HEY YOU! 'Bro!
(PREFACE NOTE: To be fair, I will state for the record that SMART does care and generally does listen to its customers. They’ve established social media services on Twitter @ Smartcares and willingly accept comments regarding customer concerns via e-mail at ISMS@smart.com.ph )
As much as I’d like it to be, this is not an “Open Letter to SMART Bro.” It’s more like venting my frustrations than anything else. I mean, I’ve been pretty doggone patient and understanding over these past four months. Things seem to have arrived at a point, however, where I am starting to feel as though someone is taking advantage of my patience and understanding, and ignoring their duty to fulfill their contract to the best of their ability.
I am at a precipice, delicately balancing all considerations while trying to maintain that patient and understanding outlook on my current situation.
Perhaps the flood of SMART Bro commercials appearing on the various local television channels or playing endlessly on the local radio stations has tossed a little imbalance into the game. I can still hear the “Nine out of Ten” claims echoing from the sala.
Well, here’s a “shout out” from that “One out of Ten”!
Local ‘Bro is Outstanding
I’ve no beef with those members of the SMART Bro organization here in my municipality and in the provincial capital of Laoag City. They have served me extremely well.
Signing on for SMART’s broadband internet service was simple and without any hassle or tedious wait. Courteous, friendly, and beaming with customer service, the personnel at the local PLDT office really took good care of my application and me. I went out of my way to pass my commendations to them personally and to their managers in 
their presence. I wish all business people I deal with in The Philippines were so considerate and caring.
The local technical team quickly responded to the internet connectivity problems that unexpectedly popped up during the past four months and resolved them well beyond my best expectations. Like anyone inconvenienced, I had wished the team to have shown up and cured the internet ailments “yesterday,” but I did realize that I had a definite place on their list of repairs and found their response time to more than make up for any inconvenience I experienced. Cures were solid and sure. I couldn’t ask for more. Here, again, I made sure that I mentioned my complete and total satisfaction with the team’s efforts and their prompt problem resolutions when completing the follow-on “How’s our service?” survey.
The Gripes Begin Here, ‘Bro
I must reiterate – I’ve no problems with the local SMART Bro organization. They’re tops in my book. They’ve done and continue to do their job efficiently, effectively and with the customer foremost in their professional minds.
Outside of those local stalwarts of good service, there’s a problem – a BIG, SMART Bro problem. I know there must be people elsewhere in the national organization, but they lay low and pretty much reside below the radar or off the radar screen. The problem appears systemic.
Not having a landline, I’ve more than once used up my (Globe) cell phone loads contacting SMART’s “toll free” customer service number in Manila, being placed on hold for “just one moment, sir,” and watching my cell pesos pay for my “enjoyment” of the latest SMART Bro advertisements playing in my phone’s earpiece.
Even the simple joy of talking to a human being seems tainted. One “customer service” clerk, upon hearing of my being unable to use the internet, suggested that I download this or that software tool from the SMART Bro website and that would undoubtedly help me. DUH! I would if I could connect to the website! (The software tools, by the way, don’t help – they won’t work properly if one can’t establish a connection via the internet.)
I’m afraid the best “customer service” technical advice I’ve received via my cell phone was an honest response from a young woman who apparently hadn’t been with the organization long enough to pick up their “techniques”: “I’m sorry, sir, you’ll just have to wait until your internet comes back!”
Beyond the SMART Telecommunications Tower
ATTENTION SMART Bro – lost service doesn’t “come back” just like that. In fact, lost service doesn’t come back at all. It’s gone! POOF! It’s lost forever in the ether, never to come back. Service can be restored but, once lost, can never be recovered.
My contract states that I will receive unlimited internet connectivity 24 hours a day, 7 days a week so long as I keep my account current. Well, I HOPE TO SHOUT that I WOULD CONSIDER MYSELF LUCKY if I have ever received a day or two’s worth of 24 continuous, uninterrupted hours of internet connectivity since I’ve started using SMART Bro. Patient? Yes. Understanding? Most definitely. Tired of poor service? YOU BETCHA!
I understand that these past few months have been plagued with the type of weather conditions that prowl on and attack utilities such as electricity and telecommunications. I can understand how typhoon rains and winds, with their accompanying floods and landslides, could hamper or eliminate such services. I cannot fault SMART Bro for service interruptions occurring while I’m experiencing a brown out.
Tell me, SMART Bro: With all of the bad weather, and its accompanying physical maladies, why is it I can still text or speak on my cell phone? It is similar technology, handled pretty much via systems found on the same telecommunications towers outside weathering the storms. I wish I knew. I’ve often wondered why groups like the N.P.A., the M.I.L.F. and the A.S.G. target telecommunications towers for explosive destruction. (Could insufficient or nonexistent download speeds be a contributing factor?)
I also wonder why it is that I can now accurately predict a pending brown out by observing a pattern of intermittent then nonexistent internet service offered by SMART Bro. Yes, if I observe certain characteristics “on line,” I can bet anyone “dollars (or pesos) to donuts” that an electrical brown out will shortly ensue.
