Wi-Tribe has recently (not sure exactly when) upgraded all the speed limtes of all of their broadband plans, including the top Plan 1998 from 2Mbps to 4Mbps. Not bad considering my PLDT DSL plan is charging the same rate but only pulls down 1Mbps (supposed to be 2Mbps or 3Mbps).
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In a TV commercial aired last Saturday, PLDT introduced a new DSL plan which offers up to 10Mbps for just Php4,000. That makes it the top broadband offering under the myDSL service line-up (PLDT MyDSL Plan 4000).
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Since October 1, Smart has switched the plug on their Smart Bro Rocket Plug-It to use volume-based data pricing (same as Always On). The recommended bucket plan is Php200 per 180MB. So I tried it on my Rocket Plug-It to see how much I’d consume in a day.
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The telecoms industry have always been slugging it out in terms of “price wars”. Sometimes, they’d also do the same in the technology front and being the first of anything new is always considered a prized trophy. Globe and Smart (and Sun, pre-PLDT acquisition) have been like that for years.
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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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For the past 5 years now, we’ve seen a huge growth in internet penetration in the country. At the same time, we’ve also seen the barriers to entry go down in favor of consumers, partly because of competition.
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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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For the last couple of weeks, my PLDT DSL connection at home has crawled to a turtle’s pace. I don’t often get this type of problems in the last 4.5 years but this time, it took longer than one would expect.
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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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Joey Alarilla asks “Do we actually have broadband in RP?”. Yeah, we do, it’s called Digital Substandard Lines. *heh*
Been hooked up on DSL for about 4 years now. Before that, I languished in crappy dial up connection. I started with Greendot at 256Kbps for Php2,750 for about a year before I moved to PLDT DSL paying Php1,995 at 384Kbps speeds. They then upgraded the accounts across the board and my Plan 1995 got 512Kbps, went up to 786Kbps and now at 1.2Mbps.
If you think about it, the 384Kbps cap is now 1.2Mbps after 4 years at the same monthly rate. I should be happy right? Well, in a way yeah. Them DSL providers would make you think/feel the same. The premium residential packages now are at 2.2Mbps and 5Mbps (Alabang area only).
However, those free upgrades to higher speeds aren’t any good at all when you’ve actually checked the actual speeds. Ever since I’m on the 1.2Mbps line, I’ve always checked my bandwidth on different days of the week and various times of the day. Here’s how it fared via Broadband Reports:
It’s like it’s just half of what I was told my supposed connection is. The only time I’d get that promised 1.2Mbps is when I ran the bandwidth test via PLDTPlay. So, the line from my place to the PLDT servers tops at 1.2Mbps but my actual DSL speed from PLDT to the outside world is just half of that. Great. So those upgrades we’re all getting all these years were a farse?
When do we get Singapore’s 100Mbps speeds to their homes? In the year 2020?
This is not just any other bandwidth meter around. It tracks your location, including your ISP and upstream provider. You choose which server to connect when measuring your bandwidth. Here’s my results for my PLDT myDSL 1995.
It’s supposed to be rated at 1.2Mbps. The connecting server I used was Bayantel. The system also saves a whole bunch of data from other users so you can dig them up, get the average for your area and even compare the performances of other ISPs. This one screen shot report I got the the Metro Manila area:
Interestingly, Destiny is topping the charts with average speeds in excess of 1.6Mbps. That’s almost twice that of the runner up, PLDT.
Should be really useful when people move houses or something. They’d be able to get the average performance of an internet provider in that location.
{hat tip to Dave Starr}
Found this at the PC Express website:
“The DI-LB604 is the newest addition to our range of routers that includes the industry’s latest technology. It provides all the functionality needed to establish a reliable high-speed Internet link while at the same time protects past investments,” said Mr George Wong, Marketing Director of D-Link International Pte Ltd.
The Load-Balancing Router with features 2 WAN ports for load-balancing and a fast-acting fail-over mechanism for dropped Internet connections. 4 Ethernet ports provide wired connections to up to 4 computers. Thus, users can set up a high-performance network that offers the fastest and most reliable speeds, without sacrificing their past investments.
