Singtel vs Starhub - net and TV

[JR8]

We'll be setting up home soon. Thinking about internet and TV.

Someone told us 'M1' (?) is unreliable, and that Singtel or Starhub are the way to go.

I don't imagine there's much on local TV that either of us are likely to watch. My wife streams US TV shows over the web, I don't watch TV.

I use the net for business and social purposes. Many hours a day, but low bandwidth.

Based on that does anyone have any observations of suggestions?


p.s. IIRC our new unit has the 'fibre' connectivity board, but I know nothing about fibre.

[zzm9980]

Fiber will give you a faster overall experience. Primarily, more upstream and lower latency.

If you really don't care about the TV package, then it's probably the same with either of those two. Don't bother for anything faster than a 50mb package as that is about the most you'll get on international bandwidth anyway.

If you don't want to pay for TV at all, and want a slightly higher quality ISP, go with these guys for their basic package:
http://www.super.net.sg/ngnbn_resi.html

Note that all fiber uses the same 'last hop' network, so any physical problems to your area will affect all ISPs. Also most ISPs will use the same primary backbones out of Singapore, owned by Singnet. So basically the differentiator are the meta offerings and support the ISPs provide. The one I link has great reviews for solid customer support and is deemed a better ISP for 'power users'. They also don't cache outgoing connections. That is overall a good thing.

[katbh]

Starhub over MIO any day!

[nakatago]

Starhub over MIO any day!

I don't think that's the case for internet.

[katbh]

Our starhub for internet has always been fast and reliable and never down. But I am assuming that by now MIO would have cleaned up its act. They used to be horrible. But obviously Singtel will be best in future as it is tied to 'gahment'

[JR8]

Ok thanks a lot for those views. I've sent to the household techie (aka my wife) for her consideration!

[x9200]

For curiosity sake I just checked mio-TV channel list and have not found anything from Discovery apart from Discovery Kids. Is this correct?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Our starhub for internet has always been fast and reliable and never down. But I am assuming that by now MIO would have cleaned up its act. They used to be horrible. But obviously Singtel will be best in future as it is tied to 'gahment'

You really believe that? So are the buses & the MRT lines, and NTUC (National Trades Union Congress).

[x9200]

Our starhub for internet has always been fast and reliable and never down. But I am assuming that by now MIO would have cleaned up its act. They used to be horrible. But obviously Singtel will be best in future as it is tied to 'gahment'

We have problems with sturhub in our current place from time to time. Every few months or so the Internet connection dramatically slows down. Usually it goes back to normal within a day or two but on one occasion I needed to contact them and it took some time end effort to fix the issue (restart few routers in the neighbourhood). I must admit I was positively surprised with their technical competency and thinking flexibility as normally they talk to you, regardless of any symptoms you show, like you are technically illiterate moron just by the book for technically illiterate morons they typically use and this time they got very quickly they could skip all the standard BS and get to the point. It was rather refreshing experience

[Strong Eagle]

I had Starhub broadband in Watten Estates for eight years and can only remember a couple of hiccups.

Don't know if they still do it but as part of the broadband package they also give you a 3G dongle to allow internet access for your PC. Worked very well for me when I was in client's offices where I had no network access.

[zzm9980]

Our starhub for internet has always been fast and reliable and never down. But I am assuming that by now MIO would have cleaned up its act. They used to be horrible. But obviously Singtel will be best in future as it is tied to 'gahment'

We have problems with sturhub in our current place from time to time. Every few months or so the Internet connection dramatically slows down. Usually it goes back to normal within a day or two but on one occasion I needed to contact them and it took some time end effort to fix the issue (restart few routers in the neighbourhood).

I have similar issues with Singtel MIO (the DSL, not the fiber). I have the fastest MIO package they offer and it can be uselessly slow at times. I often turn wifi off on my ipad and iphone because the LTE connection is faster. I don't believe it's a last-mile problem, but something on their internal backbone.

Actual outages though have been rare.

[duanne]

I love Starhub's tv channels over SingTel's mio tv. But SingTel is the official tv for EPL I heard

[katbh]

From this year EPL will be on Starhub and Singtel.
Go with the one that has the best connection where you are.
We find Starhub best but that is our area and may not be as good in your area

[zzm9980]

From what I said above, and after further personal research, don't go with either if you have fiber as an option.

I would recommend MyRepublic, as they offer a service to let you watch online TV in the US, UK, or anywhere. Without getting technical, it's roughly akin to a VPN service many of us pay for.

[reytvibe]

I have 100mbit Singtel firbre, but max I have had is 50mbit from it. Still super fast though especially the upload which makes a big difference.