Sky Broadband now up to 12 Mbps

Q: Key Point 1: Sky Broadband seems to be tipping the scale for broadband...

Sky Broadband seems to be tipping the scale for broadband speeds with offerings of up to 6Mbps and 12 Mbps packages for residential accounts.

Abe Olandres October 8, 2008 · 2 min read

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Sky Broadband seems to be tipping the scale for broadband speeds with offerings of up to 6Mbps and 12 Mbps packages for residential accounts. Just got a pamphlet from their roving people asking residents to switch.

Previously the top speeds for residential DSL lines are somewhere between 3 to 5Mbps, but 12 Mbps? Sign me up!

The new packages are as follows:

Plan 6 Mbps
6Mbps downsload
1Mbps upload
Free Installation
Free Modem
Free SkyCable Gold plan
Free SkyVoice Plan 100 (Free calls to US & Canada)
Monthly Service Fee: Php3,999

Plan 12 Mbps
12Mbps download
1Mbps upload
Free Installation
Free Modem
Free SkyCable Gold plan
Free SkyVoice Plan 100 (Free calls to US & Canada)
Monthly Service Fee: Php5,999

They also offer a 15-day free trial but I’m not sure what’s the catch with that one.

I’m already spending Php2k on PLDT myDSL and Php500 for Destiny Cable. Upgrading to 6 Mbps means I have to fork out another Php1,500 per month.

It might sound like a good deal especially for those looking into really fast download speeds but I’m in the fence when it comes to reliability.

Any Sky Cable or Sky Broadband user out there who can share some feedback on service reliability (i.e how many downtimes a year, resolution time, etc.)?

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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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329 Comments

petri c. piton · 17 years ago

Keep well away from Sky Broadband. I’m in Makati and for at least a year their ‘service’ has been down 30% of the time.

pakwik · 17 years ago

I was a loyal PLDT subscriber. For 5 years, we never gave a second thought on switching ISP’s. But now, I am starting to get disappointed with PLDT’s DSL.

Usually, my internet downspeed would hit around @ 2 Mbps off-peak and around 1 Mbps during peak hours and my upspeed would hit around 600 Kbps (off-peak) and around 500 kbps during peak hours. But then one day, my Downspeed suddenly dropped to 380-420 Kbps and my Upspeed to 55-57 Kbps (that’s ridiculously low!).

I tried calling them for support. They made me do things like speed tests and tracert, but they were unable to solve the problem. The customer support guy said that he would report it to their techs can fix it from there and would send one if they can’t. Then, the day after, a tech guy came. Unfortunately, he was still unable to fix the problem and he told me that it was probably due to the number of subscribers in the area. I thought it was ridiculous. I mean, look at my UpSpeed! It shouldn’t be like that!

Now I’m looking for better ISP’s out there and I was researching about Sky Broadband. For now, they look good on paper. But there are alot of negative reviews out there about SkyBroadband. Ofcourse, I’ll try the trial first.

BOTTOM LINE:
If all else goes wrong with the 15 Day Trial. What other ISP’s do you recommend? I’m in the Makati area.

nelts · 17 years ago

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mckytm · 17 years ago

we used to have SKY Cable, then shifted to Destiny… then when a package of ZPDee + SKY was offered a few years back, we tried out their broadband, and super reliable. Siguro in the years we’ve had it, we’ve had only a few major outages a year that lasted more than 10 min (other times it was simply a matter of unplugging and replugging the cable modem).

our speeds were also upgraded without us being advised, from 384 to 512 to 1mbps, and now that they’ve transitioned to sky broadband we now have 1.5mbps.

no problem so far, but there was a major outage for a few days – turns out our old reliable cable modem (which came from the zpdee days) died on us. the new modem is a lot smaller, but i’ve started noticing some small 5 minute outages at random times of the day.

