fbpx

The Curious Case of Wi-Tribe Bandwidth Cap

The recent soft-launch of Wi-Tribe in the Philippines drew mixed reactions. While a number of people were excited about another telco-challenger, a few others who’ve tried it during the beta phase are complaining about the bandwidth cap.

The biggest complaint so far is the bandwidth caps being imposed by Wi-Tribe (although we already know other telcos are also doing some sort of bandwidth capping for years now).

Yugatech 728x90 Reno7 Series


Some reports coming in is that P2P traffic is limited to only 3GB per month. However, if you use the service between 1am to 7am, your bandwidth usage will not be logged/monitored (according to their Fair Use Policy).

If the 3GB cap is reached, the 1Mbps connection will be throttled down to just 256Kbps. This is then re-set back to normal on the next monthly cycle. (The figures here have not been verified since Wi-Tribe’s Fair Use Policy does not specify the numbers).


Area of coverage for Wi-Tribe.

Why have one?

Well it’s designed to make sure your broadband service is fast and reliable whenever you use it.

Some of our broadband customers use file sharing software and download large files like music and videos. This uses up lots of network capacity leaving less available for you. If they’re doing this at peak times, it could mean that the speed of your broadband service will be affected.

Am I likely to be affected by the Fair Use Policy?

If you don’t use file sharing software or download large files from the Internet it’s unlikely you’ll ever be affected by this policy. If you do, all we ask is that you do so considerately, perhaps by downloading outside the peak hours of 1am to 7am. Don’t forget that media streaming, including the streaming of internet radio contributes to your use of bandwidth and may, if left permanently on, cause you to be in breach of this policy.

What will happen if my use is very high?

If you only occasionally have very high usage, we’re unlikely to be concerned. If it is happening regularly, we may either have to reduce the transmission speed of your broadband while we continue to keep an eye on your usage, or suspend your service and/or possibly close your account.

We don’t want to do that, and with your support and goodwill we’ll work with you to see if we can avoid this happening.

I think 3GB is just too small for a bandwidth cap. Maybe somewhere around 20GB could be a “fair” limit. That un-metered slot between 1am to 7am is classic for dial-up providers even until now.

Will have to follow this up and confirm some of the details with Wi-Tribe.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 976 other subscribers
Avatar for Abe Olandres

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 considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

150 Responses

  1. Avatar for Brando Braganza Brando Braganza says:

    sana kc bago kyo gumamit ng isang technology (wireless internet) e ng re2search muna kyo. kahit anong ireless internet provider pa yan, pg malayo kayo sa cell site nila, e malamang mabagal ng a ang coverage na makuha nyo. parang cellphone lng. almost 2 yrs na ko subscriber ng witribe d2 sa maypajo, caloocan. ok ang speed nila in terms of signal from cellsite to my modem. kung mgka issue man sila, usually dahil may preventive maintenance silang ginagawa to improve the service. ang issue ko lng ngaun ay ung bandwith cap. sobrang heavy download user kasi ako. kaya 15th of the month pa lng ay “regulated” na ang speed ko. e ganon din naman sa kahit anong provider :O) katulad nga ng sabi ko, check check din kc ng article sa internet about “wireless internet” pg may time. nagmumuka kc kyong tanga sa angal nyo e mukang ndi nyo naman inalam kung ano ung nature ng service na kinuha nyo. salamas.

  2. Avatar for Atecors Atecors says:

    para sakin it still depends on the location.. kumbaga hiyangan lng din nman.. I have wi-tribe here in Antipolo, subscribed for 1Mbps. I usually do speedtest, and I can have .8Mbps and even .9Mbps in the morning and .6Mbps pag mga bandang hapon at gabi.. Problema ko lang e ung bandwidth kasi madownload ang kapatid ko, which is a problem for every wireless ISP I guess?

  3. Avatar for isko mazaredo isko mazaredo says:

    i think they should provide their own proxy / cache servers to minimize bandwidth used by users…

  4. Avatar for isko mazaredo isko mazaredo says:

    witribe is the slowest ISP here in the Philippines!

  5. Avatar for fred fred says:

    Most of the people commenting here about this shitty provider are true. I have experienced all things that have been commented here.

    Firstly, when I applied, they never showed me the T&C. They never even explained about the 24-month contract bullsh*T. I signed up October last year, and never I received a copy of my invoice until now. February 2013.

    The connection speed is always intermittent and crawls slower that a slug. I have 2mbps though I feel like I am using a dial-up.

