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Singapore To Build National 100Mbps Network
Open access, completed by 2015...
by Karl Bode Friday 14-Dec-2007 tags: Fiber · business · bandwidth · world · municipal
The government of Singapore has unveiled their plans to build a national fiber network that will offer minimum speeds of 100Mbps/50Mbps by the year 2015. The network, which will be scalable to symmetrical 1Gbps and provide open access to competitors, is currently in the Request-For-Proposal (RFP) phase, according to the project website. The network will be only partially government funded, to the tune of $750 million.

The government of Singapore outlined its vision for an open access Next Generation National Broadband Network (Next Gen NBN) offering pervasive ultra-high speed connectivity by 2015. The plan calls for a minimum speed of 100 Mbps in the downlink and 50 Mbps in the uplink per end-user connection and scalability to 1 Gbps and above. Singapore is also calling for a separation between network layer operations (the Layer 1 physical network), the bandwidth service operators (Layer 2 and Layer 3 connectivity), and the retail services that ride on top.

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Singapore is also the only country city-state with nationwide deployment of pre-cert 100Mbps DOCSIS 3.0 cable service (via Starhub). To get those speeds, users need to purchase a $525 modem and shell out $121.80 per month. Note the upstream speeds remain at 2Mbps because upstream channel bonding hasn't quite made it out of the oven yet.

Lower speeds aren't quite as good of a deal, with 8Mbps for $81.32 and 6Mbps for $59.92 -- though the company does say you'll get speed boosts of 100Mbps to "partner websites." Starhub is one of the companies in line to bid on the project.

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chakey
Premium
join:2004-06-14
Gladstone, NJ

100/2?

That has got to be the most lopsided download to upload ratio I've ever seen. Seems like smoke and mirrors if you ask me.

Matt
All noise, no signal.
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12

Re: 100/2?

said by chakey:

That has got to be the most lopsided download to upload ratio I've ever seen. Seems like smoke and mirrors if you ask me.
RTFA. That is for the current Pre-DOCSIS 3.0 offering. The new fiber will be 100Mbps down, 50Mbps up.
--
Pretty Fly for a White Guy™

chakey
Premium
join:2004-06-14
Gladstone, NJ

Re: 100/2?

Right, but to offer 100/2 at all? What is the point of that? Just to say they have it...

Matt
All noise, no signal.
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12

Re: 100/2?

said by chakey:

Right, but to offer 100/2 at all? What is the point of that? Just to say they have it...
The blurb says they haven't enabled upstream channel bonding yet. You can pull down 100Mbps with only 2Mbps for the ACKs, so it's likely to offer the fast downstream speeds now, stabilize the network, then enable upstream channel bonding.
--
Pretty Fly for a White Guy™
yabos

join:2003-02-16
London, ON
It's better than NOT having it.

chakey
Premium
join:2004-06-14
Gladstone, NJ

Re: 100/2?

True--it is a step in the right direction, even if not a full step!

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
kudos:4
Lets see. $525 for the modem AND $121/mo for 2mbps upload...
uhmmmmm NO!
--
You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth
moonpuppy

join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD

And here come the comments.

We need what they have.

Problem is their society is a lot more strict than anything we have here.

Plus, it isn't $20/month so people will still cry about the price.

Pathfinder
Dazed Confused
Premium
join:2000-03-26
Mount Vernon, NY

Amazing

WHY CAN'T WE HAVE THAT HERE!!!!
Oh I forgot my sarcasm tags.
Before anyone gets their panties in a wad realize that Singapore is roughly 20% the size of Rhode Island.

cdigioia
Premium
join:2005-06-08
korea, repub

Re: Amazing

said by Pathfinder:

Before anyone gets their panties in a wad realize that Singapore is roughly 20% the size of Rhode Island.
That deserves repeating. Singapore is a city-state

There are other factors at play too (personally I think very highly of Singapore), but the city-state status is an enormous part of it.

Tzale
Proud Libertarian Conservative
Premium
join:2004-01-06
NYC Metro

Re: Amazing

said by cdigioia:

said by Pathfinder:

Before anyone gets their panties in a wad realize that Singapore is roughly 20% the size of Rhode Island.
That deserves repeating. Singapore is a city-state

There are other factors at play too (personally I think very highly of Singapore), but the city-state status is an enormous part of it.
Hell, it's worth stating AGAIN...

