ViewQuest and MyRepublic


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ManWearPants

Senior Member
Jul 14, 2008
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My SH 100Mbps fibre contract is near expiring. I am shopping around for a fibre player with no cap on International bandwidth specifically China/HK, low latency and at least 300Mbps.

My options are:
(1) Stay with SH and upgrade to 300Mbps.
(2) ViewQuest for their claimed "no cap on Intl bw"
(3) MyRepublic for 1000Mbps but no data on Intl bw

I am not considering ST since performance is similar. Also not considering M1 as there is no differentiating features. Someone can correct me on M1.

I am quite attracted to VQ for its low latency. But a quick comparison using IDA's SamKnows tests seems to show that its international bandwidth performance is quite poor. However, it is traffic to US and no data present for traffic to China/HK. SO there remains unknown.

http://www.ida.gov.sg/applications/rbs/chart.html

Then the price of MR's gigabit fibre seems very attractive. However, the same IDA chart shows it's other plans previously is the lowest performing. Also, understand they are leasing from Nucleus Connect, same infrastructure as SH. Then no impetus to migrate.

I am thinking of just choose option 1 and save all the fuss. Also understand that FTTH is on shared pipe so bottom neck always on the number of subscribers in your block. How true is this? I do not want to miss the opportunity to re-evaluate the broadband providers before us until another 2 years later. Any expert opinions or thoughts from people who have done the same exercise?
 

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My POV is all the same la.

Never believe what they claim.

As a end user, what is your objective? Do u really care abt 1Gb? What benefit u getting from 1Gb? Are u really using to the full capacity?

It's like a car driver buying a 3 litre car with high horsepower. But how much of the engine power is he using in everyday driving?

Or someone buying a big MPV but he's alone in the car most of the time.

What are u really paying for?

If I tell u that I'm still using 2 Mbps at home and v happy with it? will u believe me?

I got 2 IP cameras, 2 tablets, 1 laptop and 2 smartphones sharing this. And going to add 2 more IP cameras.

And I still can surf in toilet with door locked.....

My point is as a end user, u just need to pay what u need, to maximize your money.

How many hours r u using bb every day? What u use for?

And the price differences between diff bb tiers. Is it alot of price diff?
 

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My POV is all the same la.

Never believe what they claim.

As a end user, what is your objective? Do u really care abt 1Gb? What benefit u getting from 1Gb? Are u really using to the full capacity?

It's like a car driver buying a 3 litre car with high horsepower. But how much of the engine power is he using in everyday driving?

Or someone buying a big MPV but he's alone in the car most of the time.

What are u really paying for?

If I tell u that I'm still using 2 Mbps at home and v happy with it? will u believe me?

I got 2 IP cameras, 2 tablets, 1 laptop and 2 smartphones sharing this. And going to add 2 more IP cameras.

And I still can surf in toilet with door locked.....

My point is as a end user, u just need to pay what u need, to maximize your money.

How many hours r u using bb every day? What u use for?

And the price differences between diff bb tiers. Is it alot of price diff?


Actually, this is also what I am trying to understand. Are they all the same? A quick search on Wikipedia says Opennet is the only passive infrastructure. I would assume that each operating company will have to buy their International bandwidth.
----
Optical fibre broadband providers[edit]

Networking company[edit]
OpenNet (Passive Infrastructure Company ; NetCo ; Wholesale)

Operating companies[edit]
Nucleus Connect (Active Infrastructure Company ; OpCo ; Wholesale) - Commenced Commercial Operations on 31 Aug 2010 [4]
SingTel (Active Infrastructure Company ; OpCo ; Wholesale) - Deployed on 31 Aug 2010 [5]
M1 (Active Infrastructure Company ; OpCo ; Wholesale) - Deployed in Sep 2011 [6]
ViewQwest (Active Infrastructure Company ; OpCo ; Wholesale) - Deployed in the 2nd half of year 2010 [7]
------

Secondly, each Retail servive Providers (RSP) will have different bandwidth/traffic optimisation. For Starhub, the SLA for Intl bw is as below. Other RSP may have different limitations.

--------
Subscribed International Speed^^

Assured 20Mbps (Enhanced) Assured 20Mbps (Enhanced) Assured 25Mbps Assured 25Mbps Assured 30Mbps (Enhanced)
---------

I don't really care for local bandwidth as it is more than sufficient. It is this demand for International bandwidth that is driving the upgrade.

It is not so much of how many equipments one have at home. It is the content you are accessing. IP cameras are local traffic. Surfing through toilet doors got more to do with your wifi than the broadband.
 

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My in-law place has 200M Singtel fibre broadband. I have the 15M phone based broadband at home. I go to their place very often and so have experienced both kinds of broadbands for a substantial amount of time. I can confidently tell you - no diff. In fact, my sis-in-law often complains that the 15M broadband at my home is at times better than hers.

The "200M" is just the speed of light - i.e., you are guaranteed never to exceed it. It does not mean that you will attain it.

