Been in the boondocks for about a week now on a semi-vacation mode (and semi-retreat kind of way) so I’m not able to regularly publish new entries here. With a thousand miles away from mega Manila and a couple hundred more miles from the nearest city, my mountain resort hide-away is almost devoid of any internet coverage.
I’ve had some time to re-think the broadband issue I left behind in Metro Manila and have gotten a few more thoughts and ideas I’d like to share.
Broadband Internet as a Right vs. Privilege. If broadband internet becomes a “human rights” issue, does that mean that people in the boondocks and far-flung islands of the Philippines can “demand their right” and be provided with access to the internet where there is currently none? If that’s the case then I think the more important issue that NTC should look into is not the sub-standard speed of broadband internet but the utter lack of broadband coverage in many areas in the Philippines.
It’s like the poor people in Metro Manila protesting they are only able to eat 2 times a day when they should be able to eat thrice a day against the fact that people in far-flung areas have nothing to eat at all.
However, Government stepping into and regulating an industry does not always end well. Many other essential services like water, electricity, telephone have been privatized instead of nationalized. Even oil has been deregulated as well. I don’t believe in “big” governments.
Internet Coverage vs. Internet Speed. Faster broadband speed is always better. We always want our 2Mbps mobile 3G connection to be at its top speed.
Then again, if I were in the islands or in the middle of the jungle, I would care more about being able to access decent internet rather than thinking about downloading the latest episode of Fringe — I would not mind getting a steady 256Kbps line on my supposed 3Mbps mobile 3G connection as long as I get the connection. But that’s just me.
During the NBN ZTE scandal, I’ve read news reports that local telcos now cover 99% of the population of the Philippines in terms of internet connectivity (dial-up, DSL, and GPRS). That doesn’t mean though that the 99% of the area of the Philippines have internet access. It could be just the top 1,000 big islands that have coverage while the remaining 6,107 are still unreachable (while still representing the remaining 1% of the population).
Residential Broadband is Shared Resources. Many people do not know that the regular broadband internet they subscribe to is shared and not dedicated.
If you want a full dedicated line, you can get it via a “leased line”. That means the whole pipe is just dedicated to you alone. Not sure about local pricing but a 1Mbps leased line could fetch you up to $500 a month (this is an old price I knew a couple of years ago).
In a shared broadband environment, only a certain amount of bandwidth is provisioned. Say for every 20 subscribers, the ISP allocates around 1Mbps of dedicated pipe. The tricky part is how they can efficiently manage the provisioning so that all of the 20 subscribers still manage to experience the 1Mbps connection.
The fact is, no ISP anywhere in the world can afford to dedicate a full pipe for each subscribed speed — meaning, dedicate a 2Mbps line for a 2Mbps subscription.
Let’s take PLDT for example. In 2009, they generated a revenue of about Php13.9 billion in their broadband service from almost 1 million subscribers.
Let’s say each of the 1 million residents subscribed to only a 1Mbps connection. If PLDT allocates a dedicated 1Mbps (and not shared as it normally does) to each one, then it would need to “rent” out 1,000Gbps (1,000,000Mbps) of international pipes. If the going rate for a 1Mbps dedicated international pipe is $40 (this figure I got from small municipal ISPs renting out 1Mbps fiber pipes in some US states), then PLDT would need to pay international providers $40 million a month (roughly Php1.76 billion a month).
The annual fee it has to pay would be Php21.12 billion (way higher than the Php13.9 billion collections from subscribers). That does not count cost of operations, salary of over 5,000 employees, infrastructure, debt payments, etc.
We can now do a reverse calculation and see how much pipe we’re actually provisioned from these figures. Let’s say the total operating expenses, infra and salaries for the year is Php4 billion.
A typical business would make a 40 margin so that leaves Php8.34B from the Php13.9B gross revenue. Subtract Php4B of expenses from Php8.34B and they’re left with Php4.34B to pay for rent of international pipes.
