Thanks to SingTel for giving me 2 years free subscription to try out their Fibre Internet so that I can compare it with my existing 300Mbps StarHub MaxInfinity Fibre Internet.
They gave me the 300Mbps Fibre Home Bundle which cost S$59.90. It includes the free Aztech FG7003GRV(AC) – Dual Band Wireless-AC Gigabit VOIP Residential Gateway and Home Digital Line with free unlimited local calls.
My appointment was on Friday, 12th September 2014 between 12pm and 1.30pm. The technician from SingTel was pretty punctual as he arrived at 12.30pm.
He immediately uses an interesting device called the One-Click Cleaner that removes dust and oil adhering to the ferrule endface (the green thing) of the OpenNet Terminal Point.
Next, he uses the Optical Power Meter to measure the power of the optical signal. Anything that is above -26 dBm is acceptable. However, mine turn out to be -27 dBm and he told me that the OpenNet guys might have to come down to fix it. He told me that Internet will still work but I might face some random disconnections.
After setting everything up, which basically takes less than twenty minutes, he made a call to OpenNet to report the above issue.
After the call, he told me that the OpenNet guys will be fixing it on their side and they will not be coming down.
Did an initially speedtest on SpeedTest.net using a LAN connection to my MacBook Pro Retina, I got about 331Mbps down and 340Mbps up which is already faster than my StarHub 300Mbps Fibre Home Broadband.
Just some interesting tidbits I learnt from the technician:
- One OpenNet Terminal Point (TP) can support up to two different Internet Service Providers (ISP)
- One Optical Network Terminal (ONT) from the ISP can support up to four Internet connections
- What that means is that you can at most have two different ISP for your house and for each ISP you can sign at most four Internet connections with them.
Just in case you are confused with the terminology and Fibre setup:
OpenNet Terminal Point (TP) -> ISP Optical Network Terminal (ONT) -> Residential Gateway (RG) / Router
300Mbps for upload and download is just plain awesome. I truly envy you!
300M is useless if the other sites that you are surfing is mere a slow server or slow bandwidth.
Hi why the give you free?
Anyone renewing their broadband contract, please read this.
Regret renewing SingTel fibre broadband …
I have been using SingTel fibre broadband for nearly 4 years. Contract ending soon.
I made a mistake renewing my contract two years ago. They call me up and asked me to renew it. So I did.
With a few months more, my 2nd contract ends. My router which at the second renewal was not changed is a old model 2Wire 5012NV. The router started to degrade in wifi coverage, some places at home have very poor signal or none at all where it used to have.
I called to asked for a replacement, they said it is not possible unless the unit is faulty. And to replace it, I need to pay a fee.
A new customer will get everything new free (with new models that have much better capability like lester) and lower subscription. I feel Singtel only appreciates new customers.
For those with contract with any telcos, do be a smarter consumer and make sure your devices are upgraded.
Tried calling again but on weekdays not weekends.
Yes, I did that because I know that you can almost never able to book them on weekends with an exception if you can wait for weeks later. I So if you stubbornly wants weekends appointments, then wait until few months later to settle. My record high case is 1.5 months with 6 visits, only weekdays visit. Second highest 1 month with 5 visits on weekdays only, inclusive of a senior engineer/technician which they claimed so good but turned out to be worst. Third highest is 3.5 weeks with 4 visits on weekdays only too. The rest were 2-3 visits and took 1 week to 3 weeks to settle. I do not know if M1, Starhub and Republic have the same service because I only have only broadband or phone line. In the past I have 2 phone lines because it was for Dial-up modem which cannot share with another telephone.
Even they give you, it is a second hand. I got a second hand after checking up so dusty at the slots. But the technician said Singtel never gives second hand. Never believes what Singtel tells you because everyone will not say their product is not good. Singtel technical service are very messy and anyone can change and mess around the reports, timings, visits and whatever information in their database. I personally experienced it until today since many years ago. The worse is their technician or even senior technician can drag your case to 4 weeks with more than 5 visits. This is already fast because I keep chasing them. If you do not chase, then you can wait forever. Their technical are so poor and need people to teach them what to do. However most of them are very stubborn and arrogant. Some will will keep doing the same things in every visits on the same problem.
I am not sure actually whether it will affect the light intensity, but I am guessing not because this is my secondary connection. I have another fibre before that. So likely it is unrelated
Perhaps that technician who visited your place is told to be more careful because you are writing a blog. Personal experience for 20 years of with Singtel internet service, their technician are low level types and cannot compared to the private sectors in the factories maintenance team or other engineering technicians. Before testing or connections, it is more appropriate to clean the fiber tips. Dust can block light intensity.
Nice blog but I do not like the lousy modem at all. Any modem without any antennas are low level modems. They are much slower and less sensitive. However, they are very much cheaper, especially this brand.
But Singtel gives you free, so this is considered real good deal.
A question, is the modem a dual band function?