Several readers sent in reports that Sun Cellular is allegedly capping their 2Mbps unlimited 3G internet (Sun Wireless Broadband) to just 640Kbps.
While this bandwidth capping has not been official confirmed, a number SWB users have been sharing bandwidth results from their experience that there’s indeed some sort of capping going on (using Mobile Data Monitoring Application).
The Sun Wireles Broadband (SWB) unlimited service has a monthly service fee of Php799 (the cheapest 3G internet service in the Philippines) for unlimited 3G internet within Metro Manila. Sun Cellular promises speeds of up to 2Mbps on their 3.5G network. Consumer reports on 640Kbps cap is definitely a significant issue and it’s possible their network is already clogging up (a victim of their own success?).
I have contacted Sun Cellular for an official response to this issue and they promised to get back to me. Will update this post once I get official word from them.
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Don’t offer something you can’t provide!
Why offer speeds that you know you won’t be able to sustain?
i hope the broadband plans in the philippines would go down soon.
here in singapore mobile one currently offers a 7.2mbps unlimited for just around php450.
their offer just backfired.
1mbps na daw ang canopy smartbro sa aug15 according to agents and *1888. ang tanong di kaya mgclog network ng smart at pldt d2?
1mbps na daw ang canopy smartbro sa aug15 according to agents and *1888. ang tanong di kaya mgclog network ng smart at pldt d2?
No wonder internet access via SWB has been slower compared to 4 months ago.
thanks for posting this info. people should avoid SBW at all cost. it is better to spend a little more for quality.
i terminated my account as far back as april because of the poor quality. until now SBW has yet to return my one month advance deposit even if my account had no holding period.
wag naman sana..sir yuga help!!!be our consumer tech hero!!
what about for prepaid SBW? is it gonna be the same? or this is just for there unlimited internet acces?.. coz im planning to get SBW prepaid for back up connection.. coz im olways on d go. can SOMEONE ENLIGHTHEN ME.. PLS TENKS!!
SWB PALA.. TSK XORI.
This has been discussed before in Tipidpc.com. Meron pa sila software that can actually show na ang settings ay nagbago.
http://www.tipidpc.com/viewtopic.php?tid=192225
Some people there have reported that sun prepaid in the same location still has the same speed so if you complain and the sun agent says its because of network congestion, pwede mo sila hulihin in a lie.
so vince u min whether ur prepaid or postpaid.. thre both Xperiencing problems about the speed?
I’m Sun Wireless Broadband since April this year. Sobrang bilis talaga ng connection nila before. Lagpas pa ng 2Mbps. Pero ngayon nasa 640kbps nalang talaga… Balak ko nalang kumuha ng SMART Bro Unlimited 999 na Share-It
I also noticed the change in speed reaching at least 1Mbps is very rare nowadays. I’m experiencing the same speed around 600Kbps. I also noticed fluctuating connection even in places where there is a strong signal. I can’t believe that the telcos are really doing this capping. I think it is their responsibility to upgrade their system to cope up with the growing numbers of subscribers. They should have the facilities that matches the number of subscribers. It is not our fault if their system is not enough. They should be the one adjusting not the subscribers.
This should be the topic of another Senate inquiry: internet woes of us consumers.
Sun Cellular is a sister company of DIGITEL which is commonly so called “business scammer”. No Wonder there is an anomaly with their service.
subscriber ako ng SWB799 since July, nung una pa me tym na bumababa cla ng 640 kbps, cguro nga sa dami ng subscribers kaya ganun un, pero ok nmn xa pag madaling araw… wahehehehe tlgang me oras na sobrang bilis.. nyhahahha! ok narin to sa mga On The Go.
I wouldn’t be surprise if they did actually put a cap on the speed, considering a lot of their users are downloading torrent and putting heavy toll on their network, with probably small profit margin, I guess when they initially planned to offer this they didn’t expect their users to use it for a lot of downloading as they are targeting it for mobiles users.
Globe Tattoo offers the same sh@!ty service
The speed is being capped? That is not “TRUTH IN ADVERTISING”. Their ads are misleading. This should be reported to the Ad Board.
other internet providers in other countries is so reluctant in their speed, kaya, its irritating to know that cheap technology provides cheap services here. 7.2 mbps for 450 in singapore? say what? hello sun, are you reading this?
ive been complaining about this several times on their technical support hot-line. And all i get is ‘report report report” from the agents. Lousy excuse. I told them that i am experiencing better speed when im using my prepaid (i both have the prepaid and postpaid). And the response: Gagawa po kami ng report. WTF!!!! All you did were investigations with no resolutions. I finally asked the agent, are you capping the speed of the 799 easy broadband postpaid accounts? Agent: No Sir. Then why is it that my speed had drastic reduction of speed. Agent: May congestion na po kasi sir. Again, i just used my prepaid right now and i can browse and download without problem. Agent: Gagawa nalang po kami ng report.