Using the same $40 a month per 1Mbps dedicated pipe, Php8.34B will only allow for 394,000Mbps a year. If that 394,000Mbps is provisioned to 1 million subscribers, then each one would only get something like 394Kbps for their 1Mbps subscription.
That’s just how the ball rolls. How else can ISPs sell you a 1Mbps subscription for only Php999 a month if they pay their upstream providers $40 a month for the same speed?
Geography and Economics
Neighboring countries like Singapore and Hong Kong enjoy much faster internet speeds and at cheaper prices too. Why not the Philippines?
First, it’s geography. There are around 3.6 million broadband users in Singapore. In the Philippines, the estimate is 29 million but not all of them are broadband users (net cafe, office, school and dial-up users are included here). However, Singapore is only 683 square kilometers while the Philippines has 299,764 square kilometers of land. That’s 439 times bigger (size-wise) or at least 55 times more expensive to cover the same amount of people and be able to provide them with fiber connectivity.
Second, it’s economics. Despite the “internet” being a global commodity, local economics will still dictate supply and price points. Our electricity rate is among the highest in the world. Our taxes (10-35% + 12% VAT) is among the highest in the world. We have our share of very cheap services too — like SMS which is roughly Php8 in the US and only Php1 here.
There’s No Truth in Advertising
Have you tried eating at Mongolian Bowl with their eat-all-you can promo? I bet you can’t really eat all the meat that you want since they’ll put a cap on the amount of pork or chicken you put in each bowl.
Have you really tested if a drop of Joy liquid cleaner can really finish off 2 dozen dirty plates with just a single drop?
Have you accepted an invitation by a real estate sales agent to visit their site because they say you can own a house and lot for “only Php10,000” a month only to discover that the rate was for the monthly price of the 20% down-payment while the 80% is spot cash?
Aren’t we already familiar with the usual holiday sale that says “70% OFF (“up to”, in very small letters)”.
Do we all really believe in the advertising that we see on print, in billboards and on TV? To make matters worse, we never bothered to read the fine print when we sign service contracts. There’s no truth in advertising.
But here’s the clincher — ISPs have lawyers that make sure their ads and claims are protected from being considered scammy (or falsifying the public). The use of “up to X Mbps” and the fine print that indicates the Acceptable Use Policy are provisions that discloses the limitations of the service and liability of the provider.
To regulate or not to regulate; that is the question.
Government regulation is an iffy subject to discuss. So much more that we’re talking about the Philippine government here. If the government cannot even efficiently regulate its own offices and agencies, how much more the private sector? Most of the time, regulation can result to more bureaucracy and eventually corruption.
On the economics side, regulating the prices of a service or product does not always result into cheaper prices and/or better products. Just came back from NAIA3 and took a taxi home — there’s an LTFRB-approved airport taxi there that charges Php70 flag down and Php4 per 300meters. There’s another regulated taxi service that charges a fixed Php440 for a one way trip from the airport to Makati. The taxis aren’t even new (a ’95 Toyota Corolla). Now, that’s highway robbery. And to think the government is already involved in this “approved” rate.
Disclosure: My position is based on my personal experience running a couple of businesses (I own an internet cafe and a web hosting business for years) that is very similar to an ISP and as such have encountered, on many occasions, the same problems.
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H.Rossmann says:
I come from Germany, i live now four years in Balayan and i had several providers. In Germany you get a 32Mbit DSL no limit for 30 Euro and the bandwith is allways over 80% or more. Here i pay the same money for 2Mbit/s and only youtube has full download speed all other connections restricted to more or less 312 kbit/s and this is called “no limit” because there is a note in the contract that says “..it depends on the amount of users online..”.
For me this is modern robbery, like you go to buy a bag of rice and on the bag stands ” .. it depend on how many customers are buying rice..” so you have to pay the full bag like all other customers and maybe you get 1/5 amount of rice.
At the riceshop you will never accept this.
