A reader sent an email last night asking why Smart Bro’s Fixed Wireless Plan 999 has been downgraded to just 1Mbps from 2Mbps starting June 1, 2011. So I double-checked and compared the page using Google Cache and here’s what I got.
This cached page was from May 30, 2011. By today, you can see that the page has been edited to reflect the speed downgrade.
Hello Mr. YugaTech.
I recently checked out SmartBro’s Canopy page (http://smart.com.ph/bro/products/homebroa-dband.htm).
I learned that effective June 1, 2011, the advertised “Up to” speed has been decreased to 1Mbps (formerly upgraded to 2Mbps).
No wonder our connection has somewhat experienced a slowdown. This downgrade is quite disappointing since we will still pay PHP 999.
Perhaps Smart could at least decrease the MSF as well.
– Gregory G.
Frankly, I don’t really know why Smart would downgrade the speed of all fixed wireless subscribers (which I believe is already in the 500k+ in number) but here are several possible reasons I could think of.
– Over-capacity. Smart can no longer support the demand for bandwidth for all its fixed wireless subscribers. So instead of upgrading their network bandwidth to accommodate new subscribers, they can simply and easily just cut the allocation in half.
– Subscription Plan re-alignment. Smart is also offering WiMax at 1Mbps for Php999. Smart Bro’s Plan 999 used to be 2Mbps so to make it “fair” across the board, they’ve also made it 1Mbps. This will prevent Smart Bro Fixed Wireless from eating into the market of Smart WiMax.
– Budget re-alignment. Smart is already pushing their next-generation LTE network, Smart Evolution, so it’s possible majority of their 2011 budget is allocated for the roll-out and very small or none is left for Smart Bro.
We can speculate all we want but unless we ask Smart, we won’t know the real answer (go try calling their CSR). I’m shooting an email to a friend who’s now with Smart Public Affairs and see if he can get us an answer.
Here’s my take — if you’re Smart Bro is currently giving you somewhere between 500Kbps to 1Mbps from the old 2Mbps max speed, I don’t think it really matters if the new max speed is just 1Mbps. You still get the same usual speed anyway. This will only be felt by a few who are consistently getting the full or near full 2Mbps limit.
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bagal says:
una lang pala yung mabilis nito… shyt 2 years pa… 2 years pa akong magdusa.. wala naman nag.explain dito sa SM CEBU – SMART na eto pala yung mapapala ko. Im very disappointed to SMART, subrang hina! please wag naman sana ganito, payagan nyu kaming lumipat ng ISP, bat pa babayaran yung 2 years gustong2x ko nang mag quit sa smart bro nato, 2 weeks pa lang, ang bagal2x na maximum of 20kb/s lang DL speed ko.
Christopher says:
SMART BRO PHILIPPINES
SMART COMMUNICATIONS, INC
Smart Tower 6799 Ayala Avenue,
Makati City
August 12, 2013
To whom it may concern,
Only 7 more Months of waiting so I can TERMINATE PERMANENTLY my NO INTERNET SERVICE of My SMARTBRO.
It has been ONE YEAR (1) and 5 MONTHS of NO INTERNET CONNECTION of my SMARTBRO Service after I had renewed for another 24 Months (March 2012) my SmartBro Account (March 2010-2014).
Thank God. My long wait, 48 Months (4 years) will be ended.
April 7, 2012 when I first called SmartBro (02.672.7277) reported my NO INTERNET CONNECTION of my SMARTBRO Service. I was given SR #: 383482217.
April 11, 2012 I decided to make a follow of my NO INTERNET CONNECTION PROBLEM with my SMARTBRO Service after monitoring it for 24 to 48 hours, but my complaint was not being solve or fix.
After I had noticed that every time I am making a follow up of my NO INTERNET CONNECTION PROBLEM for my SMARTBRO Service, my previous SR # will be closed and the Call Center Agent is just making a new SR #. Closing and Creating a New SR # is giving me a headache and disappointment that I need to explain all-over-again from the beginning what had happen to my account and worst is I had to do the technical internet connection procedures with what I am suppose to do with my computer all-over-again.
No one call me back or even visit my house to check on my SmartBro Service. I am so disappointed that after I had renewed my Account I was given a worst service.