overall though, given the horror stories i’ve heard from officemates and friends regarding their DSL connections, i’d recommend sky in a flash :)

disappointed · 17 years ago

Zpdee sucks and now it’s Sky Broadband. I live in Makati. I subscribed to Zpdee last June of 08… super, super plenty of downtimes. It almost gave me a heart attack because I work from home and I need to connect to the internet constantly. Just last night and early this morning, I got yet another text message from Sky Broadband that there is a technical problem (for the nth time!) I’ll be working graveyard shift soon and and am worried about the connection. It is not reliable, believe me. I might swtich back to PLDT,I never had a problem with it before. I don’t need the stress I get from Sky Broadband.

choi · 17 years ago

Hi,

I have been a Sky Broadband subscriber since November of last year (2008). I’m on the 3Mbps subscription (P1,999/month). And like others here, the 15-day trial went more than well. It was great. I’m a gamer on my week offs and connecting and playing in the Playstation Network was superb. UNTIL of course giving them my confirmation to subscribe at the end of trial! I’ve had downtimes almost 3x a week. They’ve changed my modem 4x already, and worst, checking on my speed (download and up), I get as much as 1.5-2Mbps (uploads at 200-250kbps, i was told it should be at least 512kbps).

Now I couldn’t even get a decent game session on the PS Network. I live in San Juan, right behind the Sky Cable HQ here. So that tells a lot on the distance factor (from HQ) eh.. So it has to be the many subscribers (which have grown because of the promo trial) who’ve been hoodwinged like me.

Now letting this service go, compels me to pay a pre-termination fee of P2,000. Sucks.

John · 17 years ago

wow 12mbs! Thats Great! myDSL is loosing their performance-im from manila, have plan of 990 with phone bundle. but now, its very slow and almost everynight i got slow internet connection and DSL is gone most of the time. hayss..

keith rhodes · 17 years ago

The Philippines is still way behind the western world in Internet speed, in the UK we can get 56 Mbps, for just 40 pounds a month, thats about 2,720ph, imagine downloading a movie in just 5 minutes, here it takes hours, and its so unreliable, in between the brownouts and the down time in service, It’s amazinge that you get anything done on the internet here in the Philippines.

paul · 17 years ago

loko talaga ng smartbro.. madadaya! kaya pla ng mas mabilis gaya ng sky broadband eh.. tapos binabarat nila sa 384 kbps ang mga customers!

Jun · 17 years ago

This is based on my experience in sampaloc manila

1. Kung magaavail ka nung 15 – day trial, madaming reason at delays para hindi ka makaavail ng free trial service and they will not inform you if you are not aware kahit almost 12 years ka na subscriber ng skycable

2. Kung almost 1 year subscriber ka na ng skycable hindi ka nila iinform na pwede ka pala muna magavail ng 15 day free trial na no cash out sa modem installation

3. Kung tatawag ka sa kanila pagpapasapasahan ka nila na parang bola especially kung may previous request ka sa kanila hindi nila ikaw iinform for updates.

4. Ang subcontracting technical group nila ay sinungaling hindi nila nirereport ang actual na technical problem sa CSR or record ng head office nila, iba ang rereport ng tech team sau sa irereport nila sa csr record mo (in short ” sinungaling”)

eric · 17 years ago

For more than a year now, I use pldt dsl 999 package… it says up to 1mbps but the fastest i get is 512kbps and know for a week now it suddenly becomes 2.5mbps but still my ping is still high in comparison with same speeds on different ISP here in the phil…. I would really want to know if the ping ,especially in like the US or other far away countries, is low for skycable broadband with the consistency

Zpdee Subscriber Since 2007 · 17 years ago

I have been a happy Zpdee Subscriber ever since we jumped the fence from PLDT to Sky. Speed had been up and down, but I rarely experience down times in the moments I need my internet most.

Now, ever since the rebranding to Sky Broadband, our old 768K became 3Mbps, and speed is commendable but the reliability that attracted to me to Zpdee is disappearing.