Call ended.
We were just going around in circles.
I read in their fine print that they have the right to cap your bandwidth if you do not comply to their Acceptable Use Policy. In other words, if you download/seed torrents 24/7 or do similar activities, this may happen to you. Otherwise, you should be in the clear. Read the fine print before you sign up into anything. Take it from me, I learned it the hard way.
here’s the reply of SUN when my i tried to email them regarding the persisting connection problem…
Good day!
We would like to inform you that we appreciate your effort in informing us about your concerns and in line this, recently, there were adjustments that the network team has done with regards to upload and download rates of our SBW. You may also want to try now visiting major and non-major websites and kindly observe your connection and we appreciate if you can give us feedback regarding this. We also do recommend for awhile to try other email-based websites than yahoo in sending emails. Finally, we do recommend if you can try connecting your SBW to other PCs, aside from the one you’re always using, in a different location so that we can isolate the problem.
Rest assured that we are doing everything to continuously give you quality service.
Once again, thank you very much and we look forward to your continued support and valued patronage of Sun Broadband Wireless.
Philippe P. Chieng
Officer
Customer Service Operations
Sun Cellular
Let’s flood their email with our concerns! They’re good with their advertisement, but they really SUCKS when it comes to quality service!
i’ve been using the service since april. i’m here in caloocan-malabon area and the signal strength almost always shows 90-100% but the download speed accdg to speedtest.net shows:
april: 300kbps-1.2mpbs
as of aug 8/ 7;23pm- 24.3kbps!?!?! WTF and unfortunately i signed up for the two year contract.
no such thing as a free lunch
Im sure the “limitation” is in [very] fine print in the contract.
how about Globe Tatto…. minsan nga 1.4kbps it’s so obvious parte ka ng globe kaya kinakalaban mo Sun
SBW user here, 799 unlimited @ Pasay City.
SBW has been really shitty since May, one month after I got it. Aside from the pathetic upload/download rate (often I can’t even upload 50kb email attachments during peak hours), it DISCONNECTS EVERY 15 MINUTES. I understand that connection integrity depends on weather and traffic, but geez, it happens even during sunny clear skies at off-peak hours.
I noticed something, though. My IP address changed. When service was alright, I had an IP that traced to Quezon City. Now my shitty access has an IP that traces all the way to Digitel Cabanatuan Cuty (Nueva Ecija).
I hate the excuses of the customer service representatives blaming the weather, the traffic, fluctuations and alike. They don’t admit that it is their fault.
so thats why I cant seem to load my internet applications…
great… i just renewed my monthly subscription with them…huhuhuhu…
its a good thing I have my smart bro pre paid…oh well…
My friend gave up on ‘em, in return he opened the dongle himself and used a simcard from another network? lol
Hmmm, if Sun indeed capped their speed, they ought to send a notice to subscribers to know what’s going on. While it’s understandable saying too much is bad, they should know consumers need to know how, why, etc.
most of the time, if not everytime, it’s lower than 650kbps, on my experience it’s more shitty than dial-up. minsan dead air pa.
it’s not surprising, 2mbps is just a come-on talaga sa start, then cap to lower, and lower bandwidth. of course the fine print is, “up to”.
I subscribed to SWB for 2 weeks already. the speed is not really 2mbps. (I tried smartbro and tatoo for a couple of times too to help me decide.) Smartbro and tatoo didn’t reached 2mbps either. Smartbro is 1mbps and tatoo is a little bit lower than 1mbps.
I decided to get SWB only because it is unlimited. Also psychologically prepared that the signal might not be good. but so far, I’m quite ok with the signal, part of the reason might be that there is a sun cell site near our area. I have no problem for normal surfing. Downloading apps is slow, torrent is very slow. Up loading is naturally slower than downloading. I’m not a techy person, this is only what I observed.
I think not only sun is providing below par in the speed aspect. And if I’m the service providers, I can think of dozens of excuses to blame for the speed we are getting. Since it is wireless, they can even blame on the rain or strong wind.