I Can Communicate With “Our” Tower
Being experienced in electronic and information systems troubleshooting (a previous career best not elaborated); I can tell where a problem does not exist. Telecommunications technicians have always used the “It’s on the distant end” method of fixing problems whenever they found themselves in over their heads. In my case, the problem is not on this end. Nor is it between my antenna and the telecommunications tower at which my antenna is pointed.
On one occasion of a SMART Bro technical team visit, I “obtained” access to their link testing protocols for my service (and my service alone). With these smart tools, I can see whether my antenna is in proper alignment with and my equipment is effectively “talking” to the equipment located on the nearby telecommunications tower. I use these testing protocols quite religiously whenever the internet gets flakey.
The result is usually the same – no problem communicating with the tower. If I knew the electronic addresses of the nodes further down the link, I’d be able to test them as well. Unfortunately, I can only avow for my equipment, that nearby tower’s equipment feeding me, and the 5,978 feet of air between my antenna and that on the tower. Power levels are always at peak performance levels, “jitter” is barely existent, and all is well with the world.
So, What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
The intermittent and poor internet connectivity problems I experience obviously originate elsewhere. Somewhere among all of the system nodes, routers, wire-wraps and jury rigs, there is a poor internet connection mirroring itself on my computer’s screen. I’ve checked everything on this 5,978-foot end, SMART Bro. How about a little troubleshooting assistance, here?
Please check the equipment on your end. If it’s not causing the problem, then check the system between us. I’ve got my side of “our” tower, which I longingly gaze at day after day, covered. You cover the other side from that point on up to your equipment.
While you’re at it, how about repairing the aircraft warning lights on “our” tower. They haven’t been “seen” in ages – I see the Globe and the Sun towers’ warning lights every night.
Oh, one more thing: HOW ABOUT CREDITING MY BILL FOR THE SPOTTY OR NONEXISTENT SERVICE? I readily pay my bill on time, every month, as directed by our contract. Filling out additional paperwork and waiting over three months to possibly receive (or be denied) credit is NOT a billing credit – it’s a deterrent at best, and a nightmare at worst. If you can’t “carry the water” and provide it to me, why should I pay you for it?
Just think – if you cleared up these problems, you endless commercials could quote “Ten out of Ten”!
(UPDATE: Once again, my sense of fair play demands that I provide this update.
I’ve been monitoring my “24/7 connectivity” on a 24/7 basis during the past three weeks. While there hasn’t been a single calendar date [e.g., 12:00 midnight, November 1 to 12:00 midnight, November 2] of continuous 24 hour connectivity – and certainly no two consecutive dates of 24/2 connectivity – there have been periods of connectivity that exceeded 24 continuous hours. Unfortunately, the outages which broke the “Bro’s winning streaks” occurred in peak moments, when I needed connectivity the most.
So, I still don’t get 24/7 connectivity but I do get a few random 24 continuous hour periods of connectivity during the 7 day week. Download and Upload speeds reflect 6% – 14% of the SMART Bro averages [speed test results obtained from and are available at www.testmy.net]. My Upload speeds are most often faster than my Download speeds. I think there’s more than one problem here, ‘Bro!
My “next appointment” with the SMART Bro Tech Team is 11/24 – quite a wait this time around, as there are a “lot of problems” that are being taken care of. I shudder while thinking, perhaps, that this next visit will be a repeat of prior visits. The techs will check antenna alignment, signal strengths, jitter, and BER [Bit Error Rate], find all within tolerances, bust a few moves to show that they’re doing something, and depart victorious from another “it’s not on our end” battle with the illusive connectivity monster.
If and when all problems are solved [i.e., I am receiving 24/7 continuous internet connectivity without drop-outs, my Download and Upload speeds come close to matching SMART Bro's average customer speeds, and I receive adequate compensation - in the form of a true billing credit - for the lack of service I've been subjected to over the past four months], I will immediately and joyfully rush to my laptop and compose an article praising SMART communications and lauding their broadband internet service, and post it without delay – provided that I’m able to access LiP. )
Last 5 posts by PaulK
- A House In Pasuquin - March 11th, 2010
- Gee . . . WOMEN! - March 4th, 2010
- SMART Bro Update - February 25th, 2010
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- The Tax Man Cometh - February 11th, 2010
Paul,
If you want to see where ‘up the line’ problems are occuring, try the following:
traceroute 74.125.53.100
(under windows, I think the same command is tracert)
As long as their equipment doesn’t have icmp replies turned off (or as long as something in a hop doesn’t block them) then you’ll be able to see each router (subnet change more precisely) that your packets are going through/trying to go through and pinpoint where the problem is.
Often you’ll get intelligible names back from a traceroute (thanks to reverse DNS) so, it’s often easy to identify which of your ISPs (or their upstream carrier’s) devices is at fault.