No one wanted to have their hard earned money to be wasted for over ONE YEAR & FIVE MONTHS of NO INTERNET CONNECTION. And because they said that I can not terminate my account during my 2nd term lock-in period without any consideration for my NO INTERNET CONNECTION, I am paying for the service every month.
Without any consistent explanation with what had happened to my SMARTBRO Service, now I don’t want to know and I do not care anymore.
Here are my SR #s with their dates:
* 383482217 = April 7, 2012
* 384176625 = April 11, 2012
* 384-915-789 = April 15, 2012
* 387-576-145 = April 30, 2012
* 388-913-432 = May 9, 2012
* 391-528-437 = May 26, 2012
THIS SHOULD SERVE AS A WARNING TO THOSE PEOPLE WHO STILL WANTED TO AVAIL OF SMARTBRO SERVICE.
GOOD LUCK.
Very truly yours,
CHRISTOPHER
SRN: 1011071793
Account #: 0705849285
bojo says:
ive been a subscriber for 6 years. yeah i got a big discount for it. akala ko sa pag lipat ng bahay kaya nag slow yung speed yun pal abinawasan talaga
enhancement male says:
I read this paragraph completely on the topic of the comparison of latest and earlier technologies,
it’s awesome article.
Juan says:
kaya nga pala SMART ang pangalan, pakabig ang laban…alam kasing no choice si Juan kaya ganyan..Naluko na naman si Juan….tsk, tsk, tsk…????!!!!???
makmak says:
ang baagggaaaalllll…….
-Nobody- says:
hanggang advertising lang ba kayo? walang kwenta connection nyo parang globe rin na palpak sa una lang mabilis pero habang tumatagal lalong bumabagal.. palpak talaga. . . hindi maka abot manlang ng 30 kbps ang download speed at tapos tuwing mag open ng page ang bagal. . hindi pa minsan mabuksan . . mas mabilis pa yata ang broadband nyo kesa direct connection. . .gawan nyo naman ng paraan. .plan 999 ba talaga 2 parang gprs sa cp ang speed connect nyo……
roe says:
Our place (Zambales) is extremely suffering slow internet connection from SmartBro. I don’t know what happened. The very first time we have internet with smart, we were so amazed of the consistency… But now, it’s getting too slow! Wrong timing ang new commercial nila: “SLOW INTERNET CONNECTION?” Tama! That’s what SMART can offer you right now! “LIVE MORE?” Suck! you can’t live that more… If theres only other alternative, then i will switch without second thought!
Carmi says:
Extremely Poor Customer Service!
Yobi says:
WOW! I couldn’t agree more:
[IMG]http://www.speedtest.net/result/2017043293.png[/IMG]
Currently planning to terminate their service.
And planning to subscribe to other ISP
Arries says:
Wow! Nasabe na nila lahat ng pwede ko sabihin.
Totoo lahat ng sinasabi nila guys maniwala kayo.
Na experience ko kasi lahat ng complain nila.
Frustrating talaga smart.
BRO KEN says:
kaya kung ako sa inyo wag na kayo magpakabit ng smart o bumili ng kahit anong produkto nila dahil pagsisisihan nyo lng, wag na kayo pabiktima sa scam ng smart na yan dahil pera lang naman ang kukunin nila satin pero wala tayong magandang serbisyon makukuha sa kanila dahil BULOK na BULOK na sila noon pa hindi na magbabago yan.
Mohaimin Macapaar says:
gusto e plan ang akin smrt bro
paul says:
pag una lang ata mabilis ang SMART BRO ihh..posang ama kau
potangsmartbro says:
PUTANG NANG SMART BROKEN YAN ANG BAGAL!!!
PUTANG NANG SMART BROKEN YAN ANG BAGAL!!!
PUTANG NANG SMART BROKEN YAN ANG BAGAL!!!
PUTANG NANG SMART BROKEN YAN ANG BAGAL!!!
PUTANG NANG SMART BROKEN YAN ANG BAGAL!!!
PUTANG NANG SMART BROKEN YAN ANG BAGAL!!!
PUTANG NANG SMART BROKEN YAN ANG BAGAL!!!
PUTANG NANG SMART BROKEN YAN ANG BAGAL!!!
