So tomorrow (July 30), Smart will open their 3G network to everyone and offer free mobile internet for free within a 24-hour period.
No registration needed, no special requirements — there’s no catch (except for a minimum 1 peso load balance). Just fire up your mobile browser and start surfing with Smart 3G.
My guess is that Smart wants to stress-test their 3G network and see if their bandwidth can take the capacity and the load. Maybe we can all lend a hand and tether our 3G phones to our laptop or PC and download stuff all day? {see FAQ here}
There can only be two outcomes — (1) the network handles the load just fine so we know they’re really allocating enough bandwidth for their existing customers or (2) the network collapses with the extra load and Smart will have to upgrade their bandwidth allocation to adjust for that. Still a win-win for customers, right?
If you’re set to do this, please share your experience and post download/upload speeds in the comments. Let’s see how this goes.
Update: Also got a tip from the inside that if this TGI Freeday works well, they might do it again on another Friday. So let’s get it on and tell everyone to try it out.
Update 2: Of course, this is just speculation on my end. The link above points to their FAQ taken from their Facebook Page.
Disclosure: Smart/PLDT/Red Mobile is an advertiser on this blog so allow me to do a little plug for them here.