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Smart Always On: The Daily Stress Test

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief July 30, 2011 · 4 min read

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Dalam 5 hari terakhir, saya secara aktif menguji paket Always On baru dari Smart yang menawarkan penentuan harga berbasis kuota dengan mengenakan biaya berdasarkan volume bandwidth yang dikonsumsi. Berikut adalah pengamatan pribadi saya terhadap uji coba tersebut.

Untuk eksperimen ini, saya membatasi penggunaan internet seluler saya hanya pada aplikasi dasar yang biasa saya gunakan:

- Twitter
- FourSquare
- GMail
- Google+

(Catatan: Saya sebenarnya bukan pengguna Facebook yang besar kecuali saat memelihara halaman penggemar blog ini, jadi saya jarang mengaksesnya dari ponsel. Tentu saja, saya tetap menerima notifikasi email FB melalui GMail.) Aplikasi-aplikasi ini adalah aplikasi yang paling sering saya gunakan, sehingga hasilnya sangat bergantung pada gaya hidup saya.

Penggunaan data saya adalah sebagai berikut:

Perhatikan juga bahwa penggunaan data untuk unggahan dicatat dan termasuk dalam alokasi Always On Anda. Pengujian dan pengamatan saya dapat diringkas dengan FAQ sederhana ini:

Bagaimana Anda mengukur penggunaan Anda?

Saya telah mengunduh dan menginstal 3G Watchdog pada ponsel Android saya. Saya juga meminta pembaruan melalui SMS mengenai berapa banyak bandwidth yang telah dicatat sistem terhadap alokasi saya.

Berapa lama Anda menggunakan 3G?

Saya menggunakan perangkat Android khusus untuk menjalankan Twitter, FourSquare, GMail, dan Google selama seluruh periode pengujian. Perangkat ini terhubung ke jaringan 3G selama 24 jam sehari. Saya juga berlangganan Always On 20 yang berharga Php20 untuk 25MB bandwidth selama 24 jam.

Seberapa aktif Anda menggunakan aplikasi-aplikasi tersebut?

Jika Anda mengikuti saya di Twitter, Google+ atau FourSquare, Anda akan melihat bahwa saya adalah pengguna rata-rata (saya tidak benar-benar menganggap diri saya sebagai pengguna berat). Namun demikian, karena aplikasi yang saya gunakan berjalan 24/7 di latar belakang dan terus-menerus mengunduh pembaruan status, saya pikir saya cukup berada di spektrum rata-rata.

Pernahkah Anda melebihi alokasi bandwidth harian?

Bukan sekali pun. Terkadang, ketika saya melihat masa kedaluwarsa sudah dekat dan konsumsi data saya masih di bawah kuota, saya akan membuka aplikasi lain (seperti YouTube, Peta, atau browser) hanya untuk melihat berapa MB yang dikonsumsi oleh aktivitas singkat tersebut. Google Aplikasi Peta bisa menghabiskan sekitar 1MB hanya untuk menampilkan lokasi Anda saat ini pada peta; halaman utama YugaTech juga berkisar antara 1MB hingga 2MB, tergantung pada iklan banner yang muncul bersamanya. Satu aliran YouTube saja dapat memakan data antara 1MB hingga 5MB.

Lalu, untuk apa gunanya itu?

Smart Always On paling cocok untuk aplikasi jejaring sosial seperti Twitter dan FourSquare. Aplikasi ini juga baik digunakan dengan GMail, meskipun hal tersebut akan bergantung pada volume lampiran yang Anda terima setiap hari. Saya pikir Anda juga dapat menambahkan Facebook dan Google+ ke dalam daftar tersebut dengan aman.

Bagaimana dengan aplikasi lainnya dan aktivitas seluler?

Jujur, saya tidak melihat ini dapat digunakan untuk penjelajahan web (meskipun hanya web seluler). Bayangkan, memuat halaman utama blog ini saja sudah akan menghabiskan 1.9MB.

Aplikasi smartphone lain yang dengan mudah akan menghabiskan alokasi Anda adalah Google Maps, YouTube, dan DropBox. Saya bahkan tidak merekomendasikan membuka Android Market dan mengunduh aplikasi apa pun saat Anda berada dalam mode Always On (saya sarankan melakukannya melalui WiFi alih-alih).

Apa jebakannya?

Satu-satunya masalah yang menurut mereka perlu diselesaikan (dan saya telah membahas hal ini dengan pihak Smart di sana) adalah pengalihan otomatis tagihan internet ke harga Rp10 per 30 menit setelah paket Always On berakhir.

Inilah yang terjadi pada saya ketika saya berlangganan paket harian. Saya tidur sepanjang pagi dan paket saya telah kadaluarsa selama beberapa jam sebelum saya bangun dan menyadarinya. Saya akhirnya dikenakan biaya sekitar Php50 karena beralih ke sistem penagihan Php10/30 menit. Saya akan menyebut ini sebagai bill-shock ringan.

Saya menyarankan kepada Smart agar menyediakan opsi bagi pelanggan untuk menonaktifkan internet seluler setelah paket berakhir, sehingga tidak ada cara Anda dikenakan biaya setelah itu.