Frequently nagtotopak yung internet on weird times of the day (2PM to 6PM weekday) but on weekends, okay naman. I hope that due to the influx of fence jumpers, our beloved Zpdee won’t be just another PLDT/Bayan/Globe story ( Increase in subscribers, Decrease in performance/service )

Sleepless in Quezon City · 17 years ago

For the past week, Bayantel DSL has given me the headache and eyebags for staying up till 3 am trying to connect to the internet. My plan is the 2699, 2.5 mbps. Like clockwork, the connection is great at daytime, but at 6 pm all through the night, the connection is sooooo sloooow. Bayantel has been telling me to reset, disconnect the router and the changed the modem, too but to no avail. So today, I’m switching to Sky broadband and after reading all the comments here, I do so holding my breath and praying that I would not experience the sob stories you shared here.

Sky TV Online · 17 years ago

Sky broadband â€“ Internet users can surf the web at incredible speeds while enjoying the low pricing Sky deals deliver. Sky broadband comes with its own wireless router. Sky deals for broadband range from limited access to fully unlimited packages that allow for surfing, e-mailing and playing around the clock.

mL · 17 years ago

zpdee has been very reliable for me. i was upgraded from 512kbps to 1.5mbps last november for the same MSF. download speeds at 1.5+ mbps always. unfortunately lately my connections has been down for 1 week now. naaayos naman kaya lang pagkaalis na pagkaalis ng service people nila, wala na naman. may amo!!!

ok naman sya for months noong zpdee pa sya.

jaffy · 17 years ago

i’ve been with PLDT myDSL for almost a year now and i haven’t experienced any downtime at all. the only time i lost connection was when the PLDT guys were outside my house switching my connection to fiber optic dsl which was not a problem, of course.

i’ve been thinking about switching to sky broadband when my contract expires but my officemate, who’s with sky, told me not to switch because she’s having bad expriences with her connection most of the time. so i’m having second thoughts about it.

i just hope that by the time my contract expires, PLDT will have better deals for the same plan.

jasper · 17 years ago

brutally speaking, there’s no assurance that SKY will give the best services.

we can call them, unreliable. sorry, but im really experiencing shit-things… even if i havent got a sky broadband.

sana lang maaus tong broadband na to, para mabawi ko ung mga nasabi ko. hmp! nakaka high-blood

jasper · 17 years ago

to jillian –> I’m also scheduled for installation of sky broadband. and until now, they are not here yet..

its almost 4pm.. f*ck! they’re making me dissapointed.

actually, January 2 was the scheduled date for the installation.. but there are tech prob that’s why the schedule has been moved to this day..

I hope they’ll give me great connection, or else… they will recieve bad critic.. by any means..

jillian · 17 years ago

^zoilo, from what area are you from? i’m from makati and currently subscribed to smart bro. i’ve been experiencing hell connections with it since october, and i believe it can’t be fixed anymore, with download speed only averaging 200kbps :(

my scheduled installation should be today, but unfortunately they’re not here yet. i hope the 15-day trial will contribute to a good judgment on whether we’ll subscribe or not.

zoilo caparros · 17 years ago

We’ve been using SkyBroadband for almost a month already. Unfortunately, the 1st 15 days free trial was great. we’ve been getting good Mbps BUT when we confirmed that we’ll continue with the subscription, that’s when we frequently get “NO” Connection. We always call their customer service and they keep on telling us that there’s no problem with the system based on their analysis. They even sent their field technicians (twice already)to check on our modem, wirings etc. and they keep on telling us that they have fixed the prob. BUT to our dismay the connection problems will resume right after they left. We’ve been experiencing almost 2 straight weeks already and it really pisses us ‘coz we can’t do our tasks.
I’m just letting you guys know that we’re not at all satisfied with SkyBroadband and i wished that I didn’t disconnect our SmartBro. I will just assume that our prob. is just an isolated case. I’m just posting this just to share my opinion. So if you are planning on getting the services of Sky, think again..

Jasper Salcedo · 17 years ago

[resend]

Guys, I cant wait for the installation of this sky broadband!..

i called already the skybroadband center, and they will install the product on january 2.

anyways, here is my comments on all ISP i have used.

