Fibre Broadband M1, MyRepublic, Singtel, Starhub, Viewquest, which RSP offers the best deal ?

The market is now abuzz with fibre broadband plans. In fact, they seem to be even cheaper than ADSL or Cable plans. Currently, 5 telco Fibre plans operators try to outsmart one another with plans. All of them are 24 mths contractual plan. Which one will you choose ? Let’s take a closer look :

Singtel 150Mbps Fibre Broadband goes for S$49.90/mth. It comes with free home line and 10GB Store and Share account. They also throw in a free integrated wireless modem worth $188.

Starhub changed it’s plans on the 1st day of Comex and offers the 150Mbps MaxInfinity Elite 150Mbps plan at S$47.94/mth. It comes with a wireless Home Gateway, a 1.2Mbps mobile broadband (30GB bundle data) and SafeSurf Online.

M1’s advertised plan is the popular 100Mbps Fibre plan. It comes with a Mobile Broadband mData 1GB (7.2Mbps) and Home Fixed Voice service. It costs only S$39/mth.

The 150Mbps plan is priced at S$59/mth and 200Mbps at S$79/mth.

New kid on the block MyRepublic offers their 24mth 100Mbps fibre broadband at S$59/mth and they offer a 5 mths free subscription. That is effectively S$46.71/mth.

MyRepublic throws in an ASUS N15U WiFi Router and Home Fixed Line worth S$5/mth (number cannot be chosen and no porting of existing numbers from other telcos allowed yet). It also throws in Norton Security 3 user pack worth S$89/year.

The 5th player is Viewquest. Their Firebnet 100 + OneVoice + IPTV costs S$65/mth. Freedom VPN add on for IPTV allows you to watch UK and US IP restricted videos, a service known as freedom VPN can be added on at S$10.70 per mth.

Of all the 5 different plans, Starhub and Singtel are quite similar. Both are 150Mbps plans. Singtel charges S$49.90 while Starhub charges S$47.94. Singtel has 10GB online storage but Starhub offers a 1.2Mbps mobile broadband (SIM only). If you are going for local content, Starhub seems to be a better choice as it throws in a mobile broadband and the total package is in fact cheaper than Singtel. Both international traffic are capped at 15Mbps.

M1, MyRepublic and Viewquest offers 100Mbps plans and they have no cap on international traffic. M1 is the incumbent. It has grown in popularity with it’s low cost. 100Mbps for S$39 is really a good catch. In the past, if you need to have the home fixed line, you have to pay S$2/mth to rent the Huawei Remote Gateway. Looks like M1 has solved this issued. New subscribers will require just one box. The phone line can be plugged direct into the box (in replacement of the Nucleus connect’s ONT). If you need wireless connectivity, you will need to purchase one to connect it to the device. You can port existing Singtel or Starhub fixed line numbers to M1 for unlimited free incoming and outgoing local calls.

As for MyRepublic, their price offer after discount is S$46.71. On their advertisement, they claim that they do not restrict international traffic. That is something I like about them. They promised Smooth HD video streaming and works fine even at peak hours. They also mentioned that they don’t do bitTorrent Throttling unlike other RSPs. They also have a Home Voice Line service that will launch in OCT 2012. It would require a Telephone adapter and a installation fee off S$49 per new line. It will offer free 1000 outgoing local minutes per month, free incoming calls, free voice mail and caller ID vAS. You can’t port existing fixed line number to MyRepubilc to date.

Viewquest bundles in IPTV service using it’s Freedom VPN. That allows you to watch online shows that are restricted to UK (BBC iplayer) or contents that are only viewable in the USA. Of course you would have to pay additional subscription to the content providers over there. The is also OneVoice for making local calls, a WD TV live media player provided. In fact, you want to watch overseas content, you will require to pay an additional S$10.70/mth.

Conclusion

Starhub might be a good choice as it is 150Mbps, (ahem just a larger number). It offers free mobile broadband and free wireless gateway. The only catch is that they do have a international traffic bandwidth cap. Throttling users might not like it but it also saves your the bandwidth by preventing downloaders from hogging the bandwidth for themselves. Singtel is more expensive and seriously who needs that 10GB of storage. You can get more on other cloud storage providers.

As for 100Mbps plan, M1 is the choice! It is S$39/mth and throws in mobile broadband. It is cheaper than the other two and provides uncapped international traffic. So far, throttling works pretty Ok for me. Things should have improved by now as they use their own ONT now instead of that Huawei RG that has poor wifi signal. No WIFI router provided.

MyRepublic and Viewquest are worth trying too. They are still evolving. MyRepublic seems to be more mature as they put up more information of what to expect from their service. The only turn off is that they can’t port existing voice lines number over to theirs yet. There is also additional costs involved.

As for Viewquest, if you an expatriate that can’t stand local cable/iptv/free to air, this might be the solution for you. It is a no frills method of getting to watch what is IP blocked content from the UK and USA. It is unsure which other VPNs in other countries will they offer. I am sure more users are more interested in downloading than watching video streams.

Do take note that the deals are only for COMEX, the pricing will revert back to their normal rates afte the exhibition ends tomorrow. If you intend to subscribe to any of the 5 operators, do check with them for any installation charges and penalty charges for early termination.

So, which one will you choose. Post your comments below.

More COMEX 2012 Price lists can be found here