SINGAPORE IS A CITY-STATE....
--
Hello Verizon FIOS 12.03.07!
457,000,000 miles of fiber optics placed and counting!
~THANK YOU MY ANONYMOUS FRIEND~
o2cool8

join:2002-04-19
Miami, FL
Isn't the upload speed too low that you won't reach the full 100mbps?
Skippy25

join:2000-09-13
Hazelwood, MO
Be as sarcastic as you want, but this is exactly how it should be here: 1 network that services all people that any company can offer service over to provide any service the customer wants. Size is not a factor. It may take longer to implement, but it certainly can be implimented by doing it city wide, then county wide, then statewide, then country wide. Cost would certainly be much higher, but certainly doable in this country when it can pully hundreds of billions of dollars out of it ass for a war or whatever it deems important. Also, as you get the large cities online, they start producing revenue and that helps offset the cost of the rural and more expensive expansion.

KoolMoe
Aw Man
Premium
join:2001-02-14
Annapolis, MD

Re: Amazing

*Completely* agree,
"The network...will be scalable to symmetrical 1Gbps and provide open access to competitors"
Just like roads. Have the local/state gov'ts provide the infrastructure and allow open access to any company that wants to provide services over it.

Despite naysayers who believe gov't can't do anything right (which certainly has some roots in truth), it would solve SO many issues and actually allow for true innovation and customer choice/service.
KM

gaforces
United We Stand, Divided We Fall

join:2002-04-07
Santa Cruz, CA

Re: Amazing

said by KoolMoe:

*Completely* agree,
"The network...will be scalable to symmetrical 1Gbps and provide open access to competitors"
Just like roads. Have the local/state gov'ts provide the infrastructure and allow open access to any company that wants to provide services over it.

Despite naysayers who believe gov't can't do anything right (which certainly has some roots in truth), it would solve SO many issues and actually allow for true innovation and customer choice/service.
KM
Isnt that communism if you dont let big corps exploit thier positions, hold back the entire country to the stone age, so they can make even more billions?
--
‘Do ye, quieting in your bosoms your strong hearts,
Who of many good things have had your fill even to surfeit,
With what is moderate nourish your mighty desire; for neither will
We yield, nor shall you have all else as you wish.’
Solon

Tzale
Proud Libertarian Conservative
Premium
join:2004-01-06
NYC Metro
said by KoolMoe:

*Completely* agree,
"The network...will be scalable to symmetrical 1Gbps and provide open access to competitors"
Just like roads. Have the local/state gov'ts provide the infrastructure and allow open access to any company that wants to provide services over it.

Despite naysayers who believe gov't can't do anything right (which certainly has some roots in truth), it would solve SO many issues and actually allow for true innovation and customer choice/service.
KM
There was a major need for the interstate system around WWII, there is NOT a major need for a national fiber optic network built by the government.. The current internet network works fine.

-Tzale
--
Hello Verizon FIOS 12.03.07!
457,000,000 miles of fiber optics placed and counting!
~THANK YOU MY ANONYMOUS FRIEND~

KoolMoe
Aw Man
Premium
join:2001-02-14
Annapolis, MD

Re: Amazing

said by Tzale:

The current internet network works fine.
I understand the pessimism about a federally-built/managed system, but how about state-based systems? Just as bad? A little, or maybe a lot, better?

Does it? I guess it depends who you talk to...
I have FIOS here. Cool. I also have DSL and Cable options. Cooler. DSL, however, is on borrowed time. Cable isn't much of an option when it's the only other option. Why not have a state-based infrastructure with open access? What would specifically be bad about that? I can think of an awful lot of good things...
KM

Tzale
Proud Libertarian Conservative
Premium
join:2004-01-06
NYC Metro
said by Skippy25:

Be as sarcastic as you want, but this is exactly how it should be here: 1 network that services all people that any company can offer service over to provide any service the customer wants. Size is not a factor. It may take longer to implement, but it certainly can be implimented by doing it city wide, then county wide, then statewide, then country wide. Cost would certainly be much higher, but certainly doable in this country when it can pully hundreds of billions of dollars out of it ass for a war or whatever it deems important. Also, as you get the large cities online, they start producing revenue and that helps offset the cost of the rural and more expensive expansion.
No offense, but you're talking out your ass.