    This month, I have experienced disrupted service for two consecutive days. I called about it and all I got was a fake apology. They didn’t even give me anything to compensate to the inconvenience they’ve caused me. I work online and I can’t believe I put my trust to them.

    In less than 24hrs when I got my service back, i received a message saying they have temporarily regulated my speed due to extreme heavy usage! I felt so happy that I smashed my keyboard to my monitor! PREPOSTEROUS!

    I called their hotline and the representative told me to disregard the message because my name was not on the list. I also sent an email just to make sure that no further disruption might occur to my service and look what they replied,

    “Actually we verified it with our support team and your account is already subjected to wi-tribe’s fair usage policy. The speed will revert to normal at the beginning of the next month.”

    So basically, they have TERRIBLE SERVICE and now they also pay LIARS to handle their customers. PERFECT COMBINATION.

    I still have 7 more months to stay with them before the end of this ‘secret’ contract.
    Let’s see what other surprises can they give me. I JUST CAN’T WAIT!

  6. Avatar for Pande Coco Pande Coco says:

    Wi-tribe is so slow…. F*ck*ng slow.

  7. Avatar for Bong Bong says:

    Has anybody here tried PREPAID Wi-Tribe service? If so, how was it in your area? Please state your city for me to know which areas have weak and strong stregths.

  8. Avatar for jingb jingb says:

    just to add to this thread. there might be others who are saying wi-tribe is ok since the last time this thread has been clicked. but to date, june 13, 2012, wi-tribe’s service here at our place (deparo, caloocan city north) is as irritating as trying to demand payment from creditors that have been trying to hide upon your arrival. wi-tribe allows selling of their services by their asshole agents to areas that are far or those that are not covered by their signal umbrella.their agents bring in false coverage maps that will fool likely clients, just like us, from subscribing. later when you complain about slow speeds, they would suggest that you retern the wimax modem for a usb type modem so you can be more mobile. their solution to slow speed is to divert to a usb type modem and relocate your computer to an area that their signal would be stronger. hahaha, what a great suggestion. no wonder wi-tribe’s service is this slow, their employees are also slow. you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to feel when your usage is slow.

    i was really surprised because, for me, when your launching a new business, you should be customer oriented. you should be truthful in transacting with probable clients, showing them the pros and the cons if they would subscribe to your offer. wi-tribe should also turn down clients if they know that that they could not meet the minimum requirement to make their customers contented.

    but alas, what would you expect from Chinese entrepreneurs that would kill people for money.

  9. Avatar for rey mendoza rey mendoza says:

    as far as i’am concern nag try ako for subscription pero sinabi nila walang tie-up or contract for the services that they offered,if i’m not interested for the services it so easy just surrender all the equipment to their office in binondo and after that your done, before i subscribe with them i asked everything specially the contract if they have , all questions are honestly answered and the only things that i can do is to check and monitor the speed of the internet connection and once it may not satisfied my need, automatically i will stop my subscription with them. that’s it.

  10. Avatar for Ashlie Sinclaire Ashlie Sinclaire says:

    Thanks for the a new challenge you have disclosed in your article. One thing I’d really like to comment on is that FSBO human relationships are built with time. By bringing out yourself to the owners the first saturday and sunday their FSBO is usually announced, ahead of masses commence calling on Mon, you create a good relationship. By sending them equipment, educational resources, free records, and forms, you become the ally. By using a personal desire for them along with their situation, you make a solid interconnection that, most of the time, pays off if the owners decide to go with a real estate agent they know plus trust — preferably you actually.

  11. Avatar for nakakatawa nakakatawa says:

    WIMAX you say? 20gb/month ang capping sa wimax… same for dsl… so don’t bother.

  12. Avatar for net surfer net surfer says:

    guys wag masyadong mareklamo sa cap na yan dahil kahit san meron nyan..hanap na lang ng ibang telco na walang limit like globe wimax.i am working with one of the US telco’s (Sprint with Nextel). We imposed cap limit of 5gb/month to our subscribers, yun nga lang they would still get the same speed kahit na nag eexceed na sila sa limit nila kaso nag chacharge kami per kb kapag nag exceed na..i juz dunno kung ganundin dito sa atin.binabawasan lang ata nila ang speed mo kapag nag exceed ka na..lipat na lang ng ibang telco yung mas established..buti na lang nabasa ko tung site na to coz i am planning to go to market-market later to visit witribe stand up kiosk coz i am planning to switch to witribe..i changed my mind after reading this thread.i will stick na lang sa globe tattoo mabilis pa surfing ko at di nag bubuffer kapag nanonood ako ng online movies o naguutube ako.problema nga lang ako sa torrent 5days din bago natapus ang download ko peru di naman lagi naka online sa isang araw 2hours lang dahil pagud sa work.weekends lang ako nakakapag whole day ol..peru ok na rin to kesa sasakit ulo ko sa witribe.ill stick wirh globe..baka try ko rin sun kasi mas mura sila.

