Latest public report from PLDT Investor Relations showed Smart Bro as the largest broadband service in the country with over 384,000 subscribers nationwide since it was first launched in June 2005.
In its 2008 1st Quarter report, PLDT revelead that Smart Bro’s subscribers surpassed PLDT myDSL service since end of 2007. PLDT myDSL has about 300,000 subscribers by end of March 2008 and 264k at end of 2007.
Based on their historical data I gathered from old annual reports, I’ve plotted the growth of Smart Bro since it was offered in June 2005.
Legend: Dark Orange bars: Total subscribers for the quarter. Light Orange bars: Number of new subscribers for that quarter.
In 2007, Smart Bro was able to more than double its subscriber base from 122k to 302k, a 148% increase. Despite the growing number of complaints about the service, it was able to gain the highest ever number of sales leads from January to March 2008 at 82,000 subscribers. Interesting numbers, huh? And the graph looks like the growth is exponential.
I couldn’t find the figures for PLDT WeRoam but from my computations, it’s somewhere between 13,000 15,000 subscribers. WeRoam is also considered part of PLDT’s broadband service. Don’t have the numbers from Globe and Eastern Telecoms but PLDT claims 70% share of the combined broadband market in the Philippines.
Fro copies of PLDT’s public records, download the Annual Reports from their Investor Relations webpage here.
Disclosure: Smart Bro is an advertiser of this blog.
YugaTech.com is the largest and longest-running technology site in the Philippines. Originally established in October 2002, the site was transformed into a full-fledged technology platform in 2005.
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Smart SUCKS says:
Smart is one of the WORST and most CORRUPT companies in the world. Their advertising is FALSE. Their internet infrastructure is not properly equipped to provide true HSPA internet at ful speeds. I have a shareit router for 6 months now. The base station here has been BROKEN for a full 35 DAYS! All I get from the call center support is excuses and apologies.
I’m ready to smash this damned router with a hammer and bring it to the smart service center. I will place the pile of rubbish on their desk and LOUDLY proclaim that SMARTBRO SUCKS and I QUIT! Let them try to sue me for breach of contract- it was THEY who breached it by NOT PROVIDING SERVICE.
If you are considering the shareit router, DON’T DO IT! They didn’t even beta test it- that is what they are doing now, and CHARGING FULL rates to do it. As anybody knows, beta testing is NOT TO BE CHARGED for, it’s only for testing purposes. But Smart is so fucking greedy they will gladly steal your money as if you are a cash cow
Danidanado says:
Yup. Smart is as about as smart as a bag of hammers. My asawa and I signed up two weeks ago. The same day they showed up and installed an antenna and it worked great! We were so happy and pleased I was ready to tell everybody how prompt and efficient they were.
Ya, right. Two hours after they left the connection was lost. I got on the phone (globe) and called them. After going through all the press this button for this and this button for that it took four minutes to talk to service rep. He made me go through a bunch of systems check and then made an appointment for a techie to come and repair the canopy style antenna. The techie was late and in a hurry but it worked for about ten minutes after he left. I got on the phone again and the rep said they were doing upgrades to the tower. Ya right! I can seethe tower from here and saw no one up the tower. I rode my bike over to see if they were working at the base of the tower but saw no one. I asked the neighbors nearby the tower and they said no one had been there for weeks if not months. !st lie.
I called again the next morning and they were oh so sorry! Ya right! They said that they were actually doing upgrades remotely. Ya right! Said that if I would kindly wait for 24 hours my connection would be would fixed. Ya right. So I called again but while calling my load ran out! So far, I’m out P499 for the hook-up, and P300 for the globe load. I bought a new sim card fro smart so not to have to pay for the calls.
So far I’m out p499, P300, and P40 for the sim card and P300 for the smart load. I call again Again they say about the upgrades and please be patient for 24 hours. OK. After 24 hours I called again nd made an appointment for a techie to come and re align our antenna. Again the techie was late and I’m getting a little irate! But he fixed it in about 15 minutes and we had connection for about two hours. Si I called again and again they made go through all the nonsense of checking the systems on my computer. They then said a techie or rep would be calling to inform us when the techie would arrive to again re align our antenna. No call. After two days I called again with all the same procedures and BS. The rep said the techie would come by in the AM to find and fix the problem.
By noon there was still no sign of the techie. I called again. Same BS as before. The techie finally did show up after 2PM. I said enough is enough, don’t bother trying to fix it just take down the antenna because we no long have any confidence in Smart. They refused saying they were only authorized to make repairs. If I did not want the repair sign the refusal form. I lost it! I said get lost then and closed the door.
I called Smart today to cancel our subscription…..they said I have to go to one of their offices to unsubscribe and that I would have “TO PAY” P320 to cancel! I told the rep that according to our agreement if we were not satisfied with their service we could cancel without penalty with in two weeks. I also said that we would not under any circumstances go out of our way to take time and money to cancel.
Before hanging up on the rep I said that if they don’t come and get their antenna it could very well just stay there as an ornament as that is all it’s good for! I said I don’t like being lied to and that they had cause unreasonable frustration and mental anguish as we have been without an internet connection for two weeks and felt like a prisoner under house arrest held incommunicado.
In short, I kissed their butt for two weeks, now we are with Globe for two days and it’s cheaper, more reliable and faster than Smart ever was. It is an almost a certainty that the cause was the guide line cables that support the antenna that if improperly secured loosen and the antenna’s focus on the tower is off by a degree or two.
PS. It’s now time for them to kiss my butt! I’ll make sure not to be home when they come for the antenna for a few times anyway. I wasted my hard earned cash for a worthless system, if all the revenge I can get is this then so be it, I will waste their time and money as long as I can.