And we all and the goverment accept this behavior quietly…
Mike McFadden says:
I am from Canada, and I was geting 3.5 megBytes per second just before I came here, on my home dsl connection from Telus. This coasts about $50 cCanadian per month. By comparison, Sun Broadband gives me a very lousy 1 mega BIT connection, for about the same price. That 1/30th of the speed or less (.125 megabyte connection. Speeds here suck. WHY???? Why is the philippines so far behind other countries?? Why doesn’t the government step in?? Free enterprise isn’t doing it!! And also, the upload speeds are even worse, causing the downloads to be even slower…to get good download, you need upload as well. Its time for someone to do something! Great business opportunity for someone!!!!
Tilde says:
Reliable connection, when you turn on the coeuptmr the internet light should be green and not red as I have been getting recently. Speed is important but the clever adverts always states up to so fibre optic must be rolled out sooner than later, as we are way behind some other European countries, and no limits on usage please.VA:F [1.9.22_1171](from 0 votes)
alwin says:
Interesting read Abe. Two thumbs up!
Words have different meaning and the best way to translate “unlimited” is how oo00oo says it. Because if we’re really talking about unlimited speed, then the 1mbps is still limited, because you’re basically limited up to your subscribed speed.
oo00oo says:
I’m not sure pero parang marami ang nagkakamali sa pag kaka intindi ng “Unlimited”
Mostly pag sinabi Unlimited tas may 1mbps, kala nila unlimited up to 1mbps yun which is not.
Kung babalik kayo nung young pa internet connection dito sa Pinas using Dial-UP connection.
Ang internet nuon may LIMIT, ang limit iyong hours ng “CONNECTIVITY” mo…
Let say you pay 400pesos/Month for 24hrs usage of Internet connectivity. Once na ma reach mo na 24hrs ma di-disconnect ka na.
Kung naalala nyo pa dati may mga cards using dial-up connection na binibenta na mahal pa 2hrs for 50 pesos dati.
Since nauso ang leased line, at mga cable connection, DSL, nagkaroon ng 24/7 connectivity which is iyon ang tinatawag na “UNLIMITED”
So Technically ang sinasabi nilang UNLIMITED iyong Connectivity mo Unlimited hindi iyong SPEED mo. You can connect 24/7 round the clock any time na gusto mo.
So ang 999/month you have UNLIMITED connectivity WITH UP TO 1mbps speed. Kaya nga wala sila ni pro-promise na minimum speed, which mean kahit 1Kbps pa speed mo basta naka connect ka, iyong advertise nilang Unlimited stays true to the public.
Marami kasi tao makarinig lang ng Unlimited Internet pumapasok agad iyong One to sawa ka sa Internet mula umaga hanggang magdamag.
Which is ginamit ng mga advertiser ang word na Unlimited para ma hookup ang mga taong nagbababad sa internet at mga taong wala pang connection ng internet, then dinagdagan nila ng with UP TO 1mbps, para ma hikayat naman nila iyong mga taong nakaranas na ng internet na mabagal na naghahanap ng mabilis na connection.
Hindi ma appeal sa akin ang unlimited coz alam ko given na iyon eh. Sa 1mbps ako nadale ng Ads wahahaha! Coz dialup ko nun average 25kbps lang pag umabot sya ng 50kbps masaya na ako nuon, eh ano pa kaya kung 1Mbps???
Nung nag subscribe ako ang first question ko, kung ano iyong minimum speed nila, which is wala silang ni guarantee na minimum speed, na gulat ako, but no choice…. @plan999/month which is very cheap compare sa mga previous internet price dahil ang Unlimited connection dati or DSL umaabot ng 2k-4k/month, and iyong Dial-up dati pagkakatanda ko 1k/month mga 200-300hrs lang free.
abe says:
may kapangalan pala ako dito lol sorry.
abe says:
^comparing US to philippines LOL
also “up to 1mbps” kahit sa ibang bansa ganyan ang mababasa ninyo sa internet plans.
“up to 1mbps” lang mahirap ba makaintindi ng basic english?
nabasa niyo naman na “up to x speed” lang bago kayo nagsubscribe diba?
