Originally posted by lotus999:
Giving us pseudo-competition is one thing, milking us in the process is another!
Mellanie Hewlitt
12 Feb 2005
More GLC scams by Sinktel/Starhub
Singapore Review
More GLC atrocities revealed. Both Singtel and Starhub remain
government owned and government controlled entities. If there is any
competition it is purely an illusion.
It is a fact that the technology for high-speed bandwidth has been
around for decades. So the nice people at Starhub did not wake-up one
morning and suddenly discover a way to increase bandwidth to 6.5mbps
using existing connections. Both GLCs already had this capability
decades back.
Instead of allowing consumers to have the full benefits of true high
speed internet connectivity, both GLCs incurred added costs to place
a tap on the connection to physically restrict bandwidth availability
to consumers. The whole idea was to milk the end user. This collusion
between both GLCs was worth the effort and costs as they could create
segments in the market and basically sell the same product for a much
higher price (at the expense of the end user of cause).
The crucial point here is that in a market where there are bona fide
independently owned and runned Internet Service Providers competing
with each other, this kind of collusion and exploitation would never
have occured. It is only in the incestous world of Singapore's GLCs
that scams like this can be co-ordinated between two government owned
and controlled Internet Service Providers. To find out more about the
incestous world of Singapore's GLCs see:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sg_Review/message/1458
But the deception does not end there. What the Govt GLCs do not tell
you is that you will only get the full benefits of increased
bandwidth (of a 6.5 mbps line) if you are downloading data from
another 6.5mbps user. Given the dismal content of local websites
(which are subject to stringent local internet controls) over 90% of
Singapore surfers rely heavily on overseas websites. And the majority
of these overseas websites and servers do not have 6.5mbps bandwidth.
So if you are downloading a file from an overseas source that is
using a 1.5mbps bandwidth, it does not matter if your own bandwidth
is 6.5mbps as your download speed is restricted to the bandwidth of
the source from which you are downloading your data.
Is it morally and ethically right for cash rich Government Linked
Companies like Singtel and Starhub to exploit the customer in this
fashion?
This was what I've said earlier. In Japan, the internet services are much cheaper and with higher speed. Here, our freaking gov took the advantage of their power to control the market by milking us dry. Damn it!!!!