PSS. Thanks for the opportunity to rant!
lhanie says:
almost 1 month palang ako nakakabit di na me makaconnect ng tumawag ako sa customer service d nila alam ang gagawin ang sabi pa bnblock daw yun signal eh sa kanila naman galing iyon divice bakit ganon ang technician nila ay para sa internet lang daw walang pwedeng magservice sa bahay,tapos free installation daw pero siningil kami ng 1700 ng nagkabit ask ko lang mas oky ba ang globe broadband compared dito sa smartbroadband.pls sobrang stress na ko plano ko ng ipatanggal
nell says:
smartbro is a bullshit!!!
roland says:
kindly please help me what to do with my smart broadband connection. I have my wireless router but it does not function when i connect to smart broadband connection… are there any alternative on what to do… please give some procedure to follow on how to activate the wireless router using the smart broadband connection… thank you and more power….
Chino says:
SmartBro Plan 999 is the best, unlimited internet up to 1Mbps!
If u have any inquiries, just email and give me your location
smart****@****.***
Thanks.
sparrow says:
ang hina ng smart. marami subscriber ang di satified sa service nila. wak kau pabiktima
driftracer85 says:
The problem with Smart is that their customer service representatives are NOT Smart. Do they call themselves technical support representatives??? Most of us in this forum even know more things than them.
Most of their representatives are useless. After a month of slow 3G/HSDPA connection, I was able to fix the configuration myself!!!!
By the way, the Smart Bro USB Modem is way better than the Canopy Subscription. I’m wondering why the Canopy Subscription cannot do 2mbps…
juliet says:
any help how to email thier lousy company,i been trying to find thier contact email add..if i was on PI they cant do this to me,they will be in trouble,gonna publish it online and tell thier loads of shit
juliet says:
i hate this smartbro i been paid my relocation for 1450 on my new place,but until now i havent go connection ,i been trying to call them but unfortunately its fortune to call them cause i was here in hte Uk ,i been dying to chat to my kids,but still no luck,tough so im gonna mmake some comment on thier awful company
carlo_cortez says:
I don’t believe for the service of SMART! They kept on fooling our fellow Filipino to rob the transaction and the service is just a bullshit! Many Filipinos are complaining about those very stupid services by SMART. SMART employees are kept on focusing on sales and not on services. They don’t care about the concern of SMART subscribers. I wanna piss up, SMART employees, you’re just a fucking liar! Mr. Napoleon Nazareno, you’re the ignorant for the Filipinos!
raven says:
what is useful, SmartBro or Globe broadband?
Tsong says:
384,000 subscribers? i bet 99% are the unhappy ones.
this kind of reports are misleading and should be stopped. there should be a breakdown on how many are satisfied and dissatisfied subscribers.
susan says:
,,,uhmm.
pwede pu b ung 4ever connected tas isang byaran nln?
kung gnun..mgkno?
LOKU says:
SHIT,,,, Pagkabit palang 20-40kbps, sabit ng technician na nagkabit yon lancard daw. noon nakakuha ako ng isa pa computer ganoon parin( tanga technicain).. tawag ako ng tawag sa hotline(*1888) lagi sabi 22-48hrs day.. umabot na sa isang buwan doon lang nila naayos….nakakakuha na ng 80-350kbps, pagkraan ng 2 week balik nnamn sa 4-40kbps, at nawawala pa connection….
sevice 2/10
connection 2/10
recommendation:
PLDT, OR any Cable modem, Globe(ok pa namn sa ngayon)
Goe D says:
Good info and timing on my coming vacation this summer (U.S) in the Philippines. I called my brother and asked what is the best broadband co. that I can use during my travel and he told me of this Smart Bro. Googling on it and figured out I can saved more Php or $$$ using it. Is it true that I need to pay the unit for Php 4.5K and Php 10.00 for every 30 mins? Please confirm. I’ll be working in Manila for 1 week and a half. If anyone can direct me to a seller/distributor, email me details @ ****@****.*** and leave your # so I can reach you on June 8. I’ll be using the service from June 10-July 3.
Thanks for this great post, Abe.
geocine says:
my i’ve been a smart broadband subscriber since it was released as smart wifi.. fortunately, all my problems were gone when they changed the name to smart bro..
BrianB says:
blozoom,
you think that eee pc is free? Nope. Compare the connection speed with the price of other connection speeds. Kasama na yan sa presyo.
blozoom! says:
^yeah man, gabi lang meron connection. . finally our condo-bldg opened up for globelines entry. at least @ P1500 may landline na, asus eepc pa and broadband. globe is FAAAAAAAAAAAAR from perfect, but im 100% sure, it can be as bad as my smartbro.
vaughn says:
good for you blozoom, i still have 2 months left in my lock-in. it gets worse when its raining, it wasnt like this for the first 6 months
blozoom! says:
they are the largest and the awfulest. 3 days to go smartbro and out.
Jan Alvin says:
I hope they maintain the quality of their service with this huge increase of subscribers per year/quarter.
Abe Olandres says:
Ahh, that’s the amount of new subscribers for that quarter.
Alfie says:
What’s that short bar beside the tall bar?
BrianB says:
OFFER: Anyone who wants to get rid of his pre-existing Globe Innove Internet account, I can take it off your hands. Just email me on my link above or here (arv_brotarlo_05 at yahoo .com).
You will have to transfer it to my new address. I’ll even give you an Ibiza Rhapsody:
http://www.amazon.com/ibiza-Rhapsody-H1A030BK-Wi-Fi-Player/dp/B000XRQ2Q6
for your trouble. If it’s a 2MB with landline, I’ll appreciate it. Pwede rin 3MB.
Globe is very tentative about approving a new application for me. Your account should be problem free though.
Bigbird says:
hmmmm… is this good or bad???