FEB 18 2012.
smartbobo says:
oo nga ang aga aga ko nag nagbabayad ni misan di ko namiss ang billing monthly di kayo nagkakaproblema sa akin as a subscriber pero bakit ako problemadong problemado sa serbisyo nyo napaka bagal lalo na pag nag start ang 3pm ng hapon hang 10pm gabi mababa pa sa 384kbps plan ang speed ko, e 2mbps naman ang inaplayan ko dapat ayusin nyo yang speed nyo sa base station nyo di nyo naman pwedeng idahilan na madami kasing gumagamit sa oras na yon kaya nag aagawan ng bandwith, ano ganun na lang yun? di ata tama yun dapat kung alam nyong madaming gumagamit sa oras na yun edi upgrade nyo yung speed sa isang particular base station na congested na, lam nyo ng congested di dapat inaayos nyo yan. Napapanganga na lang ako sa sagot ng techsupot, so kasalanan pa ng subscriber dahil nag iinternet sila kaya bumabagal?
Clide says:
Switch na tayo ISP araw araw nalang Limited/No connection plan 999 wala pa naman ako namiss na bill ahh + kung me Connection man bagal approximately 3mins loading ng FB page ano ba to?
Gloria says:
wag nyo kasi kurakutin ang pera
na ibinabayad sa nyo
ipambili nyo ng magandang facilities
para naman hindi masira ang pangalan nyo.
Binago nyo pa ang LOGO at website nyo bulok
pa din naman ang serbisyo nyo.
destroy says:
happy new year 2012 na…
ay bulok talaga smart inaantay ko na lang matapos tong lock in period ko papakabit na ko ng PLDT line kasi nagkaron na dito sa lugar namin, wala kasing magandamng ISP sa pinas, nung nasa ibang bansa ako di ko naranasan yang slow at intermittent connection 30MBps ba naman residential plan san ka pa, hay can’t wait to disconnect my smart plan, guess that’s the smartest way.
create says:
bulok talaga, neto lang sat dec 10 nagkaroon ng technical enhancement kuno take note “enhancement”
nga ba? after nun i try downloading the same file im currently downloading I have a 2mbps plan before kasi I get 180kBp/s pa pag nag da download nung after mag karon ng technical enhancement kuno e di na ko nakaka experience ng mas mataas pa sa 80kBps na downloading kahit I get 1000seeds and peers.
Pati yung nag subscribe sa 2mbps plan na downgrade din dapat yan payagan nilang ipa disconect ang plan na yan ng mga hindi na happy na customer nila nakakadala itong smart broken talaga. Palaging intermittent connection tapos bagal bagal pa. bago pa lang akong subscriber wala pang 1 year naka lockin pa ako ng 2 years kaya naman lugi ka talaga wag kayong kumuha ng smart magsisisi lang kayo. Trust me been there done that, at pag may technical enhancement wala ring hotline wala kayong matatawagan para mapsgtanungan ungas talaga smart…smart ba. sana ma bankcrupt kayo.
aike says:
fake
Alvin says:
tanong ko lang po
UNLI PO BA TALAGA ANG SMART WIMAX?
tnx po sa sasagot
CanoFreak says:
Nakaka Frustrate itong Bagong Pakulo Ng Smart
OLD Subs = 2 Mbps
NEW Subs = 1 Mbps (as of hune pa daw)
sa pamunuan po ng smart if nababasa nyo man ito
nararapat lang na gawin nyo ring 2Mbps ang new subs nyo…
parehong PERA lang po ang binabayad namin…
at hindi naman “PAUNAHAN” ito!
yung mga ILEGGAL users nga naka 2 Mbps Speed
Kami 1 Mbps Lang?
napaka unfair at hindi pinagisipan na plano
if mag downgrade pala kaya bakit di na lang sa lahat ng SUBS? tutal na enjoy na nila eh dba?
or Upgrade Nyo Bulok Nyong Mga Facilities!!!
–Galit Na Bagong Subscriber
makoolit says:
sheeshhh,, yesterday I had no Internet connection, SMARTBROken saying there IS a system maintenance on the base station where I connect. Now that there is connection, I cant reach 2mbps anymore, was the system maintenance for downgrade? anyone experience this?
autumn says:
ang smartbro nga naman. they put meaning in the word “disappointing”. tsk tsk tsk. they’re no better than Globe Tattoo now! To sun broadband it is!!!
jo says:
bakit sa amin, parang 2mbps parin? ung 1mbps ba sa mga bagong apply lang? eto download speed ko.
