Good news to all PLDT myDSL subscribers on Plan 3000 — bandwidth upgrades have been rolling to all subs as early as first week of this month. The plan was bumped up from 3Mbps to 5Mbps.
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Been in the boondocks for about a week now on a semi-vacation mode (and semi-retreat kind of way) so I’m not able to regularly publish new entries here. With a thousand miles away from mega Manila and a couple hundred more miles from the nearest city, my mountain resort hide-away is almost devoid of any internet coverage.
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That’s according to a recent report of the FCC in the US — broadband subscribers in the US only get around 50% of the promised internet speeds by service providers.
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Just realized that since all the telecom players (Sun, Smart and Globe) are now offering unlimited 3G internet and subsequently lowering the prices down, 3G is officially cheaper than DSL.
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I got this DVD installer in the mail last week for PLDT WatchPad. Been seeing the ads as well on TV lately and was wondering if this is a free or paid service from PLDT to all its myDSL subscribers.
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Last Saturday, I signed up for the unlimited Plan 999 of SmartBro Share It. It was locked for 24 months but they have a promo where you can buy a computer set (Intel Core Dual Core E2200 2.2GHz) for just Php4,000.
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Sky Broadband seems to be tipping the scale for broadband speeds with offerings of up to 6Mbps and 12 Mbps packages for residential accounts. Just got a pamphlet from their roving people asking residents to switch.
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We were discussing about broadband connectivities over at Rico’s blog where he’s recommending ETPI’s 5Mbps package for Php35,000 a month. I haven’t tried Eastern Telecoms ever so I cannot attest to their connection uptime and reliability but have heard so many complaints about their residential offerings, dubbed evoDSL.
And while I suggested getting 2 separate DSL providers and using a D-Link Load-Balancing Router to hook them both up, I also discovered PLDT has published newer bandwidth caps for its residential plans.
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This is probably the second time PLDT myDSL upgraded their bandwidth offerings this year. Just saw an ad at Manila Bulletin that their newly re-branded residential DSL packages are getting a bit of a boost.
Here are the new bandwidth speeds:
myDSL Xperience
Php 999/month
from 384Kbps to 512 Kbps
myDSL Xcite
Php 1,995/month
from 768 Kbps to 1.2Mbps
myDSL Xcel
Php 3,000/month
from 2Mbps to 3 Mbps
Must be real tough competition going on we don’t know about.
Heard that PLDT had a 7% drop in profits compared to last years. But just how much of their revenues are coming from them being a DSL provider?
Along with the upgrades that I just discovered, PLDT also rebranded their residential broadband packages:
So, they did deliver on the promise they made earlier this year, though it took them 4 months to do so.
The new packages are as follows:
PLDT myDSL Xperience : 384 Kbps at Php 999/month
PLDT myDSL Xcite : 768 Kbps at Php 1,995/month
PLDT myDSL Xcel : 2 Mbps at Php 3,000/month
PLDT myDSL F2H : 5 Mbps at Php 5,000/month
The PLDT myDSL F2H may soon be available in areas of Ayala Alabang, Forbes Park, Essensa and Dasmarinas Village due to some fiber optic cables already in place.
This could be the start of a more affordable high-speed broadband in the Philippines (across all ISPs).
Smart Communications thought their Smart Wifi brand is knee deep in the mud right now that the best thing to remedy the bad publicity is to re-name it. So, they came up with Smart Bro (is that a shortcut for broadband?)
They did some clean-up and even remove pages from their official site which mentioned Smart Wifi. Too bad that page is already #1 on Google, Yahoo and MSN for the term “smart wifi”. (I suppose my blog will take over that spot, eh?)
Migs pointed out that that Smart Bro is also a browser and a few days after the switch, Smart’s pages are already in the front page for the keyword. (I’m hoping this page will be somewhere near in the next couple of days.)
PLDT’s myDSL-w has also been consolidated under this single brand name. Subscribers comment that there’s really nothing new in terms of service improvements — just pure PR and bundling of services.
A commenter at Smart Wifi Chronicles adds:
Kaya lang nagpalit ng pangalan ang Smart Wifi To Smart BRO para maitago yung negative feedbacks ng Smart WiFi na masesearch sa Google. Kung Smart BRO nga naman ang search mo, wala pang negative feed back kasi sariwa pa.
… and I kinda agree with him.
