The Curious Case of Wi-Tribe Bandwidth Cap

The recent soft-launch of Wi-Tribe in the Philippines drew mixed reactions. While a number of people were excited about another telco-challenger, a few others who’ve tried it during the beta phase are complaining about the bandwidth cap.

The biggest complaint so far is the bandwidth caps being imposed by Wi-Tribe (although we already know other telcos are also doing some sort of bandwidth capping for years now).

Some reports coming in is that P2P traffic is limited to only 3GB per month. However, if you use the service between 1am to 7am, your bandwidth usage will not be logged/monitored (according to their Fair Use Policy).

If the 3GB cap is reached, the 1Mbps connection will be throttled down to just 256Kbps. This is then re-set back to normal on the next monthly cycle. (The figures here have not been verified since Wi-Tribe’s Fair Use Policy does not specify the numbers).

Area of coverage for Wi-Tribe.

Why have one?

Well it’s designed to make sure your broadband service is fast and reliable whenever you use it.

Some of our broadband customers use file sharing software and download large files like music and videos. This uses up lots of network capacity leaving less available for you. If they’re doing this at peak times, it could mean that the speed of your broadband service will be affected.

Am I likely to be affected by the Fair Use Policy?

If you don’t use file sharing software or download large files from the Internet it’s unlikely you’ll ever be affected by this policy. If you do, all we ask is that you do so considerately, perhaps by downloading outside the peak hours of 1am to 7am. Don’t forget that media streaming, including the streaming of internet radio contributes to your use of bandwidth and may, if left permanently on, cause you to be in breach of this policy.

What will happen if my use is very high?

If you only occasionally have very high usage, we’re unlikely to be concerned. If it is happening regularly, we may either have to reduce the transmission speed of your broadband while we continue to keep an eye on your usage, or suspend your service and/or possibly close your account.

We don’t want to do that, and with your support and goodwill we’ll work with you to see if we can avoid this happening.

I think 3GB is just too small for a bandwidth cap. Maybe somewhere around 20GB could be a “fair” limit. That un-metered slot between 1am to 7am is classic for dial-up providers even until now.

Will have to follow this up and confirm some of the details with Wi-Tribe.