t e c h i e - t a l k s ::: technology at its best

I was trying to get work done today when all of a sudden, my internet connection started to crawl to snail-speed. And it has been happening quite often lately. It’s so frequent that I find it unproductive to do work online at times! Initially, I thought I was the only soul experiencing the speed problem. However, after surfing the local forums, it has came to light that I’m not alone.

Singnet == Stinknet == suxorrs

I didn’t create this. It can be found on Singapore based forums. Yes, it is a personal attack from subscribers, who are totally fed-up with Singnet’s poor service. And if you dig deeper into the forum threads, countless of threads are dedicated to the unreliable services that Singapore’s ISPs are providing (that includes Starhub as well). Coming from an all-talk-no-action society, this problem will probably meet no ends. On top of that, with the terms and conditions that local ISPs have, I guess there’s really nothing we can do but to fret and curse whenever our web browsers starts to crawl (mind the pun).

I am writing this post after trying repeatedly trying (and failing repeatedly) to upload a video on Youtube. A simple speed test from speedtest.net showed the speed that I’m getting right now.

I am on a 3Mbps connection by the way. It promises a 3Mbps downlink connection and a 352Kbps uplink connection. A 136Kbps download and 101Kbps upload translates to less than 1/10 of the advertised speed (I’m being a little generous with the numbers here). I understand that at times, ISPs face congestion. However, you can’t expect the consumers to deal with congestion all the time (even at 4pm on a Saturday?) and the ISPs not doing anything about it?

I do have a video which shows how slow my Singnet connection is. Basically, the video showed how long it took me to load a local site (close to 8 mins!!). I’ll post it as soon as this network is up again!

And the thing about local ISPs is that they seldom apologize for whatever downtime they have. Hell, they don’t even declare/announce it at all! This just shows how sincere their services are to its consumers. And can we do anything about it? Taken from Starhub’s terms and conditions:

8. Transfer Speed

1. You acknowledge and accept that as with any network, actual downstream speed when using the Services is affected by many factors including without limitation :-.
   1. overall network traffic condition;
   2. performance and configuration of your computer or equipment connected to the Network;
   3. type of data accessed, whether non-cached or cached data;
   4. location and configuration of the accessed server;
   5. performance characteristics of each component of the data network, the number of users and the extent of all users’ compliance with such conditions and requirements as may be determined by us;
   6. copper loop distance, quality and any external copper noise interference;
   7. type of equipment/routers/modem used; and
   8. any applications, equipment (other than the Equipment which you provide to you in connection with the Services), hardware, software or networks used by you.
2. You further acknowledge that we do not warrant or give any guarantee on data transfer speed or any other aspect of the Services. We hereby exclude all warranties, whether express or implied by law, regarding the use of the Services (including without limitation the accessibility, reliability or accuracy of the Services) and the performance and/or condition of the Network.

Hence, I conclude that nothing much can be done on an individual effort right now. Lastly, these jokers are supposedly spearheading the iN2015 initiative which promises a national broadband connection with close to 1Gbps download speeds. Gosh! They must really be joking.

Before I end the post, I’m just curious to how many people are actually affected by the incosistent internet connections here in Singapore. Please vote Yes/No in the poll on my sidebar. Cheers!