The subscription plan did change to Php999/month, which is more expensive than the old one.
P.S.
They already registered smartbro.com.ph but left out .ph, .net.ph and .org.ph.
[tags]wifi, wi-fi, broadband, wireless, internet, dsl, isp, internet[/tags]
Got this new PLDT promo at PEx:
Promo Period: January 23 to April 23, 2006
Coverage: Nationwide
Target Market: New Postpaid Residential Subscribers who will also subscribe to any myDSL package
Offers:
Discounted Installation Fee: P500
Free MSF on the 12th month
Pre-activated NDD access
Free Speed Calling 20
Free first 10 ndd unlimited calls (P10/call)
Optional: Free Activation of Megabundle + Free 1st 2 months MSF of Megabundle (subs must have a CID unit)
Discounted TEL.+ DSL Bundled Rate
1. P 750 + 999 = P 1,749 – 200 = P 1,549 MSF (net)
2. P 750 + 1,499 = P 2,745 – 400 = P 2,345 MSF (net)
3. P 750 + 3,000 = P 3,750 – 600 = P 3,150 MSF (net)
Guidelines:
Application may be filed thru Business Office, 171, CSFs** & all Bilis-Kabit Blitzes
24-month lock-in period (for both voice & data service)
Pre-termination fee of P2,500 (for voice) + 3X MSF for the DSL Plan
**For more details and to apply, contact:
Rene Bautista
PLDT Agent Code: 5003632
(02) 8740183 // (0927) 4567254 // (0918) 22312423
add616reneb@yahoo.com // add616reneb@gmail.com
It’s called PLDT myDSL-W (as in wireless) … same animal, different bandwidth.
There are 3 residential plans for PLDT DSL-W :
Plan 999 256 Kbps – Php 999
Plan 1,995 512 Kbps – Php 1,995
Plan 3,000 1 Mbps – Php 3,000
Initially available in Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao.
If this baby becomes available in our small island-province of Guimaras, I sure do love to get connected from our little beach over there (ever heard of Alubihod beach?).
A month here, a month there, ain’t bad huh?
Update: Also posted at PTB last October.
Looks like PLDT is aggressively selling its DSL service, now with a residential package of Php999 per month (PLDT Plan 999) at speeds of 384Kbps. This is the former bandwidth allocation for their Plan 1995 which is now at 512Kbps.
On top that, their Php788 per month for Smart WiFi is being heavily promoted in the provinces.
The Plan 999 was also an old promo for students only but has now been expanded to cover regular residential subscribers. With the introduction of DSL Plan 999, I think PLDT will soon be upgrading existing subscribers to higher bandwidths. Much more that Globe Telecoms is pushing to 2Mbps for Php2,995 (Explore Gold Plan).
The problem here though is that PLDT is so aggressive in selling broadband connections to potential new customers that it has already forgotten about the existing ones. Just read the comments over at the Smart WiFi entry.
I am sure they know that it’s cheaper to retain new customers than to get new ones. Oh, I forgot they have that 1-year lock-up clause.
I never thought that broadband connection would spread this fast around here. My PLDT DSL connection is just Php1,999 a month for 0.5Mbps. It’s nothing compared to the ones in the west where you’d get something like 5Mbps for the same amount.
But if you look back 4 years ago, when dial-up was the king of connectivity, you’d be surprised. DDU or dedicated dial-up connection in 2001 could rake up as high as Php5,000 a month. Now unlimited dial-up can be had for Php499 a month. Internet pre-paid cards charges Php100 for 4 hours. Last time I checked pre-paid cards can be bought in demonimations of Php50 with a 9 hour credit.
Well, you might say that 4 years is such a long time but considering that we also have Smart WiFi (fixed) and PLDTWeRoam at a more affordable price is a very good sign as well. Far flung provinces and remtoe areas can now be connected as well thru Dream Cable’s satellite internet. Not sure how much it costs but they’ve bundled cable TV and internet connection for an affordable price.
Before Smart/PLDT bought into Meredian Telekoms, they used to charge Php8,888 a month for DSL-on-air and the speeds weren’t very good as well (128 – 256kbps). It was about 2 years ago. That’s the reaosn why I moved back to Makati from Bacoor. I’d rather spend that 9 grand on a nice apartment. 
We’re still a long way in terms of connectivity and internet penetration but at the current rate, it’s very promising.
