Went to StarHub Shop at VivoCity on the 24th June 2011 to apply for MaxOnline Infinity which is Starhub fibre Internet service. I chose the MaxInfinity Elite plan which has a download speed of 150Mbps, upload speed of 75Mbps and international speed of 15Mbps. It cost SGD$82.18 per month for a 2 year contract.

They did not tell me when they are coming to setup the fibre Internet service. I waited a month and they called me on the 3rd week of July 2011 saying they will come on 26th July 2011 to install the service.

StarHub is forcing us to use the crappy Huawei HG256s Residential Gateway (RG) and there is no way to bypass it yet. I heard the wireless on it is just pure shitty. So the typical setup would be:

Terminal Point (TP) -> Optical Network Terminal (ONT) -> Residential Gateway (RG) -> Router

If order to get your router to do the routing you need to bridge the connection between the RG and Router.

Step 1: You need to disable WLAN and DHCP on the RG

Disable WLAN on RG

Disable DHCP on RG

Step 2: Enable DMZ on the RG

Enable DMZ on RG

My RG’s IP address is 192.168.2.1 and my router WAN Port is connected to my RG’s LAN Port 1 with WAN Static IP address set to 192.168.2.2 on the router.

My router IP address is 192.168.3.1.

RG (192.168.2.1) -> DMZ (192.168.2.2) WAN -> Router (192.168.3.1)

Step 3: Setting WAN Static IP on the Router

Setting WAN Static IP on Router

Router IP Setup

That is basically it. I have disabled all the firewall features on the RG side and let the router handle it. DDNS on the other hand is handled by the RG instead of the router.

DDNS on RG

Since the router is behind RG’s DMZ, port forwarding is handled by the router.

Port Forwarding on Router

BEFORE (Cable): Speedtest – MaxOnline Ultimate (100Mbps)

AFTER (Fibre): Speedtest – MaxOnline Inifnity Elite (150Mbps)

I am unable to obtain 150Mbps speed though. I am wondering if Speedtest can output more than 100Mbps. However I am able to obtain about 80Mbps on 2 computers while doing Speedtest simultaneously. I did my speedtest on StarHub’s Speedtest before doing it on Speedtest.net.

Upon further investigation, I am actually on 150Mbps, I downloaded a iPad 2 firmware update (iOS 4.3.5) from Apple and I am getting about 16MB/s to 18MB/s which is about 128Mbps to 144Mbps. Woot!

Credits
Thanks to MarineX for his post on HardwareZone Forums.

Bought the Huawei MiFi E585 for SGD$185 from Amos of Hardware Zone Forums. It is a mobile router that makes use of your SIM card to connect to the Internet and the router itself supports 5 devices simultaneously.

It is similar to any 3G Modems but instead of only allowing one device (normally only computer) to use it via USB port, the MiFi allows up to 5 devices as long as the device have WiFi support which most if not all of the smartphones these days do. The MiFi is essentially a mobile router and hence it is capable of basic router functions such as DMZ, DHCP, SSID configuration, etc. You can configure those options using the router’s web-based interface (192.168.1.1) and the interface is mobile friendly as well. The E585 also comes with a MicroSD slot that you can use it as a shared storage for all the connected devices.

Of course there are cons to the E585 which is the the reliance on battery, the Huawei E180 3G Modem does not need a battery to operate because it draws power directly from your computer’s USB port. As it is meant to be portable and you can use it with other devices (not just a computer), the MiFi has a removable battery that supports up to 7 hours of usage. But of course you if you are using it with your computer, you can charge it using your computer’s USB port and use it at the same time.

Amos was one of the better sellers that I came across. As the product was delayed by a few days because of supplier issues, he keep you up to date with the situation by SMSing you. Once you are there to collect the product, he will verify your phone number with your name to ensure that you are who you are (I am not the only one ordering it). He will unseal the box in front of you, go through step by step on how to setup the E585 as well as how to RMA it incase there are problems with it. My first impression of him is he is very detailed and organized.

Box Front

Box Contents #1

Box Contents #2

E585 Front View

E585 Back View

E585 UI

E585 Web Dashboard

I was trying my luck by dropping Ivy aka Nanyate from Singtel an email to see if I can purchase the Singtel Huawei E180 Modem directly from Singtel at a discounted rate. But to my surprise, Singtel decided to give it to me for free. Thank you Ivy! Thank you Singtel!

My Singtel Huawei E180 Modem arrived on Thursday, 9th April 2009.

Singtel Huawei E180 Modem Box – Front View

Singtel Huawei E180 Modem Box – Back View

Singtel Huawei E180 Modem Box Contents

Singtel Huawei E180 Modem – Front View

Singtel Huawei E180 Modem – Back View

Links

• Singtel
• Singtel’s BBOM
• Huawei E180 Modem