Ultimately, I think each of the provider will be well punished by their poor performance. Since many people are using prepaid now. Switching providers is just too easy to do. I won’t be surprised to see there are people swapping their smart usb to tatoo usb, or vice versa or with sun’s if each provider continue to perform poorly.
With regards, to sun, well, it is the cheapest in town. What do we ask for? Like my dad used to say… “Gusto mo ng mura, gusto mo pa ng maganda?”
The only issue here is only that they have to be truthful in their words. Kung 650kbps sabihin nila, wag sasabihin 2mbps tapos 650 lang pala ang binigay. This goes to all telecom not only Sun.
I’m a Sun Broadband Wireless prepaid user.
Bali browsing ang mabilis sa Sun, pero pag downloads na, parang tiyempo tiyempo. For example, usually, pag nag download mo yung file, at first nasa 250-400 kbps lang, pero pag ni cancel mo sya at ni attempt mo ulit i-download, kaya nya mag burst up to 2mbps even more at times like 2.5mbps, one week ago yan ha pero tama din na nag aaverage sya around 650 kbps.
Gusto ko ngayon malaman ang response ng SUN at ang nakapaloob sa acceptable use policy, i’m glad i did not order the postpaid, nakaka takam pa naman at first glance.
Cutemoboy replied on Aug 8th, 2009 at 12:12 am (12)
so vince u min whether ur prepaid or postpaid.. thre both Xperiencing problems about the speed?
sorry, i meant that a sun prepaid will still be same speed (up to 2mbps) pero postpaid will changed down to 640 kbps
Gravatar Icon Ardz replied on Aug 8th, 2009 at 3:48 pm (23)
I read in their fine print that they have the right to cap your bandwidth if you do not comply to their Acceptable Use Policy. In other words, if you download/seed torrents 24/7 or do similar activities, this may happen to you. Otherwise, you should be in the clear. Read the fine print before you sign up into anything. Take it from me, I learned it the hard way.
the problem is the speed reduction has happened to all postpaid customers, whether you are guilty or not
To everyone,
I think it has nothing to do with abuses and that everyone under the sun (pun intended) are affected. I seldom do downloads and mostly just do browsing and I have the same problems.
I’m still going to stick w/ sun for now since problems such as this is common to all providers anyway. Not so long ago there were lots of complaints about Smart and Globe.
At the end of the day the unlimited scheme is still an advantage and specially if one does mostly browsing and occasionally watching youtube videos and occassionaly downloading only.
Heavy downloaders will surely be the most affected but most of the so-called abuses comes from that section anyway.
actually all telcos do not give the speed that they’ve promise. the reality is we’re not surfing into megabytes speed. NEVER ko pa naexperience na pumalo ng 1mbps ang connection ko. OK pa nga sun e. atleast 350-650kbps bininigay. Smartbro is the worst. Dapat dyan may government sector o private organization na magbantay sa kadayaan ng mga yan. Kaasar e!
Just to add to uptech-it’s post.
Actually, me and most sun users before were experiencing more than 2 mbps at one time and the current slowdown only started the last few months.
Some, haven’t even noticed it much. Only the heavy-downloaders are the ones that really noticed it.
I hope this is only temporary, though.
Professional forum shoppers will always not be contended as they change providers as soon as something goes wrong and most often times, when the problems gets fixed they have already changed providers – only to run to another set of problems on their new provider. While those who stuck with their providers a little bit more gets some relief once congestion lifts from a few departures.
@t-cell
Agree, and somehow, this will also service as a fair warning to all providers to improve their services. As the market (the people) will dictate the lesser evil to dwell.
I have been using SBW for a little over a month now. For the first couple of weeks Sun’s service was, in my opinion, excellent.
However, shortly thereafter, their upload and download speeds suddenly halted to a snail’s pace. For example, I used to be able to access my facebook account in an instant but now it feels like a lifetime just to get to the log in window. Its like using a dial up connection, even worse.
When Sun advertised that they can provide UP TO 2Mbps there is already a presumption that they could deliver such a service to their clients. To now hide behind flimsy excuses of system congestion and what have you is simply unacceptable and prepostorous! We are not stupid.
In the eventuality that Sun insist that they are authorized to cap the speeds arbitrarily… they should first look into the consequences of what are called “CONTRACTS OF ADHESION”. This is a fraudulent act and is downright actionable.
One of the previous posters was correct in pointing out that it is Sun’s RESPONSIBILITY to adjust and upgrade their system as dictated by the demands of their clients.
I believe that if Sun fails to address this issue, a CLASS SUIT would be inevitable.
