The Mountain View-based tech giant's wireless mesh router, Google Wifi has finally arrived in Singapore, making it the eighth market in the world to get the product and also the first in Southeast Asia.
In Singapore, Google Wifi arrived as a StarHub exclusive. Starting from August 31, StarHub customers will be able to purchase a three-pack Google Wifi with an upfront cost of S$0 when they sign up for or renew selected StarHub Broadband or Hubbing all-in-one plans. The plans, which are available, include StarHub's 1Gbps Fibre Broadband plan and also the multi-service SurfHub, HomeHub 1000 and HomeHub Go 1Gbps bundles.
Customers will also have the option to split the payment for their routers across 24 months, however, that will incur an interest fee of GS$15 per month though their StarHub bill, which makes the total cost of the Google Wifi S$360. Installments will depend on the specific plans that the customers choose.
The Google Wifi was originally launched with a price tag of US$299 (approximately S$407) back in December 2016 and is now available on e-commerce site Amazon for US$264 (approximately S$359) minus the shipping cost. So StarHub's pricing in Singapore is at par, besides, it is also offering a one-year warranty to customers, which they won't be able to avail if they import the devices themselves via Amazon.
However, in Singapore, consumers will not be able to buy a single Google Wifi router (launch price US$129), but StarHub customers with bigger houses can buy additional Wifi routers for the cost of S$199 each.
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While speaking about the company's decision of making the Google Wifi a StarHub exclusive in Singapore, Martin Geh, managing director, APAC hardware partnerships for Google, said, "We always look for strong partnerships, partners who see problems the way that we do and they have a way to solve it very well. We're aligned on what we're trying to accomplish and we found that partner in StarHub," reported Asia One.
The USP feature of the Google Wifi is how it combines the power-features in an easy-to-use package. Its built-in Network Assist can operate the functions such as, dynamically change the router's channels based on the strongest signal at the time. The other apps of the router also allow the customer to perform advanced tasks, like giving devices priority and also schedule connection pauses, with an easy to understand UI, among others. It gets automatic updates every six-weeks, which includes security updates too.