74.125.53.100 is one of the addresses of google.com
For example:
traceroute to 74.125.53.100 (74.125.53.100), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1 my.router (192.168.112.1) 2.080 ms 0.668 ms 0.731 ms
2 * * *
3 * * *
4 * * *
5 87-194-0-206.bethere.co.uk (87.194.0.206) 193.948 ms 240.389 ms 146.214 ms
6 64.233.175.25 (64.233.175.25) 440.759 ms 195.930 ms
64.233.175.27 (64.233.175.27) 187.702 ms
7 216.239.43.192 (216.239.43.192) 504.631 ms 450.632 ms
209.85.250.54 (209.85.250.54) 289.543 ms
8 209.85.251.233 (209.85.251.233) 290.658 ms
216.239.46.14 (216.239.46.14) 235.815 ms 511.308 ms
9 216.239.43.80 (216.239.43.80) 512.209 ms
72.14.233.116 (72.14.233.116) 295.901 ms 610.132 ms
10 209.85.250.126 (209.85.250.126) 511.897 ms
72.14.239.12 (72.14.239.12) 642.963 ms
209.85.250.126 (209.85.250.126) 355.478 ms
11 209.85.250.144 (209.85.250.144) 574.373 ms
216.239.48.34 (216.239.48.34) 462.149 ms 549.448 ms
12 216.239.48.139 (216.239.48.139) 513.290 ms
64.233.174.123 (64.233.174.123) 484.787 ms
216.239.48.139 (216.239.48.139) 484.505 ms
13 72.14.232.70 (72.14.232.70) 614.357 ms
72.14.232.2 (72.14.232.2) 505.568 ms 294.599 ms
14 pw-in-f100.1e100.net (74.125.53.100) 248.390 ms 473.424 ms 301.804 ms
note that after my router (192.168.112.1) there are 3 devices that don’t respond to requests, then, there’s the device that routes out from my ISP:
5 87-194-0-206.bethere.co.uk
Unfortunately mine doesn’t have many useful names in it – that isn’t to say yours won’t.
Hi Paul – Power Net here in Michigan was the same way. The trouble with them they were the only game in town. Living in the boondocks is sometimes like that. Hope things get better for you. Your test speed site is a mess for me. Most of the time I can make a 8,000 miles trip to CDO and back with speeds well over 2Megs. I could only get half of that today using the same site as you do. Something is bad! And it isn’t on my end. I am downloading music from France right now and it too is over 2Megs. Anyway Paul…at least you are getting better than dial-up speed.
For a State-side test try: http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest
You will have about 5 different cities to pick from.
Take care and Good luck,
Gary
Hi Paul- With your knowledge and experience from the “un-elaborated previous career”, why bother with SMART Bro???
Hi Paul,
Great writing. I can feel your frustration from way up here in Austria! Not too sure whether I could live with that or not. I cry when ours is off for 10 minutes! Good luck!
Hi
So are you going to stay with SmartBro???
What are your other options???
Hi Paul,
Is there only one tower in your area? if you have access to your canopy web settings and it there’s another tower, you can reposition your canopy to another tower and see if you have a better luck with it.
hi paul,
are you actually losing the signal in 5~15 minutes interval? or is your signal is always present but no network activity?
if you are constantly connected to the AP and not losing the signal at all but you are just losing the network activity, that would sound like a back haul problem.
You mentioned not having any problems using your cell phone while these various outages have taken place. Has it occurred to you that maybe you should consider a 3G/UMTS provider instead? This service relies on the cellular packet network. It’s available throughout most of the Philippines.
Nomad4ever had a brief writup about his Philipine exeperiences with it not long ago.
http://www.nomad4ever.com/2009/08/17/3gumts-internet-smartbro-or-globe-tattoo-in-the-philippines/
If the service you are already using is somehow leveraging this technology, please disregard my suggestions as they clearly won’t help.
Hi Paul;
My former roommate in the Chiefs Quarters on Diego Garcia was a member of your pervious career group; he would fully understand your message to Smart Bro. This Paul read it twice, and the best I got was you don’t get good internet service. Quick on the up take ain’t I?
It was the credit adjustment that made me smile, as for the last 10 years I’ve used Dream Satellite TV, which will not broadcast during hard rain. Has gone off line while they were doing up grades, was off for 10 days while they changed their security boxes and many more reason.
When I asked for a credit adjustment, they looked at me like I was just insane, scratched their heads collectively, and returned to speaking among themselves. Since I have ESPN and I can see all my Ball Games live. Albeit I must awaken early, I stopped asking, and will just wait until pigs fly!
Hi Paul,
I don’t know if its relevant to your problem or not.
I remember reading an article from Singapore back in mid August after typhoon Morakat hit Taiwan and China.
It stated that internet and voice call connectivity had seriously been disrupted throughout S E Asia.
Seven under sea cables linking Asia(including PI)had been damaged by undersea landslides.
At that time, the extent of the damage was unknown, but they predicted that it would take several months for full service to be restored.
However, i have not seen any updates on this since.
regards Chas.
Hi Sir,
We are currently checking your concern regarding your Smart Bro subscription rest assured that we are closely monitoring it.
Thank you
Social Media Services
Smart Communications
MOVIE QUOTE: “I think we have a critic here!”
