Internet/Braodband speeds

DimWit Kid · Post by **DimWit Kid** » Wed, 24 Dec 2008 10:24 pm

As already stated, the problem is not within Singapore's own infrastructure but the way Singapore is connected to the bulk of sites in US / Europe. Singapore to Singapore sites are darn fast.

We used to have a Datacenter offsite in Singapore, and the connection with our leased Frame relay was very fast. Then it was moved to China/Shanghai and it's miserable. Not only in Singapore, but in Taiwan and in Korea/Japan as well.

I think the issue for Singapore is that it doesn't have enough economic of scale to rectify the infrastructure. It has only a million plus household (and less number of connections) surrounded by countries which are not that much "wired". For a rectification to make sense financially ASEAN will need to act together to provide economics of scale but I don't see that happening anytime soon...

ScoobyDoes · Post by **ScoobyDoes** » Thu, 25 Dec 2008 4:37 pm

I just did a Speedtest.net and got over 8MB download from the server in Singapore but when i tested to Hong Kong it became........just 710kB/sec.

There is no way i would pay any extra for quicker line speeds if getting traffic in and out of Singapore is so bad, such a big differential between local and overseas traffic.

DimWit Kid · Post by **DimWit Kid** » Thu, 25 Dec 2008 6:58 pm

Scooby what you can try is to speedtest, let's say, a 10MBps connection vs a 100Mbps connection. You will notice that the speed coming in and out of Singapore is still somewhat proportional to the connection line that you pay for (so it's still slower for the 10Mbps connection - if you get 700kbps with 100Mbps connection you will probably get 100kbps or so with 10M connection).

Having said that it's still totally true that for the speed that one gets the Singapore broadband is still very expensive (until you know how much people in other SEA countries pay that is!

)

smashme1984 · Post by **smashme1984** » Tue, 06 Jan 2009 2:37 pm

I get a lil dissed sometimes how these giants try to re-educate the consumers and lie to them. At the end of the day, all these numbers are just a representation of the different packages that they have to offer at different prices, to simplify, they offer the slow connection, the medium speed or the fast, its not relevant to whatever 3 mbs or 8 mbs they specify, thats total crap. As well as a marketing stunt.. telling everyone how they're upgrading and goign faster, inactual fact they are... but not up to the bull thats coming out of their mouths..

pakjohn · Post by **pakjohn** » Tue, 06 Jan 2009 3:22 pm

After 3 p.m. my 8 mb "broadband" drops to a crawl and stays that way till after midnight. I like to d/l podcasts from the US but had to write batch files to run them between 2 and 9 a.m.
As for "compared to other SE Asia countries", my 3 mb Telkomsel in Jakarta was hands down faster and cheaper than here. Also, they didn't use port choking software to the point all you can do is browse web pages during peak hours. You could do streaming video 24/7 and never have it stop. To be sure, websites inside Sing operate somewhat faster during non peak hours, but at peak time they're even slow.
If you press Starhub up the chain of command you'll eventually be told Starhub doesn't advertise speed to the U.S. their speed claims are based on local packet delivery. lol!

smashme1984 · Post by **smashme1984** » Wed, 07 Jan 2009 4:44 pm

Agreed, and your point on their speed advertisement is quite valid, I still think our traffic is way too conjested.

sierra2469alpha · Post by **sierra2469alpha** » Wed, 07 Jan 2009 6:53 pm

pakjohn wrote:If you press Starhub up the chain of command you'll eventually be told Starhub doesn't advertise speed to the U.S. their speed claims are based on local packet delivery. lol!

PJ - really? Holy hell - then how does starhub.com work over in the US then? Or am I just being stupid and missed something here?

Mr. P

BodyBlitz · Post by **BodyBlitz** » Wed, 07 Jan 2009 9:04 pm

SH is over subscribed, they don't buy as much bandwidth overseas.
So priority goes to business users first then throttle consumers.

sierra2469alpha · Post by **sierra2469alpha** » Wed, 07 Jan 2009 9:06 pm

BodyBlitz wrote:SH is over subscribed, they don't buy as much bandwidth overseas.
So priority goes to business users first then throttle consumers.