Saya rasa sweet spot untuk Smart's Always On adalah Php300 selama 30 hari dengan alokasi 250MB. Jika Anda hanya menggunakan Twitter, Gmail, dan FourSquare di smartphone Anda, ini turun menjadi hanya Php10/hari selama 30 hari. Akan mencoba itu berikutnya kali dan memperbarui pos ini.

How did you measure your usage?

3G Watchdog was downloaded and installed on an Android phone. SMS updates on system-logged bandwidth were also requested.

How long are you on 3G?

A dedicated Android device was on 3G 24 hours a day during the entire testing period.

How active are you with using those apps?

The user is an average user, not a heavy user, based on Twitter, Google+, and FourSquare activity.

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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 is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

8,010 Articles

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72 Comments

Allan · 11 years ago

I mistakenly registered to ALWAYSON 99 (ON 99) to 7577. The package was valid up to 30 days. The problem is, I used up the free 100MB data limit in the package in just a week. I cant register to a much suitable smart data package which is UNLI20 to 5555. I still have to wait for the package to expire and use full 30 days. Since 100mb was used up, I will be charged 5/15min of internet access. This sucks. Is there a way to cancel ALWAYSON?

My site · 12 years ago

Why visitors still use to read news papers when in this technological world everything is accessible on net?

Monay · 14 years ago

To Dennis: you can’t disable the Always On plan while it’s still in effect, but you can disable the 3G/Data for your phone model so it will not use 3G. That depends on your phone model though.

To Shey: Yes, once you exceed the allocated MB, 10 pesos per 30 minute rate is applied.

richard · 13 years ago

If I exceed the maximum mb but the promo still not expired can I apply for another promo like unlisurf even the previous promo is still on going , thanks

shey · 14 years ago

what if i already reached the maximum MB on always on300 data plan? kc i was charged P10 per 30min browsing na. ibig sabihin,that 30 days is useless na? kc i still have remaining balance of P1.00 and i thought gaya ng unlisurf, unlimited pa rin bsta my remaining balance pa.
nid an answer asap

Dennis Gaw · 14 years ago

I found out that everytime I open facebook on my mobile phone, smart automatically charge me 10 pesos, even though I have wifi on. So the question is how do I disable the Smart Always on plan so that I can use the wifi at home?

Monay · 15 years ago

I’m a postpaid user, and aside from the “always on” amount being billed on top of the consumable amount, it’s subject to 12% VAT. So 20 pesos is not really 20 pesos but 22.40. The VAT doesn’t seem to apply to prepaid users. Is this really SMART’s policy? Isn’t it unfair to postpaid users?

lemitink · 15 years ago

hello! ur post is very helpful. i have a question though… when the internet is always on… and my gmail is always on/synchronising every 10 mins automatically. whenever it synchronizes even if it didn’t receive new email…. will it still allocate some mb?

Ron · 15 years ago

Is the 25mb enough for heavy IM usage? (ex. chatting with 3-5 persons, for the whole day)

Bob · 15 years ago

If you are not using internet (FB, Twitter) using your phone, wag ka nalang mag subscribe dito. Otherwise this is really good plan.

IC DeaDPiPoL · 15 years ago

tried it today and noticed that I’ve exceeded my 50mb transfer limit (ON 30) and didn’t receive an alert. Also when I tried to check my load twice it still read at P270 (started with P300 load)

As of now accdg to 3G watchdog I’ve consumed around 115mb (after updating my apps)

jimayson · 15 years ago

300MB is just about what an average smartphone user really uses in a month (check out the AT&T plans – http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/services/services-list.jsp?wtSlotClick=1-005NV6-0-3&catId=cat2510038&catName=Data+%26+Internet)

Anyway if you still want unlimited you can still purchase a daily/weekly/monthly plan at the same old rates, no cap.

Hannah · 15 years ago

I tested this out too. Since I just need email, twitter, also instant message. foursquare, plurk and facebook I go from 6mb – 8mb a day. I have to turn off the downloading of pictures on the mobile net browser though.

Jonaflormicfren · 15 years ago

It was a nice review about the consistency of always on, the subscribers has now an idea about it.

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 15 years ago

@Bob Reyes – just send “Bal” to 2200.

Bob Reyes · 15 years ago

How do I check on the remaining bandwidth I have for the ALWAYS ON plan?

During the first week of my subscription, I was able to see that there’s an ALWAYS ON line in my Smart Connect dashboard, but it was not reflecting my real usage. Not until Friday last week, when I cannot find it in my Smart Connect dashboard anymore.

Christopher Quijano · 15 years ago

Web browsing is possible. Don’t forget Opera Mini for browsing. Compresses the webpages para tipid sa KB. :D

I’m planning this for my Postpaid account, but sadly, on-top billing sya. Hindi sya pwede i-bawas sa consumable.

Gio Bacareza · 15 years ago

We do have post paid plans with built-in unlimited data. Thanks

Gadget Meister · 15 years ago

Hi Sir! The push email before isn’t included in any of the mobile data plans of Smart except for the Blackberry plans of course. As you said, your using Gmail in the Smart Always On test, is it the mail app in android? or the browser-based Gmail?

