It’s a classic case of David versus Goliath - M1,
against its larger counterparts Singtel and StarHub, emerged
victorious as the telco with the best 4G connectivity in
Singapore.
The report, which comes from the Infocomm Development
Authority (IDA), gathered data from about 4000 users and 50 million
data points from October 2014 to Mach 2015. The study was part of a
pilot initiated by IDA to provide a report card of sorts for
consumers.
And this isn’t the end of it - according
to Today, there’ll be updates from IDA every six months, all of
which are gathered from data collected on IDA’s My Connection SG
app that’s expected to be launched later this year.
With M1 crowned as the top telco for 4G connectivity,
the bigger question is - where do the bigger companies, Singtel and
StarHub, place in the standings? The former got some consolation by
being the top dog in the area of 3G data download speed. StarHub,
however, didn’t fare so well on both 4G and 3G
connectivity. In comparison, Singtel and StarHub took 50.9
milliseconds and 53.5 milliseconds respectively to establish a
local connection via a 4G network. M1, which took an average of
35.4 milliseconds, was the clear winner.
The IDA report also highlighted the advantage of 4G
download speeds compared to its 3G predecessor - at five times
faster when it’s used for social networking sites, video streaming
and even online gaming. This is based on average typical download
speeds between 5.1Mbps and 42.4Mbps, with a peak speed of 87.7Mbps
on a 4G network. In contrast, 3G networks score an average typical
data download speed between 0.8Mbps and 9.2Mbps, with a peak speed
of 31.3Mbps.
That said, the three telcos have one concern to address
- that being the low data bundle. This point is now contested by
MyRepublic, which is pursuing
an agenda to revive unlimited mobile data. That, and the fact
that if MyRepublic successfully becomes the fourth telco in
Singapore, could change the results reported by IDA in the months
to come.
So for now, if your contract is up and with the PC Show
happening from 4 to 7 June, the choice is quite clear.
If not, monitor IDA’s next report closely and decide
where your loyalties lie next when the time is right.
[Source: TODAY]