Another friend working at a competitor's broadband services also advised me: "if you ever convert to fibre, just take the cheapest. The rest is a waste of money."
 

I'm with Sinktel Fibre Broadband just because I called in once to KPKB and their retention department subsequently offered me...

* 5 months free subscription + 10% off monthly mobile plan.

* Registration and Installation charges waived.

* Free 802.11ac (dual band) router.

* Free World Cup for Mio Tv.

Offer too good to resist. :bsmilie:
 

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I'm with Sinktel Fibre Broadband just because I called in once to KPKB and their retention department subsequently offered me...

* 5 months free subscription + 10% off monthly mobile plan.

* Registration and Installation charges waived.

* Free 802.11ac (dual band) router.

* Free World Cup for Mio Tv.

Offer too good to resist. :bsmilie:

Good deal wor... must share your KPKB method with bros... (too bad, I kena locked in for my stupid home broadband till don't know because of a mis-step.)
 

Actually, this is also what I am trying to understand. Are they all the same? A quick search on Wikipedia says Opennet is the only passive infrastructure. I would assume that each operating company will have to buy their International bandwidth.
----
Optical fibre broadband providers[edit]

Networking company[edit]
OpenNet (Passive Infrastructure Company ; NetCo ; Wholesale)

Operating companies[edit]
Nucleus Connect (Active Infrastructure Company ; OpCo ; Wholesale) - Commenced Commercial Operations on 31 Aug 2010 [4]
SingTel (Active Infrastructure Company ; OpCo ; Wholesale) - Deployed on 31 Aug 2010 [5]
M1 (Active Infrastructure Company ; OpCo ; Wholesale) - Deployed in Sep 2011 [6]
ViewQwest (Active Infrastructure Company ; OpCo ; Wholesale) - Deployed in the 2nd half of year 2010 [7]
------

Secondly, each Retail servive Providers (RSP) will have different bandwidth/traffic optimisation. For Starhub, the SLA for Intl bw is as below. Other RSP may have different limitations.

--------
Subscribed International Speed^^

Assured 20Mbps (Enhanced) Assured 20Mbps (Enhanced) Assured 25Mbps Assured 25Mbps Assured 30Mbps (Enhanced)
---------

I don't really care for local bandwidth as it is more than sufficient. It is this demand for International bandwidth that is driving the upgrade.

It is not so much of how many equipments one have at home. It is the content you are accessing. IP cameras are local traffic. Surfing through toilet doors got more to do with your wifi than the broadband.

Yeah. It's all the same one.

Look at it as a fish wholesale supplier.

He supply the same fishes to 3 fish stalls in the wet market. Side by side.

Each stall will tell you their fish today is v fresh.

Which one do you think is fresher?
 

I'm with Sinktel Fibre Broadband just because I called in once to KPKB and their retention department subsequently offered me...

* 5 months free subscription + 10% off monthly mobile plan.

* Registration and Installation charges waived.

* Free 802.11ac (dual band) router.

* Free World Cup for Mio Tv.

Offer too good to resist. :bsmilie:

I have been told Singtel block streaming to PPTV and such. Please test if this is true.
 

Yeah. It's all the same one.

Look at it as a fish wholesale supplier.

He supply the same fishes to 3 fish stalls in the wet market. Side by side.

Each stall will tell you their fish today is v fresh.

Which one do you think is fresher?

What I am trying to do is to dispel the myth, ie what the fishmongers tell you, and try to find out about the source, ie the fisherman who supplied the fish to the distributor.
 

My in-law place has 200M Singtel fibre broadband. I have the 15M phone based broadband at home. I go to their place very often and so have experienced both kinds of broadbands for a substantial amount of time. I can confidently tell you - no diff. In fact, my sis-in-law often complains that the 15M broadband at my home is at times better than hers.

The "200M" is just the speed of light - i.e., you are guaranteed never to exceed it. It does not mean that you will attain it.

Another friend working at a competitor's broadband services also advised me: "if you ever convert to fibre, just take the cheapest. The rest is a waste of money."

There must be some explaination to this. While I am aware you can never reach max throughput. Comparing a fibre broadband with a Wimax is still quite far fetched.
 

My POV is all the same la.

Never believe what they claim.

As a end user, what is your objective? Do u really care abt 1Gb? What benefit u getting from 1Gb? Are u really using to the full capacity?

It's like a car driver buying a 3 litre car with high horsepower. But how much of the engine power is he using in everyday driving?

Or someone buying a big MPV but he's alone in the car most of the time.

What are u really paying for?

If I tell u that I'm still using 2 Mbps at home and v happy with it? will u believe me?

I got 2 IP cameras, 2 tablets, 1 laptop and 2 smartphones sharing this. And going to add 2 more IP cameras.

And I still can surf in toilet with door locked.....

My point is as a end user, u just need to pay what u need, to maximize your money.