^_^ says:
in US, we subscribed to comcast’s xfinity internet 20mbps plan for only 29.99 dollars(Php 1290) (6 months contract). compare to internet services here in philippines, it’s far less what we get here for the same price.
vince says:
have to agree with night. Few people read the fine print and some that do probably think at the back of their minds “this fine print does not tally with whats written on the ads, but the ads are flashier and in bigger fonts so i’ll subconsciously ignore the fine print”.
So it would be much fairer for the ISP’s to advertise the average speed and place the max burstable speed in fine print.
Raymond says:
I just wondering if some of you guys is talking about download speeds.
Download speed is equal to bandwidth/8.
1mbps = 1024 kbps.
Actually I just searched for that info. I just love the internet.
My DL speeds usually goes over 200kbps on our 2mbps connection. I can say we usually get near max bandwidth.
Still I want better and cheaper internet service.
@haler haler
It looks like you are getting only half of the promised bandwidth.
RF Engr says:
@ ABE
Being in the industry of telecoms for long,I just want to explain some issues regarding 3G to GPRS/EDGE..actually its a good thing rather than bad, transition happens when transferring from 3G site to Non-3g neighbor site..its called handover in technical term..so you get GPRS/Edge to compensate the weaken 3G signal so your calls/data wont drop or terminated..hope i shared something meaningful..thanks
Night says:
Actually hindi naman reklamo na yung promised speed eh. Parang lahat almost tanggap na hindi talaga kayang maachieve ung up to na speed. Yung lalagyan ng cap yung badnwith ang main issue.
Pero since napunta na din dun, how can it be up to 1mpbs kung ever since ginamit ko siya hindi pa ata umabot ng 1mbps ung speed ng net ko? eh kung maximum speed lang na nakuha ko is example 250kbps eh di up to 250kbps lang dapat siya. hindi ba? Dapat ang lagay nila is AVERAGE speeds not UP TO. Mas honest IMO.
George says:
Regarding the regulation issue.
It’s not much about the government’s capability to regulate, I think it’s more on the fact that it goes against the basic concept of democracy.
haler haler says:
This is a well written blog. May I ask whats yourabout MyDSL? If they say up to 1MBPS, how often do you get this speed? and what is the typical speed do you usually get? and when do we say that this service becomes scam? Is it when you normally get 100KBPS just like what I normally get from Sun Wireless Broadband(yes, I only get 100kbps out of the promised 2MBPS)? Can we report this matter to DTI and have their service discontinued so that they will no longer be scamming other people?
ricardo isip says:
“yes, they do make a lot of money. businesses exist to make a lot of money.”
no no no… not at our expense, the consumers.
may mali dito in dapat itama
class suit anyone….. hehehe
Norman says:
All we want is faster Internet connection. That’s all.
Abe Olandres says:
@la lang & @yugapaid — this is my position because I also run an ISP-like business myself. Oh, if they’d offer to pay me just to write this, I’d charged them a bazzillion bucks! hehehe I joke, of course.
@adam – yes, they do make a lot of money. businesses exist to make a lot of money.
@dakolkol – nope sa Palawan.
dakolkol says:
Nice view!
Is this in Guimaras?
Went there last dec myself to check out the bee farm and Trappist monk…
Sonny says:
sounds like a position paper of a telco company, he!he!
adam says:
Interesting read. Pero
“Let’s take PLDT for example. In 2009, they generated a revenue of about Php13.9 billion in their broadband service from almost 1 million subscribers.”
Base on what was written don’t you think PLDT is having an overprice internet service having that huge earnings for only 1 Million Subscribers. Just looking at the numbers eh parang nakaka inis.
YugaPaid says:
I am trying to reach out and understand what is indicated in every article you made regarding internet issues lately. Pero sir abe, noon pa man hinahangaan ko na po kayo coz you really do have sympathy sa karamihan samin na gusto yung the best at ikatutuwa ng karamihan. Pero bakit ganun? Taga pagtanggol ka na ng mga telco’s na to, itanggi mo man pero kitang kita naman sa mga articles mo. Very disappointing. Hays..
la lang! says:
so, yuga ask ko lang, kelan ka pa naging abogado ng mga manlolokong mga telcos na yan?
icarus says:
Advertisements sucks. That’s all I can say. Commercials, they focus more on the endorsers just to sell products and not to the product itself. All faces, no sense.
