I was there at the Singapore iPhone 3G launch over at Singtel ComCenter which happen at midnight on the 22nd August 2008. I reached there at about 9.15pm and started queuing. I was the 43rd in the queue according to the sticker pasted on my application form.

There are 2 parts of the queue, the first part (Killiney side) is where you queue up and then the part time sales people will write down all your details in the application form as well as the equipment form. Once you are done, they will bring you in batches to the second part of the queue which is in front of the glass house. You will wait at there till midnight. There is a live band EIC and Glenn Ong from Class 95 to entertain you. I brought my laptop along as well so I can provide live updates on Hardware Zone forums.

Approaching midnight, all the top brass from Singtel came and together with the first person in the queue who started queuing since 12pm stand in front of the glass house’s doors. At the stroke of midnight, they pulled the big ribbon which is wrapping around the glass house to unveil the launch of Apple iPhone 3G in Singapore and “mini” fireworks were released. The first guy went in together with the top 10 customers of Singtel into the glass house to get their iPhone 3G. I think the top 10 customers are the one who gave Singtel the most money.

The first guy took about 15 minutes inside and once he is out, all the media are taking pictures and interviewing him. Once his 5 minutes of fame is over, it is the time for the rest of us in the queue to get ours. I think there are 2 places to buy your iPhone 3G, one in Hello Store itself and one in the glass house. The staff directed us to the Hello Store instead and gave each of us a queue number. My queue number was 1032. I waited for about 5 minutes before it is my turn as perhaps the counter is still setting up.

The staff who attended to me is extremely polite and knows his products well. I applied for the Singtel iTwo Value Student which is SGD$48.15 per month and Broadband on Mobile 1000 which is SGD$22.42 per month. Totaling it up would be SGD$70.57 per month. I got the Black 16GB iPhone 3G at SGD$508 but because of the student plan, I get another SGD$50 off the phone and hence the phone cost SGD$458.

I suppose to meet Weiquan and queue together but I was too early and hence I queue first. Nevertheless after purchasing my iPhone 3G (I was done by 1.30am actually), I waited for Weiquan inside the Hello Store and we waited for his turn. He also applied for the iTwo Value Student which is SGD$48.15 per month and also got the Black 8GB iPhone 3G for SGD$298 after SGD$50. He said he will wait for a while before applying the Broadband on Mobile 1000. The staff who attended to him was not very polite and I am not really happy with his work attitude.

There are 32 counters inside the Hello Store if I am not wrong, but there are only 3 cashiers and that is the bottle neck. Every sales staff just put the customer iPhone on the floor, chair or any available space they can find. And when it is the customer turn, they will ask you for your name and the color of your iPhone 3G and they will search through the whole floor of iPhones before finding yours. A lot of people make noise about the issue especially the guy behind us, he was making a very huge fuse about it.

We left about 3.30am and I sent Weiquan home and drop by Li Xiang house to say hi.

Later at night, my brother said he saw me on Channel 8 10pm news but I was not at home. I wanted to watch the Channel U 11pm news to see if they repeat it, but to my disappointment, they didn’t run it. I managed to catch a video posted by xin.sg (it was Li Xiang idea) and I managed to see myself in the video.

After watching the video, I was like WTF! How come only the first person in the queue got served by Singtel Staff wearing gloves while the rest of us do not have that. That is so double standard.

Here is the “mini” fireworks video that I took:

I have uploaded the few pictures that I took to my gallery:

3 New Voice + Data Plans

• iFlexi Value - SGD$56
  • 1 GB Data *
  • 200 Mins Outgoing Voice
  • 500 SMS
  • iPhone 8GB Price: SGD$348
  • iPhone 16GB Price: SGD$508
• iFlexi Plus - SGD$95
  • 2 GB Data *
  • 500 Mins Outgoing Voice
  • 500 SMS
  • iPhone 8GB Price: SGD$49
  • iPhone 16GB Price: SGD$208
• iFlexi Premium - SGD$205
  • 3 GB Data *
  • 1500 Mins Outgoing Voice
  • 1500 SMS
  • iPhone 8GB Price: Free
  • iPhone 16GB Price: Free

Note

• * Only for customers who connect/recontract to an iFlexi plan before 5th Sep 2008.
• These plans also come with 5 value added services free (Caller ID, AutoRoam, VoiceMail, SMS Plus and Overseas Missed Call Alert).
• Taken from: Singtel iFlexi Price Plans.
• Prices stated are including 7% GST.

