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Wi-Tribe 4G Broadband Launched

I actually deferred writing about it last December as requested by telco insiders but looks like the cat is finally out the hat. Wi-Tribe Philippines did a soft launch recently offering WiMax broadband internet in Metro Manila.

We already knew that this new telco challenger, Liberty Telecoms, is a partnership between San Miguel Corporation and Q-Tel (Qatar Telecoms). The service is called Wi-Tribe and ads have been published on newspapers and flyers recently (I got a flyer yesterday).

wi-tribe

Wi-Tribe is offering WiMax broadband internet for an introductory price of Php998 per month with up to 1Mbps bandwidth. There’s a 24-month lock-in period.

As a comparison, Globe Telecom introduced WiMax last year with a starting plan of 512Kbps for Php795. It now offers 1Mbps WiMax for Php995.

A number of beta-testers have been using the Wi-Tribe service for several months now. If you’re one of them, let us know you impression of the service. You can download their application form here.

The San Miguel and QTel partnership is a solid one that could prove to be a formidable challenger to the current broadband internet market. We always welcome competition.

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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.

297 Responses

  1. Avatar for Isel Isel says:

    Well that’s disappointing. I have been looking forward to it since I badly need a back up ISP. Globe and Smart both fail miserably in our area and Sky broadband isn’t available yet.

  2. Avatar for anonymous anonymous says:

    new telco’s should be setting a new trend, cheap plans and more bandwidth…

  3. Avatar for cage cage says:

    the marketing “whiz” lost his magic?

  4. Avatar for Z Z says:

    This is not 4G. It’s only Wimax.

  5. Avatar for Carlo Carlo says:

    Oh, and I got the service in November when they launched the trial.

  6. Avatar for Carlo Carlo says:

    It’s crappy! Signal is not good (Mandaluyong area – they’re claiming they have a BTS in Boni and I’m like a few meters away)

    It’s 1Mbps, yes but there’s a 20GB capping per month. that’s the only bandwidth you can use.

    Signal is very weak. You’ll get disconnected every 5 minutes!

    Also, poor customer service.

  7. Avatar for anonymous anonymous says:

    i am one of the agents of wi-tribe here in las pinas. to tell you the truth nawalan ako ng gana sa company na to. why? to become a sales agent you must first subscribe to their service or else you will not be able to sell their product. FTW!!! to think na hindi pa covered yung area namin. parang pyramiding scheme… and the 3Gb cap is such a total failure on their part! most of the websites today are rich in multimedia content. pano na kung manood ka ng youtube in HD? saglit na saglit lang yung 3GB na yun. and to be fair sa kanila 1am to 7am libre na download to sawa ka na kasi hindi mababawasan yung 3Gb allocation mo… I hope na baguhin nila ang marketing strategy nila para ma push ang product nila.

  8. Avatar for Adrian Adrian says:

    @poche: ganun po ba. sayang naman akala ko ok yung service nila.

  9. Avatar for itgbkj itgbkj says:

    Visited the booth in Mandaluyong Circle and had a speedtest (.net and io) try. It only registered up to 800kbps. They insisted I try it with their own speedtest url, but it was still around that range.

    For me, that speed is the same as the one that I am currently subscribed with. I’ll settle with what I have, for now.

    According to the sales lady, they’ll soon offer a 12mo and 6mo lock-in period, but you’ll have to pay 5K for the modem and 2.5K, respectively. But I wonder if they’ll increase their speed soon.

    And btw, for those who gave feedback, thanks for sharing the 3GB download cap. Upon reaching that, they’ll cap you down to 512kbps.

  10. Avatar for sherwin sherwin says:

    madaming misconceptions about 3G and 4G. Some think that 4G, because it’s a bigger number than 3 and 3.5G, is better for the consumer already. 4G is newer yes, it’s better yes but better in terms of what?