Nice article though.
David Z says:
But that’s because they can afford it, di ba? You can have as many commodities or service as so-called rights, but…who’ll pay to give them to the consuming public?
petken says:
Kahit pa merong ‘limit’ na nakalagay sa fine print ng contract dapat hindi nila inadvertise na unlimited.
STOP FALSE ADVERTISING!!!
STOP TRICKING PEOPLE!!!
BE HONEST!!!
PUBLISH SPEEDS THAT YOU CAN ONLY PROVIDE!!!
DON’T SAY UNLIMITED IF YOU WANT TO LIMIT!!!
LAGAY NIYO LIMITED!!!
No Name says:
Hi sir Abe, What is this http://sysmon.possessed.us/chat.php
PlogHost Client here.
cap says:
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/210421/ntc-scraps-broadband-cap-proposal
Robin says:
If you are talking wireless, the NTC assigns the frequency and not just anybody can get into the business. It is a regulated market. The number of carriers is limited to prevent “ruinous” competition. Since competition is limited to a few providers some degree of government regulation is necessary since you cannot expect the free market to dictate rates and offers.
And yes, people in the far flung areas should be able to demand coverage since the field is regulated.
woiboi says:
the article you made sir abe really came from the heart i can feel it!hahahaha just a thought Philippines is governed by business and dictated by business… it is always profit profit profit first… business owners always find ways to earn bigger with just little to spend… with that mentality Philippines would never improved and always be a 3rd world country… when it comes to technology Philippines always first to buy and use gadgets from other country but look at metro manila the traffic, the mess and dirty around the city… which is more important our environment or our personal wants??? the gov’t and business sector can easily improve everything but it always depend on how they will earn from it.. cleaning ang collecting garbage everyday and maintaining a very good facility for garbage would not help them earn so why will they give a damn about sanitation..
cap says:
NTC trashes broadband capping; netizens sigh in relief
http://asia.cnet.com/blogs/the-virtual-eye/post.htm?id=63022522&scid=hm_bl
Abe Olandres says:
@lyle – at least we agree that the problem is with “false advertising”.
@ian – i’d point the finger at (c) over-subscription.
10G says:
Totoy Adobo vs Mundo (Sa sala ni Kapitan Tabo): A Case Study
Sworn Statement of Totoy Adobo:
“ganito nga ang nangyari….
naniwala ako sa isang promo na P999 para sa unlimited broadband connection,
mga isang taon na nakaraan…
excited akong nagbantay nung ikinakabit na nila yun arial antenna..pinagpag kape ko pa nga yung mga contractors eh..
tapos halos isang linggo lang eh bumagal na connections…parang naging intermitent pa nga yata nun..kaya naman first bill pa lang ay di ko na binayaran …tinanggal na din nila connections pagtapos ng 45days…(parang manok)
ngayon tuloy hinahabol ako ni Atty. NoCase…\
ngayon ko lang napagtanto na naloko ako ng false advertising…
anyway di naman ako mahahabol ni Atty. NoCase kasi mabagal pa kay pagong ang connection speed nya…
pwede na ba akong ibilang na pugante sa batas? or estapador? eskrimador? tokador? rebentador? door to door?
malulusutan ko pa ba ang kaso na ito? help needed po”
Nakalagda po,Totoy Adobo
zer0ice says:
Very timely post, sir abe!
Have been thinking of upgrading my subscription from 1mbps to 2mbps…
To think, I’d only get what? 40~60% of the maximum bandwidth?
So, for 1mbps, I get 400~600kbps?
For 2mbps, I get 800~1.2mbps?
Come to think of it, you said 40~60%.. but for other countries? How about Pinas? How much do we actually get? 20? 30%?
McCoolot says:
I was surprised when I was away and the only thing I could use was the Globe Tattoo. I was streaming almost over night, knowing that I subscribed for a 1 day unltd broadband, when suddenly a message appeared telling me that I have reached the limit.. Opppps.. Needless to say, unlimited is not really unlimited. Lessons learned.