Film: . . . “Falling Down” (1993)
Character:. Bill “D-Fens” Foster (played by Michael Douglas)
Location: . “Whammy Burger” (“D-Fens” trying to order breakfast)
hi paul,
there are 2 filipinos who left pldt/smart company and they went abroad, I had a chance of speaking with them, they are now working with the biggest telephone company here, they do the same work here as they did back home, installing DSLAM for the DSL, installing sectoral antenna for wifi, they could not believe it when they learned that the minimum dsl speed you can get here is 4mbps and the contention ratio is just 1:3, they said with PLDT a 2mbps speed is contented to 1:30 or higher. the other guy whose main job is to climb the tower to install antenna is paid less and no adequate safety when they climbed, while here, they have multiple safety harness, a lifter to bring them up the tower, and they are paid 20 times more than in the philippines and a hazard pay.
Now no wonder why many “brilliant” and “genius” Filipinos opted to go abroad.
I have had hours upon hours of hair pulling fun talking to Smartbro , I now know everyword they will say from the scripts. Perhaps I should apply??
Hi Paul,
This is how i see it.
Signed into a locked contract which offers a service.
The service is not being provided,but you still have to pay.
Technically that is fraud.
Good grounds for estafa i would think.
regards Chas.
Hi paul,
I think smart company should start to re-train their people especially their so called “engineers” or better yet fire them all, every time you call their “technical support” all they will answer you is their system is “under maintenance”, heck if they cannot make their system to work properly, then they should fire every communication engineers they have, what’s the point of hiring them if their system is always “under maintenance”? get my drift?
also, smart company should hire someone who can conduct the hypnotherapy to all their people to repeat these words while eyes are closed
“Our customer is the bread and butter”
“Our customer is the bread and butter”
“Our customer is the bread and butter”
“Our customer is the bread and butter”
“Our customer is the bread and butter”
“Our customer is the bread and butter”
Lol!
Paul;
May I tip using PayPal? I’m heading to the beer locker right now, as it’s past noon somewhere! And I had a double meat BMT Subway for breakfast. All the comforts!!! (10am)
Hi Kent – Thanks for your comments and suggestions. I’ll add all to my collection!
I use some software (a little dated, but still quite efficient) from SamSpade.org (and a number of other applications) to trace routes and perform a lot of other testing. I’ve emailed results from my tests to the SMART communications techies in hopes that it will help, but don’t ever see any improvements of hear back from them as to whether those results help.
It’s sort of a “rice bowl” mentality in the telecommunications world here, I’ve discovered, with “outsiders messing with one’s rice bowl” is often seen as unwanted intrusion.
There are a couple of nodes owned by an Australian firm that show problemsome, but nothing gets changed. One tends to wonder what “sweetheart” deal might be destroyed if the “rice bowl” is disturbed.
At least they know they’re not messing with an amateur here. (That “un-elaborated previous career” dealt numerous systems and developments that, today, are called “internet.”)
Hi Gary – Oh for the days of high-speed cable networks and even higher-speed optic networks! I can download music on good days, provided that I’m willing to “wait for it”!
Yet, this is where I want to be and, in particular, this situation is one of the “adjustments” I have to make. I won’t be “cheated” out of my bits, though.
I’ve “speakeasy” and about 7 or 8 other speed tests/bandwidth tests that I employ, just to make sure it’s “not on this end.” I’m “loaded for bear” when it comes to “the ‘trons”!
Forgot to mention that the speed test website I cited and one other “in-country” test site are about all the SMART tech folks will talk about. Can’t blame them – Using many of the test platforms in other countries brings in too many additional problems and quirks. I’ve enough affecting my BERs as it is (and I don’t mean the “ber” months!)
Hi John – ’cause communications satellite encryption algorithms have come up to par with those of “other” satellite systems and can’t be cracked as easily as before. Also, more satcomm firms are starting to expand their intranet (in-firm net) via leased satcom links on an as-needed basis and only connect to internet (www) locally. Result is fewer “opportunities among the birds” in the sky.
(Don’t think I haven’t thought about it!
)
Hahaha, you’re too much, Paul. Aren’t you laying it on too thick, here? Hahaha I love it…
Serious as a heart attack, John. Thought you were, too.
Hi John – No need for tears here. They wouldn’t do any good even if I’d cry them.
Don’t know that I’m frustrated – the venting did release some of the pressure – but it appears that neighbors with SMART Bro broadband service are starting to wake up.
A nephew across the street from us (with his antenna only a couple of hundred feet further from “our” tower) has always thought that the speeds he was working with were the speeds that were allegedly available. That one tower serves most of the municipality and surrounding agricultural barangays within line of sight. None of his friends had any better internet access as they all are on SMART Bro via the same tower, etc.
Now, I think the “power of numbers” will help all concerned. If there is any frustration, it will be at the PLDT office when everyone comes to say, “Hey You! ‘Bro!”
Hi Tylene – Well, I made a contract with SMART Communications for SMART Bro broadband internet service and am locked in with a one year service agreement.
It may sound corny, but I’ll “do the honorable thing,” and continue to honor the contract’s stipulations. I think a year is long enough to get things “fixed” around here!