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/4356/speedco.jpg
Whena says:
I’ve availed & registered to Plan 999 wimax with 3 freebies but until now still can’t claimed all these freebies like the printer & smart goldlite.I already received my monthly service fees. When & where im going to claimed these,customer CARE advised me to claim to any SMART center & i went in Megamall,Robinson Galleria’s, & from main Ayala branch, they said just comeback again for follow up until they have available peripherals to issue,,, mygosh! how POOR service u HAD..subscribers are always suffered just to claimed what we’ve paid already.. To the mgnmt,from PRODUCT & SERVICES: please DO something for this…
Nonoy says:
I don’t understand why it will still give you same speed when it has downgraded from 2mbps to 1mbps.
maria says:
pwede ko bang ipaterminate yung smartbro 999 , kahit may 2yrs.contract? di kase nila ko pinayagang ipaputol dahil may contract nga.. ngayon tuloy padin ang bill ko kahit temporary disconnected.its unfair!! tawag pa ng tawag sakin at sinisingil nako 3mos.ko di nabayaran,tas ang bill ko pang 6mos..pambihira. tas ipapasa nadaw sa legal office pag di ako nkapagbayad this week..etc.blah blah. panget service nila,. 999 lang inavail ko umaabot yung bill ko sa 1400..pano naging gnon un,wala naman sa usapan yon!
miming says:
In the 5 years i have been using smart bro plan, i have never felt my bandwidth go more than 150 kb. Every month i pay P1000.00 for my ISP and my DL speed is usually 2000 bytes/sec. A 3-MB file size would finish downloading in 30min. This entire page finished loading after 1 full minute. For 2 years now I have been calling their tech support and every single time I get the same old excuse: that their base station is having “technical problems” and that I should “wait it out” for 24hr. But of course nothing would happen.
I pay P1000 for 2000 bytes/sec of bandwidth. So if I pay P2000, i will get, what? Like 4000 bytes? Because of my problem with my ISP, my small internet cafe business had to close down. It has caused me so many tears.
Two days ago I sent an e-mail full of complaints with matching screenshots of my cute connection and today I am still waiting for a reply from their customer care.
I don’t know who else I should write. I don’t know what else to do but reach out to other people who have the same problems that I do.
Ajay says:
Oh, that’s why! I’m really wondering, why did my smartbro become so slow, I even contacted their customer support service, they didn’t tell me that they’ve change it to 1Mbps. Ugh, for the past 2 years, I’m really contended with their connection, but I think now, I’ll just try other broadband. Well, yugatech. Thanks for this. Now, I know the reason why my connection became slow.
Chris edwards says:
up until 2nights ago,from 1AM onward,used to get 1.6-1.7 Mb/s,last night,same time .6-.7Mb/s,a drop of 1Mb,According to SmartCares this is caused by internet traffic and peek hours, 1AM is peek?,I have asked if I’m on 1 0r 2Mb service,I’m awaiting there reply, failing that ill go to there business center in SM Clark or Tarlac City in a week or so
G23 says:
I would become an Angry Bird since I am one of the subscribers who can reach more than 1Mbps.
June 6:
http://speedtest.net/result/1329688407.png
June 12:
http://speedtest.net/result/1337533351.png
Will monitor closely since Smart recently “reverted” it back again to 2Mbps but the Comparison Chart (http://smart.com.ph/Smart_Revamp/ExternalPages/Bro/BroComparison.html) still says 1Mbps as of June 12, 2011:
http://i55.tinypic.com/2ik34sx.png
JiminiC says:
The Comparison Chart still states that the speed is 1Mbps for the Canopy. Fishy, fishy.
Chrisedwards says:
Must remember, Globe has upgraded it service in certain areas,today, from 2mb/s to 3mb/s,same price,also when testing my smart fixed connection at 1AM speed was 1.7mb/s, tested againat 11AM speed had dropped to 400kb/s and just now 171kb/s,Smart seems to think that’s ok
dan says:
dapat mag file kayong mga subscribers ng complaint sa NTC sobra na sila
Ryan says:
Akala ko naman yung netbook ang me problema, so ayun, I’ve done flushdns, clear cache at scan, tapos wala pa din nangyari, mabagal talaga.. super.. I’ve been with Smartbro 3 years na but I’ve decided not to avail of their retention offer na matagal ng due, buti na lang.. Am giving Smartbro until month-end pag wala pa din, lilipat na ako sa Globe yung me landline.. Skybroadband sana kaso sa twitter daming reklamo ng subscribers din lagi daw down.. Haist!!!
