YugaTech | Philippines, Tech Reviews Blog

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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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?

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).

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]