There is no way that this could be implemented here.... The government can't do it's job now, how do you expect them to rollout a trillion dollar fiber optic network? And there isn't a demand for it.. I like the current system.. It's 2007 and I have a fiber optic line delivering 20mbps/5mbps, digital tv and digital phone to the side of my house for $138/month.... I don't want or need the government to get involved..

With time, all of America will have some sort of access to broadband. America is a big place, if you can't get fiber in hicktown then move to a place that you can get it in... Nobody is going to run fiber to a town of 200 people.

-Tzale
--
Hello Verizon FIOS 12.03.07!
457,000,000 miles of fiber optics placed and counting!
~THANK YOU MY ANONYMOUS FRIEND~
Skippy25

join:2000-09-13
Hazelwood, MO

Re: Amazing

I see, so your opinion is the correct one and anything that disagrees with you comes from someone's ass? How's that ego?

I'm glad you have fiber to your house without intervention. I live in St. Louis, which is a very large city and yet I can't even get the 6mb DSL AT&T offers. So as I enjoy your "move from the hicks" comment, look past yourself for just a moment and realize that these monopolies/duopolies don't work as a free market should. There are way to many barriers of entry for any company to come in and compete in the copper arena and certainly in the fiber one.

The demand is there it just may not be evident. You increase the pipes and they will be used PERIOD. Just like when any corporation increases bandwidth or diskspace it gets used and rather quickly by it's users. With bandwidth will come the innovation to use that bandwidth just as the 640k RAM question eons ago.

This country's government is completely capable of overseeing the build out of a nationwide fiber optic network. They don't have to do it, but they can certainly oversee it and fund it through tax dollars and the revenues generated as it is up and running in different parts of the country.

That would truly open up the innovation and creativity of internet in the US and truly allow competition on all fronts which in the end will certainly be in the countries best interest.

Tzale
Proud Libertarian Conservative
Premium
join:2004-01-06
NYC Metro

Re: Amazing

said by Skippy25:

I see, so your opinion is the correct one and anything that disagrees with you comes from someone's ass? How's that ego?

I'm glad you have fiber to your house without intervention. I live in St. Louis, which is a very large city and yet I can't even get the 6mb DSL AT&T offers. So as I enjoy your "move from the hicks" comment, look past yourself for just a moment and realize that these monopolies/duopolies don't work as a free market should. There are way to many barriers of entry for any company to come in and compete in the copper arena and certainly in the fiber one.

The demand is there it just may not be evident. You increase the pipes and they will be used PERIOD. Just like when any corporation increases bandwidth or diskspace it gets used and rather quickly by it's users. With bandwidth will come the innovation to use that bandwidth just as the 640k RAM question eons ago.

This country's government is completely capable of overseeing the build out of a nationwide fiber optic network. They don't have to do it, but they can certainly oversee it and fund it through tax dollars and the revenues generated as it is up and running in different parts of the country.

That would truly open up the innovation and creativity of internet in the US and truly allow competition on all fronts which in the end will certainly be in the countries best interest.
You're complaining about not being able to get 6mbps or more? That is certainly broadband.. I don't see what you are complaining about.... I just got FIOS less than two weeks ago and I live less than 10 miles from NYC.... 99% of Manhattan doesn't have FIOS.. But Verizon is working hard to develop solutions for MDUs... And like I said before, if you don't like what St. Louis has to offer, then move somewhere that does have what you want. It's as simple as that.

-Tzale

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
Reviews:
·AT&T DSL Service
said by Skippy25:

Be as sarcastic as you want, but this is exactly how it should be here: 1 network that services all people that any company can offer service over to provide any service the customer wants.
Agreed. One company focusing on infrastructure provisioning, maintaning, and constant upgrading. Open access so any and all comers who wish to pay for access can provide their services over the network to people and businesses.

