What's the deal with Globe's HSPA+? » YugaTech | Philippines Tech News & Reviews

What’s the deal with Globe’s HSPA+?

During the media launch of Globe’s Tonino Lamborghini Tattoo launch last week, I sat down with Peter Bithos (Head of Consumer Division) to talk more about the telco’s roll-out and their 10Mbps mobile internet offering.

Here are some of the key points we talked about that should help you decide when getting the “Tonino Lamborghini” postpaid plan:

The HSPA+ network is initially rolled out in some key cities within Metro Manila. Globe will aggressively expand this network but at this point, only the more congested locations within the metro are the priority. In the coming months, they will roll out their HSPA+ network in major cities outside Metro Manila — like Cebu and Davao. They would not give specifics but if your location has heavy mobile internet traffic, they will be the first ones to get the network upgrades.
To date — some areas of Marikina, Quezon City, Makati, Pasay, Las Pinas, Taguig and Manila have HSPA+ coverage. However, it’s not usually the entire city but some parts of the city so it’s possibel you are in Makati but is somewhere in the outskirts so you’re area is not covered.
There are currently only two devices that are being offered by Globe that will work on their HSPA+ network — the Tonino Lamborghini Tattoo stick and the Samsung Galaxy S2 (which they will release on June 27).
The Huawei E5, which Globe also offers as an alternative to the Tonino stick, can only go up to around 5Mbps so if you get the 10Mbps plan, you won’t maximize your allocation.
If you already have an open-line Samsung Galaxy S2 and use a Globe SIM, you might also experience the HSPA+ speeds as long as you are within the coverage area. While the HSPA+ plans of up to 10Mbps are only being offered on post-paid accounts, prepaid users can also experience the HSPA+.
3rd-party manufacturers (like ZTE or Huawei for example) might also release unlocked devices which you can use with your postpaid (or even prepaid SIM) to access the HSPA+ network.
The HSPA+ upgrade also helps the existing 3G network to be less congested, essentially allowing for better actual speeds or more capacity.
Globe is rolling out an interactive map of the HSPA+ coverage within their Globe Concept Stores so you can see if your location is covered by their upgraded network before you sign up for any plan. They will also put this map on their website so everybody who’s interested can see and check it.

Globe would not share any timeline as to when the entire Metro Manila will be fully covered and upgraded to their HSPA+ network so I guess some people will resort to “wait and see” before deciding to jump in.

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

44 Comments

Jam. says:

14 years ago

Hope that Globe can offer LTE speeds soon
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Benchmark says:

14 years ago

Make it quick Globe before PLDT makes an aggressive move.
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Steve Jobs says:

14 years ago

I’m using Globe Tattoo SuperStick Plan 1299. I got the speed they advertise up to 5Mbps or more than sometimes.
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phillip says:

14 years ago

I’m currently subscribed to their plan 999 for 1mbps.
Will they upgrade their broadband line speeds too?
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Name: caloy says:

14 years ago

does globe’s hspa+ pkan have data cap?
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[email protected] says:

14 years ago

If globe will not be putting a data cap and just say “SURF ALL YOU WANT” I will not buy it! I will just stick with wi-tribe where I am protected from bandwidth abusers.
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renel says:

14 years ago

Walang Capping ang Tonino

http://pinoydsl.net/threads/tonino-lamborghini-walang-capping.26299/
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idoraemonslair says:

14 years ago

may capping daw po ang globe sabi nung nakausap kong lalake dun sa globe center sa sm north edsa cyberzone, its 1gb per day daw… HOW SAD NAMAN… nagupgrade pa sila… nu ba yan.. nakaka disappoint… tsk tsk tsk… bkt kasi kailangan pang ganyan ganyan… kung di nila kaya subscribers, dapat wag na lng silang gumagawa ng mga ganyan…. very disappointing…
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[email protected] says:

14 years ago

tama lang yan may capping, para maiwasan ang mga abusado sa bandwidth. Pero sana malinaw yan sa ads nila at sa contract para fair sa lahat.
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daniel says:

14 years ago

may LTE naman sa Smart. sayang lng pera mo dyan.
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Cap says:

14 years ago

Ano naman silbi neto kung may Datacap naman?… id rather have them spending advertisements and the technology for this to ACTUALLY UPGRADE their infrastruction… indi into ang solusyon sa congestion ng data…

ang mahal nila sumingil ng broadband tapos wala naman kwenta ang speeds sa pinas… corporate assholes
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Garry DC says:

14 years ago

Ang experience ko sa globe tattoo lately, di na consistent ang speed nya. Kailangan pa magdownload ng malaking file alongside browsing para maging tuloy tuloy ang speed. Or is it just me?
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Haller says:

14 years ago

Dudes, bago kayo humirit, magresearch muna kayo pwede?
Walang data cap ang any Globe postpaid plan (that includes sticks, myfi, superstick, tonino) at ang meron lang e prepaid sticks.
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Denz D Naitawei says:

14 years ago

“The Huawei E5, which Globe also offers as an alternative to the Tonino stick, can only go up to around 5Mbps so if you get the 10Mbps plan, you wonâ€™t maximize your allocation.”