Voice Only Plans

• iOne Plus - SGD$25.68
  • No Data *
  • 100 Mins Outgoing Voice
  • 500 SMS
  • iPhone 8GB Price: SGD$698
  • iPhone 16GB Price: SGD$848
• iTwo Value - SGD$48.15
  • No Data *
  • 300 Mins Outgoing Voice
  • 500 SMS
  • iPhone 8GB Price: SGD$348
  • iPhone 16GB Price: SGD$508
• iTwo Plus - SGD$82.93
  • No Data *
  • 700 Mins Outgoing Voice
  • 500 SMS
  • iPhone 8GB Price: SGD$49
  • iPhone 16GB Price: SGD$208
• iThree Plus - SGD$192.60
  • No Data *
  • 2000 Mins Outgoing Voice
  • 2000 SMS
  • iPhone 8GB Price: Free
  • iPhone 16GB Price: Free

Data Only Plans

• Broadband on Mobile Lite - SGD$3.21
  • Download Speed: 3.6Mbps
  • Upload Speed: 384kbps
  • Free Local Bundled Usage: 2 MB
• Broadband on Mobile Value - SGD$10.70
  • Download Speed: 3.6Mbps
  • Upload Speed: 384kbps
  • Free Local Bundled Usage: 10 MB
• Broadband on Mobile Plus - SGD$19.90 (New)
  • Download Speed: 3.6Mbps
  • Upload Speed: 384kbps
  • Free Local Bundled Usage: 500 MB
• Broadband on Mobile 1000 - SGD$22.42
  • Download Speed: 1Mbps
  • Upload Speed: 384kbps
  • Free Local Bundled Usage: 50 GB
• Broadband on Mobile 2000 - SGD$34.85
  • Download Speed: 2Mbps
  • Upload Speed: 384kbps
  • Free Local Bundled Usage: 50 GB
• Broadband on Mobile 3600 - SGD$62.37
  • Download Speed: 3.6Mbps
  • Upload Speed: 384kbps
  • Free Local Bundled Usage: 50 GB

Note

• * It is recommended to have Broadband on Mobile data plan to go along with the Voice Only plan.
• These plans also come with 4 value added services free (Caller ID, AutoRoam, VoiceMail and Overseas Missed Call Alert).
• Taken from: Singtel Existing Voice Only Price Plans.
• Prices stated are including 7% GST.

Links

• View Singtel Broadband on Mobile price plans
• View Singtel Postpaid Mobile price plans
• View Singtel iPhone price plans
• Credit to leinad of HWZ
• Discussion at Hardware Zone Forums

*UPDATE* Singtel officially announced the price in http://home.singtel.com/singtel/index.html. I have updated this blog post to reflect it.

*UPDATE 2* Personally, I am going for the iTwo Value (SGD$48.15) + Broadband on Mobile 1000 (SGD$22.42) = SGD$70.57. My current M1 monthly bill is also about SGD$60+.

Been a long time since I blogged about my personal life because there is nothing much to blog about. Also I have not watched any movie for the past 1 month plus! The last movie that I watched was The Dark Knight in KL!

School
Just ended my first week of school. It is a 4 day week for me where Monday is my off day. Just when I thought I have to take 4 exams for this semester, I was wrong, the new module CS3361 do not have an exam! Our lecturer who is the CTO of IBM Singapore, told us this piece of good news today. So now I have 3 papers to study for and my last date of my examination is 27th November 2008.

Taiwan
I will be going to Taiwan with Li Xiang during December. My mom got 2 free tickets for a 6 days 5 nights trip to Taiwan as she bought 2 lorries for her office and each lorry is entitled to 1 ticket. Li Xiang and I was thinking of extending the trip to about 2 weeks instead of just 6 days so that we can explore more. Hopefully we are able to do it. Keeping my fingers cross.

Wanted to wait till I am in Taiwan before I get the Asus EEE PC, but apparently the price difference is not that great. According to some online site I checked, it is just a different of SGD$50 and the keyboard layout maybe in Chinese and Taiwan has different voltage from Singapore. Since there are so many factors to consider, I think I shall get my netbook in Singapore. Now I am considering between Dell, Lenovo and Asus. Dell and Lenovo will launch their netbook soon.

Comex 2008
Comex 200 will take place on the 28th August 2008 till 31st August 2008 at Suntec City Exhibition Center (entire levels 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6). The opening hours is from 12pm to 9pm.

Thinking of getting the D-Link DNS-323 (2-Bay Network Storage Enclosure) and along with a 1TB Western Digital Harddisk Drive for my home. The DNS-323 is running on Linux and hence I can do a great deal of stuff on it like use it as a Torrenting machine, FTP server and even a Web Server.

Going to get Li Xiang a USB mouse as her mouse gave up on her a few months back.

Apple iPhone 3G
Singtel will be announcing the price plan for Apple iPhone 3G next week before officially releasing it on 22th August 2008. I have gotten all the documents (authorization letter and my mom’s NRIC) ready for me to jump ship from M1 to Singtel. Apparently when doing the true number portability from one operator to another operator, the account name must be the same for both operators. My M1 line is under my mom’s name and hence when I use the true number portability in Singtel, I need to apply under my mom’s name as well and not mine.

The funny thing is that my mom is using my name for her Singtel line as last time when I was in National Service (NS), they offered discounted plans for NSF and hence my mom switch it to under my name.

My M1 plan will end officially on 24th August 2008 and Singtel will launch the iPhone on the 22nd August 2008. This means that I have to sign up an account with Singtel on the 22nd August 2008 as well. I called Singtel to ask whether 2 days does make a difference in the true number portability as technically my plan with M1 have not ended yet and the CSO said it is fine. Woot!

I am using the iPod Touch and I dare to say that no other devices can come close to the iPod Touch/iPhone in terms of web surfing experience.

