Telecoms

Globe’s 15GB Bandwidth Cap in Fine Print

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief September 20, 2009 · 1 min read

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Last May, Globe Telecom sent us a formal statement regarding the peer-2-peer bandwidth capping on their network — claiming they’re not doing any bandwidth capping. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have such provisions in the subscriber contracts, a copy of which is posted below:

A friend who just switch from PLDT myDSL to Globe Broadband showed me a copy of his Service Order Agreement.
globe dsl contract

Item #5 of the agreement specifies bandwidth allowances for various service plans, including a 20% cap of maximum subscribed speed (i.e, if you are on Plan 1Mbps, P2P download is capped at 200Kbps).

p2p on globe

Likewise, there’s provision for monthly total volume of downloads depending on subscribed packages:

Plan 384Kbps : 15GB per month
Plan 512Kbps : 20GB per month
Plan 1.0Mbps : 25GB per month
Plan 1.5Mbps : 30GB per month
Plan 2.0Mbps : 35GB per month

Even if you’re not into torrent downloads, the 0.5GB allowance for the lowest plan can be easily used up just by watching YouTube videos. I guess Globe also needs to provide its subscribers some sort of a bandwidth meter so they can check their running allowance.

Anyone out there experienced being disconnected (or capped) Â for using up their monthly allocation?

React to this article:

bandwidth cap

Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

8,007 Articles

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181 Comments

reymond · 16 years ago

to all new subscriber talo tayo nito kung di tayo mag kakaisa. eh nakaskulat na yan sa provision ng contract na pinirmahan natin. that means we agreed on their terms and agreements. But still nanloloko ang Globe with there adds. “low cost, unlimited, and fast”

Peter · 16 years ago

Why is it that every time i get myself a new ISP its always too late for me to find out later that the ISP i chose SUCKS! i cant describe how much Globe have troubled me in their first month of service ( if you call it service ) . Intermittent Connection , Finally stable but very SLOW connection, NO CONNECTION AT ALL ! all in just 1 month and they keep telling me it will be credited to my account .. guess what .. 29 PESOS for the whole trouble was credited to my bill !

and now everytime i call customer support they all give me the exact same script which is “Sir paki monitor na lng ng inyong internect connection” , “sir wala kaming estimated time kung kelan matatapos ung system upgrade” FCKKK ! Globe doesnt pay me to monitor their internet connection its their job ! 2MBPS subscription and now im getting .4 .6 .8 mbps. all because of a system upgrade that started way before my subscription started. to HELL With globe !

there must be a way for us to counter them legally. to take legal actions . this is ridiculous !

Lee Marion · 16 years ago

Globe Sucks, their “customer service” called up to remind us to pay our bill, and all he said is “ser bayaran niyo po sa thursday, ha?” I asked for his name and how much the bill is and all he said was “sorry po reminder lang po ito eh wala pong information dito” So tinanong ko ulit name niya para ma document ko at least. Akalain mo ba naman binabaan ako? natawa nalang ako HAHAHA

Oh yeah, globe’s internet is the Worst.

Smart – Really Fast but are a bunch of scammers
Sun – The best bang for the buck, but only in the Metro (Dammit!)
Globe – fuggedaboudit.

measure · 17 years ago

Pie>globe

’nuff said

Majas · 17 years ago

haven’t tried out globe yet, and i’m fearing i might suffer what most of you guys are telling. heard they say sun broadband is good. maybe i should try it out.

koki_motok · 17 years ago

globe’s services has been quite ok for me, im from cavite anyway,, most folks uses smartBROKEN, and pldt hs no plans on putting up facilities in our ares. i am currently subscribed to 2mbps, never thought globe is capping the amt of downloads.. but i never felt im getting the most of what im paying for. during peak hours, speed is really horrendous.. im just so unlucky our place has no decent isp, so i guess i would have to stick to globe, till a telco realizes that there is a potential market in our area..

xmaox · 17 years ago

This will never be implemented why? they will lose 90% of their subscribers. globe internet is good in torrent download but poor in upload. My plan is 512kbps wireless and i can easily reach 1mbps sometimes 2mbps at midnight.

josekym · 17 years ago

With all due respect, if anyone is not agreeable to any ISP’s terms of service, then by all means *do not subscribe*. For those who are already subscribed, deal with it and switch providers (not necessarily better) when the contract is over.

In addition, most ISPs in the PH offer “upto” speeds, hence the maximum speeds are not really guaranteed 100% (especially for home users).

