Singapore, M1 Home Broadband Renewal & Termination

Another 2 years has passed and it's again time to renew fibre broadband.

M1 still has 500Mbps or 1Gbps fibre broadband.  This round when renew contract, the main difference will be the ongoing charges after contract ends.  There won't be those extremely high charges when subscribers forget to renew.  In other words, fibre broadband contracts will work similarly as mobile plan contracts, subscribers will enjoy same plan structure at same cost when contract expires.

In line with Comex 2019 during early September, M1 has also put up some fibre broadband promotions.  For a 2 years 1Gbps contract, the current price, inclusive of 7% GST, is S$39.90 per month.  Whereas promotion is 1st year S$29.90 + S$10 (WiFi mesh), 2nd year returns to usual price, S$39.90 + S$10.  Do not take promotion contract if you don't need WiFi mesh cos it'll end up cost more.

Also, if you wish to transfer your fibre broadband from another account, it cannot be done.  Unlike mobile plans, M1 doesn't give option to transfer fibre broadband account.  For example, my brother's fibre broadband is under my account, if he wish to put it under his name, he'll have to apply for a new one, that is, to go through all the installation process and costs.

Again, I'm highly satisfied with M1 CSOs.  This round it was Ms Stella who had, over the phone, provided me with lots info.  And Jourdan Ng at M1 Paragon, who'd patiently and politely served us.  I'll be sharing more on mobile plans in another article.

Thanks for reading! 😉

[Below article was published 2 years ago, on September 24, 2017]
We have been subscribers to M1 services since 1997.  Over these 20 years, we have been mostly satisfied with its services and had enjoyed quite a fair bit of perks.  One of which is Multi-Line Saver (see MLS Terms & Conditions) where subscriber enjoys a discount on subscription charges of eligible plans at 25% (3 lines), 30% (4 lines) or 35% (5 lines or more).

However, with effect from March 1, 2013, M1 no longer accepts customers into the MLS while existing MLS customers can choose to remain on the MLS or switch to Multi-Service Saver (see MSS FAQ).  Further, with effect from December 7, 2013, all new line sign-ups will not be eligible for MLS discount and line count.

I was not aware of the above changes till my recent conversation with M1.  Fortunately it was October 2013 when my brother's mobile line and home broadband were included under my account, so we had all enjoyed lower charges for a few years.

Lately, for personal reasons, my brother has decided to switch to SingTel.  In order to ensure smooth transfer and to port over his mobile number and home number (this number has been our family line since the early 80s), I had called M1 hotline at 1627 (24 hours) to inquire on the procedures.

Here was what I had found out:-
Installation - Two Fibre Broadband Services
The OpenNet Termination Point (TP) has 2 ports that allow 2 fibre broadband services running at the same time.  It may be 2 services from the same telco or 1 service from 2 service providers.

My brother's M1 Broadband contracts will expire in 2 weeks time, and from what I know, SingTel's new installation on 1st port takes around 1-2 weeks while installation on the 2nd port will take longer time, around 2-3 weeks.  To avoid any downtime, the M1 customer service officer (CSO) had advised not to terminate the M1 Home Broadband service yet and to install SingTel's service at the 2nd port.

This way, it will also give time for SingTel to port-in my mum's home number.

Renewal of Home Broadband contract
Home Broadband plans work differently from mobile plans.  Home Broadband plans without a contract are rather costly, for example, a 1Gbps fibre broadband without contract is S$99/month while with a 24-months contract, it's S$39/month.  Because of this "reduced" rate, subscriber is unable to upgrade the service plan at any time.  That is, if one were contracted to a 300Mbps fibre broadband and finds that this speed is too slow, have to bear with it for 2 years (contract period) or pay an early termination fee to end this contract and take up another, or to simply subscribe for another fibre broadband service.  Once completed 20 months of contract, one may recontract, at no penalty, via M1 hotline or at one of the M1 shops.  Do note that all telcos often update their broadband service plans, so always inquire about the latest eligible plans before signing the 2-years contract.

Termination of Home Broadband contract
This has to be done 7 days before the contract ends.  Taking my brother's example where the contract will end on October 7, 2017, I'll need to call M1 Hotline on October 1, 2017, so that the fibre broadband service will terminate on October 8, 2017.  This is to ensure there will be no early termination penalty and no new subscription charge.  Even if the customer were to terminate one day late, for example, to call M1 Hotline on October 2, 2017, the service will terminate on October 9, 2017 and there will be prorated charge under no contract rate.

Under our current contracts (charges inclusive of GST), M1 HomePac 1Gbps (fibre) is S$39/month (about S$1.28/day) and M1 HomePac 300Mbps (fibre) is S$29/month (about S$0.95/day).  Without a contract, M1 HomePac 1Gbps (fibre) costs S$99/month (about S$3.25/day) while HomePac 300Mbps (fibre) costs S$139/month (about S$4.57/day).  A vast difference!

Free Bundles with Home Broadband contract
Usually there will be some free services that come along with the 2-years contract on Home Broadband, these services will mostly become chargeable once the contract ends, while some are only free for 1 year.  Do ask about the details or read the contract, there was once I was "forced" to hold on to a free service because it charged a fee if terminate within 12 months.  For all these free bundled services, if not in used, better terminate it immediately, to save the trouble to monitor its expiry and to later call in to terminate.  However, there are some very useful services too.

Free Bundle - Mobile Broadband and Data