Do you have proof of this?

BodyBlitz · Post by **BodyBlitz** » Wed, 07 Jan 2009 9:09 pm

Try surfing youtube during peak hours 8 pm to 2 am in the morning, you'd smash your modem first rather then patiently wait for it to load.
I've been on SH for almost 5 years already, after 2 am suddenly everything is blazing fast again.

Singnet it loads immediately.

I've got 2 connections in my house 10mb ST and 12mb SH in the past (changed to M1 - another atrocious provider but thats another story)

sierra2469alpha · Post by **sierra2469alpha** » Wed, 07 Jan 2009 9:19 pm

BodyBlitz wrote:Try surfing youtube during peak hours 8 pm to 2 am in the morning, ...SNIP...
I've got 2 connections in my house 10mb ST and 12mb SH in the past (changed to M1 - another atrocious provider but thats another story)

Peak 8PM to 2AM? Errrrm, no.

2 Connections 10mbST and 12mb SH...errrm, no - that's shared bandwidth on the same physical layer, friend.

Go back and study something, with all due respect (oh, unless you have a frame relay box in your place).

But then again, I don't use the 'net for YouTube.

BodyBlitz · Post by **BodyBlitz** » Wed, 07 Jan 2009 9:23 pm

One is ADSL the other is Cable with each respective routers and modems - 2wire and 5101 + DIR 655.

Connected via wireless through a lappie.

all i can go is "huh" with your response because i can toggle from one to the other. I don't i need to study what is infront of me heh.

DimWit Kid · Post by **DimWit Kid** » Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:26 pm

BodyBlitz wrote:Try surfing youtube during peak hours 8 pm to 2 am in the morning, you'd smash your modem first rather then patiently wait for it to load.
I've been on SH for almost 5 years already, after 2 am suddenly everything is blazing fast again.

Singnet it loads immediately.

I've got 2 connections in my house 10mb ST and 12mb SH in the past (changed to M1 - another atrocious provider but thats another story)

I can definitely say you are not correct in your generalizations. I have no problem surfing with Starhub anytime of the day. I had one problem in my past rented apartment (that's about 5-6 years ago) but turns out it's the quality of cabling on that old apartment (the cable point that I used - stupidly - was that old coaxial output rather than the new screwed on type). Once I paid about 50 bucks or so to replace the cable points - whoosh! Again no matter what time of the day. The last 3 years I lived in a big estate which has 10 towers in one complex and still no problem. Maybe I just damn lucky.

And before you say anything about comparison with Singnet - I also have the 10mbps. The Starhub is my own while the Singnet is company paid - as my work sometimes gets me to work heavily in American time internet conferencing etc.

I don't see much difference between the two when I had the Max Premium vs that Singnet (I think that time both are lower bandwith, but anyway - fair comparison). I'm talking about using it for data-heavy VPN (file transfer, collaborative works on webmeeting room etc). Both were inadequate.

Now I use Ultimate and I can tell you it blows away any type of connection Singnet has. Problem is the upper speed limit of ADSL is much lower than cable. I know what people say about the same layer of connection to abroad etc, but I can swear by the fact that using the Ultimate really makes a lot of difference in terms of quality and speed of connection through my VPN. Now my daughter used the company-supplied connection and I stick with my MO Ultimate...

BodyBlitz · Post by **BodyBlitz** » Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:34 pm

Are you in a landed property/condo?
I'm surfing from a HDB, it gets iffy.

DimWit Kid · Post by **DimWit Kid** » Thu, 08 Jan 2009 2:28 pm

Ok, can't say much about it except that time in that 5-6 years ago was an HDB - an old one in that. So... it was bad until I replaced the cable point itself. You might want to ask Starhub about the slow speed...

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