Satellite Internet on the Island costs Php9k

One of my biggest problems when going on vacation in one of the smaller islands in Palawan is lack of internet connectivity. The one we’re staying right now (Coral Bay, Coron) doesn’t even have electricity 24/7 and we’re only able to charge our gadgets in the evening (6pm to 6am).

The most common combo around here is a gas-powered electric generator and satellite internet.

And it’s an effective combo and a really expensive one. The satellite internet alone costs no less than Php9,000USD 153INR 13,001EUR 146CNY 1,117 per month for an entry-level plan. The owner of the resort forgot what was the promised speed but I can tell you it’s no better than a dial-up connection.

It’s so slow I can hardly load Speedtest.net properly.

So okay, I finally got one test out.

But in remote areas like Coron, Palawan where Globe doesn’t even have a decent signal (you’d be glad to see 1 bar but 90% of the time there’s no signal) and Smart can barely sustain GPRS for mobile internet, you don’t have any choice but to go satellite.

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

32 Comments

Rico says:

13 years ago

Anakputa ang bagal. Baby kupal satellite.
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Pusang Kulog says:

13 years ago

If there’s a 1 bar signal, a Repeater and a signal booster will most likely help and speed up the connection… Most probably, it would be better than a 0.08Mb download speed.
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Jonathan says:

13 years ago

On the up side you can really enjoy nature, old school enjoyment at its finest!
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Gadhou says:

13 years ago

+1 . . . It’s what I presume you went there in the first place. Some love from mother nature.
Digest says:

13 years ago

I agree.

Dapat naman talaga ganito ang purpose sa pagpunta sa mga ganyan na lugar at hindi kung ano anong borloloy dala mo. Sir Yuga, magtaka ka kung ganyan speed ng net tapos nasa bahay, office or mall ka. lol

dan says:

13 years ago

^yup that’s the whole idea which is to enjoy nature, tech savy people and remote paradise island doesn’t mix. TF i don’t want to go to the tip of davao oriental just to post a comment or tweet something
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vince says:

13 years ago

for emergencies ther’s always the cantenna or a wok-fi style reflector for increasing the cellphone signals, if you have a neighboring island with a cellsite thats above the horizon
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techjunkeez says:

13 years ago

anyway, palawan is a place where you can forget for a while everything about technology. enjoy being there and don’t stressed yourself too much with the not-so-close-to-dial-up internet speed :P
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manaka_junpei says:

13 years ago

balikan natin ang nakaraang dekada kung ang internet connection noon 56kbps until lumaki pa ang bandwidth, pero ang Satellite Internet noong nakaraang dekada ay 256kbps Download speed, malamang yung 0.08 DL speed is equivalent to 768kbps or less maybe dial-up speed na mga 14.4kbps na parang noong BBSing days pa yan.
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carloxy says:

13 years ago

went to palawan 2 months ago, but in elnido not coron, the internet there is fast, not super fast but enough to watch youtube while doing some browsing. the most relaxing thing i did there is to lay by the beach, watch the sunset while browsing my laptop( cause the our cottage is so close to the beach ). Good thing we went to elnido instead of coron hehe
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Berto Putik says:

13 years ago

Parang ganyan sa province nmn..pro mas malala pa ang oras ng kuryente. from 6pm to 11pm.

Pero sa totoo lang..pag andun ako.di ko na ginagalaw ang netbook at cp(kahit may signal pa) kc uumuuwi ako ng province para mag relax at lumayo muna sa magulong buhay sa syudad pansamantala.
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mattscradle says:

13 years ago

buti pa nga dyan meron kahit .08mbps dito sa tondo ganun din hindi ko ma load ang speedtest.net dahil sa bagal ng internet ng globe.
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