Stronger, Faster, Smarter, Cheaper. Also... will never happen here.
--
"Regulatory capitalism is when companies invest in lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians, instead of plant, people, and customer service." - former FCC Chairman William Kennard (A real FCC Chairman, unlike the current Corporate Spokesperson in the job!)
milkman82

join:2006-06-19
Lakewood, OH

Sucks

Man those deals suck. For the price of the modem and then the service. I would still choose what I have now of that......thing, service what ever it is Seems like Japan still has the best deal going over Singapore.

Former Expat

@nmci.navy.mil

Come on, man....use you're brain.

I am an American who used to live in Singapore for a few years. They are generally doing a great job with broadband policy and implementation there, helped in a big way by the fact that, yes, it is a very small city-state and density is very high. Similar to most large American cities, in my opinion.

What nobody in here has figured out is that those rates posted are in SINGAPOREAN Dollars (SGD), not AMERICAN Dollars (USD).

Duh.

So...allow me to roughly translate for an apples to apples comparison:

(all speeds not guaranteed - meaning UP TO)

1Mb/256kbs = $29.96 SGD = $20.78 USD
8Mb/256kbs = $59.92 SGD = $41.57 USD
12Mb/384kbs = $81.32 SGD = $56.40 USD
100Mbs/2Mbs = $124.12 SGD = $86.10 USD

So NOW make your informed comparisons.
krichek

join:2004-02-15
Roseville, CA

Re: Come on, man....use you're brain.

said by Former Expat :



What nobody in here has figured out is that those rates posted are in SINGAPOREAN Dollars (SGD), not AMERICAN Dollars (USD).

Duh.
Uh, see my post currently 2 down from yours? See the time on your post compared to mine? Clearly some us had "figured" it out already.
milkman82

join:2006-06-19
Lakewood, OH

1 edit
Yes, I still see it has Japan has a better deal going. I think even we have better deals in some cases.

Tzale
Proud Libertarian Conservative
Premium
join:2004-01-06
NYC Metro

Re: Sucks

said by milkman82:

Man those deals suck. For the price of the modem and then the service. I would still choose what I have now of that......thing, service what ever it is Seems like Japan still has the best deal going over Singapore.
Exactly.. For those prices and the low upload, I'd much rather have my FIOS 20mbps/5mbps....
--
Hello Verizon FIOS 12.03.07!
457,000,000 miles of fiber optics placed and counting!
~THANK YOU MY ANONYMOUS FRIEND~

jester121
Premium
join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL

More important....

How big are the pipes in and out of Singapore, specifically the ones that will have peering agreements with this network? 100Mbps to your neighborhood is a nice "gee whiz" factor, but as we all know, all bandwidth is shared at some point.

gatorkram
KaBOOM Baby
Premium
join:2002-07-22
Winterville, NC
kudos:2
Reviews:
·Suddenlink

Does size really matter?

I don't think size really matters. Much like the power grid, or the sewer systems, or as stated many times, the public highway system, you can have a combination of government to slay this nationwide network issue. Break it down by town, city, county, state, region, etc.

If anything, being bigger should make it easier, due to scale of the money available in the system.

As to the people who will say, "Not with my tax money" I simply say, there are many worse things the government already spends your tax dollars on, that if you knew about, you'd be even more unhappy, at least in this case, you end up with something useful, and not some pork project with a bridge to no-where.

When you have huge projects like this, it's the perfect project for the entire government machine.
--
Give me bandwidth or give me death!
»/testhistory/661871/4f240
krichek

join:2004-02-15
Roseville, CA

Not bad considering...

100Mbs down for $121.80 isn't really that bad a price when you consider Comcast charges almost $60 for a meager 8Mbs down. Then you throw in the fact that the prices given are most likely in Singapore dollars, do a bit of converting and find that you get 100/2 for $84.34 US. Where can I sign up?
axus

join:2001-06-18
Washington, DC
Reviews:
·Verizon Online DSL

Sounds like Utah's project

Fiber network created by the government, with open access for commercial service providers to compete. I think I'll find the Utopia forum on this site, and see how that's working out for them.

100/2 cable service that they have now sounds kind of silly, what are they going to connect to that uploads at 100Mbit? Get the upload speeds up, and people can connect to each other, and actually use that download.

Alakar
Facts do not cease to exist when ignored

join:2001-03-23
Milwaukee, WI

This story is a little misleading.

"Singapore is also the only country with nationwide deployment of pre-cert 100Mbps DOCSIS 3.0 cable service".