With the voice and data plan bundled together with the iPhone, I can surf the Internet wherever I go without worrying about the data charges.

Now the only thing we can hope is Singtel don’t disappoint us with the pricing.

Dad Coming Back For 4 Days
My dad is coming back on the 30th August 2008 for 4 days as there is a long weekend in Vietnam during that week and my dad just need to take 1 day of leave. I have already planned on where to bring my dad go eat to make my dad gain back the weight that he lost in Hanoi.

2 weeks ago, I have already book a table at MELT for Lunch on the 31st August 2008.

SINGAPORE Telecommunications will start selling Apple third-generation iPhone in Singapore on Aug 22, the company said on Tuesday.

SingTel’s CEO for Singapore, Mr Allen Lew said that ‘there are ‘tens of thousands’ on its reservation lists’, and those who registered online will get priority for the iPhones.

Online reservation is open until Aug 17. Mr Lew said SingTel will release the price of the iPhone later.

SingTel on Monday said its regional mobile user base was up 45 per cent to almost US$198 million (S$280 million). in the second quarter against a year earlier.

India led the way as SingTel’s mobile associate Bharti added a record 7.4 million new users to bring its total mobile base to 69.38 million at the end of June, the Singapore telecom carrier said in a statement.

Bharti, the largest GSM operator in India, makes up 35 per cent of SingTel’s mobile base in the Asia-Pacific.

SingTel, the largest telecom firm in South-east Asia, holds a 30.44 per cent stake in Bharti as well as stakes in other mobile firms in the region.

For SingTel’s other associates, mobile users at Indonesia’s Telkomsel rose by 1.11 million during the June quarter to 52.44 million and Thailand’s AIS subscribers increased by over 877,000 to 25.96 million.

SingTel’s wholly owned Australian unit Optus added 101,000 users during the quarter to 7.24 million while in Singapore, its mobile subscribers grew 182,000 to 2.75 million.

Source: Straits Times: iPhone on sale from Aug 22

Singtel Email: It’s coming on 22 August 2008!

Singtel Email: iPhone 3G NEWS from SingTel

I would like to start off with ADSL sucks and Cable is the way to go. It is restarted to authenticate and use a telephone line to start a connection as that is so 56K era. ADSL connection disconnect you more than cable. ADSL modem has full of settings that requires you to set in order for it to work normally, with cable, just plug the cable into your modem and you are ready to use the Internet. How easy can that get?

Yesterday, I went to the my mom office to solve a very peculiar Internet problem. My mom is using Singnet Business Internet which is like SGD$100 per month for a 512K downstream and a 256K upstream for more than a year before this problem occurs.

The problem happen like 2 weeks ago where my mom is unable to use the Internet before 2pm (roughly) but after 2pm, she can use it without any problem. This problem occurs every day for the past 2 weeks.

The Singnet people came at least 4 times to solve this but for the first 3 time, they are unable to find out why. The 4th time, the technician came and he suspect it is our router problem.

We are using the 2wire 2700HGV-2 (Singtel’s MioBox) and Linksys WRT54G. So as you can see there are 2 routers as the 2700HGV-2 itself is also a router. Previously I set up wrongly for my mom and this wrong setup works for more than a year and only start giving problems 2 weeks ago.

The thing I did wrong is creating 2 routings. My 2700HGV-2 will initiate a PPoE connection and connect to the Internet and my WRT54G will also initiate a PPoE connection using the 2700HGV-2 and connect to the Internet. And hence I got 2 external IPs for the 2 PPoE connections, 1 each for the router.

According to some Google searches I made, 2 routings will cause a major lag and slowdown to the network. This problem did not happen a year ago as my mom’s workplace is new and my mom is the first few tenants there and recently it seems that the whole building is fully occupied and morning seems to to be the peak period and hence a lot of people is using the Internet. There is no cable point installed, so the tenants can either be using Singtel’s Singnet or Starhub’s ADSL.

After figuring out this, I went to disable all the shit in 2700HGV-2 making it into a pure ADSL modem and bridge it using my WRT54G. I managed to bridge it using only just my WRT54G to initiate a PPoE connection. My WRT54G managed to get the external IP, gateway, DNS and MTU and it seems everything is working perfect, but it is not! I can’t surf the Internet or ping out at all. And I have no idea why this is happening. I asked FRRO’s Michael for help and he told me it is weird and recommend me in worst case scenario, get a ADSL modem plus a router. I know that the 2700HGV-2 has a inbuilt wireless and 4-port wired router function but it lacks A LOT of features that the WRT54G has like the DDNS service which my mom need the most.

I heed Michael’s advice and went down to Funan to get the Linksys WAG200G, for SGD$99, it is basically a WRT54G with ADSL modem inside.

Went back to replace both the 2700HGV-2 and WRT54G with only WAG200G and BINGO, everything is perfectly working alright (just got feedback from my mom this afternoon).

Why can’t just Singnet give us the bloody ADSL modem with no shit inside just like Starhub’s Cable modem and it would make the solution easier.

Last but not least, I would like to add that my WRT54G is version 7 and I can’t flash it to DD-WRT. How unlucky!