Advanced Network ProtectionWith SPI and NAT firewall with DOS attack protection, the DI-LB604 provides secure and reliable network connections. System logging, ACL and VPN pass-through protects the network against outside threats.
Easy Management and SetupThe DI-LB604 can be easily configured using its web-based management interface.
The DI-LB604 Link Load-Balancing Router will be available soon at all PC Express branches.
If from what I understand here is right, this means you can hook up two DSL accounts and combine them into one router and get an effective connection rate equivalent to the sum of both broadband connection.
So, I have an existing PLDT myDSL at 1.2Mbps and another Smart Bro account at 386Kbps. If I use the DLink DI-LB604 router, I could have 1.586Mbps connection speed on my network. If one is down, the other is still hooked up. Cool! I want one!
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?
My PLDT myDSL line went kaput just around lunch today and was only able to re-connect just now. One thing I learned about PLDT’s customer support is that they don’t have one or you can’t get to talk to one. What I’d do is call sales and inquire about upgrading my DSL bandwidth or ask for any new promos. Then, I’ll segue into asking if they could connect me to their support personnel at the NOC. Works almost all the time.
Anyway, going back to the DSL upgrades, the customer rep did confirm that PLDT will be doing another round of bandwidth upgrades this January.
Those under Plan 1995 will get 768Kbps from the current 512Kbps. I forgot to ask about the alleged 2Mbps though.
[tags]PLDT, myDSL, PLDT DSL, PLDT myDSL[/tags]
Just read this yesterday in the newspapers (was it manila Bulletin?) and there’s an ad for PLDT DSL along with their promo for the Guild Wars.
A copy of the full page ad can be found here and if you look closely (or maybe zoom in the image on the lower right corner), the connection speed for Plan 1995 is already at 768Kbps and for only Php3,000 per month, you can get as fast as 2Mbps. *sweet*
At first I thought maybe PLDT has again upgraded the connections of existing broadband subscribers to adjust for this new scheme but I checked my connection at home and it’s still at 512Kbps.
I guess this rate is tied up with the Guild Wars promo. But 2Mbps connection is still way cool. Upgrade me, please!
[tags]megabits, broadband, digital subscriber line, isp, internet connection, gaming[/tags]
Got home this evening to find pamphlets at my doorstep from Globe. Apparently they are now offering broadband connections to residential areas with speeds of up to 2Mbps. Sweet.
Here are the DSL rates and prices:
*GenTxt Express Unlimited
Monthly Fee: Php995
DSL Speed: 384kbps
Express Unlimited
Monthly Fee: Php1,495 (promo price of Php995 just now)
DSL Speed: 384kbps
Explore Silver
Monthly Fee: Php1,995
DSL Speed: 768kbps
Explore Gold
Monthly Fee: Php2,995
DSL Speed: 2Mbps
* I think the GenTxt plan is for students. Not sure about it but looks very similar to the PLDT DSL student rate before (Plan 998 or something). And read this — a Globelines landline subscription is NOT a prerequisite to Globelines broadband.
The 2Mbps under Explore Gold plan did took most of my attention. Really, really nice to have something like that at home all by myself. And to think that only last year, I was paying GreenDot Php2,750 for a mere 256kbps connection.
Launched just yesterday, Smart WiFi is a new broadband internet service which allows users to get connected wirelessly thru Smart’s cell sites. The only thing you need is an outdoor antenna to serve as transceiver on any of Smart’s hundreds of cell sites nationwide.
Maximum bandwidth is up to around 128kbps and promo price starts at Php788/month. It’s an easy and affordable alternative if you don’t have phone lines in the neighborhood. This is gonna be a big hit once they find a way to bring access down to handhelds and portable devices (read: Tungsten T5 & Life Drive).
Check out more related articles:
[tag]smart philippines, smart communications, talk ‘n text[/tag]
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