Singapore is a City-State about 3.5 times bigger then Washington DC and a population of 4.5 million. While technically this is a "National 100Mbps Network", in reality it is one city being wired for this. I don't really see this as front page news. Aren't there US cable operators that plan to have DOCSIS 3.0 rolled out alot sooner then 2015?

»www.cia.gov/library/publications···/sn.html
--
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom; it is the arguments of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves." William Pitt the Younger

Tzale
Proud Libertarian Conservative
Premium
join:2004-01-06
NYC Metro

Re: This story is a little misleading.

said by Alakar:

"Singapore is also the only country with nationwide deployment of pre-cert 100Mbps DOCSIS 3.0 cable service".

Singapore is a City-State about 3.5 times bigger then Washington DC and a population of 4.5 million. While technically this is a "National 100Mbps Network", in reality it is one city being wired for this. I don't really see this as front page news. Aren't there US cable operators that plan to have DOCSIS 3.0 rolled out alot sooner then 2015?

»www.cia.gov/library/publications···/sn.html
Yeah, exactly... Where is the joy in Verizon rolling out FIOS??? They have place many more miles of fiber than Singapore will ever use in their network...

-Tzale
--
Hello Verizon FIOS 12.03.07!
457,000,000 miles of fiber optics placed and counting!
~THANK YOU MY ANONYMOUS FRIEND~
walliser

join:2002-01-27
Philadelphia, PA
You mean like... Comcast is going to wire Philly with Docsis 3.0 by 2015 and offer 100Mb service at roughly US$90?

For all those people always throwing that "but it's only the size of NYC (or fill in other city/state)" argument around. How come NYC is not wired for 100Mb service? Surely, if some "third world nation" such a Singapore or South Korea can do it, it should be a breeze to do that sort of thing here.
axus

join:2001-06-18
Washington, DC
Reviews:
·Verizon Online DSL

Re: This story is a little misleading.

Singapore isn't a third world nation, its a vaguely fascist small island nation that is the hub of shipping in Asia. They've been very good about increasing their economy, and this will contribute to it.

If their government lives up to it's paternalistic heritage, expect some content control/filtering on the internet provided by this network.

jjmcay

@comcast.net

Re: This story is a little misleading.

Nicely said axus. That's right. For every power that is given to government to what you want, also you give them the power to do something that you don't want. In this case its filtering and political control the network. With the good, comes the bad. Actually I'd just say it's mostly bad when it comes to fascism or socialism.

morbo
Complete Your Transaction

join:2002-01-22
00000
Reviews:
·Charter
oh please. this is the best and favorite freaking excuse for the status quo shills. please explain to everyone why in NYC (and the other most densely populated urban areas in the U.S.) there isn't this level of commitment or deployment?

IT ISN'T JUST BECAUSE OF THE SIZE OF SINGAPORE! it's the greedy corporations and lack of backbone by the government in this country.

jjmcay

@comcast.net

Hmmm

Fine for them but for here do you really want Dubya having control of the information that comes in & goes out of your homes? Where in the US Constitution is the provision for Internet or communication to be supplied by the government?

IMO, this issue isn't far from religion. Keep the government(s) out for obvious reasons - distribution of power rather than centralization. Also you all know they'll leak money like Dick Cheney on a power trip. I guess you figure it'll be someone else's money, after all most people won't even use it very much.

If you think its such a great idea, then put up your own money for the idea. If you think it's highly risky, put someone else's money up. I know why you pick the latter. The government is going to create a drug free society, with no terrorists, tame the New World Order, and give us Internet! It'll all be peachy keen.

Alternatively, you can have some patience and let technology and private companies bring it to you, with little to no public financial risk.
firebird1

join:2002-03-22
Moline, IL

Re: Hmmm

So where do you "go" with 100mps?? Your only as fast as the slowest link so how many web sites or wherever you go are going to allow you 100mps. No matter how much speed you have its never enough...people always want more...for what?? I was in the Telecom business for 30yrs...its never enough...for maybe 1% of total users.

Sidewinder69

@maxonline.com.sg

FYI

Well just to bust your bubbles, the 100/2 only applies to internal contents. And remote contents are cap at 30/2.

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