If you are an existing StarHub cable TV subscriber and are looking for a broadband line, do consider the Hubstation.
Essentially, the Hubstation is a cable TV set-top box with a built-in hard-disk drive to record your TV programmes. If you want to watch StarHub's video-on-demand movies and TV shows, you will also need this box.
The best deal is that the box has a cable modem built in and StarHub throws in a free unlimited 1Mbps line for you. Just plug in a LAN cable to the back of the box and connect the other end to your PC and you are ready for the Web. If, like me, you have a game console in the living room, you can also connect it to the Internet the same way.
The Hubstation box costs you $8 a month but since you are already paying $4 for your digital set-top box, you end up paying only $4 more. At an extra $4, the box is the cheapest unlimited broadband deal in the whole of Singapore.
However, this deal makes sense only if you are already a cable TV subscriber or want to be one. Since the minimum subscription for cable TV is $24 per month, it won't make sense buying the Hubstation box just to get the broadband.
Throw in another $90 - a one-off purchase - for a little box called the integrated access device (IAD) which connects to the Hubstation and you can now even get a phone line with free incoming and outgoing calls.
The only caveat is that the free broadband and phone line promotion ends in December 2010, but knowing StarHub, it is likely the deal will be extended.
This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life on 3 December 2008.