Pippo says:
yep I noticed the drop off.. i live in an area about 200 m away from their tower and I constantly get the 2mbps speed during off peak hours… ung usual na 180-200 kbps downlink is now down to 100-115… still good but still. frustrating… ive got about a year left in my contract and unless it picks up, im leaving smart bro for a 4g connection… maybe still from smart with 1mbps as well but at least hindi pa mashado congested network…
yoru says:
We’ve been pretty contented with their service for the past 3 years (in Makati) until we experienced the so-so slower connection speed just before we unsubscribed. PLDT na kami ngayon. No hard feelings :-)
nameless says:
Kasalanan ito ng lahat ng mga hackers na gumagamit ng mga tricks para makapagbrowse at gamitin ang network ng smart. kaming mga legitimate subscribers ang affected. i suggest, lahat ng alam nyo about this so called “tricks” like opera mini ip tricks, isumbong sa SMART. Sila ang hindi nagbabayad, tayo ang napeperwisyo.
everage says:
Hindi kasalanan ng mga hacker un. Mas dapat sisihin ang smart kasi yung pondo na imbis pang quality ( security, bandwidth, etc… ) ginagamit lang nila para sa quantity ( advertisement ).
Jon says:
Hindi sila “hackers”. Mga linta yung mga hayup na yun. They hang around forums and wait for someone to share a trick to get illegal access to the internet.
Iju-justify pa yan. Kesyo mahirap lang sila at walang pambayad ng internet. Blah blah blah. Asshats.
phantom9_21 says:
they put it back up to 2mbps on their website.. hehehehe..nasindak ata sa dami ng reklamo..
Nievo says:
Hello OT lang ako ha. I’ve registered sa Plan 999 nila with those 3 freebies. Pero baki printer lang ang nakuha ko yung dalawa hindi?
frhw says:
Well ako walang problem sa internet connection kasi naka bayan DSL ako.Originally ang plan ko na 899 ay 384kbps then after 1 year ginawa nilang 768kbps but pumapalo sya ng 900 kbps to 1mbps paminsan-minsan at hindi bumabagal kahit lagi akong nagdadownload ng malalaking files.
Syn says:
Now, my dl speed based on speedtest.net app is… 80kb/s. Sos! pwera gaba!
zeasar says:
hayst kaya pala bagal na smartbro hayst by the way im using proxy server dati lightning speed mabilis ngaun hmmmmm hehhehehe
pinoy thinking says:
dapat ibaba ang monthly service fee….
pinoy thinking says:
dapat ibaba ang monthly service fee….
chrisedward says:
For those of you using “speedtest” I have just found that the results for the last 4 weeks of smartbro have gone missing and tonight’s results are coming up in my results as N/A
Smart cares on twitter have informed me to us the Singapore base station, and not Baguio. Wonder what they are up-to? latest speed 673kb/s not the 1673kb/s I was getting last night
heckiboi says:
i am lucky enough to have Globe ADSL Plan 1,295 2Mbps+Landline (availed Kakasa Ka Ba Promo – http://www.hectorlegaspi.com/2011/02/my-globe-broadband-speed-test.html), consistent speed wag lang kukulog at uulan ng malakas na may kasamang brownout kase nawawala ang connection ng 10 minutes
Ulysses says:
Kaya pala bumagal talaga ang connection ko dito! I was wondering kung bakit bigla nalang tumagal magload nung pages! Anu ba naman yan!
Tsktsktsk… Pilipinas talaga…….
Justin says:
I highly recommend the Sun Broadband Wireless 799 guys. In my case, it’s only 649 because I have a postpaid line with Sun. It’s really fast and stable at least in my location and very affordable. It’s up to 2 Mbps and usually during daytime I get around 700 – 1.3 mbps. Di kasi siya fixed yung speed so ang download speed goes up and down within that range. Then pag peak hours naman eh umaabot pa ng 200 kbps ang download speed. :)
Try niyo guys but be sure to ask kung ok ang 3G coverage sa area niyo, honest naman sila kung di aabot ang 3G signal like sa boarding house ko. kaya di nila nirecommend. but dito sa bahay eh mabilis nga.