We have paid our hard earned money to get the service that was promised.
We should never settle for anything less.
Na-check ko na ang Speed Caps ng globe at suncellular using MDMA. 640 kbps ang sun while 1600 kbps ang globe.
Mag rereklamo ako sa Sun this week.
Nagkakaroon ako ng connection problems sa postpaid Sun Cellular ko. Laging na didisconnect yung device ko. When in fact, maayos naman yung pagkasaksak niya. I’m thinking na nirereject ng sun yung sim card ko. Unfair na i limit nila ang speed cap nila dahil sa violation sa Fair Usage Policy nila. Unang-una kailangan maquantify nila kung ano ang Fair Usage. Tsaka kaya nga unlimited ang kinuha naming plan kasi ang alam namin walang restrictions. Yung torrents, naka close naman ang port 6*** so hanggang 50kbps lang ang torrents namin. hindi naman 24 hours na nakaopen yung computer. Unfair. In violation sila ng Consumer Act of the Philippines. Hindi nila naibibigay yung tamang service.
dat’s not true.. i have a SUN BROADBAND PREPAID and it works super fine. I have download speed of upto 1.8 MBPS…. and downloads ranging from 80-180 kb/s when I download TORRENTS
@Everyone,
Just updating everyone that I am now getting 1 mbps when I tested it today. Will test again in the weekdays to see if this just because today is a Sunday.
@karlo soriano,
Good for you. What area are you in ??
This seems to confirm that they are not capping because of the so-called abuses or are unfairly implementing their Fair Usage Policy as some are alleging since you are unaffected.
Hopefully, the connection speed in my area goes back to 2 mbps soon.
I hope people realize what the nos. on the telco ads mean…
Upto 2mbps is actually the theoretical maximum value of W-CDMA, aka 3G.
@karlo soriano Mister, hindi po kayo affected kasi prepaid kayo. Please read the blog, it talks about the post paid unlimited. =)
My connection is now fine. It is now anywhere between 0.7-1.25 mbps.
So, it seems Sunday was no fluke as I read other posts saying that connection has really improved since Sunday.
Hope, it eventually goes back to 2 mbps soon.
@Me,
Up to 2 Mbps means that they are going to do their best to make sure it reaches that speed or at least be near it.
By your logic, if you are paying for “upto 2mbps” and you are only getting less than 1 mbps that’s ok for you.
Dial-up (56k) speed is also “upto 2 mbps.” Is it ok for you to pay for a speed that should be 2mbps or near it but only getting 56k? I hope not.
Sun now has a plan for “upto 3 mbps” for P1,399/month.
Will it be ok for you to still pay for that price even if you will be getting only 1 mbps instead of “upto 3 mbps” and you know that those on the “upto 2 mbps” plan are only paying P799 a month.
If that’s ok for you, fine. But it’s not ok for the rest and they have the right to complain.
I have been a subscriber of SBW for more than 10
months now. I had an acceptable speed connection
with SBW during the first 6 months but experience
slow connections during the last 4 months. I have
been complaining about having slow connections at
my area during peak hours. I have been trying to
follow up with SBW customer service for the past 4
months now due to the slow connections. They agree
that there is a problem with my area but they will
never refund my payment since the reason that I
have slow connections is due to congestion of users
and not due to the system. This is because, if you
would look at some of the literatures of SBW, there
are small imprints that say that SBW could slow
down during peak hours. For this reason, they are
free from complaints and suit from DTI.
My subscription with SBW is not locked in for 2
years. I am decided to terminate my subscription
from SBW even if I will waste my investment on
their modem and router but you have to apply in
their main office for termination which will really
be a hassle. You can only also refund the 1000
pesos deposit after 6 months from service
termination.
They said that SBW is continually improving their
service in my area but doesn’t know when. So I
asked if I could just hold my subscription with SBW
while their connection is slow and would just re-
subscribe when they already improved the system.
They said that it could be possible but you have to
pay 500 pesos for the reconnection fee.
Given the situation, I asked if I would just not
pay the following months until my service is
terminated. They said that after 2 months of non-
payment, the SBW subscription would be disconnected
but I would continually be charged every month even
if the subscription is not being used until I pay
and could receive a demand letter from their
lawyers.
I asked where I could complain in writing and who
to write to but they would never give a supervisor
name. They just told me to email my complaint
directed to a “To whom it may concern” to
suncellular@digitel.com.ph
THIS IS A SUPER WARNING!