Other options would include the new GLOBE wireless broadband service, a different SMART wireless service, and a slew of landline related services from different carriers were I to install a landline telephone in this house.
It’s not that I can’t go anywhere else. I don’t want to. I know that, when working properly, the SMART Bro broadband service beats almost every other service hands down. I just need it to work properly.
Being out in the provinces does have its drawbacks, but there’s also the benefit of a slower pace of life. No need to get excited – I can always go to the beach or something else.
Hi dans – Unfortunately, there’s only one tower that my system can “see.” (That’s a little bit of the annoyance – being able to visually and electronically “see” the antenna on the tower just over a mile away yet . . . .)
There are two other towers within range, but local topography masks them – they’re connected to “our” tower via smaller microwave links whose towers I can “see” atop the mountains between us.
Same would go for Globe and Sun. I’m looking out the window right now and see all three towers to our south. They are practically the same set-ups, just different franchises. Each has microwave links to get over the mountains to reach their next subscriber service towers.
Not a big deal, though. I “signed on” for this life style!
hi paul,
I am a WISP (wireless internet provider) and I know exactly the common problem with wireless internet.
It seems to me that the problem is more of back haul congestion from tower to tower link, the problem with the wisp in the philippines is they over populate the back haul or the access point, if that is the case, there’s not much you can do about getting the internet back HOWEVER you can file a complaint to the DTI, that at least will give you some level of protection if Smart Bro would charge you a fee for a non-existent service, there’s a consumer’s law that you can consult (RA NO. 7394) which protects you from abusive corporations.
Thanks, dans – I’ll add that Republic Act to my law library (small but growing). I truly appreciate it – my e-library has the “essential, everyday” stuff, but this act is one of those that doesn’t come “packaged up” with others – one would have to know about it and/or its number in order to retrieve it.
Don’t know if the current situation goes to that level of abusive corporation/lack of service. I am keeping an eye on the backhaul for signs of congestion. (Problems appear independent of Time Of Day, so identifying congestion issues isn’t that easy.)
As you know, the IP has service loading on its side. Conditions have to reach that of the “point of diminishing returns” to prove intent. In many cases, all service subscribers would have to be on-line and transferring data at the same time in order to exceed that barrier and crash the system.
It’s a game of probabilities. I hope they don’t play too near the edge of the envelope.
hi paul,
the back haul can be easily exhausted even if there are few users online, most AP’s has a limited conntrack (connection tracking), basically conntrack is a means and ways for the AP to keep a track of users connection “from and to” the target internet servers, it is not the actual data that passes through that can collapse the AP’s speed, it is mostly the conntrack, if you make a connection to say Yahoo Messenger, you are making a single IP connection to the YM server and that counts, the AP’s will create a table of ip source/destination for a particular users, in other words, if you are using YM+MSN+skype+whatever_application_that_uses_TCP those application session has a table listing in the AP in connection with your actual ip address.
here’s the kicker, most AP’s in the market can support at least 10 thousand conntrack records, it will also depend on the memory capacity of the AP and the processor, if the AP has a lower memory it tends to have a lesser amount of conntrack it can keep OR if the AP’s processor is slow, it cannot satisfies the processing it requires to handles the incoming and outgoing connection “from and to” the users.
you might need to know what all this thing has to do with your connection? if you have a good signal from the tower and you feel that there is nothing wrong with actual signal, then the problem would be most likely with the AP or the back haul where the AP is connected.
one of the most killer of AP’s conntrack is the Peer-2-peer application such as bit-torrent,limewire or something similar, these application can generate thousand of conntrack session in a matter of few seconds, basically the P2P client will crawl the entire internet for the availability of the files you want to download, in other words it will try to connect to different workstation on the internet to locate the source of the files.
most wisp are aware of this problem including me, the only solution we can implement is to limit the conntrack of each users or completely block the p2p application (which is not a good idea because customers will just complain for unable to use p2p softwares)
in europe, the p2p application has been banned but many genius users can work around it.
just to add…
The AP’s does not need to have many users to exhaust the conntrack, the AP only need 1 user connected to it and running a multiple p2p application searching for at least 5 files, that can generate more than 10 thousand conntrack session in a matter of few seconds.
Hi dans – Well, I can only hope that the SMART Comm Corp has equipment sufficient in speed and capacity. Then, again, things might not be “all roses” for them (or us).
Since I use bit-torrent to download a couple of USA TV programs, I won’t really complain about others using it (unless, of course, they’re burning DVDs for sale at the local tienda (palengke)[market].)
Another thing I’ve noticed is that I’ll have drop outs that can last from 5 minutes to 15 minutes every couple of hours (starting on the hour, but not on a “regularly scheduled” basis). Perhaps two hours would pass between them, sometimes three, sometimes four, etc., etc. Makes one wonder what and who has a similar schedule.
Being an optomist, I’d think there’s a “wear and tear” problems somewhere that has yet to be discovered. After all, they haven’t discovered those aircraft warning lights on “our” tower being out for an extremely long period of time.