  13. Avatar for PUNYETkaWITRIBE PUNYETkaWITRIBE says:

    *UTANGINANG WITIRBE TOH DOUBLE THE SPEED DOUBLE THE SPEED P KAUNG NALLAMAN!! POTAKTETING YAN NAGSISISI AQ BAKIT TOH P NAPILI Q UNG 2MBPS PLAN N KINUH Q KAHIT 100KBPS S WIMAX TX HINDI Q MAABOT AT KAHIT SA WIMAX RX HINDI MKUHA NG 1MBPS.. MAY NALALAMAN P SILANG HOLDING PERIOD EH WALA NMN Q NABASA SA KONTRATA KASI WALA NMN SILNG PINAPIRMAHAN SA AKIN.. PPACK YOU VITCH KA WITRIBE MANLOLOKO!!

  14. Avatar for unsatisfiedconsumer unsatisfiedconsumer says:

    nakakainis talaga itong wi-tribe yung DOUBLE THE SPEED promotion nila is what we called “false advertisement” parang yung sa amin 1mbps speed ng net ko sabi nila i full payment daw gagawing 2mbps never naman namin na achieve dito sa QC nung nagpadala ng technician sabi hindi daw kinaya ng system nila kaya daw hindi ma-reach yung promised speed tapos 2-4 weeks na mabagal internet namin sabi may maintenence daw kasi sa Quezon City sobrang tagal maayos eto pa nagkanda late payment namin kasi HNDI SILA NAGPAPADALA NG BILLING STATEMENT sasabihin pag tumawag ka may problema sa courier services nila hay naku sa kabwisitan mo gugustuhin mong ipa cancel service sabay babanatan ka may 24 month po kayong contract hello???? ipapaputol ba namin service kung satisfied kami? hindi na nga kami satisfied hindi nyo pa inaayos mga inirereklamo namin may karapatan naman kami ipa cancel service nyo (wi-tribe) lalo pa at puro kunsumisyon lang naman dala nyo sa aming mga consumers

  15. Avatar for Bryan Magistrado Bryan Magistrado says:

    Nakakainis ‘tong wi-tribe. Gusto kong isumbong sa NTC. Sa MyAccount Portal nila ibang pangalan ng subscriber ang nakalagay! Tapos ang palusot nung ahente hindi pa raw napaprocess kahit ilang linggo na akong nakasubscribe!

    May paraffle daw sila ng 24-month free internet, Nakalagay doon, may pinadalang survey na dapat sagutan sa email address para magqualify, eh nung nagsubscribe nga ako hindi naman hiningi yung email add ko!

    Tapos pinagmamalaki nilang 4G sila. And so what kung 4G??? Ang mahalaga ay yung speed, lakas ng signal(na talaga namang napakahina dito sa Novaliches), at yung usage allowance!

    Ang tanga ko. Nung nagsubscribe pa ako, wala namang pinabasang Terms and Conditions yung bwisit na ahente, at siningil na lang ako ng P512. Hindi man lang din ako pinapili kung ilang months ako magsusubscribe! Nalaman ko na lang na 24months ang holding period ko. Hay nako! Kakailanganin kong magbayad ng pre-termination fee o pagtiiisan ko ‘tong serbisyong ‘to.

    Ikumpara mo naman yung bilis ng 4G ng Tatoo o Smart Bro kumpara dito ano!

  16. Avatar for ADY ADY says:

    ang alam ko mga sir/mam capping sa wireless lang sa wired wala daw eh.

  17. Avatar for vince vince says:

    i made a poll: pldt: capped or not?

    http://www.pinoydsl.net/threads/pldt-dsl-is-it-capped-yes-or-no.25943/#post-370621

    so far no = 4, yes = 0

    • Avatar for jledesma jledesma says:

      Well, di ako makikialam sa poll na yan. The only thing is that you just pasted your own comment which is quite unfair and biased na kaagad. I do hope you could paste our whole conversation so that everyone can read and decide so we will know. Thanks.

  18. Avatar for jledesma jledesma says:

    Then as I have said, you must be so lucky to have no slowdown whatsoever. A lot of people I know agree with what I have written. They too have experienced sudden decrease in speeds at some point. Noticeable, in fact, that they too had to call up PLDT about it.

