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Getting a Fibre broadband plan in 2020: MyRepublic Edition

By Team HardwareZone - 3 Sep 2020

Which MyRepublic Plan to get?

MyRepublic Plan Types and which one should you choose? 

MyRepublic currently offers the following Broadband Plans to cater to different needs. After all, some only need an Internet connection for web surfing to help in their work or studies while others such as content creators or gamers have higher requirements, and rightly so. Let’s figure out which plan works best for you.

 

For light Internet Usage
 

The 200Mbps Broadband is pretty straightforward and is the entry-level MyRepublic plan that will be sufficient if your Internet usage is not intensive and mostly used for web-surfing and movie streaming on platforms such as Netflix or Viu. It is also suitable for small studio apartments with a single occupant, as there are likely to be lesser devices connected to the Wi-Fi router – and hence won’t be greatly impacted by slower broadband speeds.

 

For general Internet Usage
 

If you haven’t noticed by now, the most common package offered by MyRepublic (and other telcos) are 1Gbps plans – a sign indicating that the majority of Singapore home broadband consumers are satisfied with the speed offered by such connections – and come bundled with a wireless router. But if you already have a robust and fairly recent wireless router, then starting with a No Frills 1Gbps Broadband plan here is a good idea as it’s more than capable of handling intensive Internet-centric tasks such as 4K streaming, online gaming and fast downloads.

ASUS RT-AX3000 Wireless Router.

You can also top up $99 on the No Frills Broadband plan and get a TP-Link EC330 AC1900 Router that is actually worth S$199 in retail. It’s certainly not the most high-tech wireless router around, but it’s more than capable of meeting your day-to-day Internet needs.

If your budget allows though, we recommend opting for the ASUS RT-AX3000 Router 1Gbps Broadband Plan (from S$47.99/mth). It comes with the ASUS RT-AX3000 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 6 router (worth S$399), which also has commercial-grade Security and more importantly, Mesh ready (with ASUS AiMesh Wi-Fi system) too. But more importantly, it supports 160MHz bandwidth and 1024-QAM for dramatically faster wireless connections, with a total networking speed of about 3000Mbps — 574Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 2,402Mbps on the 5GHz band. This makes the RT-AX3000 fast enough for most of today’s online games.

 

For intensive Gaming, Streaming and Content Creation
 

If your broadband needs require specific tweaks and customisation, for example, custom routings to game servers, then MyRepublic’s GAMER plans have your back. Custom Routing is a feature that’s unique to MyRepublic’s GAMER plan, and customers under any of the GAMER plans are assigned a specific dedicated IP address range. This allows MyRepublic’s team of engineers to specially shape the routes GAMER customers use to connect to overseas servers - specifically game servers - customising their experience and optimising for online gaming performance. This gives gamers under the MyRepublic GAMER an advantage against their opponents in online matches. Remember when we talked about latency/lag on the previous page?

ROG GT-AX11000 wireless gaming router (Source: ROG)

Naturally, the best gaming plan should rightly be paired with the best gaming routers in the market. Our pick goes to the ROG GT-AX11000 (1Gbps) GAMER Plan, because quite simply, there’s no other wireless gaming router like it. The winner of our Wi-Fi 6 Router Shootout, gamers can look forward to features like Game Radar and data prioritization, whereas other features like DFS (dynamic frequency selection), real-time traffic monitor, and remote management via the ASUS Router app, makes it easy for users to manage and optimise their connection. Parents will also be happy to know that the ROG GT-AX11000 has the most robust parental control settings.

It's also pretty expensive (S$699) in the market, but the router bundle with MyRepublic means that you’re essentially paying for it at a heavily subsidised price.

 

For large or multi-storey homes
 

Google Nest Wi-Fi Dual (Source: Google)

Perhaps you live in a multi-storey home or that your ONT box was installed in an unfortunate part of the house that also meant the router’s Wi-Fi range is limited. Sure, you could install Range Extenders but these are really only signal boosters that work by amplifying an existing Wi-Fi signal. And if the Wi-Fi signal was already weak to begin with, what good is amplifying it?

Mesh networks, on the other hand, are far more sophisticated - which also explains their higher costs. Rather than simply amplify or boost a signal, a mesh networking kit often consists of two or more routers or nodes. One of the nodes will be used to connect to your existing router or modem and will broadcast Wi-Fi like any other router, and you can expand coverage simply by adding more nodes to the network. Data will then be transmitted through these nodes to reach your client devices wherever you might be in the house.

If you’re looking at setting up a Mesh network, MyRepublic currently has two different bundles.

The Google Nest Wifi is a tried and tested, reliable option but if wireless speed is key then consider the TP-Link Deco X60 Wi-Fi Mesh bundle instead, as it supports Wi-Fi 6 speeds of up to 3,000Mbps. This gives you the freedom of future-proofing your home network - so even if your router is on the ground floor, you’ll still get to enjoy speedy Wi-Fi 6 connections on the upcoming new generation of consoles such as the PlayStation 5.

TP-Link Deco X60 Wi-Fi Mesh (Source: TP-Link)

Note: MyRepublic’s broadband plans and prices listed are updated as of 3rd September 2020. For the latest pricing and promotions, please check out their website.

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