Poor Router, Poor Services

I am very disappointed with SingTel services. Mid-March, 2015 I subscribed to SingNet exStream Broadband on Fiber 200m Unlimited Service and after installation completed and services activated on 11 April, 2015, I found the wireless connection speed of this broadband, with using the router Aztch FG7003GRV(AC)-J provided by SingNet, is too slow.

The speed test results got by SingTel technicians in our house.

Living room Bed Room
Best (mbps) 40 19
Worst (mbps) 20 3



Condition: a. with nothing block in living room
b. three (3) meters away from router in living room
c. with room partition wall block in bed room
d. 8.2 meters away from router in bed room
e. using note book: hp ProBook (brand new)
f. using software: OOKLA Speedtest

The explanations of low speed wireless connection from SingTel technicians and officers from Technical Help Desk are,

1. Signal blocked by the walls and furniture,.
2. our computers/devices are too far away from the router
3. our devices are not good enough
4. our neighborhood or other customers nearby using the same signal channel
5. comparing with the new HDB flat, the walls of old HDB flat blocks signal seriously
6. the signals go and turn 90 degree to our computers/devices

And SingTel advises on the possible solutions,

1. Because the speed can reach 229 mbps using the fixed cable, to lay wire and use
the fixed cable
2. to relocate the router to center point of the house so that the computer is not too far
away from router, one cable running to TV set is free, 2nd cable running to desk top will charge customer S$80,
3. to add one more router, costumer to buy by themselves,
4. to use extension wire to move the wireless adaptor near to the router, costumer to buy by themselves
5. to buy auxiliary device by customer themselves,
6. to buy another router by costumer themselves (S$300)

If the solutions proposed by SingTel technicians were reasonable and fair to customers, the followings could be right,
1. this service is not suitable for using in normal old HDB flats
2. the router must be installed at the center point of a HDB flat
3. the router is suitable for using fixed cable rather than wireless connection
4. if the device cannot work well, customer must buy other devices to improve the speed of wireless connection.

If so, why had SingTel never highlighted these issues before I subscribed this service?

The nature and truth of this issue is SingTel choses a poor quality router and provides poor services.

Just before I wrote these comments, the speed of wireless connection in my living room 2 m away from the router without anything blocking can only reach 9 mbps on 05 & 06 May, 2015.

Again and again the SingTel technicians try to explain that the wireless receiving cards in my computers limit the speed of wireless connection. But my question is why all my devices including computers and smart TV can work smoothly when I used 100 mbps Fiber Broadband (provided by other) and all cannot work well after I upgraded to 200 mbps fiber broadband with SingTel. Is 200 mbps fiber broadband is worse than 100 mbps fiber broadband in the market?

In the past month, after calling 1688 numerous times and 3 SingTel technicians including a senior one came to my house to check and test, the issue of too slow wireless connection is still there. SingTel told me they do NOT have solution at this moment and I should buy another router by myself to improve the wireless connection. Is that fair to a customer?

I tried to complaint to higher management level of SingTel, but anyhow I cannot get any contact numbers. 1688 told me they are not allowed to provide any contact numbers of higher levels. Therefore, I will complaint directly to IDA.