At the end, are all data-connecting apps already included without any exceptions based on the discretion of Smart?

Thanks!

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 15 years ago

@Gadget Meister – I used the GMail App on Android

Gadget Meister · 15 years ago

Sir Yuga, so does it mean all data-consuming apps is already included in Smart’s Always On plans? I’m hoping enrollment to this data plan is allowed on their Gold Lite plans as well… Imagine Gold Lite 300 (2pesos/minute Smart-to-Smart) then Always-On 300/month… For 600/month it will definitely dwarf the offerings of other telcos even Sun.

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 15 years ago

@Gadget Meister – applies to all data (upstream and downstream) whether apps or not. Should be usable for all prepaid and postpaid plans.

Gio · 15 years ago

Yes they are included

humanrepellant · 15 years ago

Is Always On applicable to blackberry users?

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 15 years ago

@humanrepellant – puede but iba din yung BIS mo

rob · 15 years ago

“The only issue I think that they need to address (and Iâ€™ve talked to the Smart guys there about this) is the automatic switching of the internet billing to Php10 per 30 minutes once the Always On plan expires.”

“This happened to me when I was subscribed to the daily plan. Was asleep the whole morning and my plan had expired for several hours before I woke up and discovered it. I ended up being charged something like Php50 because of the switch to Php10/30 minute billing. Iâ€™d call this a minor bill-shock.”

In my opinion, this is plain robbery. You can just imagine the amount by multiplication.

kebbot · 15 years ago

imaginin mo nalng ilang milyon ang ninanakawan nang load kada araw…..and ung mga callcenter agent somtimes ang sarap hamunin nang boxing or ang sarap sabunotan……

dapat walang expiry ang load kagaya digi sa malaysia… may expiry nga ung load … but kong expire na d mo na magagamit ung load mo pero if when you top it up babalik ung load mo,ma aadd xha sa bagung load me…. dba magan da… walang daya….

you can also monitor your account, mag log in ka nalng sa kanilang website, lahat nang gnawa mo sa sim mo malalaman mo… ang mga tinatawagan mo,ilang min ung tumawag at ilang text text ka na… kong kilan yung huling load mo… dapat ganyan.

at dapat if naunubos mo na o malapit mo nang maubos ung bandwith mo,dapat may notifications sila….

grane naman tayo e…. harapharapan na tayung ninanakawan nang load wala pa din tayung gnagawa….

alam mo ba ung ilan tayo dito sa pinas? imaginin mo…
.kada araw nanakawan ka or kahit every month nang piso… e multiply mo yan sa lahat nang gumagamit nang phone… dba milyon din ang kinikita nila tapus ang mahal mhal pang tumawag..
.

kebbot · 15 years ago

pa.add ko lang ha… ilang beses na po akong ninanakawan nang load. tinatawag ki agat sa cs at binabalik naman nila….. so meaning meron talagang nakawan na nangyayari….

kumusta kaya ung hindi nagrereklamo na ibalik ung load na nawala sa kanila…. ????

kyle · 15 years ago

This sucks! yeah you can save money but you just killed the beauty of bucket pricing on this one because of expiration dates. You purchased the 250mb bandwidth then you have the right to fully consume it.

Nikko Bengco · 15 years ago

That’s also my question. The battery life of the phone. How can you leave your phone for 24 hours and connected to 3g!?

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 15 years ago

@nikko – my phone has 3x the normal battery capacity (search for Mugen in previous entries).

William T · 15 years ago

As stated, this is really for casual users, and really limits the ‘smart’ in smartphone. One of the joy of using a smartphone is accessing the web anywhere with a pretty decent browser, and this type of plan really are not suited for that. Yes, most people can live with limiting their usage, but then you are not using your expensive Galaxy or iPhone to it’s full potential. I subscribe to their 500MB/month plan and regretted almost immediately – yes, I manage to limit usage but then my apps don’t get updated as often, so that potentially leaves security holes on my Android phone (yes, it’s theoretical).

And these P30 after limit from Smarty should really get a reprimand from the NTC, it’s a cheap way to make money off the customers. At least, Globe has the decency to send you an SMS reminding you that your Supersurf had expired… Smart, nothing – even in Unlisurf, you just found that you have zero load when you need to make an important call. Really, a cash grab if I saw one…

Do Smart still offer their old P50 Unlisurf?

Name: IC DeaDPiPoL · 15 years ago

tried ON 30 = 50mb / 1 day

-battery issues
-speed is identical with regular access
-used with fb, browser, foursquare, and downloading 3G Watchdog from the market
-left it while on break and was shocked it consumed around 8-12mb already (probably due to my IM client (2 MSNs) News Widget, Gmail autosyncs, fb widget
-made a mistake since I though ON 30 = 30mb only, was able to consume around 25mb

-on the 2nd day went casual fb, fb/browser, and news browsing and hit around 11mb only

With a day at the mall I’d probably stick with P30