The Hunt for a Globe HSPA+ Cell Site

After getting that list of Globe HSPA+ sites within Metro Manila, I took the task of finding out one and do some tests of my own.

The target location is Brgy. San Isidro in Makati. The idea was to circle around San Isidro and take sample speed tests and then move towards the area where the HSPA+ is supposed to be and do the final one.

This will give us an idea what the real-world coverage of the HSPA+ sites and how fast can you get when you’re within coverage.

We used a regular Globe Prepaid SIM running on SuperSurf 50 inserted into a Huawei E353 (this is the Smart Bro Rocket actually, which is open line).

Here’s our collection of speedtests around the area:

Taken at Paseo de Magallanes in front of Starbucks.

Taken at the Shell Gas Station beside Marvin’s Plaza along Pasong Tamo, Brgy. Pio del Pilar.

Taken at the back of BPI Buendia corner Pasong Tamo.

Taken at the Caltex Station in La Paz, Brgy. San Antonio.

Taken at the Sea Oil gas station (where the Welcome to San Isidro post is) in the corner of Batangas Road and Buendia.

I finally found the HSPA+ signal — it was very sneaky because the Huawei E353 was only able to detect it in a very small area (along Batangas Road, between Rockefeller and Zanzibar St.) with a span of around 20 meters.

And our speed test for this HSPA+ site:

A consistent ~2.5Mbps (tried it 5 times).

The highest result for download speed we got was 5.33Mbps and the highest upload is 400Kbps — and that’s just on an HSDPA signal, even beating the speed tests on HSPA+.

Remember that explanation between 2G. vs 3G. vs 4G. before (see here)? These speed results prove that point.

My previous interview with Peter Bithos of Globe gave me the idea that I can just get any open line or unlocked HSPA+ capable device and I would be able to benefit from their HSPA+ roll-out. My usual Globe Tattoo speed tests would not give me anything near 2Mbps but with the Huawei E353, I am able to get pretty decent to good results. And this is for the same rate as the regular prepaid internet rates (on SuperSurf).

The Tonino Lamborghini Tattoo is on postpaid and might have different results. In my correspondence with @chuckiedreyfus, he shared that he is able to download from P2P with speeds in excess of 500KB/s. However, my own test with a Globe Prepaid SIM card and the Huawei E353 barely got me past 10KB/s (so I guess the prepaid is throttled).

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.

https://www.yugatech.com

40 Comments

Calvin says:

13 years ago

try mo sa agave BHS. tara.
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JustAThought says:

13 years ago

Interesting data.. Was able to also find other hspa+ signal along katipunan, near the shell station anf also along the santolan-edsa intersection.. Got arounf .5mbps -2mbps, but this was me driving along those roads though and the server I set was for HK since in the real world.. our connection bounces around the world.
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chinitoguy says:

13 years ago

As compared to Smart HSPA+, Globe has lower speed based on these testing areas. Smart has definitely faster HSPA+ network.
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Redentor says:

13 years ago

Bakit ba kahit sa ganito ka hi-tech na broadband ang BAGAL paren ng upload speed???..
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xx says:

13 years ago

I was under the impression that you need to subscribe to either tattoo plan 2199 to get speeds of up to 10mbps or 1299 for 5mbps? or, for mobile, supersurf 999 or 1799 or 2499 to get varying “up to” speeds. But I may be wrong. Globe really needs to do something about their HSPA+ coverage. Even their 3G sometimes disappears when I’m about to connect via mobile phone.
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gee says:

13 years ago

sir abe ano magandang network sa muntinlupa? ung smart rocket kc nsa metropolis ung tower… medyo malayo na kc samin yun (almost 3km), meron kba list of tower ng globe and smart?
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kev says:

13 years ago

Dapat kung sinabi nila covered na yung area dapat pag pumunta ka dun dapat may ma detect kang signal hindi yung iikutin mo pa yung buong lugar para lang makita mo yung signal na yun..
False advertising and false information ang ibinibigay ng globe sa atin masyado silang BS para lang maunahan ang smart bigla nilang i-rollout yan…
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ed says:

13 years ago

i noticed that most of the places where the test were taken are within makati area– =(
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ace says:

13 years ago

For some actual speed results using Globe, you can check out this thread in TPC (http://tipidpc.com/viewtopic.php?tid=243047). Thread there is quite active some you might get some idea about the connection. Also, as for testing the connection speed, I think it would have been better if an actual download speed (P2P or HTTP/FTP download) was posted.
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VP says:

13 years ago

why must you insist on using speedtest.net? it is so inconsistent. when we want to test the full speed of a connection, we download the ubuntu ISO or any random linux ISO using IDM.
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kev says:

13 years ago

hahaha!! sir yuga have you tried the smart HSPA+ signal in San Isidro Makati?? nag hunt kasi ako ng HSPA+ signal pero smart ang nakita ko!!! Badtrip… hahaha… Im in front of Hypermarket yung carwash dito im getting 5 bars of signal. Bullshit naman ang globe talga imbis na signal nila ang makita smart pa. nag speedtest ako under HSPA+ signal of smart consistent na 7-8mbps ang nakukuha ko and to think na 1PM na ngayon… better try it sir yuga if you have time.
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boom says:

13 years ago

prepaid is throttled both for smart and globe even if you subscribe to their unlimited plans.