GLOBE AXESTELL – this is a shit. connection flactuates oftenly! i cant play online games even if i my PC has high-specs

GLOBE ZTE (3g) – this is better than AXESTELL. good for browsing and downloading small files. my only concern is, what if i want to surf internet during THUNDERSTORM???? this modem is not applicable during thunderstorm.. so dont use this during 3rd quarter of the year! hahaha

SMARTBRO – when it comes to consistency, this is what i am recommending.. this doesnt flactuates..

so far, SMARTBRO still leading the race among the connection i’ve used.

but as i mentioned, i’ll be using SKY BROADBAND soon. so, i am hoping that i did a good choice.

does SKYBROADBAND gives atleast 75% of its offered speed? please do reply,, :)

Jasper Salcedo · 17 years ago

Guys, I cant wait for the installation of this sky broadband!..

i called already the skybroadband center, and they will install the product on january 2.

anyways, here is my comments on all ISP i have used.

GLOBE AXESTELL – this is a shit. connection flactuates aftenly! i cant play online games even if i my PC has high-specs

GLOBE ZTE (3g) – this is better that AXESTELL. good for browsing and downloading small files. my only concern is, what if i want to surf internet during THUNDERSTORM???? this modem is not applicable during thunderstorm.. so dont use this during 3rd quarter of the year! hahaha

SMARTBRO – when it comes to consistency, this is what i am recommending.. this doesnt flactuates..

so far, SMARTBRO still leading the race among the connection i’ve used.

but as i mentioned, i’ll be using SKY BROADBAND soon. so, i am hoping that i did a good choice.

does SKYBROADBAND gives atleast 75% of its offered speed? please do reply,, :)

Emz · 17 years ago

I’m somewhat confused now. I don’t know what to get. I’ve been using smartbro for the past 2years, and I want out. The connection sucks. I don’t know why my mom still thinks the connection is okay even though we’ve been calling Smart for how many times this year because of complications with their server. Anyway, would anybody help me? Which is better, PLDT mydsl or SKY broadband? I’m from Quezon City and i don’t know which is better with my location. Pls help me! :) Thanks in advance.

Edrix · 17 years ago

Hi there. I recommended Skycable Broadband to my girlfriend and they’ve been using it for about 3 months now. She was previously using the succckkky SMART bro. She’s using the 900+ 1.5mb plan of skybroadband that also has a 15% discount on cable tv. She lives in merville, Paranaque.

So far, we would recommend switching to Skycable Broadband if you’re using SmartBRO. SmartBRO service sucked. Everytime the internet was down, you’d call them, and they would answer after 30-60 mins, then go through the procedure and ask you to call back after 6 hours, wherein, when you would call back you’d have to wait another 30-60 mins. My girlfriend can actually work for them already because she already memorized the SMART process of resetting the modem, ping this, ping that. hahah.

WIth skycable broadband, so far internet has never been down. And whenever we call skycable (for inquiries, since we’ve never had problem with the internet), they do answer immediately, as for the response time with their service, im not so sure yet, but if I can just base it on the time it takes you to get connected to their customer representative, then I think skycable outperforms SmartBRO.

I would also recommend BayantelDSL, never had a problem with them with the 4 years i’ve been with them (in Quezon City), I have the 2.5 mbps but its a bit pricey though at P2,700 (comes with a line though). Service is great, they come quickly, and provide a refund if there is downtime with the internet for how many hours.

Im actually thinking of switching to skycable broadband because their 3.0mbps plan is actually 800 pesos cheaper then my 2.5 mbps plan with bayantel. But i still have like 7-8 months with my contract with them. Maybe next year. But overall, I have no complaints with BayanDSL and there are no complications with SKYbroadband. Speed is consistent because I regularly perform a speedtest to check if the Speed of the internet is the same as advertised.

dont Get SMARTbro. for love of your life. It will be a hassle.

Btw, we tried the 15 day promo for skybroadband, No hitches, no catch, and had no problems.

As for BayanDSL, the 15 day promo is okay too. No hitches. No Catch.

For ROyce (the ping on 203.116.28.6):

10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 62.019/67.081/83.309/6.888 ms

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND SKYBROADBAND and BAYANDSL.