Eason says:
I switched to globe 2 years ago cause of all the problems PLDT/SMART is having for the past 2 years. I guess it was a right move for me, honestly both SMART/PLDT service are HORRIBLE. I guess they want to get more sales so they decrease the speed to allocate more customers.
Jeric says:
This is just insane! I have a smartbro share-it and since mid-May, I’ve been experiencing terrible speed even at offpeak! My Ip used to be Cebu-based IP, I’m from Bacolod btw, but now I got Laguna-based IPs which are really slow like hell! I cannot even watch youtube videos even on offpeak! So what the hell is that? I’m still in the middle of the lock-in period, and I don’t know what ISP now to transfer because almost all our ISPs here are really terrible! They are advertising all these 4g gimiks and leaving us their prev. customers to rot! If only there is somebody in the govt. who can slap these abusive telecoms!
Syn says:
I don’t want to think what will happen to my Share-it download speed. I’m just getting <500kbps right now. So, if they're going to lower the 2mbps into 1mbps, I will then have at most 250kbps (worst case is negative download speed) Waaaaah!
-Sent via YugaTech Mobile App
damaso says:
this is the start of Pldt-smart monopoly after the acquisition of Sun. The govt should stop the deal. Just to tell Smart that customer is king
ChrisEdwards says:
Been having problems with smart broken since April, they repair it remotely then within a few hours it back to 90-99% slower then the rest of the Philippine,last night, midnight was getting 1.6mb/s, now just after 1pm 180kb/s,tech support refuse to visit to fix it,even through the antenna is moving all over the place in the wind,roll on next March,cancel my contract. According to another blog,Globe is increasing its speed from 2mb/s to 3mb/s from June 6
Everage says:
Srsly 1.6mb/s ?!? 13mbps+ ?!?
adam says:
Wala na talagang mapag pipilian.
Rodney Garcia says:
The only time I saw consistency in internet speed is using the landline phone version. As much as they brought the internet speed down, I’ve never experienced 2Mbps using neither Smart or even Sun. I even have a Smart Bro wifi portable router with me and I don’t even experience the 1.5Mbps they often say.
Is it much of a loss? Depends, I guess. If you’re a Smart Bro user with a constant 1.5-2.0Mbps speed, that’s bad news. If you go below that, then that’s not much of a loss. We’d be lucky to even reach 800kbps.
Jam says:
I am a subscriber of their plugit Plan 999. Was this affected also? I’ve been experiencing a crappy internet connection these past few days.
chinitoguy says:
This is DISAPPOINTING! I think the reason for downgrading is for Smart’s LTE to have a more competitive price against 3G. I heard that Globe’s 4G plan offers Plan 999 is up to 2Mbps. Maybe Smart is going to do the same strategy.
fireball says:
baka naman this for new subscribers? but if current included ang current subscribers. i think there is fraud involved kasi the contract stipulates max speed of 2mbp at naviolate ang consumer rights mo. off topic > kaya mas maganda talaga ang wired dsl in terms of connection, wala nga lang mobility.
junix says:
kung madami kau hinaing sa smart anjan naman c globe y dont ya try it kesa naman kumukunot at nagkaka wrinkles mga nuo at face nyo nu theres alternatives, ive heard dat globe has the 4g dko pa maxiado nbasa ads.
Everage says:
Nkacontract nga po kasi /pif
fjordz says:
Aww! Why the hell are they doing this? Letter sender is right. I think, Smart should also decrease the MSF.
Jam says:
Yes, I agree. Dapat ibaba din ang monthly service fee.
jalvaran says:
I’ve have seen Smart sponsoring some ad on the ring of Many Pacquiao’s fight and now it doesn’t surprise me those millions of money that should have been spent on improving their facilities/service was swayed on the ring fight that barely lasted an hour.
I have a Smart Bro back at home. For the record I decided to subscribe to it the day when they started placing those ads on TV. Back then it was fast enough and I was impressed with the customer service. But after a few years it became a sell out. Speed and customer service went to turtle.