Looking at it from the other side, it is actually the ISP’s prerogative to protect their business(es) and therefore may take actions which are not always 100% agreeable to customers. That is their (Globe’s) choice at this point. Maybe later on, when these ISPs realize that their business(es) is/are being affected by this action of theirs, then they’d probably re-think their strategy again. Until then, I hope users shall always have other choices.

Benji · 17 years ago

I am currently residing overseas and get a 120MB download and 60Mb upload, no restrictions, running bittorrent with 25-30 torrents running at the same time with averaghe speeds of 1,1MB per sec. I hate having to go back to RP and get stuck with any provider there. My current location is the Netherlands

kiko · 17 years ago

heavy torrent user too.
movies, series, anime, music, magazines, ebooks, xbox games and etc. . . name it.
bandwidth cap, there’s no way i would sign their agreement.
i havent try globe and smart and dont have plan on switching ISP.
I’m satisfied with my PLDT service. . .

gidz · 17 years ago

Well… the terms says “they reserve the right to limit your bandwidth” if you exceed the monthly bandwidth allowance. In other words, while it may be true that they have not officially implemented bandwidth caps (according to the older article), if you sign the contract, you give Globe the right implement bandwidth cap on your account. If they do implement it, well… that sucks. They’ll loose me as a customer. It sucks for me because they’re the ISP with the most tolerable service in our area.

jayb · 17 years ago

never experienced being capped…my torrent dload speed is about 125kbps…

im a heavy torrent user din…

Carlos · 17 years ago

Ive been hearing good reviews about Eastern Communications, so i know i made the right choice when i switched to them, speed is pretty decent and response time during fault is just average 1-2hours. Havent encountered any problem with p2p so far.

I love their tagline too! “Eastern Communications, connecting you faster, better.”

cris · 17 years ago

Ok Globe, that’s it. It’s final, I won’t get your service.

People who don’t know the wonders of Torrents and other P2P services would not really understand the threat of bandwith capping.

People who pretty much dwell on Youtubes, chats, and YM…
you’re missing a lot with torrents..

It’s time to spread the word, Globe limits your conection so avoid it.

Xtian · 17 years ago

the only time i experienced the cap from GLOBE DSL was that one week a few months ago. it wouldnt go past 25kb/s when i usually max out at 100kb/s on torrents. i even reformatted my computer thinking it was my system… >:-(

thanks a lot for that GLOBE. if that is a look of things to come ISP in the philippines then i’m moving to south korea, hahahaha ^_^

Pusang Kulog · 17 years ago

@bokoi

I wasn’t referring to that… And it’s you who’s not reading well…

And you still haven’t really addressed the issue… Tsk… tsk… tsk…

wattt · 17 years ago

nope i didn’t experience the cap.. and i’ve been DLing 24/7

sylv3rblade · 17 years ago

@Gumer
Nearly everyone who’s spent enough time on smart’s broadband will call it smart broken… I spent one year of hell on it :(

Gumer · 17 years ago

I am using PLDT and I’ve never tried other services. I am satisfied with PLDT, their service is super. I DL gigs and gigs of stuff everyday. Here in our place(Gensan), Globe’s internet is known to really suck. Smart too really sucks, we call it here “Smart Broke”

Paul · 17 years ago

@Ryan Who says agriculture does not require research and hence the internet? How can we improve our produce then? =P

Sorry for the OT, but yeah, I wish things were better in the Philippine ISP scene.

Just cut my Sun Broadband wireless recently and switched to PLDT 1299 512kbps landline bundle. Slower but more stable.

Ryan · 17 years ago

that’s it!!! I’m switching to agriculture!!! Goodbye internet…just email me in my brains

cornflakes · 17 years ago

I’m on Plan 2MBPS, according to BT my DL speed is at 115kbps.

25-35 gb a month? WTF? make it atleast 300GB.

lolipown · 17 years ago

@bokoi
“what made you think I was referring to a person???”

then..

“some are replying without truly knowing what they mean.”

real nice….

bokoi · 17 years ago

@pusang kulog

read again. b— sh– COMMENTS. what made you think I was referring to a person???
read and understand first.

some are replying without truly knowing what they mean. you would agree if you read all the post and understand what they mean (assuming you ara a techy person and knowledgeable of the topic).

read read read then react…

Pusang Kulog · 17 years ago

@bokoi –

The issue is not how the ISPs maximize their bandwidth allocation… It is that because you have an unlimited bandwidth usage in your contract with Globe but that it is not being fulfilled because of the “capping thing”…

The next time you react to a post, try not to be so cocky cause at the end… you become just like the others whom you are calling whatever your calling them…

Gwapito · 17 years ago

Overall, Globe Broadband is good, but videos in Youtube are slow during the day.