    4G is better because, it offers larger downstream bandwidth and upstream bandwidth (as compared to the lower 3 and 3.5G), but that doesn’t equate to better broadband for the consumer per se.

    it’s better for the telco really, because they can have a larger customer base per sector, a typical base station/cell site will have 3 sectors. 4G Wimax or LTE will only benefit users/consumers if the telco will make your bandwidth bigger too. this is controlled by the system itself GGSN/PDSN or any service gateway equipment/software or the AAA/Radius.

    So in short, 4G Wimax man yan or LTE, if they say the package will only have up to 1Mbps or up to 2Mbps, it’s the same thing as with your 3G or 3.5G

    It’s really up to the coverage/signal quality and not just signal strenght, another factor is the bandwidth going to that base station, LBNI being a startup may not have the same metro ring infrastructure than the other telcos yet and probably may just be leasing capacity from the established telcos, another consideration is their internet capacity to the internet gateways and the quality of it.

    so be wise, have a demo unit first, test if it suits you, if it has good signal quality, if it’s spotty, then don’t get it, if you’re happy with it, think about the lock-in period too since they’re just starting out, the roll-out of the bandwidth/capacity/coverage may either be fast due to the huge cash they currently have, or slow since they’re still building it. A good network is not built overnight.

  11. Avatar for johnny johnny says:

    3GB capping? does that mean i have to share 3GB with my family. even if i get it for my own use i might consume it in less than a week. possibly in a day even. gawin niyo naman 10GB! pero teka… unlimited nga pala ako ngayon… tsk!

    4G and yet i get 1mbps? i can get that with 3g. other telcos even offer higher speeds with the same speed or even faster with 3g. unlimited pa. 1mbps nowadays is …basic.

    If i pay you in full for the equipment you still lock me in for 6 months? thats ridiculous! you better let me go whenever i want to. and you should give me a lower monthly rate. i paid you in full! it covers the cost for the equipment right? locking me for 6 months is not enough a reason for me to pay you P4000 outright. who are you kidding?

    wi-tribe… you’re not giving us a reason to transfer. you’re giving us a reason to laugh! i bet other telcos are laughing at you right at this very moment. sana gumawa na lang kayo ng parehas na offering baka lumipat pa kami sa inyo for “reliability” because of wimax.

    you guys better turn this around… what a waste. no competition. only a dumb person would ever fall for this… or might as well… make such a package.

  12. Avatar for poche poche says:

    wi-tribe fails.
    their 3gb volume capacity sucks.
    just boycott this telco and let smc concentrate on beverage and food products.

  13. Avatar for simplynice93 simplynice93 says:

    Look like not all of Metro Manila is covered. They better boost the signal first.

  14. Avatar for roland roland says:

    just called Wi-tribe support desk… u’ll be having a 1mbps bandwith for 3GB data after that the max bandwith allocated will just be 256kbps… tsktskk… i’m not interested anymore… i’m using more than 3gb a week…

  15. Avatar for Ernie Ernie says:

    Hey Abe it is kinda cheap though I will still go for SkyBroadband it is 12mbps.

  16. Avatar for hp and acer laptop owner hp and acer laptop owner says:

    i really don’t this bandwith capping activities by these telcos. but from their own point, kailangan din naman to gawin dahil alam naman nila limitasyon ng network infrastructure nila. globe wimax nag-cacap na ata ng torrents, wi-tribe hanggang 3G data of up to 1mbps after that 512 kbps na speed. smartbro ba may ganito na ring policies

  17. Avatar for sherwin sherwin says:

    @MIKE

    4G would generally refer to both Wimax and LTE but also refers to any wideband wireless technology even WiBro which is a non-standard wireless from S. Korea.

  18. Avatar for mindyQ mindyQ says:

    i’m sticking with a wired connection. as we all know all wireless broadband providers fail to live up the customer expectations even in developed markets/countries.

  19. Avatar for MIKE MIKE says:

    4G refers to the fourth generation of cellular wireless standards. It is a successor to 3G and 2G standards and must have data rate of up to 100 MBps for high mobility such as mobile access.

    As of the moment, 4G or Long Term Evolution (LTE)is only available in 2 countries, Sweden and Norway. So, not yet available in Phils.

  20. Avatar for durantula durantula says:

    is this faster than sky broadband?

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