The only way i could get decent connection was to go postpaid.
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tfcnow01 says:

13 years ago

at sino na naman ang nagmamarunong na ikumpara ang att sa globe? malinaw na walang alam tosa sinasabi niya. puede ba wag nang humirit kung di naman makatotohanan ang sasabihin. iba gamit ng att sa globe na equipment at iba rin ang implementasyon. magandang ikumpara eh smart a globe dahil pareho gamit na equipment. isa sa mga magte test gumamit kayo nang makatotohanan na scenario dahil alam niyo na babagal at some point. at hindi porket me signal eh mabilis ang connection. bawat cell site e me limitasyon base sa lisensya na binili ng globe o smart. kaya dipende ang bilis sa maraming factors esp kung nagtitipid ang globe sa pera para di ma maximize yung capacity ng cell site.
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asd says:

13 years ago

hanggang upscale places lng may HSPA+ ang globe. unlike smart most urban areas present.
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gemsimmx says:

13 years ago

sa tingin ko, for smart and globe max should be around 20mbps. eto yung kaya ng isang cell. at sa users na gagamit ng cell na to mahahati yung 20mbps. theoretical ito kasi dipende sa speed sa RF then yung hardware capacity ng cell site at yung transmission ng cell. kung parehong cell site gamit nila na gawa ng NSN magkakatalo sa capacity at transmission. yung capacity eh alam ko kontrolado ng lisensya. transmission maaring dipende kung saan yung cell site. at sa totoo lang 40mbps na pinakamabilis sa hspa+. dikolang alam kung nasa globe o smart n yung latest sw from NSN n d n base sa lisensya yung capacity ng cell site.
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htennek says:

13 years ago

Anybody here knows the maximum length limit if I extend my broadband USB dongle via USB cable male/female ?

Thanks in advance for the answer =)
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joseph says:

13 years ago

mga sirs, and sir yuga, would you recommend i just invest in a globe tonino or get smart rocket’s
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dirk says:

13 years ago

hey how about in fort bonifacio/pateros area?
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beepoy says:

13 years ago

gamit ko smartbro usb kit, tapos ang signal lang dito sa amin ay GPRS. super bagal. only 40kbps ang kayang ibgay sa recieve rate. at 5 kbps naman sa transport rate. d2 lang kasi kami probinsya.
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Nath says:

13 years ago

Ako taga pateros… so far HSPA+ Signal My speed never drops 2mbps and UL speed is 1mbps… not bad..
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Joshua says:

13 years ago

I think globe has specific simcards provisioned to acquire HSPA+ signal.
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Tara Waterman says:

13 years ago

Is this for real? I actually hate Globe sometimes. I am using Tattoo and it always terminate my connection. I am near the town.
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sly says:

13 years ago

hi! ADMIN dinala ako dito ni Google, co’z i’m looking for a List Globe Telecom Tower (cellsite)(Location)in the Philippines,

meron ka po ba nakatago dyan, please kailangan ko lang kasi sa Project ko Directional Yagi Antenna
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percie says:

13 years ago

Sir ask ko lang kung ano magandang gamiting broadband sa muntinlupa. sa may bayanan lang po ako. globe superstick po ba o yung sa smart? salamat po
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anton says:

13 years ago

well.. tago ko na lang Globe 4g stick ko at mag hintay ng 96 months para mag karoon ng HSPA+ tower sa CAINTA,RIZAL!! Sige, balik na ko Cainta, sunog na ata niluluto ko..
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Rizza says:

13 years ago

Good day po! Pwede po ba huminggi ng copy ng locations ng Globe HSPA+ Cell Site? Thank you!
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Jason says:

13 years ago

Thank you for this data! I am in absolute CONFUSION in what to do. I am moving from London to Avida Towers Makati West, Lumbayao, Makati City. Which is right near the Cash & Carry mall. When I contacted both GLOBE & SMART they both say they do not have 4G coverage at Avida Towers.

I am so confused what to do, I need a reliable Internet connection for VOIP calls (work), but I don’t have a Filipino ID card so I can’t get POSTPAID DSL.

Going by the results here, do you think I will be OK to purchase a prepaid 4G stick from either Globe or Smart?

Also on a side note, the internet speed in the Philippines seems to be quite expensive for such little speeds, at the moment here in the UK I pay P1,350 for 30 MBPS Cable Broadband (100% Unlimited) :(.

Any help would be very much appreciated!
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Joshua says:

13 years ago

@jason

Solution 1 – Change your location here in the Phil.
Solution 2 – Contact a relative (if you have any)

Solution 3 – Use 3g stick

And on your side note, that is why “Its more fun in the Philippines”
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boykal says:

12 years ago

the services of both provider is very limited especially if you are in the province, I asked the representative of Globe, they say its no used to buy their high speed broadband, because in our town the highest speed is only 2 Mbps…crap
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BlueMaru says:

11 years ago

13Mbps on HSPA+ on our place (Peak) ~5-8Mbps consistent download speed
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