ViewQwest has joined the 10Gbps fibre bandwagon with a premium plan that costs $218 a month under a two-year contract.
The Internet service provider (ISP) launched Singapore's first 2Gbps home fibre plan in March last year, but is having to play catch-up this time. Its announcement makes it the fourth ISP, after Singtel, SuperInternet and M1, to launch such high-speed fibre broadband plans for residential users.
These high-speed fibre plans let home users enjoy bandwidth-heavy applications such as the streaming of ultra-high-definition or 4K videos to multiple devices without lag.
The 10Gbps plans from Singtel and M1 cost $189 a month with a two-year contract. SuperInternet's plan is $199 for a one-year contract.
In addition to the monthly subscription, those who subscribe to the new ViewQwest Black 10Gbps plan will have to pay $1,500 for a high-end router that supports the 10Gbps connection. Singtel bundles the necessary equipment, including two routers, in its monthly fee.
To differentiate from its competitors, ViewQwest has partnered with local PC builder Aftershock PC to build desktop PCs capable of supporting 10Gbps speeds.
Subscribers will have the option to buy these custom Aftershock Boost PCs at a $200 discount and do not need to go through the hassle of building a compatible computer by themselves.
Mr Vignesa Moorthy, chief executive of ViewQwest, said: "We aim to go beyond to provide a hassle-free end-to-end experience for our customers - from sign-up to after-sales support ."
These computers, which start at $3,000, connect via Ethernet cable because devices supporting 10Gbps speeds over Wi-Fi are not yet available in the market.
Like SuperInternet, ViewQwest's 10Gbps fibre plan claims to provide up to 10Gbps speeds for both downloads and uploads.
Singtel and M1 use a different technology, where a single 10Gbps connection may be shared by up to 128 users. The two ISPs estimate that actual speeds go up to around 8Gbps for downloads and 2Gbps for uploads.
ViewQwest Black 10Gbps users will also enjoy perks such as a dedicated 24/7 customer support phone line as well as next business day on-site support. Other freebies include a free Eubiq power adaptor tower stand worth $338, along with a home telephone line and a virtual private network service for six months.
Meanwhile, Singtel and M1 are waiving the cost of installation. Singtel's plan includes a home telephone line, 500MB of 4G mobile data and a 10 per cent discount for a mobile subscription.
M1 throws in 1GB of mobile broadband data and a three-month Internet security subscription. Subscribers will also get $100 off any handset purchase if they sign up or recontract a mobile data-bundled plan at the same time.
