SingTel admits its wireless is slow, vows changes

[carteki]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/ ... 1J20120510

"Despite being a major Asian business centre with a tech-savvy image, Singapore is among the countries with the slowest mobile Internet speeds, according to checks by Google"

Did this make the local press?

[JR8]

Did this make the local press?

Right next to the article re: SG now having the lowest birth-rate in the world I expect.

[zzm9980]

It did, I read it on papers yesterday. And I've been saying this on the forums in every post about carriers. Singapore is very third world in telecom. The study quoted even shows Vietnam is faster.

It also said Singtel is going to solve it by offering a 'paid for' priority data plan.... Really, your service doesn't work, so let's charge more... grr.

[aster]

"SingTel now offers "Priority Pass" services that start at S$40 per month, which is about a third higher than its basic mobile data plan, according to its website. Such services give priority access when there are many users in the vicinity."

I would love to see some further marketing for this:

If there are many users browsing the net in your area, you get to surpass the line, step ahead of the others, and your WWW page will load up faster that for those around you! Get Kiasu Pass now to ensure you are always first and never last!

[nutnut]

So, if everyone buys the kiasu data plan, who gets priority?

[nakatago]

Get Kiasu Pass now

Uniquely Singapore!

[x9200]

So, if everyone buys the kiasu data plan, who gets priority?

Elementary my dear Watson: the buyers of new kiasu priority plans.

Singtel made a mistake 2-3 years ago selling they broadband too cheaply. Probably it was too affordable. Side effect of it (apart from what is discussed here) is that their plans (regular plans, not this priority *beep*) got actually more expensive for the same (theoretical) performance.

[sundaymorningstaple]

So, does that mean that all the other countries with faster but cheaper data plans are selling at huge losses? Or is SingTel still just trying to BS everybody like they've been done for the past 40 years.

[x9200]

I guess in Singapore more people can afford it so the bandwidth capacity is closer to its limits. Quality of the physical infrastructure can be better comparing to Vietnam but even with less expensive plans in Vietnam it is more expensive for ordinary people to get it and use. If there is no bandwidth available no matter how fast the plan is it will not work. Thats why they came up with this idea of the priority plans simply meaning somebody has to be stopped in order to another somebody to get access. At least this is how it all looks to me.

[Barnsley]

They cocked up the finale of the Premier League season last night.

TV screens were frezzing up all over the place.

Not a single bar in Boat Quay had the winning goal live as all were fozen.

[aster]

The screens were freezing up a bit at Robertson Quay too, but some TVs regained the picture earlier than others, and at one funny moment only one screen at Robertson Walk had coverage with all the others locked up.

So not sure how this happens, different feeds?

[Barnsley]

When they all went down at Boat Quay with 5 mins to go , there was rumour that one of the TV's inside Harrys was still working and there was a mad rush of folk trying to get in.

[carteki]

Here in deepest darkest Africa (Nigeria) the heavens opened about 1min after the end of the 'city game and the satelite lost connection for about the next 5 mins. Can you imagine if it had happened 2 mins earlier

[zzm9980]

The screens were freezing up a bit at Robertson Quay too, but some TVs regained the picture earlier than others, and at one funny moment only one screen at Robertson Walk had coverage with all the others locked up.

So not sure how this happens, different feeds?

It's IPTV, so TV over TCP/IP, same protocol used for the Internet. Packets get lost and dropped, services time out, but not uniformly. If you've ever say been in an office where everyone is trying to refresh the same website over and over hoping it will load first (say to buy concert tickets or new iPhones) it is the same concept.

[ututu]

The screens were freezing up a bit at Robertson Quay too, but some TVs regained the picture earlier than others, and at one funny moment only one screen at Robertson Walk had coverage with all the others locked up.

So not sure how this happens, different feeds?

It's IPTV, so TV over TCP/IP, same protocol used for the Internet. Packets get lost and dropped, services time out, but not uniformly. If you've ever say been in an office where everyone is trying to refresh the same website over and over hoping it will load first (say to buy concert tickets or new iPhones) it is the same concept.

For live content it should be multicast, so don't think that analogy applies, it's possible there were multiple multicast groups and when multicast routing table crapped out it affected only specific groups and all the receivers in that group.