Mobile Broadband: Starhub vs. M1 (the low-down aka where to park your money’s worth)
Technology April 29th, 2008
Yes, I find myself yet again, in another unique position of having both the Starhub MaxMobile service as well as the M1 Broadband service running from the same computer. Not at the same time of course, since the active connection can only come from either source. However, because my laptop has an internal SIM card slot and I have the M1 Broadband dongle as well, I save the trouble of having to replace SIM cards when I want to test either connection.
Prior to connecting my Starhub MaxMobile for the first time, I experience bad connection problems with my M1 Broadband. Not only was the connection slow, but the graphics seemed distorted as well. Initially, I thought I needed a new driver for the display, but in an unusual twist of events, I realised that it was a graphic degradation due to slow downstream speed. Of course, it’s easy to push the blame to M1.
To me, 99.98% coverage means nothing to me if I am having problems getting a connection. To me, it was 0% coverage. Probability doesn’t work here. It’s not as if I am getting 99.98% uptime from my 0% coverage location. Don’t you just hate statistics?
So, here’s the golden question. Which is the better choice? To some people, it might be even a platinum question, but I digress.
One of the better ways to compare is to do a speed test - upload/download and ping from a particular site. On 29th April 2008 at 19:17, this test was done - but it seemed like a particularly bad day for testing because all the speeds were down - way down from being optimal. Perhaps it’s the feng shui.
Date: 29th April 2008
Time: From 19:17
| Download | Upload | |
| M1 Broadband | 395 kbps | 263 kbps |
| Starhub MaxMobile | 682 kbps | 182 kbps |
| Wireless@SG | 4702 kbps | 473 kbps* |
*The upload for Wireless@SG was not successfully completed on multiple tries.
There’s a caveat to this test though. The M1 Broadband is subscribed under the lowest band, which is up to 1.8 Mpbs while Starhub’s MaxMobile is under the 7.2 Mbps plan - since they only have a single plan. For a rare moment, Wireless@SG outperformed both mobile broadband services. Of course, I didn’t mention about frequent dropping of connections.
However, it is also known that different areas have difference coverage. For me, the place where I spend 10 hours a day at has 0% coverage from M1 Broadband, and barely GPRS speed at home; while Starhub MaxMobile provided better coverage in the day and night for me. For me, it’s quite a clear cut choice.
One thing’s for sure. Ever since M1 went unlimited with their M1 Broadband, it was all down the drain.
About
that’s strange.
i’m using starhub maxmobile and i could:
-kill someone,
-bury the body,
-clean up all the traces of having murdered someone,
-and go shopping for a jacket at isetan
all while waiting for the download of one measly 4mb mp3 to complete.
u get the picture.
Jean, did you try the M1 broadband using the buildin modem?
Daphne, that’s kinda different from my own experience. I usually get very good connections(except from my hall, they refused to upgrade the area to 3G). I usually get downloads at 60-300k average when i’m on WCDMA, lesser on EDGE(dont usually get EDGE, cant remember speeds). Did you check which service you have logged on to? As for uploads, it’s usually above 100k, and nowadays I’ve dumped my singtel 10Mbps and instead use my starhub broadband when i’m uploading photos and videos.
btw, the speeds are attained on a measly stock config kohjinsha SA1K00FS.
The lowest plan of M1 mobile broadband is at 512 kbps and not 1.8 Mbps as stated in your entry above. So getting 395 kbps (77% of max speed) is not too bad, I think. For Starhub, if you are getting 682 kbps (9.47% of max speed) which I think is very bad in terms of percentage.
Anyway, you may like to know that M1 just had a free upgrade yesterday for all M1 mobile broadband users, we’ll be getting max 1 Mbps from now. Hopefully we can get as close to the max speed as possible.
I agree that the image degradation problem is really unacceptable. I’m on M1 mobile broadband too. I hope they will solve the problem.
If you want to know if its the fengshui, attend this Talk.
Blah.. I should have read this before I signed up for M1 broadband.. ITS SLOWER than the free Wireless@SG..
anyone found any solution to make it speed up???
I’ve been an M1 broadband user a year ago, it completely threw me off.
Recently signed up for Singtel’s Broadband on Mobile, fantastic, I suppose it’s the number of basestations that Singtel has that made the coverage alot better.
Andy, it’s suppose to be slower from time to time, HSPDA connection can go higher, depending on the type of plan you sign for but sometimes it’s capped. WIFI capabilities are suppose to be faster.
m1 bb blur image fix v0.03
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install greasemonkey addon from http://www.greasespot.net/
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uninstall previous version of this script (if any).
drag script and drop in firefox window to install.
for ie7 users:
install ie7pro addon from http://www.ie7pro.com/
download script from http://www.badongo.com/file/9153792
uninstall previous version of this script (if any).
drag script and drop in ie7 window to install.
Yes, M1 bb very slow. esp at nite from abt 9pm onwards…guess that’s the time when most people goes online. it crawls like a snail, it’s back to the old days of 36k dial up modem speed. every click takes so long to reach the next page…you practically gets to surf a couple of pages and then just give up totally. And they make returning of the device so inconvenient that you hope you have not gotten one in the first place. M1 …even if you give 2mbp speed also no use…
for those thinking of getting a mobile bb..think twice.
Having been a M1 mobile customer for a no. of years, I’m relatively satisfied with their service. That is, until now!
I find that M1’s bb service is sub-standard and IF they are truly listening (like they say they do in their recent TV adv.), they would be aware of the click-and-wait-forever problem for ages. So they listen (and choose to ignore what they hear!?) and they care (not of their customers but their profits!?).
I have contacted their customer service a couple of times. Was promised to be contacted by last Monday after their engineers have looked into the coverage at my area. You know what, they have not even called me by today (1 week AFTER the date they said they would contact me!). The customer service officer was even stuck-up enough to tell me that if the coverage is not good at my area, I can choose to break the contract. What she didn’t mention was the amount I have to pay to break the contract.
What does it really mean when M1 states that their coverage is 99.98%? Is this claim verifiable by a third party like IDA? I won’t be surprised to see a book full of fine prints just for that “claim”.
I wonder if it’s possible to get IDA & CASE to look into this over-promise and under-deliver issue.
For those who are considering signing up for M1’s bb, think thrice, not twice.