Conducted across eight Asia-Pacific markets (Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan), the second quarterly Digital Brand Index (DBI 2.0) continues to unveil insights about; the most discussed brands online, the most active channels and the subject areas that spark the most vibrant debate.

Researched during the last three months of 2009, DBI 2.0 found almost 1.5 million online technology brand mentions – double the level tracked in DBI 1.0, conducted July to September 2009. Other key findings from DBI 2.0 include:

• Mentions of large technology brands online doubled in the last quarter of 2009, reaching 1.5 million across Asia Pacific’s top 300 large technology brands, covering almost 3,800 channels and online sites.
• Twitter’s massive growth trajectory has seen it become the dominant channel for sharing news about technology brands across Asia, except in China where it is banned. For example, in India, Twitter represents over three-quarters of all online conversations tracked.
• Despite massive online buzz generated by Microsoft around Windows 7, Google continued to be the most discussed brand across the region, generating significant mentions in areas such as its Chrome and Android operating systems, and the Nexus One smart phone.

Developed by Edelman and derived from Brandtology data, the second quarterly Digital Brand Index (DBI 2.0) for Singapore found:

• Google (over 20,600) and SingTel (over 13,700) topped the rankings by way of volume of conversations, with increases of 245 per cent and 50 per cent in the last quarter respectively
• StarHub closed the gap on SingTel, enjoying a 137.3 per cent increase in online buzz
• Canon (4.3) once again topped the Average Engagement scoreboard, ahead of LG (3.3)
• The centre of gravity for online conversation regarding technology brands in Singapore was once again dominated Hardwarezone Forum, Eat, Drink, Man, Woman (37,043 mentions) and Twitter Singapore (20,643). The channels combined accounted for over one third (37.2 per cent) of all chatter
• StarHub knocked SingTel from the top spot in the Channel Index, which reveals the number of unique channels discussing a brand

Source: Twitter Leapfrogs Established Digital News Sources finds the Asia Pacific Quarterly Digital Brand Index

It seems there are some 3G Connectivity issues with the Nexus One in Singapore for M1 and Starhub customers in Singapore according to some media report. SingTel customers should not have this issue because for SingTel customers, the Nexus One should auto-connect to their 3G network (a hint that SingTel maybe bringing in Nexus One?). For Starhub and M1 customers, they will need to enter in their APN settings to connect to the 3G network by going through the following steps:

• Go to Settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile Networks > Access Point Names.
• Hit Menu button, create new APN.
• Enter new APN settings. See below for the details.
• Hit Menu button, save settings.
• Select the new APN name, then hit the home button. Your 3G connection will shortly appear in the top bar.

APN Settings
For Starhub customers:

• name: Starhub Internet
• APN: shwapint
• username: [leave blank]
• password: [leave blank]

For M1 customers:

• name: M1 Internet
• APN: sunsurf
• username: 65
• password: user123

For SingTel customers (Just In Case):

• name: SingTel Internet
• APN: internet
• username: 65IDEAS (or blank)
• password: IDEAS (or blank)

The Nexus One is an unlocked device that can be purchased online at google.com/phone, because of that, the first place for users to look for support is the help section on the site which includes how-to videos, feature overviews, ordering/payment/set-up/warranty info, a user’s guide and help forum. However, if you need further help, try calling Singapore’s HTC Support line at 1-800-238-7788 from 8am-8pm, Monday to Saturday. Also do note that HTC IS providing local support and repair services for Nexus One.

My Starhub MaxOnline Premium broadband plan has expired a few months back. Rather then waiting till December 2009 for promotion, I decided to renew and go for the Enjoy 30% OFF MaxOnline Ultimate promotion (till 31st December 2009). The usual price for MaxOnline Ultimate is SGD$124.12 per month but with this promotion, it is just SGD$86.88 per month. The contract length is standard 24 months. Thus I made a savings of SGD$2,978.88 – SGD$2,085.12 = SGD$893.76 which is the price of a cheap laptop or a high end netbook.

The freebies include the delicious Motorola SURFboard SB6120 and free 12 months subscription of Norton 360 All-In-One Security Package Version 3.

Box – Front View

Box – Back View

Contents

Modem – Front/Back View

Modem – Side View

In Action

It takes about 3 to 4 working days to activate the service. 100Mbps (12.5MBps) downstream and 10Mbps(1.25MBps) upstream here I come!

I would like to start off with ADSL sucks and Cable is the way to go. It is retarded 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!