Too, I try to look at contingencies, outside influences, etc., in trying to come up with a starting point for troubleshooting. I can’t detect any “set” patterns to explain outages or dropouts with the limited amount of information I can gleen from the backhaul.
For all I know, the monkeys turning the cranks on the generators might tire at irregular intervals.
Thanks for the help.
Hi dans – My gear here tells me to restart my modem, etc., and if connectivity isn’t restored I should contact my internet provider. When this happens, I can’t connect to the Canopy software, so have to guess that it may be a signal drop out.
Then, again, there are times when I’m watching the Canopy software on-line test results and see everything “drop to zero” (save signal strengths, etc.).
As I said, there’s more than one problem here, ‘Bro!
Heck, I read it 5 times, and I didn’t understand a word he was saying, Paul T…
Hi Paul – Guess I got a little “techie” in my vent.
Wonder if the folks at PLDT/SMART have read the article yet. I did receive an advertisement-email from them yesterday about SMART Buddy BigTym. While it was an html email, it was sent as text – so I have a reading pane full of html code! I’ll get around to deciphering it later.
Also, had a SMART tech team truck drive extremely slowly past the house yesterday afternoon. They might have been out on other service calls in the area, but they were suspiciously slow going by.
DG – No wonder you an’ SMB is friends! We’re talking “hard core rock time”!
I did toss in a line for you. Being moved by you experiences in “communicating” with BOI folks, I put in the “technical advice” I received from a young woman that I thought to be the most honest answer I’ve yet to receive here in the Phils from anyone!
btw, flying pigs make the best lechon!
Paul;
Music? Try http://www.mp3shake.com
Hi Dave S – Thanks for the link; quite an interesting article. Up here where we live, we’re in a “transitional” period with respect to service provided by the telecomm folks.
According to local PLDT representatives, SMART should have its full line of internet services available in 2010.
Globe is behind the curve up here, but plans on bringing out the faster/better services it offers first (to better compete with SMART) then roll out additonal services. Again, we’re talking in “near future” terms.
Sun? Has yet to rise.
I’m in “wait and see” mode, myself. I’ll give SMART Bro all the rope it needs. If it hangs itself, oh well . . . .
Hi John –
It says: Service not as good as promised. Outside of local area people, no one appears to know what they are doing. Yadda-yadda-yadda. Give me agreed to service or my money back.
Sorry for “high-teching” it too much. Lesson learned on the KISS principle: “Keep It Simple, Stupid!” Will have to follow that priciple a little better.
Hi Paul – I think we have a pattern here… your SmartBro Internet speeds are very slow. Also, when the SmartBro techs come out in your area on a service call, they drive by your place very slow! Maybe they just want to be reliable in the speed they deliver – slow or fast – in all aspects of their service!
Hi Bob – Reliability! Now why didn’t I think of that?
I guess I can certainly rely on them for one or two things . . . .
By the way PLDT was one of the carriers affected.
Hi chasdv – Thanks for bringing the article and info to the forefront. I’m sure that it’s yet another piece of the puzzle, but think it may be affecting more subscribers than just this one.
Still, the more candles on the birthday cake, the bigger the blaze! (We might have discovered another candle).
Hi Paul – How about this, “the more candles on the cake, the older you are”. Hahaha. Btw, Paul did anyone ever tell you that you are a walking, uh, Book of Aphorism? Sometimes I marvel at your ability to come up with the appropriate aphoristic sayings at precise times. Your posts are full of them.
Once upon a time, the Philippines had someone like you. His name was Francisco Baltazar, the king of Filipino balagtasan. Maybe you can write about the Filipino propensity for quoting proverbs to express themselves eloquently.
Hi John – Well, I’ve been accused of being “full of” other things.
Paul, the aphorist. Has a ring to it – say, like a cracked bell struck with a splintered clapper.
I have had a lifetime appreciation for Blaize Pascal, and he (among other things) knew how to “turn a word.” I will have to dig into my “junkyard of trivia” as see what I can find on Francisco Baltazar. An article resulting from your suggestion certainly does appeal (there’s that bell again) to me.
Thanks, John, for the lead and suggestion. For you, here’s one I collected from Marx:
Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana. – Groucho Marx
Hahaha Paul, you really are too much. My wife and I are enjoying your your comments. You must be the life of any party.
If only you knew Tagalog, you’ll truly enjoy “balagtasan.” 
Ah, John, my heart lies with Ilocanos. “Love” between Ilukos & Tagals is unrequited at best. So, my lessons in Tagalog will have to be postponed for the time being.
I am trying to obtain an English copy of “Florente at Laura” but it’s difficult. Too, I doubt if the “Awit” form – which serves as seasoning for this literary dish – could make it successfully out of the translator’s oven without blanding the taste.
So much wonderful knowledge out there, so little talent to fully taste it – that’s my curse.
Aw, man, they don’t have true (1st, 2nd or 3rd wave) SKA music. Only some strange genre called “punk ska” or some such.
Thank you so very kindly. I am eagerly looking forward to the problem(s) resolution so that I can let everyone know of our success.
I know that SMART Bro is the best broadband internet service available in my area. I want enjoy it to the fullest!