Jhay · 17 years ago

Never experienced being capped before. Does this new policy affect old subscribers too? I’ve been on Globe broadband for more than 3 years now.

bokoi · 17 years ago

plain b—sh– comments from “feeling techy” people.

Most are ordinary people who don’t understand how it really works.

Ofcourse there has to be sharing, all ISPs do it, else there won’t be an ISP in business if sharing is not allowed.

Globe has 15Mbps, so are you telling me that only 15 subs wll be accommodated by globe with 1Mbps each? b—sh–.

This is how it works:
ISPs gives you the speed when you needed it, meaning, when you browse it is not the whole time that you are given 1Mbps. Why should you, since you require only a few Kbps to satisfy your needs, so other subs will be given the rest of the BW. But if you need the whole 1Mbps, ISPs will give it to you. But it is not all the time that all subs of that ISP will require 1Mbps…

unless ofcourse torrent downloads.

Kuya Kevin · 17 years ago

A friend of mine also had a bad experience with Globe broadband. I’ve been happy w PLDT DSL. Takes them a few days to install it, but you have decent customer service once it is installed.

Cheftonio · 17 years ago

Hmm.. 20%? I am subscribed at globe broadband’s 3mbps. My torrent download now is 10kbps.

Now, they are putting a limit in what they pitch as unlimited?

This is why globe is effin rich. Magaling sila sa pangloloko. Parang mga pulitiko din ang globe. Hanggang salita lang!

Patrick · 17 years ago

This is worrying news. (although I’m not on Globe broadband) I hope other ISPs won’t follow suit. Regardless, if you’re not yet using bandwidth monitoring software I suggest you use one now. I’ve been using Bitmeter for the past year and it’s good because it’s free and has all the basic reports I need.

drew · 17 years ago

nge.. ang alam ko reserve bandwidth yang 20% kaya hindi actual speed ang nakukuha mo..

hindi pla unlimited ung usage..

BrianB · 17 years ago

this isn’t too bad. Even divx movies only cost me about 150mb each. I’d need to download 6 a day to get close to my cap. If this is what it takes to improve connection, I’m OK with it. So far, connection is not that good especially during working hours. Latency problems all morning and afternoon.

“Even though the demand of Globeâ€™s Subscribers is 30Mbps their facilities has for example 15Mbps to provide their subscribers. Subscribers share connections so if all of the subscribers are online there is congestion.”

If this is true, they’re cheating us.

Vidar · 17 years ago

Actually, even before Globe sent you a formal statement regarding the peer-2-peer bandwidth capping on their network last May, the P2P restriction is already in the contract of the new subscribers. Someone posted a copy of the same contract in TipidPC during that time. I guess that May incident is their test phase for the capping. My plan 995 768kbps’s average DL speed is 80kbps, it dropped to 16kbps during that time. I do not believe the statement they released after the incident because everyone’s download speed was actually capped to 20%. Coincidence? I doubt.

@Ferland
Same here.

BTW, anyone experiencing this; whenever I put a hyperlink in YM with “http://”, others only see the link as an IP address.

Ferland · 17 years ago

I totally agree with Miharu. I’ve tried PLDT/Smart/Bayantel/Globe and so far Globe Broadband sucks the least. The only problem I’ve experienced with Globe are dropped calls while talking to a customer service agent.

Oh another issue is with their DHCP servers/routers which makes it difficult to send files over Yahoo messenger (anyone notice this?)

Gerardz · 17 years ago

Well at least here in SG. Singtel is the best in internet connection and there is no limit for home broadband. While mobile broadband got 50GB limit per month and others like starhub and m1 has no limitations at all and all of them is quite good.

Nhoel · 17 years ago

MY FRIEND’S GLOBE LINES IS SO GOOD HERE AT OLONGAPO, HE’S ALSO AN IT PERSON LIKE ME AND HE NEVER HAD ANY COMPLAIN ON HIS LINED INTERNET CONNECTION.

just giving the other side of the story.

thanks,
-Nhoel of http://kewordspeak.com

Miharu · 17 years ago

I prefer globe more than PLDT and Bayantel. Why?

PLDT/Smart: Uhm everything sucks

Bayantel: Cust Serv is great but service: NEVER. Imagine, everyday. INTERNET SUCKS.

Globe: Better.

sylv3rblade · 17 years ago

No capping here so nothing to report.

Im’a watch this post with popcorn for people start bashing people for their choice of ISP and their decision to stick to it (apparently it’s started)… Flame on!

excalibur85 · 17 years ago

Been on Globe Broadband for a little under a year now and I haven’t experienced any speed capping even though I’m a heavy torrent user.