Edgar says:
@abe You wrote:
“— I would not mind getting a steady 256Kbps line on my supposed 3Mbps mobile 3G connection as long as I get the connection. But that’s just me.”
Couldn’t agree more, my sentiments exactly.
BeerBoy says:
@lyle WELL SAID.
Ian says:
Agreed that bandwidth is shared. That’s why there’s bandwidth management, dynamic allocation, etc. So if consumers, who were promised — enticed — a certain bandwidth do not get that bandwidth, the provider is either (a) doing something awfully wrong in managing allocations, or (b) hoodwinking and stealing from its customers.
Lyle says:
I meant to write “scammy” not spammy.
Lyle says:
@Abe
I’m not a lawyer but I have a background in law and yes, I actually read service agreements before I sign them. I am very well aware that there a limits to the service which is my point exactly.
These services have limits, hence, it shouldn’t be marketed as unlimited and because it’s being marketed as such, this is where the problem arises.
Read your comment, ‘the “unlimited†service has its limits.’ It’s the very definition of an oxymoronic statement.
Regarding contractual provisions protecting ISP’s marketing strategies from being deemed ‘spammy’..
Here’s the clincher, jurisprudence have shown that disputes regarding arbitrary contracts are usually settled in favor of the consumer (even though they signed the contract) when these contracts are determined to be onerous.
Case in point: http://blog.seattlepi.com/consumersmarts/archives/147348.asp
Monchee says:
I guess it’s just human nature or something. All I just wish for is that ISPs here in the Philippines should speed up the country’s internet just like in Japan/Korea/Singapore
deuts says:
Abe, what happened to PinoyTechBlog? It’s redirecting to a chat support service…
deuts says:
Eh kung nagfi-fill up tau ng form, sa name field kung lagay mo ba naman ang address mo o di kaya eh ung vital statistics mo, e laki ng problema natin nito.
Dabz says:
@yawner – i agree with you at that point, normally ISPs would advertise their maximum attainable bandwidth, as a selling pitch for the consumers who are not familiar with such. I know smartbro does offer wireless broadband with CIR (rates depends on the CIR). But it’s another thing that you can’t get connection or once connected there’s no internet traffic at all.
the yawner says:
“I demand this because this is what I paid for”
Have these guys ever considered that aside from the ads that enticed them to subscribe, there’s also the fine print that places the limitations? Bakit sinasabing up to 1mbps instead of just 1mbps? Marketing spin yan eh. Just a play on language para ma-convince ka to avail of their service. Sasabihin nyo naman ba ngayon na “wala akong pakialam jan sa english words na yan, basta bigay nyo kung ano ang binayaran ko”?
superdan says:
good read abe. by the way, i think wala naman problem dun sa rates ng services here. i remember my stay in NZ where the rates are way higher for electricity and internet. i think kailangan lang justified yung rates nila. like yung sa taxi fares, ok lang maningil sila ng 440 one way as long as brand new cars ang gamit nila and the drivers are courteous enough and accommodating. the problem is our services cost a lot here pero wala ka naman makitang exemplary quality.
also, regarding the taxes, i think pareho lang tayo ng rate sa ibang 1st world countries like NZ and Australia. i remember giving more than a third of my monthly pay for taxes. ang kagandahan lang sa kanila dun, nakikita mo kung nasaan napunta ang taxes mo. ganda nung roads nila. organized ang transport system nila dun. and according to my uncle (a local resident), prevalent pa daw ang corruption sa kanila. dito kasi sa atin lahat yata ng taxes natin nasa bulsa na ng mga officials natin.
anyways, good read abe. nice to see some insightful readings from your site.
lolipown says:
@BeerBoy
Heh, the next bill that the Senate puts up should be something that prevents fraudulent advertising.
zeitgeist says:
again, it’s all about profit…
those telcos would not give a damn about our right as long as get large earnings at the end of the day and their subscribers suffering from their poor services.