Thanks for clearing this out chief. Medyo talo pala ang mag-plan 2199 tapos upgrade to mifi device (plus 50) na di naman kaya ang 10mbps na speed.
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Jeyem says:

14 years ago

I think Globe will mess up on this as they always do! I’m not a Smart fan but they give a more “decent” service than Globe. Globe most of the time does it first but at the end of the day, they give the worst service. BTW, I’m a Sun user.
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Ry says:

14 years ago

Hmm, I have a lot of questions in my mind :)) I recently bought a Huawei E5 in Yugadeals and I don’t have plans to buy another (baka yung stick)…. Pero since sabi naman kaya hanggang 5MBPS di ba kahit prepaid makaka-experience? I guess okay na ako dun since I have a BayanDSL naman…

Ngayon ba kapag sinubukan ko na yung Prepaid Globe sa Huawei E5 ko (Being in Metro Manila na supported ng HSPA+) gagana na siya? :P
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Harold says:

14 years ago

Globe is better than Smart for one reason; they are capping their network to ensure everybody will have balanced or average use of Internet.

They have this what they so-called “Fair Use Policy”.
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Peter Betos says:

14 years ago

Sana tama ang surname ni Tito. :D
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Bri says:

14 years ago

Baket baliktad ata sa pilipinas pamahal ng mahal ang broadband
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razorous says:

14 years ago

We just got the pre-paid version Huawei E5 (MyFi) from Globe yesterday, cost 5k but they slashed off 1k for having it purchased with citibank credit card.

Question, do I just have to find this location where HSDPA+ is located and it will automatically adjust to that speed? Or is their setting of some sort to get this?
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sarahlee says:

14 years ago

I bought the LAMBORGHINI 10mbps.

Let me get this straight.

Build quality is BAD.

I’m VERY dissappointed.

They call it LAMBORGHINI and YET they color comes off easily when you put it in your pocket and the Lamborghini logo and design is just cheaply printed onto the stick, it’s not even a high quality print but looks like it was produced in some hobby store, thus letting to color go off easily when you have it in your pocket among phone and other gadgets.

Now, so much about the under-par quality. Even the Smart Bro stick has a high quality print on its surface, just as a side note.

About the speed: I’m here in Makati at Dela Rosa Street, and during morning times (3am-4am) you can really get nice speed, talking about 8mbps and HD streaming on Youtube.

But during the day? What the hell, it’s worse than Smart Bro. I get like 0,3mbps or 0,5mbps, while my Smart Bro gives me at least 1mbps.

So what does it help if I have 8mbps only during obscure times and during the day it’s just really bad? And they want me to pay P2,199 for that per month. Nifty bandits and I’m happy Smart is rolling out LTE, at least when this will launch it will be an uncongested network with focus on high speed and not a datahighway full of traffic jams like Globe.
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Steve Jobs says:

14 years ago

I upgraded my 1 month old Tattoo SuperStick 1299 5Mbps to Tattoo Laamborghini 2199 10Mbps. And Yes, same with my 5Mbps Plan. I get the advertise speed. I dont rely on Speedtest.net kasi hindi tama result. Heavy download using filesonic premium account and i get more than 10Mbps night or day. Sometimes down to 8Mbps.
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IhateGlobe says:

14 years ago

WFT!!! come on Globe is just shitting all of us!!!!
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IhateGlobe says:

14 years ago

WTF!!! come on Globe is just shitting all of us!!!!
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Johnlang says:

14 years ago

A couple of questions here…

1. Does it mean that if I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 and I have a postpaid sim, I can readily use the HSPA+ Network (up to 10 mbps) within the covered areas and I don’t have to purshase the Lamborghini device/plan any longer?

2. Is this automatic for postpaid plan holders or is it something that I still need to subscribe to from Globe?
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deal says:

14 years ago

I am using pldt and the connection is very fast. One thing I hate with pldt is that their costumer service is takes action very slow. They won’t really entertain your problems with connections unless you would go to their office. Is that right? Well I guess subscribers should make a dealson this or else they would be doing this over and over again. I heard also globe connection is fast because my friends were using it too.
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Vignet says:

14 years ago

YES!!! Mas maraming mappipirata! Torrent for all! Bat ka pa magbabayad sa pinaghirapan ng iba kung pwede mo namang makuhang libre di ba? Or pwede rin namang ipipirata mo muna tapos ibenta sa iba, para hindi ka lang nagpirita, kumita ka pa! Parang motionbird lang yan.
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bOkz says:

13 years ago

mga sirs, mauutilize din ba to ng iphone4? TIA!
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13 years ago

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