singtel or starhub for home broadband

UK-HK-SIN · Post by **UK-HK-SIN** » Thu, 21 May 2009 1:01 pm

I was all set to go with Singtel but our real estate is pushing starhub and saying they are superior... ( not sure if she gets a kickback ) is there an advantage of one over the other ?? they look like similar deals when i look at the website.... we will be in a house... we don't watch TV so that isn't an issue as we wouldn't subscribe to any cable channels...

sillingw · Post by **sillingw** » Thu, 21 May 2009 2:50 pm

I use singtel DSL, but the modem appears to me to be somewhat unreliable - I am now on my fourth in three years. A friend of mine uses starhub cable modem and does not have the same problem. I spoke to starhub about using a cable modem and they told me that since I have hi-def box and also two other cable tv boxes - one for the maid, one for another tv, I am using high bandwidth and may impact the internet traffic. so I am staying with singtel. Singtel have told me that lightning strikes may be affecting the modem and to put a surge protector on the phone line (already have for electric) If this works, then generally I will be happy, but I do envy the reliability my friend has - the speeds seem pretty much the same so go for the price/package.

durain · Post by **durain** » Thu, 21 May 2009 4:55 pm

i think it is a mixed bag. i am on starhub and it is great but some of my friends said it is pants. same goes with singtel ADSL. given the choice, i would go cable.

AngMoKio · Post by **AngMoKio** » Fri, 22 May 2009 3:26 am

I rely on a fast internet connection back to the US.

Starhub can be very slow during times of peak use. Singtel might have some advantages there. Then again, I hear singtel has poor service... while Starhub at least answers the phone!

(Yes - your agent probably receives a kickback.)

We are month-to-month rather then with a contract, which so far has been a very wise decision.

There is also m1 to consider, which leases the lines of Starhub.

bigfilsing · Post by **bigfilsing** » Sat, 23 May 2009 2:21 am

Singtel every time

Star hub, superior ....yeah right

sillingw · Post by **sillingw** » Sat, 23 May 2009 2:05 pm

I must spring to the defense of singtel here, I have been with them 4 years now and I have found the customer service to be excellent, that has not been the problem, just poor quality modems, but they have responded fast, replaced and I never had a problem getting them on the phone.

pakjohn · Post by **pakjohn** » Sat, 23 May 2009 4:42 pm

For what it's worth, I have Starhubs ultra max and until last week have not been happy with the service during peak hours. My neighbor has Singtel and it's MUCH faster during peak hours. We live in a 5 year old building so not likely there is a problem in the cabling.

I'm almost afraid to say this: my d/l speeds for the last week have been incredible, slower during peak hours but still very high. I used to be delighted to get 70k download, for the last week I've been getting 800k to 1.2m download speeds. Perhaps they (starhub) have lifted their speed capping temporarily.

Still, based on two years experience, I'd to with Singtel.

sierra2469alpha · Post by **sierra2469alpha** » Sat, 23 May 2009 5:13 pm

Like PakJohn I have the StarHub MaxOnline Ultimate (100mbps - yeh right). Remember that we do have limited bandwidth in and out of our fair isle, so that is a consideration. I also have received increased performance from StarHub since last weekend.

It may or may not be worthwhile for you to consider that I just put SingTel ADSL on 2Mbps plan into an office in the city - 10 PC's, heavy file transfers etc., and they have experienced little to no problems. However, that is a BUSINESS plan, and you pay for it accordingly!

I think half the issue with residential is the usual shared IP, how many other people are chewing up the cable to your exchange/MDF/IDF, and the other usual capacity issues.

Remember too that cable is cable - ADSL runs the transport over copper so it is somewhat antiquated, but in some circumstances works well.

HTH, Mr. P

UK-HK-SIN · Post by **UK-HK-SIN** » Sat, 23 May 2009 9:01 pm

Thank you for all the advice guys. I went with singtel based on the face that there is a shop close to my house so am not even going to bother calling if there is a problem... i go to the shop and sit it out..... i went to star hub in raffles place at 11 am and waited for 55 mins before I left without being seen and my telephone socket is away from the TV which means i don't have to have lots of boxes/wires coming out of the unit under my tv.....

moonberrry · Post by **moonberrry** » Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:51 am

I've been using StarHub and the internet speed is excruciatingly slow!!! Last night I did a speed test and to reach a USA server, my ping time was 262 ms. COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE!

http://www.speedtest.net/result/522173262.png

Post by **Strong Eagle** » Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:08 am

moonberrry wrote:I've been using StarHub and the internet speed is excruciatingly slow!!! Last night I did a speed test and to reach a USA server, my ping time was 262 ms. COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE!

http://www.speedtest.net/result/522173262.png

You've got through a lot of hops to get there, as well as passing thru the gahmen's censor servers.

IronMac · Post by **IronMac** » Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:31 pm

I have both Singtel and Starhub here with their 2-3 Mbps plans. Originally, we had Singtel but Starhub came along and offered us a free one-year trial for their service. For the first week, Starhub was amazingly fast given that they somehow set us up for their 8 Mbps service but then dialed it back to 2 Mbps.

Now, for the past few days though, their service has gone down to something along the lines of what moonberry is getting. I have a VPN service that is a straight shot to a New York server, which bypasses hops and any sort of "surveillance". Simply awful speed. Singtel is still chugging along at just over 2 Mbps.

IronMac · Post by **IronMac** » Mon, 27 Jul 2009 8:13 am

Looks like I've unfairly maligned Starhub. It was my VPN connection (user error) that was the cause of my slow speed with Starhub. I'd now say that both services are about the same.

lukester · Post by **lukester** » Mon, 28 Sep 2009 3:31 pm

It will really depend, cos Starhub uses cable, which is shared bandwidth among your apartment block residence, so if more people are using starhub then the slower it can be. Where are singtel uses dedicated phone line for data transfer.

If I were to make a guess to see which to use, look at your apartment block demographics, more families with teens, then go for singtel, likelihood for them to have their children gaming and hogging the cable bandwidth is higher. those are the demographic that usually go for Starhub.

durain · Post by **durain** » Mon, 28 Sep 2009 8:40 pm

lukester wrote:It will really depend, cos Starhub uses cable, which is shared bandwidth among your apartment block residence, so if more people are using starhub then the slower it can be. Where are singtel uses dedicated phone line for data transfer.

cable or adsl, they are all shared bandwidth. the only dedicated line you gonna get is either a leased line or ISDN. all cable and adsl are shared on a contention ratio, typically 50:1. in a nut shell, a 8M line is shared between 50 users.

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singtel or starhub for home broadband

singtel or starhub for home broadband

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