You know, I held out for as long as I could on the whole fiber optic broadband internet connection bizniz. Nope, I don’t suffer from FOMO despite what people are saying about how eventually broadband as we know it today will be phased out and OpenNet has rolled out free installation island-wide for a limited time only (after which you have to pay for installation), therefore everyone should take advantage of it now. NOW!
I mean, I can’t say I’m not concerned about speed. I do, especially because slow internet connection really sets me off. Staring at the spinning wheel when I’m ready to pounce on the information I happen to be seeking online is torture. Plain torture. I don’t even want to remember what it was like back when I was on a 56k dialup modem.
Even though I’m subscribed to high-speed broadband internet service, I have a huge issue when it comes to the wifi connection in my apt. As I have frustratingly found out, the internet speed I am paying for drops drastically on wifi and realistically speaking, I can’t plant myself in front of my computer (wired via Ethernet) constantly! I need Internet access even when I’m at different parts of my apt too.
These days I don’t have the bandwidth (pardon the pun) to figure out the techy learning curve. My needs are simple: I need connectivity in both living room and workstation, which happen to be separated by a long corridor and concrete corners – so I have to be strategic on the modem and router placements in order to enjoy both wired and wifi connectivity. If I’m to place the point, then subsequently modem and router at my workstation, the rest of the apartment doesn’t get wifi because of the damn concrete corners. If I’m to position the hardware in the living room, my workstation is a deadspot with zero signal. Ugh, thinking of this gives me a brain hemorrhage.
I kept procrastinating for a long time on coming up with a solution because honestly I don’t quite know where and how to begin. I’ve bought wifi boosters and such, they’d work for a bit and then connections became spotty. It was supremely irritating. So I caved in and said yes to fiber, primarily so that I can finally get proper professional IT setup in the apt accessible via wired and wifi connections. I work from home and wasting time over slow internet connection is a productivity killer. SingTel has a few packages available and I signed up.
The helpful folks at SingTel sent over a couple of experts to assess and give advice on how to configure my apartment into a broadband internet crib. The field engineers presented options and explained them to me in a courteously with respect. I appreciate that because even though I’m quite helpless in the IT department, they didn’t speak to me in a dumbed down manner. Not only were they present when the OpenNet guys came to install the connectivity point (with wires encased in a seriously ugly-looking default PVC casing *cringe*), these SingTel field engineers also recommended a contractor who’d perform sorcery to conceal the cables that need to snake across the entire apartment.
So here’s the OpenNet installation process. Am I the only one who finds the aesthetic an issue? The fiber optic cable is thin, but the bloody PVC casing is 1″ wide. It’s like, why would anyone wrap a pencil with a burrito!?!?!
To be continued…
