Telecoms

Smart LTE 4G now on Beta Test

Abe Olandres November 21, 2011 · 1 min read

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Just came from the PLDT-Smart Jump Center in Megamall for the briefing on Smart’s LTE/4G beta testing. Arounda dozen bloggers and tech journalists are part of the first batch of folks to test Smart LTE in Metro Manila.

They loaned us this Smart LTE kit which is actually a Huawei E392 stick that we can use for the entire duration of the beta program (ends February 14, 2012). That means we won’t be seeing any commercial launch of the Smart LTE until March of 2012, the earliest.

Smart has deployed around 23 LTE base stations around Metro Manila and promises up to 42Mbps in download speeds and up to 10Mbps with uploads.

I still need to hunt down one of those LTE base stations to get some actual speed tests. For now, I’m a little frustrated that the LTE dongle eats up two USB ports because of its sheer size. Speed tests coming out soon.

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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 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.

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48 Comments

Nydia · 12 years ago

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yeahbecky · 14 years ago

SmartBro-Ken = 2mbps 999/month
42mbps/2 = 21 * 999 = 20979/month

Langgong T. Amercano · 14 years ago

I tried this on my 17 inch mac pro; either this apple is shit or the smart is ass; so I tried on galaxy tab VOILA apple shit nga problem, i throw dat apple shit on the pasig river. sisirin niu pag gusto niu but its really apple shit, kasama na dun ipad at iphone4s na itinapon ko.
Bibili nalang ako ng first class na laptop like Toshiba kahit enrtry level series premium parin unlike 4th class panget panget panget never again on an apple shit.

orange senorita · 14 years ago

“Sa simula lang magaling.” Enough said.

Kevin · 14 years ago

What an in your face ripoff!

jonaflormicfren · 14 years ago

This article about this gadget is challenging me to try the speed and consistency.

el toro bumingo · 14 years ago

Ang mahirap kasi sa ganyan ay yung consistency ng performance. Parang ningas-kugon lang mga yan eh. Sa simula lang magaling.

EJ Co · 14 years ago

@paolo, pano po na nauna pa yung up,ust,ateneo?

paolo · 14 years ago

Yun din ang gusto kong malaman at bakit ganun.

One theory that I have is na “maganda” ang locations ng mga universities na yun-

may sariling lupa,
malaki ang lupa (at student&faculty population),
lahat ng buildings nandoon na (as one big compound),
marami ang mga estudyanteng kelangan ng Internet connection para sa pag-aaral (among other things)

Siguro malalaman din natin kung bakit, pero not to worry, magkakaroon din ang ibang areas (and universities) ng LTE coverage sometime in the future… :)

sanji · 14 years ago

Sounds cool! Advantage ng Smart: walang fair use policy. How can they call it UNLIMITED kung may limit naman.

-Sent via YugaTech Mobile App

Jerwin Paglicawan · 14 years ago

I signed up for this..I hope I can be selected as one of the lucky beta testers as well.

mike · 14 years ago

if it come from Money Pangilinan forget about it.Money Pangilinan.is the most greedy.

churvahin · 14 years ago

wireless users, parang cellphone lang yan, kung mahina signal nyo then mabagal talaga. sa wired naman, kapag full capacity na area bumagal na din. globe dsl user ako i started from plan 995, 512kbs, after a year naging 1 mbps, and now 3 mbps (pero max ko is around 2.7 mbps) still for 995 with bundled landline. consistent speed at mabilis response ng globe in case of problem here in batangas area.

Christian · 14 years ago

Wala ring silbi ito. Hanggang testing lang ang speed na ‘to.

paolo · 14 years ago

I have a few concerns about Smart’s LTE tech.

1. “42Mbps in download speeds and up to 10Mbps with uploads”… That is what T-Mobile USA is advertising with their HSPA+ “4G” network. (Not LTE.) Coincidence? Or something else?

2. How will Smart make price rates for data usage here? Pede pa yung P10/30mins, parang sa mobile internet nila. Pag yung sa data increments, (2GB, 4GB, etc.) magkano? At magkano nga rin pala pag lumagpas sa allotted data capacity?

I hope these can be addressed…

Footnote: Nauna pa ang UST ,UP Diliman, at Ateneo na magkaroon ng LTE. Not that there’s anything wrong with that… :)

cough*UP Manila*cough*DLSU*cough… :D

kazukishida · 14 years ago

Nagtest po kami this January 2012 sa UP Diliman, wala po kaming nasasagap na signal. :( Yung nearest hotspot is inside ADMU. Wala parin kaming masagap sa Katipunan. :))

vhangell · 14 years ago

Ala to kwenta sa amin, cellsite nga lang hindi mkapasok sa loob nang bahay. Tejeros Makati location pa ako.

ely · 14 years ago

42Mbps?!? WTF! That’s just HSPA technology no doubt. True LTE should be 100Mbps dapat! People don’t easily believe marketing crap like these

Kenth · 14 years ago

Who needs an upgraded technology for faster connnections if Smart can’t sustain the connectivity’s throughput/performance.

For example I was on SmartBro prepaid last week. I couldn’t even get a sustained 200kbps link, web pages loaded so slowly. Was trying to update my smartphone’s software, I couldn’t finish it coz it was downloading so slow. When I used Globe 3G, I was able to download the SW update in approx 30min. With SmartBro, I’ve been connected for approx 2hours, but I haven’t been able to download more than 20% of the update. :(

Aanhin mo ang 4G, if the service that the ISP can provide, can only sustain 2G or even slower speed. :D Ouch.

Kenth · 14 years ago

To be fair to Smart. When I used Globe instead, Globe had its own hiccups too. ALthough it performed faster than Smart, I noticed that for 2 times, after 15min (1st time), I just lost internet access even while still connected, and the 2nd time was after about 35min, I lost internet access while still connected. So Globe still has it’s own network broadband problems too but luckily for me the link was stable enough to allow me to complete the update process.

So all local ISP’s need to improve their service in addition to upgrading their infrastructure.