Raymond says:
If you read the brochure. It usually say something about, up to bandwidth(which is the advertized value) and a commit bandwidth(or something) which is much lesser than the advertized bandwidth.
If you think about it. I just means it can go up to x mbps, but always.
…..
Just visited PLDT’s website and… yes is says “up to”.
I think it’s just a trick strategy(not a lie) like the 999 price(looks cheaper because it’s just 3 digit, but it’s just one value short from thousand).
It says 3mbps but it’s just the max speed not the dedicated speed.
It really catches the eyes of the subscribers/consumers.
But really though this country needs to upgrade it’s IT infrastructure. Heck it need an upgrade in a lot of aspects.
Abe Olandres says:
@Lyle – if you read the fine print in your service contract and your telco’s AUP, you would have realized that the “unlimited” service has its limits.
Been to SG, Japan and S. Korea and the problem is the same. Customers there don’t get the promised 100Mbps they subscribed to. I think they only get somewhere between 40-60% (based on the many speed tests I tried in those countries) of the promised speed.
admiralnew says:
Um, if I were on a budget and decided to subscribe to an ISP because they said that for as low as X pesos a monthI would get as much as Y bandwidth, and it turns out they could only provide a tiny fraction of that bandwidth or none at all, I don’t believe my first thought would be, “At least 99% of the country has coverage!”
Lyle says:
There is no such thing as a free lunch. Running an ISP costs money. We all get that. But that’s not the point.
It’s not like the consumers are asking for free internet access. They are simply demanding to get the services that they paid for. They were sold unlimited internet service, hence, they expect to get unlimited internet service.
The solution to the telco’s conundrum is simple:
Offer services that their infrastructure can support and don’t oversubscribe.
When the telco’s decided to offer unlimited internet plans, they dug their own graves.
This whole article about how “pipelines” cost money is superfluous. Any business venture costs money. It’s not the responsibility of the customer to worry about ROI and business feasibility.
On regulation eventually leading to corruption, that’s just conjecture. On the other hand, the very reason for the worldwide recession has been proven to be the result of lack of regulation of the stock market and the banking industry.
It may not always yield positive results but regulation is actually a good check and balance mechanism against abusive business practices.
Just an FYI, deregulation and privatizations are two different things.
Simply put…
When an industry such as the oil industry is deregulated, it simply means that the government will no longer dictate the price but instead allow free market forces (competition, demand, supply, etc) to determine prices.
Privatization, on the other hand, means the government sells its stake on a corporation it owns or controls. It has nothing to do with regulation.
The draft NTC memorandum order says nothing about pricing so I don’t see how, ” To Regulate or Not Regulate” becomes the question.
petken says:
Kahit anong explanation pa ang gawin natin at mga magagandang words, UNLIMITED IS UNLIMITED meaning “NO LIMITS.”
Sa kikitain ng mga TELCOS???
Anong pake ng mga subscribers diyan? Eh nagoffer kayo ng hindi niyo kayang iprovide tapos sisihin niyo ang mga subscribers na kung may sariling line for example na 1Mbps ang mga subscribers eh lolobo ang cost ng mga TELCOS. In the first place, why offer a SERVICE THAT YOU CAN’T PROVIDE?
STOP FALSE ADVERTISING!!!
STOP TRICKING PEOPLE!!!
Why offer services you can’t provide???
Why offer speeds you can’t provide???
Why offer unlimited plans if you can’t deliver???
Teknisyan says:
nice one… I wont be surprise if there are companies have their own representative in the congress and even in the senate!!!
dante noe says:
All true!
Hope ISP’s can read this and hope for the better server after.
STOP FALSE ADVERTISING!!! STOP TRICKING PEOPLE!!! says:
Why offer services you can’t provide???
Why offer speeds you can’t provide???
Why offer unlimited plans if you can’t deliver???
STOP FALSE ADVERTISING!!!
STOP TRICKING PEOPLE!!!
BE HONEST!!!
PUBLISH SPEEDS THAT YOU CAN ONLY PROVIDE!!!
