what you need is good latency. Frankly I switched from 1Gbps plan to 10Gbps and don't notice any difference to my usual browsing/streaming speeds except during huge 100gb+ downloads (my steam download only maxes out at 200-300MB/s on very high spec PC). With my old 1Gbps plan I could still max out at 110MB/s so benefit is very limited.

Since you're probably paying more for the 2Gbps plan, you can consider the 2.5Gbps plan @xiaofan mentioned or 5Gbps plan for a little more (but unlikely you will benefit without hardware upgrade). Otherwise, you can "side-grade" to 1Gbps plan and then upgrade later on with no penalty.

Good info.

But I would not recommend Whizcomms 2.5Gbps plan over Starhub 1Gbps plan myself due to the use of ONR. I consider Starhub 500Mbps plan to be better than Whizcomms 2.5Gbps plan. Again, that is just my personal opinion.

FYI, I have Starhub 500Mbps plan (out of contract) and no plan to upgrade.