I easily burn through that 25 GB cap on my 1Mbps and so far nothing’s happened to my download speed.

I do hope it stays that way.

petken · 17 years ago

@watt I think you’ll experience capping anytime soon. Good Luck to all their subscribers.

I think it is very stupid that an ISP caps the speed. Each subscriber is paying for the speed and unlimited service. They should not blame the subscribers for the congestion. It is their responsibilty to provide the right speed for EACH and EVERY USER. It SHOULD NOT be SHARED by the entire COMMUNITY.

Example:
Globe Broadband Subscribers
1Mbps X 10 subscribers = 10Mbps
2Mbps X 10 Subscribers = 20Mbps
TOTAL = 30Mbps

What is current set-up of ISPs?
Even though the demand of Globe’s Subscribers is 30Mbps their facilities has for example 15Mbps to provide their subscribers. Subscribers share connections so if all of the subscribers are online there is congestion.

What is the solution?
It’s definitely NOT CAPPING.
Based on my example Globe should have facilities that could support the 30Mbps demand of their subscribers. If they cannot do that, they are NOT WORTHY of your subscription and payment.

***This is only my opinion and the examples are just for describing the current set-up of the ISPs.

Tommy · 17 years ago

ALL ISPs in the Philippines suck. Even USA and UK are complaining non-stop about their ISPs too.

Globe’s performed well for me and though I have some issues with the service, it’s nowhere near the anger I’ve had with PLDT’s customer service that lie about network status and keep insisting that the problem is with my setup.

For now the idea is to subscribe to the ISP that has the “suck” that you can live with. For me it’s Globe.

I don’t really know what to feel about the bandwidth capping issue but that’s been going on around the world also due to the massive amounts being transferred by P2P networks thus overloading servers. On the one side most plans here are advertised as unlimited, on the other hand I don’t know the actual costs involved but if ISPs did truly unlimited services here (i.e. everyone maxes out bandwidth 24/7) I think they’re going to be charging much much more than they are now.

Furthermore I’d think 90% of the P2P traffic is in pirated material, so that kind of complicates matters.

wattt · 17 years ago

been using globe DLing 24/7 no cap experienced just recently downloaded more than 30gigs on 1.5mbps

Tech Blog · 17 years ago

I think capping in anyway way is wrong specially if your advertising your service as UNLIMITED, if globe is going to justify this by saying to prevent “ABUSE” of their network due to downloading P2P or seeding a torrent file then they should say they are providing a Limited Internet Service.

I’m no lawyer and I’m not sure if there is such laws here, but I think this could be considered as false advertisement.

LOLWUT · 17 years ago

Bandwidth capping in this day and age for wired broadband?

A resounding F.U. to the Globe execs who thought this was a good idea.

taddah · 17 years ago

globe sucks!

period!!!!!!!!

Charles · 17 years ago

Oh hai Paul, for a moment it sounded as if you’re suggesting that i am stupid, thank you soo much for those kind words. It made me feel super.

I was just trying to point out that if you are just a regular internet user doing email, chat, video-calling and downloading albums OR watching Youtube all day, by average there’s no way 15GB/month can be used up at it’s specific plan rate. Unless it’s used for other means i.e. torrent seeding etc..I think that’s what they are trying to prevent.

Paul · 17 years ago

That’s not the point Charles. I think you miss-read the article.

This is not about “plug-in” broadband. This is about Globe DSL. And its not “acceptable” in any way or form even if it was just about your plug-in broadband.

If you are ok with paying for crap, I am sorry, but that is your stupidity. I, for one, am not. If I ever found my broadband provider capping me, I would switch and keep switching. There is always an alternative in satellite out of other countries if somehow all the local companies started colluding.

Charles · 17 years ago

I own the top 3 most popular plug-it broadbands, and i must say, the 15GB/month or 500MB/day download limits are acceptable, given that I don’t use torrents and Globe Tattoo is incredibly slow.

Meaning you can’t really use up all 500MB in a day because it’s impossible for a regular Tattoo user, unless some nasty tweaking was done to your plug-it, just disregard my justification. ;)

John Alvero · 17 years ago

A friendly advise, STAY AWAY FROM GLOBE BROADBAND. Customer service sucks here in metro manila. Last mile penetration sucks. Service delivery sucks. Billing sucks (imagine being sent with more or less 200 pages of billing, in a brown envelope).

It’s a lesson hard earned. So spare yourself. Save yourself from a lot of headache.