Think very well before subscribing to SBW.
TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE SUBSCRIBED TO SBW AND IS NOT
SATISFIED AND DOESNT HAVE THE TIME YET TO GO
THROUGH THE HASSLES OF TERMINATING FROM THEIR
SERVICE OR TO THOSE WHO HAVE A LOCK IN PERIOD OF 2
YEARS …
DONT PAY FOR THE NEXT 2 MONTHS JUST BEFORE
DISCONNECTION!!!
LET THEM FEEL THAT THEY HAVE TO IMPROVE THEIR
SYSTEM.
HOPEFULLY I WILL HAVE TIME TO REALLY GO TO THEIR
MAIN OFFICE TO TERMINATE MY SUBSCRIPTION.
HOPEFULLY I WILL NOT HAVE MORE HASSLES WHILE DOING
THIS!
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
Y wud u pay for sumting if u can get it for free?
see. . .
u really want to get back on sun cellular company?
view ol d thread about fbt/ubt (free/unlimited browsing technique) same on those prepaid broadband like tatoo and smart!
be wise . . Crisis ngaun sa pinas!
let us be d backfire of their scam.. .
alamatnitotoy@yahoo.com.ph
don’t expect an answer. they said the same “promise” to customers emailing them, and of course, pretended to have forgotten.
I am a former subscriber of Sun Wireless Broadband and I can tell you that their service just plain sucked. S-U-C-K-E-D. it worked for me for about a month and a half, and then something went wrong and my upload speed became 0.0kbps while my download gradually slowed down until it’s worse than dial-up. they don’t know how to fix it, they don’t have an efficient system to keep track of technical visits.
to add insult to injury, they won’t reverse the fees for all the 52 days my internet service wouldn’t work. they said I’m only entitled to P200 reversal. P200 for 52 days? I don’t think so.
Now I’m not using the service, and they won’t let me terminate it because I won’t pay for the days that I wasn’t able to use the service properly. kaya dating lang ng dating ang bill, kahit di ko na ginagamit service nila, because of their refusal to reverse the fees, and my refusal to pay for service that DOESN’T WORK.
Well all I can say is that they really have poor service in terms of everything prepaid or postpaid. I am really pissed off with their customer representative parang naghire lang sila ng kung sinu sino dyan na di man lang nila natrain kung paano makipagusap sa mga customers nila. I am still happy with my SMART and GLOBE plans knowing na nasa higher part ako ng Laguna Ok pa rin ang services sa 2 providers ko. To sun–> no chance that I will renew my postpaid plan sa kanila nakakadisappoint talaga. Rating 1/10 (buti nga di ko ginawang zero) since I still considered nakareceive ako ng call nung minsang gamit ko sya sa office na nasa center ng city na mismo pero choppy pa rin (really sucks).
sana hindi n ko nag SWB.. WTF sana binasa ko muna forum n to bago ko kumuha ng plan… tsktsk very lo download speed max is just 250 kbps…
as what they say, promises are meant to be broken. they’re merely all talk, promising that they would look into the problem but the truth it THEY DON’T!!!! Their SERVICE is a BIG CRAP!!! its really too bad that we got a postpaid plan, now we’re stuck. Speed is much, much, much worst than having a dial up.
The unsecured wifi of my neighbor is very much faster than my Sun Broadband. Lol!
Hi there all,
I’ve been using SBW for 1 1/2 weeks and the signal here is so unstable… BTW, i’m in cavite and despite of the assurance of SUN for fast speed in Metro manila area only I still decided to go for Sun.
The speed was so poor even if it’s in HSDPA connection (as indicsted by the thumbdrive’s light) but once I do download via Torrent or IDMan the speed could boost of upto 2.43Mbps but without DLs the speed is only between 300-0kbps… is this scenario still part of the capping???
One more thing i noticed is that my IP is used by another connection, meaning that I’m not the only one using my IP, I managed to knew it via http://www.speedtest.net’s speed test summary… someone’s using my IP and the fastest speed my IP attained (accdg to speedtest.net) is 24Mbps i dont know where it is and a little amazed of that…
Mr. Abe, any update po sa article na ito? Did SBW send you their reply? Im a new SBW Easy Broadband subscriber just yesterday and I believe my speed is capped only up to 250kbps. Their diagnostic tool even shows that.
Any class suit filed against SBW? Where are our consumer protection alliance group now? Is DTI looking on this?
Either they -SBW- stop accepting news subscribers or upgrade their facilities to accommodate new users…
grrrrr…