How many hours r u using bb every day? What u use for?

And the price differences between diff bb tiers. Is it alot of price diff?

Yeah, almost similar. Since I hold a 7-5 working hours, I can't really make a full use of BB at home.

What's most important to me is their support when something is not working. I don't need the kind of Tai Chi attitude thrown at the very beginning of the support call I made (like: sir, it could be your modem issue. Please chg your modem and call us back). :complain:

So, for my family member, as long as any of them subscribe to that particular telco (mobile phone or BB mobile), I'm not going to call their tech support.

Since M1 took back support call from openNet, they are inching very close to my patience threshold from blacklisting them same as Stinktel.
 

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What I am trying to do is to dispel the myth, ie what the fishmongers tell you, and try to find out about the source, ie the fisherman who supplied the fish to the distributor.

The myth is what they advertise to the public.

Just ignore what they say, and just go for the cheapest.
 

There must be some explaination to this. While I am aware you can never reach max throughput. Comparing a fibre broadband with a Wimax is still quite far fetched.

I can't explain it. Just sharing my subjective user experience, truthfully.

And on the other issue: I use both Singtel and Starhub services, and, again, my subjective user experience, for both I had good and terrible customer service experiences - though I tend to remember the terrible ones better :)
 

I use ST because I think, my personal feeling, they have the most extensive network. As Whether you can achieve 200 or 300 Mbps, it is not just your end but the server you are downloading the info.

Till we are able to go wireless anywhere, you will be limited to these few to choose and they will tell you all sorts of stories. I am sure they have priority customers and unless you are one of them.
 

Have been using M1 100Mbps fiber. Signed up before all the prices dropped and speed increase... but so far quite satisfied with it. Very fast. Problem is many times at around 1:30am or 2am it will lose connection for a while then come back within minutes. Must be some maintenance stuff they are doing.

So far streaming of TV shows via miBox, PPS.tv, PPTV all ok.

BTW my understanding is that all providers are same. they all lease the lines from the same source. For Stinktel, it sucks because the modem/router they provide sucks eggs.
 

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Having been participating in SamKnows network performance study for fixed broadband services as commissioned nationwide by IDA since its inception and having used the TP-Link Whitebox testing device for the majority of fibre broadband RSPs with the exception of Super Internet and ViewQwest, quite frankly I find the red pipe having the best overall performance statistic wise even thought the differences isn't really that noticeable either on my end.

Anyway this is just a penny of thought IMHO.
 

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I tested M1 and SH from 2 different locations using speedtest and traceroute and found that M1 performed slightly better. I don't think there is any way to perform these tests in a controlled manner. Since I am on SH, I will just give M1 a try for the next 2 years.

I will give MR a miss this time as my questions on their website livechat went unanswered. So assuming they are also on NC, then there is little difference between them and SH except for price.

VQ remains an unknown. I did not go to their showroom in Bukit Timah. Their prices remain on highest. In the present price war, I do not want to be caught with them reducing prices for new subscribers after I have signed up.

I refrain from ST due to the urban myth they block certain P2P. Unable to get further info.

I still think that even though all get their fibre from OC, it is still same same but different.
 

[...] Also understand that FTTH is on shared pipe so bottom neck always on the number of subscribers in your block. How true is this? I do not want to miss the opportunity to re-evaluate the broadband providers before us until another 2 years later. Any expert opinions or thoughts from people who have done the same exercise?
Everything is shared infrastructure, except the last wire into your house. Whoever wants to tell to something about not sharing is plainly lying into your face. Get it: Internet is Best Efforts at lowest costs, regardless what any marketing department wants to tell you. Just ask for committed bandwidth and you will see the responses.
The Internet performance is mainly defined (or impacted) by two factors: a) over-subscription on provider infrastructure (How many customers share a certain part of the infrastructure); and b) Peering between the various upstream providers.
Point a) can be identified using tools like Ookla Speedtest and selecting a local server of the same provider. Point b) can be figured out by doing traceroutes to multiple global destinations and checking the various hops.
The over-subscription is quite visible in the evening when all the tv streams, games, downloads etc come together. Obviously, tv streams will have priority to deliver the packets, pushing the other traffic aside. Depending on the ratio of over-subscription (or greediness of the provider) the resulting internet traffic can suffer substantial slowdown. Here, changing the provider can help. My personal experience with ST is quite good while I have seen horrible results for SH.
The peering with upstream carriers is basically out of reach and there is ZERO that a normal customer can achieve. The providers will just exchange Internet traffic wherever it is cheapest and that's it. Best efforts, no performance commitment. Even as business customers it took my company two weeks to have a peering rearranged between ST and Telstra so that packets from Australia to Singapore were no longer routed via US West Coast...
 

Thanks for all inputs. Since I have already signed up, I will close this thread.

It is impossible to dig into the detailed differences. However, it may not matter to most people. End of the day, people only looked at what matters - pricing and bundle.
 

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