They added more customers yet the facilities and the number of employees remained as it is with pea size upgrades. And now the labels they promised could be changed without government interference, without even the fear of losing customers. Why? The telecom industry in our country is still playing monopoly of 2 corporation, the same cases with oil, competition in prices and service is not as stiff as the washing detergents we often saw in advertisement, hence they could change their labels anytime they want.
paul says:
And now considering they purchased SUN, Wonder how will it affect as all subscribers both.
jp says:
sabi nga nung prof ko dati na isa ng system architect sa smart, at pati yung skulmate ko na NOC Engineer sa Smart na ang motto nila ay Quantity muna bago quality…
sonny says:
My max speed is 1.6 mbps and that only starts between 11 pm to 9 am after that the speed drops to 500 kbps. Pag dinowngrade pa nila yung 1.6 mbps na yan ewan ko lang. 2mbps nga nd nila maibigay, idodowngrade pa?
julskechap says:
well actually smart bro has been calling me for quite some time now asking if i want to avail of their promo that would lower my monthly fee from 999 to 799. its gonna be another 2 year lock in period though.
i wonder if this so called promo theyve been offering me is part of this speed downgrade. hmmm.
kechap says:
well actually smart bro has been calling me for quite some time now asking if i want to avail of their promo that would lower my monthly fee from 999 to 799. its gonna be another 2 year lock in period though.
i wonder if this so called promo theyve been offering me is part of this speed downgrade. hmmm.
Dave Starr says:
Hope you get some sort of meaningful response from Smart, Abe. Good luck with that.
I’ve had a 999 plan with them for more than 4 years now. (I live in Bulacan, very close to the actual border of the Metro).
I have never seen anything close to 2 Meg. The last time I had a Smart tech here at my home, the best he really could get out of the network was 256Kbps, which he told me is all the committed data rate Smart is actually obligated to ptovide.
Lately, there have been very few outages … thanks for that, Smart … but the network suffers horribly from congestion/very low throughput. (30 or 40 seconds to load a single page … like, say, this one).
Since I am still connected, Smart’s CSR have no idea and no concept of the problem. Apparently no one in the CSR side of their organization even uses the Internet, so it’s basically impossible to get anyone to take the problem seriously.
Smart, by their actions, seems to care nothing at all about following through and actually providing what they sell. All the money goes to marketing, signing up new customers, (with locked in contracts that seem to only bind the cust0mer, certainly not Smart), and then sending the same fast talking sales staff out to yet another venue and making more undeliverable claims, day after day.
It’s a sad commentary on Smart and life here in the Philippines in general.
My observation as a foreigner who lives here full-time and tries his best to fit in … I find it there is no protection for the consumer at all, in most cases.
You pay your money, the companies take it and move on, and no branch of the government enforces the phony contracts that the Internet providers use to sell their products.
Reflects very badly upon the country as a whole, by the way. Sad.
I know many readers will see this and discount what I say … just another whiny foreigner … but I’m “married” to the Philippines, I live here, full-time and probably forever. My wife and I own property here, pay taxes, etc.
It’s my home too, and I hate to see companies fail to deliver on their promises just because “That’s the way we do it here in the Philippines”.
Jon says:
You are not alone, sir. A lot of Filipinos feel the same way. You are right. Consumers are almost never protected here.
As for my take, this is another chance for Smart to oversubscribe even more. I bet we would be experiencing even more horrible speeds soon. I am not surprised by this move. I saw this comming since lately, Smart has been throttling downloads.
As for me, I probably won’t be renewing my subscription come october.
Gabriel07 says:
Mabuhay ka Dave!!!! u are 100% absolutely right what u observe in the Philippines, about telecom company is a big shit for me……
jun says:
hays.. lahat na ng bandwidth nag increase.. naku malas nung mga nag pa extend ng 24 months…
Al says:
hayss.. sinabi mo pa, nag pa extend ako kasi ang bilis nung smartbro samen, then since last month parang ang bagal na.. di na makapag youtube ng maayos :(
sonny says:
So the telecoms company can change what they promised and agreed upon subscription? This is legal? Parang shortchanging the customer ito ah, whatever reason they may have, lugi pa rin ang consumer, yun ang bottomline, smart subscriber here btw
someone says:
yes it is legal. it is clearly written on their terms of agreement/service. catchphrases such as “subject to change without prior notice”, etc.
i’m not saying i agree with it, but what can we do? they’re the ones PROVIDING us with these SERVICES.
everage says:
Does that invalidate our contract ( which we doesn’t have copy ) with smart? And can be categorized as forgery/scam ?
kenok says:
Invalidates your contract? Scam? What?!?
No!
You can always re-read your service contact at anytime to check. They have the right to change their service. But if you’re an unsatisfied customer, feel free to ditch them for a better service as always.
;)