    With regard to the monthly cap, I already pasted the terms and conditions regarding their monitoring of the bandwidth. If there is indeed no cap then I find no purpose in their including that statement as it could have just been omitted. And yet, there it is. Unless, you would like to disagree to the fact that it is written on the Terms and Conditions that you have signed yourself and that I am just hallucinating.

    Because I did read the terms and conditions, since I myself am a PLDT myDSL subscriber, I know for a fact that it is definitely written there. Until now, I am still a subscriber to their internet service and up until now I still experience the same problems from time to time.

    What I am pointing out my dear friends is that there is a cap. Deny this truth or not. Experience it or not. The cap is there. And why is it there, same like when you are in a computer shop, when someone uses the bandwidth and hogs it, the rest pays for it. (We all know that specially if there are some playing online games and someone suddenly watches youtube.) Although any other ISPs have their very large backbone to the internet with the amount of subscribers that they have, if one or more would hog their resources then the rest pays. If they do not look after each and everyone’s usage who gets the blame on slow downs? It is them. This is for their protection. This is also for the protection of other subscribers.

    • Avatar for Vince Vince says:

      “If there is indeed no cap then I find no purpose in their including that statement as it could have just been omitted. ”

      you should think like a lawyer since they do strange things coz they know the law. maybe its just a emergency measure so anytime that can cap if they want to. A back door. Globe did the same thing. For years they had something like that in their contract’s fine print, but they did not implement it. Then 1 or 2 years ago they did implement a cap but backed down after lots of public outrage. A few weeks ago they re-instituted the cap

      “A lot of people I know agree with what I have written. They too have experienced sudden decrease in speeds at some point”
      If its not related to the number of gigs downloaded/uploaded then its not a cap. It may be some local problem with the network or congestion maybe

    • Avatar for jledesma jledesma says:

      Then we are in agreement. There is a cap. As you had just said with the terms and conditions they have the capability to place a cap if they want to. And with the terms that they had set they do not need to notify the user if they had implemented it. It is as long as the user had stepped on a certain boundary that they can just implement or do it. This cap is unknown to us and yet it is there. Although they did not state it and make it obvious does not mean it is not there. They have the power to implement without us knowing.

      It has always been a matter of gigs, why are you stating that it is not, when what their term suggest are bandwidth boundaries.

      All that you had just said points to the same truth of the existence of this so called cap. Try reading again.

    • Avatar for Vince Vince says:

      “Then we are in agreement. There is a cap”

      No i do not agree. there is no cap at the moment if CAP is defined as babagal ang internet mo after you download X gigabytes.

      Congestion which is defined as mabagal if madami ang gumagamit ng network, baka meron depending on your location.

      Throttling which is defined as babagalin ng ISP ang internet regardless of number of users or time or number of gigs downloaded, yes meron. If i subscribe to a 1mbps plan they throttle me to 1 mbps. If I upgrade to a 3mbps plan and hindi congested, they upgrade the throttling to 3mbps.

      “As you had just said with the terms and conditions they have the capability to place a cap if they want to. And with the terms that they had set they do not need to notify the user if they had implemented it.”

      having the capability to place a cap is different from actually placing a cap. From what I have experienced there is no evidence of a cap unless the cap is so high that I have never exceeded it.

    • Avatar for jledesma jledesma says:

      Well, with what I had written and with all that you had said it still points to the same thing, that there is a cap or a borderline that they follow. However, you deny it or you can keep on saying to yourself that it is congestion.

      You are saying that they throttle the speeds without regard to the number of users or number of gigs. You had just created a bigger issue for them. That they are just playing darts when it comes to choosing who they want to slow down.

      I understand your loyalty with PLDT. As I have said, I myself am a loyal subscriber of PLDT. I had my connection since 2004. You yourself must take heed to what you yourself had said, “you should think like a lawyer since they do strange things coz they know the law.” It’s plain business, don’t you think?

      I have said my case and you had as well. I had even given my proof, their own terms and conditions that we subscribers, including you, had signed.

      Let us allow the others decide and let them speak.

  19. Avatar for Vince Vince says:

    Why don’t we wait till the end of the month and see if bumagal nga ang PLDT DSL ko. Thats what you would expect if PLDT DSL had a monthly cap

    If however PLDT DSL had congestion instead of a cap, then the slowdowns would not be located at the end of the month but would maybe be on a daily cycle, with slowdowns during peak hours and fast internet during say after midnight and in the early am.

    BTW, right now at 4:17pm i’m downloading @ 1.2 mbps

Leave a Reply
JOIN OUR TELEGRAM DISCUSSION

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *