Telecoms

Using Smart Bro Rocket on Php200 per 180MB

Abe Olandres October 10, 2011 · 2 min read

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Since October 1, Smart has switched the plug on their Smart Bro Rocket Plug-It to use volume-based data pricing (same as Always On). The recommended bucket plan is Php200 per 180MB. So I tried it on my Rocket Plug-It to see how much I’d consume in a day.

So I subscribed to the Php200 per 180MB pricing yesterday evening at 6:04PM and watched my data consumption via the My.Smart website.

Here’s how it looked like yesterday:

6:04PM: 184MB
7:30PM: 155MB

This morning, my PLDT myDSL at home wasn’t working so I turned back to the Smart Bro Rocket as my backup internet. Here’s the running account:

11:00 AM – 148MB
12:45 PM – 115MB
1:10 PM – 89MB
3:00 PM – 53MB
3:30 PM – 4MB

By 3:39PM, it’s all gone. I’ve used up 180MB.

My biggest mistake was opening up iTunes where it immediately downloaded a podcast and ate around 20MB before I killed it. I didn’t do any YouTube, no downloads or updates, no P2P. The only running applications I had was TweetDeck, Netvibes and GMail — all three of which would regularly pull data.

During the time when I was subscribed to Always On 200, I was able to get really good speeds.

I managed to hit 6 to 7Mbps during day-time and on peak hours. I rarely get that speed before.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, you can still subscribe to the Php10 per 30 minutes or use Smart UnliSurf with the SIM card.

The catch — you don’t get the same speeds as you do on Always On 200.

Here’s my speed test when subscribed to Php10 per 30 minutes.

Here’s my speed test when subscribed to UnliSurf 50.

Based on this little and inexpensive experiment, I think I’d be spending at least Php200 a day when using Always On 200 every day. That’s a total bill of Php6,000 a month.

However, there’s the bigger data plan (Always On 995) that allocates 2GB for 30 days. If I spend around 200MB per day, my monthly bandwidth would be 6GB. That’s 3 times the Always On 995 which translates to about Php3,000 in monthly bills.

Would it be safe to say that the Smart Bro Rocket Plug-It and the Rocket WiFi Plus could both cost you this much on a monthly basis if you want to experience that 12Mbps and 20MBps speeds? Maybe. Maybe more.

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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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86 Comments

Vigrx · 13 years ago

I’m gone to tell my little brother, that he should also pay a quick visit this website on regular basis to get updated from latest news update.

Shoe In Money System · 13 years ago

We are a gaggle of volunteers and opening a new scheme in our community.
Your site provided us with useful information to work
on. You’ve done an impressive process and our whole neighborhood shall be thankful to you.

who · 13 years ago

dapat nag UNLISURF 200 ka nalang good for 5 days with unlimited bandwidth.. but the speed makes this power plug-it differ from the other smart plug-it devices. kaya advantage ito.. kaya ito nalang ang bilhin niyo yan ay kung may available 4G Network sa inyong area.

zet · 14 years ago

yeah ok din ako sa pocket wifi ko…

3KULiTZ · 14 years ago

Satisfied naman ako sa 3.5 mb plug-it ok naman ang speed. Gapang lang kapag nag torrent na ko, peros sa mga video hoting sites umaabot ang download speed ng 2.5 mb. Tnx sa info by the way

creese · 14 years ago

Smart smartypants = total retards!

namedan · 14 years ago

Was looking very hard on this since I was going to boracay last month. I forgot to say my thanks to sir Yuga for this review.

The prices are just way too high and instead I bought the smart bro power plug it with 240 hours free for a fraction of what this invariably priced plug it.

From what I experienced I think they have this policy of super fast connections on brand new power plug it and I got consistent 2mbps until the free hours ran out at around 10-13 days. So in total that would only cost you 2,500 a month for 2mbps consistent downstream. I can’t confirm since I only used mine until I got back from boracay though and I don’t have any use for another power plug it but I’ll surely try again next time I’m out somewhere that smart is the only reliable connection.

Thanks again sir Yuga for saving me ten large from my calculation of the data that I needed.

mix · 14 years ago

very informative experiment…nice job
and thanks for sharing..

Bobby · 15 years ago

If you use an open line modem of similar type as the rocket plug it and a normal Smartbro Simcard, your internet speed is still reaches 9MBPS in some HSPA+ areas and about 2-5mbps in the rests …
Stay away from the Rocket plug it as its not worth it…

FREE NET SMARTBRO · 15 years ago

Hi,, gusto mo ba ng libreng internet gamit ang smartbro mo using VPN??

visit us in our website… we’d like to see you all… open for all filipino toh..

you could find cool stuff and discussions for pc and mobiles as well…

see you soon :)

WTH · 15 years ago

Hahaha. Thank g0d nabasa ko ang bl0g na to bago pa ako makabili nyang walang kwentang broadband na yan. Di nasayang ang pera ko, 3000+ din yan ah. Haha. 6 to 7 mbps is good per0 sin0 ba namang matutuwa sa ganyang klaseng dataplans, 0k sana yan kung pareho ang speed sa unlisurf. Halos parehas lang yan nung nauna nilang nilabas na broadband kung unlisurf ang pagbabasehan. Para lang to sa mga mahilig mag fb, twitter na di naman tlaga kelangan ng 6 to 7mbps actually ang less than 100kbps para sa mga social networking site ay 0k na. Di rin yan ttagal sa y0utube. Tska panu naman ung mga 0nline gamer? Tatagal kaya yan? Sa tingin k0 ang nag isip sa pricing na yan hindi tlaga palagamit ng internet or ang mas malala hindi tlaga marun0ng! Haha. Hay naku lahat nalang sa pilipinas mahal. Mahal na kuryente, mahal pa internet. My g0d!

rorymabangis fanatic · 15 years ago

salamat Abe for this info! and sa mga kababayan nating gustong magtipid regarding sa mapang abusong TELCOs..

have you heard the wi-free? ito po ung UNLIMITED INTERNET EVEN WITHOUT LOAD USING WI-FREE FOR SMARTBRO AND GLOBE TATTOO.. just PHP300.00, youre unlimited for a month..

share ko lang po.. just my twelve cents..

http://www.sulit.com.ph/index.php/view+classifieds/id/3050799/Unlimited+Internet+via+Wi-Free+Globe+Tattoo+Smartbro

http://www.rorymabangis.com/

fred · 15 years ago

Nice blog… may nagtanong …

chrismun says:
Mon, October 10 at 10:01 pm nagpapatawa ang SMART. sino kaya ang may matinong pag-iisip ang papatol sa offer na ganito ng SMART.. hehe kung hindi nila babaan yung prices ng Rocket plug it nila, wala talagang masyadong bibili dyan..

ANSWER sa tanong mo: yung gumawa ng blog na ito… hahaha… matino pag-iisip nya kasi he dared to do an experiment and share, i actually salute him, pero ikaw? maka-comment lang kala mo magaling .. hahaha..
wala ka lang perang pambili… hehehe

Biatch · 15 years ago

REad the comment before you react. Wala naman sinabi si chrismun na di matino yung blog or si sir yuga. You are just stupid enough not toread the comment and reacted like you have a lot of money. Ikaw ang feeler, feel mo magaling ka? Tsk tsk, kahiya ka.

niko bellic · 15 years ago

weâ€™re launching the newest wireless broadband with 2MBPS that you guys will be satisfied. You donâ€™t have to shell-out a big amount of money just to satisfy your needs, because weâ€™re now giving it to you. Youâ€™ll get what youâ€™ve paid for! For only Php 5.00/ hour, internet connections will be in your hands anytime of the day, anywhere you are. A price that people can afford! Everyone would have the chance to experience what it takes to have a 2mbps internet speed. We will be the cheapest internet provider in the Philippines and people will come along to use our product by the time our network start. soon…..

Rojie · 15 years ago

4000php is the baseline price of Huawei E353 but what’s expensive is the data plan cost. I’ll buy it when it reach to 2000php a piece :D

Kyle · 15 years ago

1 GB at 200 Php for those ridiculous speeds and I’ll bite.

Vic @ Business Tips · 15 years ago

Thanks for the review. The only problem I say is that it will be different when it comes to places outside Metro Manila, where speed is not that fast.

Faust · 15 years ago

to cut this short, that’s how they make money… i don’t want to be conscious on watching over my bandwidth usage i don’t want to experience a price shock when the bill comes..

niko bellic · 15 years ago

Marvs · 15 years ago

Smart Bro Rocket is a very expensive net connection, I’ll pass on it.

mackygoof · 15 years ago

Not worth it.

Shakey · 15 years ago

Smart.. kaya namin gusto ng mabilis na connection ay para naman ma-enjoy namin yung mga HD videos at online streaming ng maayos. Gusto rin namin mag download ng mga files ng mabilis at maglaro ng games na walang lag. Kung ayaw niyo kaming pagamitin ng P2P, pwede niyo naman gawan ng paraan yun. Sa madaling salita, ang karamihan ng mga gustong mag avail ng mabilis na connection ay yung mga sinasabi ninyong “heavy users”.

Yung plan niyo na 200 pesos per 180MB ay para lamang sa mga casual users na FB, Twitter, at email lang ang kailangan. Pero kung tutuusin hindi mo naman kailangan ng “rocket speed” para ma enjoy yun. Ok na yung regular speeds para dun.

Sorry Smart, pero sablay yung nag-isip ng pricing scheme niyo.

Soul Annihilator · 15 years ago

Great post. I definitely agree.

Marl · 15 years ago

How about using vpn? Does the traffic/BW still count/add up?

darryl · 15 years ago

my thoughts exactly. pero knowing those bastards @smart, they’re always 2 steps ahead of us, di bale sana kung globe yan na pareparehas bopols.

Marl · 15 years ago

gusto ko sana e try kasi wala ako device eh,. ang powersurf ng globe naman hinde pwede sa prepaid. tsk.

Iyan Sommerset · 15 years ago

Hmm….maybe their check-your-balance site has a lot of padding so you use up a lot more bandwidth than normal when you check your balance. :P Sneaky bastards.

Soul Annihilator · 15 years ago

Kung ganito nga kabilis ang connection mo pero conscious ka naman lagi sa data na nagagamit mo mas mabuti pang magsubscribe ka na lang sa mas mabagal pero unlimited!

It seems like Smart is now run by a bunch of retards.

Andy · 15 years ago

I couldn’t agree more.

chrismun · 15 years ago

nagpapatawa ang SMART. sino kaya ang may matinong pag-iisip ang papatol sa offer na ganito ng SMART.. hehe kung hindi nila babaan yung prices ng Rocket plug it nila, wala talagang masyadong bibili dyan..

Rmil Chua · 15 years ago

price is too much… a higher data allocation for 200 pesos would be ok…

Lance · 15 years ago

That’s really ridiculous.. Knowing that websites nowadays are not just textbased but almost everything is flash-based so ang bigat talaga ng data. And smartphone apps, being able to run at the background, also consume data every now and then.
I hope Globe will release their own LTE versions and offer a more competitive price. Let the market competition kill the high pricing scheme!

Hideki · 15 years ago

kaya nga, luge talaga ang tao dyan. walang kwenta yung speed kung napakamahal naman per volume.

Epstein · 15 years ago

Good luck! It will be a miracle if it lasts for a long time…

vince · 15 years ago

I assume the 6.79 mbps and 0.3x mbps used the same sim card and same modem. Correct???

macoy · 15 years ago

bakit naging ganito kamahal tong p*tek na broadband na to??? Consistent ba sa 12mbps yan regardless of place and time para presyohan nila ng ganyan?.. If yes, sige lang.. but if not, FU Smartbro!..

niko bellic · 15 years ago

nameless · 15 years ago

Lugi nga ang 200php for 180MB, ads pa lang ng mga websites mabigat na. so i guess hindi talaga sya tatagal.

anti_ponjin · 15 years ago

……and the UnliSurf 50 speed is so slow, why would we bother to shell out 4k for the rocket?

I do LIKE how the balance can be checked using the Smartbro website. I use it all the time for my phone and to check Always On 20.. :-)

achtungbaby · 15 years ago

With this so-called experiment of yours, I’d rather pay the unlimited data plan at P999. I thought of switching to Always on P300 but with what you detailed, might not be a good idea.

anti_ponjin · 15 years ago

I love to DL torrents and stream Sports and news. My PLDT just barely gets by, but it IS unlimited. The new ROCKET sounds great, but would have to use it very carefully.
Thanks for the experiment.