(And, I want to tell everyone about my enjoyment, too!
)
Social media service,
Smart Corp is known to spend hundred of millions of pesos for advertisement, you have the best ads in tv, radio and prints, so far your advertisement is very effective as many people subscribe to you, that is the proof of how good your advertisements are.
why not spend your ads money to improve the service? i.e. hire a more qualified technicians and not just who cannot even operate a multimeter, improve your back haul, increase the user’s speed, credit their lost days when you have a long downtime, etc..etc..
putting your service into ads but can’t deliver it will cause more harm to your company than good, I bet many people settled with your service because of lack of options.
Hello Social Media Services – In case you don’t know me… I am the owner of this site, and the publisher. I have a few questions for you. You (and a few other SmartBro people) have left very supportive messages on this site when we have made complaints about SmartBro services. Your kind messages are very nice, and you sound very concerned. However…
Why can’t I get service from you? I signed up for SmartBro ShareIt in July. For 2 months the service was great! I never got lower than 1.5 Mbps. After 2 months, though, the service was terrible, until now. That’s already 3-4 months terrible service. My maximum speeds are 150 Kbps. Sometimes I am lucky to get 1 Kbps from ShareIt. That is unacceptable. But, the Smart people keep telling me that they are “monitoring my service very closely” just like what you told Paul. Nothing changes, though. I have complained, I have talked to people in Manila (who know nothing about Internet, and are not helpful). They have told me that Engineers will be in touch with me. Even 2 months later… I never heard from them. Why, are they sitting at their desks “monitoring my service?”
Frankly, Social Media Services, I think that you just go out and find complaints about your service and say nice things to smooth over, and make others feel that you are helping. Well, you are not helping. When I have gone to the Smart Office and asked to cancel the service they tell me that I am locked into my contract, and that I cannot stop the “service” (even though Smart is not delivering what the contract promises). I pay every month, I basically get no service for my money, though. What will you do about it?
I also have a SmartBro Canopy system (I have two different SmartBro accounts) and I am very happy with it. I have asked to switch my ShareIt service over to Canopy (giving me 2 canopies and no shareit), but they refuse, because of my contract (which Smart is not delivering on).
OK, if you are so concerned, can you help me? Either get my ShareIt speed up to what it should be, switch me for a 2nd Canopy system, or cancel my service on the ShareIt altogether and let me go buy an account from some other provider.
OK, let’s see just how sympathetic you are to a customer who is not getting proper service. I will report back what you do – good or bad.
hi bob,
Off Topic here, do you remember the article you had about SmartBro Shareit? I made a post something like “enjoy it while there are few users in it?” I think it’s already happening now. don’t you think?
I wonder if they were “closely monitoring” the service interruption that I just had between 7:00PM 11/20/09 and 7:25PM 11/20/09? Signals from tower show acceptable levels.
Hi Sir,
Kindly allow us to extend our assistance. May we be provided of your Smart Bro number, complete name, updated contact number and screenshot of your speedtest.
We shall await your response then.
Thank you
Social Media Services
Smart Communications
Hi dans – Perhaps there’s an business opportunity or two here that aren’t quite as prominent as they could be?
A small, start-up company could easily contract to perform these tasks (tower maintenance included, but as a separate niche) on an “in-country outsourcing” basis in an area or region. This small contractor would take care of the safety, training and other associated tasks that the company hiring them doesn’t currently fund, pay decent wages and benefits, and still turn a good profit.
Takes some entrepreneurs to start things rolling.
Hi paul,
No chance for me to start a wireless internet service in the philippines, NTC already made a ruling, most frequency used in wireless internet are already “reserved” or “licensed” to a big corporations in the philippines, Pacific Internet of Australia ceased their operation in the philippines several years ago because they couldn’t get the spectrum or license they need.
NTC is protecting the big telcos and I won’t tell you why? — (is that a brand new lexus he is driving?) I had a success providing wireless internet here in abroad than in the philippines, besides, making a dollar profit here is better than making pesos there!
hi paul?
Safety, maintenance sub-contractor? that sounds a good business, however, pldt/smart already have sub-contractors and most of them are not trained well because of lack of funds, small sub-contractor are paid less just enough for the payroll of the employees.
Hi Paul – My belief is that the local companies would not even consider paying the cost of doing what dans would want to do. They would have to spend ten times as much on infrastructure to bring the ratio to what dans said it should be.
Hi dans – Absolutely… I was already saying to myself for a month that “dans knows what he’s talking about…”
You da man, dans!
Hi John – You’d be hired in a heartbeat.
(I can see your resume.
)
Since you know the scripts, you’re more than qualified for the call center. We’ll just need to “adjust” the accent so callers wouldn’t think they’ve connected with some foreign location (Bangalore?).
Hi Bob – Toss in the expense of “stretching the backbone” upgrades to the outlying provinces, and you end up choosing to put your money into the glitzy ads on TV/Radio/print instead. After all, if you have 9 out of 10 in your pocket, you can tell that 1 out of 10 . . . .