Jhon A. · 17 years ago

ZPDee (cable internet) is now Sky Broadband… joining Sky’s Cable TV & VoIP infrastructure at a lower now at lower monthly rates compared when it was still ZPDee.

Their highest offerings, 6mbps & 12mbps are bundles (including Sky Cable TV GOLD & VoIP Plan 100 to US/Canada)…

Most Internet shops will likely stick to DSL Internet because it uses phonelines (which is bundled to phonelines plans) but some can afford to take the 6mbps & 12mbps packages without minding the bundles just to let them be on top of the competition.

Reliability & Support are the main concerns however, but maybe those previous ZPDee subscribers can tell about those so far.

It’s a good thing they offer a 15-day trial and I will consider dialling that number they gave… luckily my area is covered by their umbrella.

To know more, visit their site: http://www.skybroadband.com.ph

royce · 17 years ago

I wanna hear from someone who already has the skycable thing. For the most part i have the internet for gaming purposes. and we all know bandwith size means just about the same as shit when trying to look for a good isp when gaming. anyone who has the sky broadband thing, if you would kindly ./ping 203.116.28.6 -t and post the ms count. :D this would be greatly appreciated. thank youuuuu. oh by the way, that ip is a game server located in singapore

Mike · 18 years ago

My location is Bonifacio Global City. I’m on the 2nd week of my 15-day free trial of the 1.5 mbps Sky Broadband package. My trial was supposed to have started in October; they came and connected the modem but it couldn’t connect to the network. As I was going out of town, I had them come back in November.

They came back on Nov. 3 and the connection worked. The first week was a dream: really fast speeds. But twice this week already, the modem has been unable (again) to connect to the network. Sky says that the modem says it can’t detect any PC connected to it, which is incomprehensible because the PC light on the modem is on. The problem each time: the Receive light never lights up, and my network connection shows “Limited or no connectivity.”

Interestingly, a friend of mine located in Bel-Air, Makati, seems to be having the exact same problem. Good thing she and I still have our respective DSL connections.

Conclusion: I will not be continuing with Sky after the 15-days. Good luck to the rest of you who will be trying it out.

Obed · 18 years ago

Abe, yung 15 days trial are for SkyCable subscriberonly :)

chris · 18 years ago

Hi,

we used to be zpdee subscribers, until skybroadband gobbled zpdee up.. what i could say about zpdee is that their speed is very reliable we always get our subscribed 1mbps 24/7 (coz i do random speed tests from time to time).. and less downtime..
hmm with sky broadband.. it’s another issue, we were recently upgraded to the 3mbps, but i noticed that when i do speed tests during the afternoon speeds clocked were around 768kbps download.. then when i do the same thing at around 1am speeds are at the 3mbps range..

any reason why this happens? could it be the number of users in an area?

i hope they can give the 3mbps speed 24/7 like the way zpdee did with their 1mbps..

thanks!

Dennis · 18 years ago

Hey jhay, i think Eastern Communications has facilities in Cavite area.

Try to call 3001607 for more details.

vance · 18 years ago

1mbps of upload speed for the higher plans are enough. for the lower plans it needs to be increase.

I know that Mydestiny cable is not that good hehe.. so hopefuly this other cable internet provider ca be much better. skybroadband is used to be called ZPDee, so i heard good reviews about zpdee but as with other all internet connection here in the philippines there are some bad experiences too.

Chris B · 18 years ago

6mbps for 3,999 sounds like a totally good deal. but yuga is right, it would depend on the reliability with Sky. PLDT with me right now has been pretty stable and the speed has been increasing bit by bit. but there would be a few times in a year that the connection would disappear. and, IMO, customer service sucks.

if anyone can give a good feedback on Sky, i would switch to it in a snap. i just hope they have options to up the upload speed though and it would be a perfect deal.