DON’T SAY UNLIMITED IF YOU WANT TO LIMIT!!!
LAGAY NIYO LIMITED!!!
POINT DITO
BE HONEST!!!
WAG TAYONG MAGLOKOHAN!!!
KUNG ANO LANG ANG KAYA NIYONG IPROVIDE YUN LANG ANG SABIHIN PARA WALANG PROBLEMA SA MGA SUBSCRIBERS!!!
Kung sa simula pa lang sinabe niyo nang Limited ang Services niyo at kung 512Kbps lang ang kaya niyo iprovide at may 20GB cap then so be it. Atleast sa simula pa lang wala ng lokohan at ang maeexpect ng subsriber eh kung ano yung lang yung HONEST SPEED at HONEST USAGE NA AVAILABLE. Itigil na yang UNLIMTED SA MGA ADVERTISEMENTS at YANG MGA “UP TO UP TO” na mga SPEEDS para walang lokohan.
Kim says:
Great article Abe. This is actually a pressing issue. People don’t just use the net for entertainment alone.
BeerBoy says:
…had these companies only advertised correctly about what should really be expected from these promos and connection speeds then this problem will really not be an issue. Coz if im paying for 1mbps but im getting an average of 700kbps then that situation is pretty much f*ck*d up and no one can just tell me that the line is shared between this and that and the servers and pipes are this and that and so that affects me as a consumer.. Hell, why promise a speed of 1mbps if the average is lower than that?! there is something wrong about that advertising.
I signed up and paid for this advertised speed now give that to me. I dont need to understand all these technical things and math.. tsk tsk.. it’s better if they just increase the prices and preserve the advertised speed rather than promise something that most of the time cannot be fulfilled.
Oh well, but I do hope the situation improves at least.
ricardo isip says:
mabuhay si beerboy
if they advertise unlimited internet ….
and i paid for unlimited internet…
i should get unlimited internet at 1Mbps…
wala na ako pakialam kung kumita man sila o hindi…
may budget pa nga sila para sa promotions at commercials eh… paano mo sasabihing d sila kumikita noon. logic na lang po gamitin natin wag na muna math.. heheheh
intersectRaven says:
Maybe the local companies here can investigate possible peering with other providers so that they can reduce their upstream costs. It’s what some companies in the US do to reduce their costs while increasing their available bandwidth.
bill says:
@Meme: baka may senatong or tongressman dyan na pwedeng magpasa ng bill ng tulad sa europe
Meme says:
In some countries sa Europe, intenet access is part of their bill of righs. Malabo pa mangyaru dito sa Pilipinas un :(
kewl! says:
i totally agree with beerboy
i got a globe wimax and nearest cellsite is about 500 meters away and i get a full signal but no data, huwwwaaattt????!!!! 5x na nagpunta ang mga tech nila pero wala pa din pagbabago, di ba nahihiya ang mga Globe executives sa palakad at serbisyo nila?
Abe Olandres says:
@Paul – I guess you can call it a rant. But let me sum up this article for you “ISPs should provide better/wider Internet coverage. If I subscribed to mobile 3G, I should get 3G signal most of the time and not GPRS/EDGE”.
BeerBoy says:
I think the issue is advertising. FALSE advertising. Unlimited internet is not really unlimited. 1mbps and other connection speeds are not really that fast or even close to their promised speeds. So we need to look on how these companies market their products in a wrong way. It’s like FOOLING customers and promising them that they are paying for something like this and like that but the truth is they are NOT.
Just my thoughts.
Paul says:
I don’t get it. Was this article a rant? Because you didn’t get anywhere.
All I care about as a consumer is that if I pay 1k/month for a 1mbps unlimited internet connection, then most of the time I get my 1mbps unlimited internet connection. Is that too much to ask?
I’m not interested in the means of how they do it, much like I don’t look into how the electricity or water services work. I just want to get what I pay for.
Paolo says:
Very good read.
I think it should be noted that at least NTC has been working on reaching a fair agreement (or compromise?) between the telcos and the consumers. That’s always a good start.
Let’s see how this issue will progress.