Hello,
I will not post this information publicly here. I note that on your previous comment you gave an e-mail address @smart.com.ph (to which I also e-mailed my request), but now you are using a Yahoo e-mail. Are you sure that you are with Smart? If you contact me through the “Contact Us” link at the top of this page with a corporate e-mail address, I will gladly provide you with my information.
Hi Bob – FWIW: The “Smartcares” post reflects the same sender’s IP address as the “Social Media Services” post’s sender.
Still, I agree – no freebies broadcast to the world; only direct email that’s initiated via the “Contact Us” link.
Hi Paul – Under SmartBro, though, thousands of subscribers share a single IP address. I just don’t care to share my personal information publicly.
hi bob,
I told ya so.. it’s really a matter of time and when that time comes you will start to experience the “hell” of everything.
the 3.5g internet is basically geared towards a “mobile” user and that is the whole concept of it, but instead, smart offered it for “home use”, there are many limitations with the 3.5g when it comes to bandwidth issue, it is supposed to be use as a “quick and instant connectivity” for mobile user and not for home use where it is prone to user abuse (i.e. massive use of bandwidth or constantly online)
Aw Paul;
You did it again, I read and re-read your answer to try and understand your meaning, about Wave this and that 1st 2nd 3rd SKA something and Punk SKA something, and decided to knock off the afternoon beers and try again. Please remember I was a Supply guy! (LOL)
I’d better “get my act” together – I’m not doing a very good job as your virtual bartender, recently.
Now, don’t do anything too drastic with those beverages of choice. They help enlighten, right up to that magic moment when things start to go goofy.
Employing KISS standards:
(Deep breath, exhale, beverage sip)
SKA is a genre of music with its roots found in Jamaican beats mixed with rhythm & blues and American jazz.
(Beverage sip, deep breath, exhale, beverage sip)
SKA appeared on the music scene in 3 waves – 1st the original sound in the 1950s; 2nd an English-based revival sound in the late 1970s; 3rd the current sound starting in the 1980s.
(Beverage sip, beverage sip, deep breath, exhale beverage sip)
I don’t know about nor haven’t looked into that genre the website listed as Punk Ska – it’s probably a mix of SKA and 70s/80s punk rock.
(Beverage sip, deep breath, exhale, beverage sip, beverage sip)
Now, if I was talkin’ Bob Wills and the Texas Two-Step, would you even think about abandoning your beer?
(Beverage sip, beverage sip, beverage sip, beverage sip, beverage sip)
(Discard empty, seek refill, lock & load, you get the picture!)
(and if I might, ahem, the virtual tip jar?)
Totally agree, Bob. It’s all part of good IT security practices.
btw, need any worms? Seems there’s an open can over here that’s no longer large enough to handle the contents.
Hi dans – Woah, I was getting a little sleepy there at the end
Well, we probably could discuss the “what-ifs,” the “yeah-buts” and the “just-thinks” for a long, long time without seeing any changes to the scenario that brought us to this point in time.
The ball is pretty much in their court, now. We’ll have to see if they return it or muff it. If its a muff (or worse, being ignored) then we may have to approach it from another angle.
(Funny, I feel an urge to fix a sandwich.
)
Hi Dans,
As we say in the west,”The customer is King”.
An old UK saying “He who pays the piper calls the tune”.
regards Chas.
Hi chasdv – Yep, and you don’t have to be a Kano in Surigao to perpetrate it, either.
Fellow reader “dans” has put me in touch with The Consumer Act of The Philippines (Republic Act No. 7394) of which I’ve added a copy to my Philippine Law Library. Think I’ll be doing a little homework this weekend and check a few legal aspects.
Of course, when it comes to contractural law, the devil is in the details. Little transgretions can receive overabundant absolution based on the slightest of technicalities. (E.g., A contract stating that service in the form of “connection speeds up to xxx kBs will be provided” is technically fulfilled by the provider so long as the connection speed is never zero. Additionally, that is connection speed – not throughput speed, which is the speed at which the info actually flows.)
In the end, a competent and hungry lawyer plus a bag of pesos is all one needs.
Hi chas,
I don’t need to be in the west to learn that, it’s all about logic, it is as simple as this.
loop:
I put up a business -> customer walks-in to patronize my business -> I got money from the customers -> money goes to my bank and increase my assets -> Withdraw the money to feed my family
go to loop:
LMAO Paul you got me laffin on that one, I would never have taken you for a ska guy – limewire or torrentbox
Hi Tommy -
A true Renaissance Man, am I.
An signed & approved serv-mart supply chit for Beer, Pale Pilsen, San Miguel Corporation, 320mlx24bt, UI: CS, QTY: 1EA. will do nicely.
Acceptable substitute: 330mlx24bt ANKER BIR
Sorry! “NIS” Back ordered as per NavSup P-486
Then authorize local purchase and provide PHP456 impressed funds for local procurement UI: QTY: 24EA PRI: 02 RMKS: PRI 02 Justification – immediate resup ready locker prior to deployment.
Hahaha, you guys must missed being active duty, huh? You still keep your manuals for procurement and supply here?