Patrick · 18 years ago

The reason why I chose BayanDSL over the others was because I thought that they had fewer subscribers. Seeing you guys tell here that you’re also with bayan makes me think I was wrong. :P

Oh well.. my cousin who’s my neighbor is with PLDT. She’s not a heavy internet user like me though.

vance · 18 years ago

@andre that is why they put in the package “up to” a certain speed, not “exactly” the speed. hehe.

Andre Marcelo-Tanner · 18 years ago

the question is how sustained are those speeds, maybe those are burstable speeds, and how once they get subscribers can they maintain the speed in the network. its probably in areas where sky was their digital tv thing.

would be nice for PLDT to up their plans again. PLDT does have its top plan in selected areas, what was it again

vance · 18 years ago

I’m also with bagldsl, I mean bayandsl. and for the price, its enough but still for 100 pesos more you get 1.5Mbps for a DSL sub from PLDT and Globe, more than the SOD speed that we get. of course burst speed is the key.

I thought cable internet was not as good as DSL, but I guess, cable internet can push more speed than 5Mbps connection fiber dsl connection that pldt offers in rich areas, i mean selected areas.

So how far are DSL (in Manila) from reaching top speed of 12MBps? i’m guessing 3-5 years from now? since the 5Mbps haven’t been fully rolled out.

Patrick · 18 years ago

@Raych: Oh yes, I forgot about that. Did you also email them for the speed bump request? I should be on that same speed too. Well, then I guess there’s no more need to switch. :)

Raych · 18 years ago

@Patrick, I’m also on BayanDSL. Plan 899 but 768 kbps and up to 1mbps when using speed on demand. :)

Raych · 18 years ago

The good thing about this is it’s packaged with SkyCable. :) But it’s a bit pricey, will still stick muna to my plan 899. :P

Btw, I think there’s something wrong with your comment links. Whenever I click the ShowAll or the firstpage of the comments it brings me to your main page.

jhay · 18 years ago

I wish more ISPs would enter Cavite and other provinces. We’re too tired of Globe and PLDT giving us least priority when it comes to service calls and system upgrades.

vance · 18 years ago

Ah?!? so still DSL is behind cable internet? skybroadband is a cable internet service, like destiny and zpdee.

vance · 18 years ago

is time to switch? hehe. I’ve beent using bayantel for years now and ok yung speed. thats why I haven’t switch carriers.

Dark Knight & Joker Interrogation Spoof · 18 years ago

The Philippine Internet Market would be really happy about this. Kelan kaya susunod ang smart??

Patrick · 18 years ago

@frozenpyro: No, they are different services. BayanDSL was previously called SkyDSL. I guess they changed it to avoid confusion.

Sky Broadband: http://www.skybroadband.com.ph/
BayanDSL: http://www.bayandsl.com/

I’m currently subscribed to Bayandsl and I live in QC. Service has been okay. A few downtimes but nothing intolerable. And I’m a heavy internet user.

That 1.5 mbps plan of Sky worth 999 looks tempting. I’m on plan 899 in Bayan and it’s only 384 kbps.

frozenpyro · 18 years ago

Is sky broadband the same as bayantel dsl? If so, then I would like to upgrade my dsl (899 monthly / 768 kbps) to 999 monthly (1.5mbps)

well for me, minimum down time, (they say it depends on the location, I’m from valenzuela)

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 18 years ago

@Glenn – they have a Plan 3Mbps at Php1,999 (with Sky Cable subscription) and Plan 1.5Mbps at Php999.

@Shutter Box – nope, but I think if your area has Sky Cable, then you’re covered too.

Shutter Box Philippines · 18 years ago

Hi Abe!

Did they mention what areas will this service be available?

kouji · 18 years ago

interesting. i wonder if there will be a lot of takers of these plans.

JC John SESE-Cuneta · 18 years ago

12Mbps! Now the PH Internet Speed war has begun. Can’t wait to see how the people will react especially the iCafe owners. Even ISPs, I wonder if they will up their offering.

@Glenn:
Unless there were recent developments I haven’t heard of, SkyCable and BayanTel are both owned by the Lopez Group of Companies, who also owns ABS-CBN and other popular brands.