Sunday, September 04, 2011

Broadband

I have been wanting to sign up for a broadband plan ever since my 6-month contract with M1 has ended. Since I need a new laptop at the same time, I decided to wait for COMEX 2011 where the three telecommunication providers will have broadband plans that comes with a 'free' laptop.

The two telecommunications companies that are best known for their broadband are Singtel and Starhub. These are the specifications of the laptops that come with the broadband plans I am interested in.

Singtel Plan: 10Mbps Home Broadband + 1.5Mbps Mobile Broadband at $69.90/month
Laptop: Acer Aspire 4752G
Intel Core i7-2670QM Processor (2.2Ghz with TurboBoost up to 3.10GHz, 6MB Cache)
4GB RAM
750GB Hard Disk
14 Inch HD LCD Screen
Nvidia GeForce GT540M (2GB)
Worth S$1798

Starhub Plan: 50Mbps Home Broadband + 2Mbps Mobile Broadband at $81.32/month
Laptop: ASUS N45SF
CPU:Intel® Core™ i5 2410M Processor (2.4GHz with TurboBoost up to 3.0GHz, 3MB L3 Cache)

Chipset: HM65 Express
Screen: 14.0" 1366x768 (16:9) LED Backlight

Memory: Up to 8GBs, 1333Mhz, 2 x DIMM slots
Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M with 1GB or 2GB GDDR3
Weight: 2.4Kg

Worth S$1398

From the specifications, the Acer laptop definitely looks better, but I know that Acer laptops don't last based on personal experience. They start cracking up after about a year, and the ASUS laptop doesn't really look too bad too. Since I am fine with both laptops, it all comes down to which telecommunication company to go for.

Gathering information from colleagues, my boyfriend and forums, I have come to the following conclusions: Singtel broadband gets disconnected every few months, but otherwise speed is stable as it is a dedicated line, while the speed for Starhub broadband drops during peak hours as it is shared bandwidth.

I think I am more inclined towards Singtel. I mean, what's the point of having a broadband that can go up to a maximum of 50Mbps but I may not be able to get that speed when I need it? Singtel's 10Mbps may not be a lot, but if I can get a contant good speed, I am all up for it.

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