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Philippine Internet Comparison

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As I’ve mentioned in the past, there always seems to be a lot of interest whenever I write about Internet speed and Internet providers here in the Philippines.  In the past, I’ve used several different providers here, and each has advantages and disadvantages.  Right now, I am kind of experiencing a “glut” of Internet, but I kind of like it.

What do I mean by a “glut”?  Well, I mean that I have an oversupply of Internet connections!  If it’s possible to have an “oversupply,” that is.

I wrote back at the beginning of August that I had found Internet Heaven here in the Philippines.  Well, unfortunately, heaven was nice while it lasted, but after not too long a time, it kind of slipped down to purgatory instead of heaven.

Yes, when I wrote about being in Internet Heaven, I was talking about my new Internet Provider, SmartBro ShareIt.  ShareIt is a service provided by Smart Broadband, which provides an Internet Connection of “up to” 2 Mbps, and utilizes 3.5G connectivity from the Cellular network of Smart Telecommunications.  When I got ShareIt, I was extremely happy with the service.  The speed was great, and everything seemed wonderful.

At the time I got SmartBro ShareIt, I already had two SmartBro Canopy systems here at the house.  The SmartBro Canopy system is a different type of connectivity from Smart Broadband.  This one puts an antenna on your house, which picks up connectivity from the Cellular tower near your house.  The Canopy system is similar to ShareIt, but provides a connection of only “up to” 512 Kbps.  I was pretty happy with the Canopy system, and had been using it for over a year already.  My plan was that after I tested out the ShareIt system, I would cut off one of my Canopy accounts, then get a second ShareIt system, and cut off my other Canopy account, thus ending up with two SharIt systems.

I did go ahead and close one of my Canopy accounts, and nearly got the second ShareIt system.  However, back around the beginning of September, I started having problems with ShareIt.  The speed was still good, but it started happening that about one or up to two days per week, I had no signal on the ShareIt.  On those days, my Canopy system still worked, so I still had Internet.  But, if I had switched to two ShareIt systems, I would have been without Internet service at all, which is something I don’t want.

Another problem that I had found with ShareIt is that it did not work well at all with VOIP.  Thus, my Vonage IP phone system worked terribly on ShareIt.  Even though the speed was very fast, the VOIP just was terrible.  I could hear the person on the other end fine, but they could not hear me well, lots of flutter in my outgoing signal.  My previous experience with the SmartBro Canopy system was exactly the opposite, the person on the other end of the call said the connection was super, but on my end of the line, I was hearing only like half of what was being said!  Hmm.. this just was not acceptable.

Prior to using SmartBro (either system), I had been a customer of PLDT DSL for about 7 years.  I was always happy with the service until May 2008, when I started having billing issues with them.  They kept cutting off my account.  They said I didn’t pay my bill, even though I had receipts.  When I showed my receipt, they would hook me up again, but it was a pain that I was cut off 3 times in one month!  So, I switched.

Well, having the two SmartBro systems was pretty good, except that I was still unhappy with my VOIP situation.  And, having a US phone number is important to me for personal and business needs.  With this, Feyma and I decided to once again get a PLDT connection, which was installed on Saturday last weekend.  So far, I am very happy with it!  Funny thing is that it is the slowest of my three connections, yet it gives me the best VOIP experience by far.  Also, the surfing “feels fast” as well, even though the connection is not as fast as it is supposed to be.

So, now I have three different Internet Connections, provided by two different providers.  Just for clarity, though, PLDT owns Smart, so it could be said that all three connections are through the same provider, though.  Given that I have these three connections, which each use a different technology, I decided to do some testing.  Below, I will provide the testing results, and my thinking about each different connection.

All speed testing was done through Megapath’s speed testing service, at their San Francisco server.  PLDT and Smart have their own speed testing, but I prefer to use a speed test that the provider does not control, and also I prefer a US based server, since I am more interested in the speed to the rest of the world, not just the speed between Davao and Manila.  Speed tests were done 5 times, and a “middle” result was given for the result of the test.

PLDT DSL

I had the “Xperience” account, which is rated at “up to” 1Mbps.  It is a DSL service through my phone line.  Although PLDT does not offer any written speed guarantee, they told me that they promise 70% of the rated “up to” speed, so I should expect 700Kpbs at any given time.

Test results:
Latency:  125ms
Download Speed:  332Kbps
Upload Speed:  245Kbps

Works great for VOIP and downloads.  Even though it is well below promised speed, I am pretty happy with the results.  I will be asking for PLDT to do some “fine tuning” to see if they can’t get the speed up to where it should be, though.  Even if it remains where it is, though, I am pretty happy with it.  Speeds through the PLDT testing site are more up around 400 to 450Kbps, and that is the site that they will use for testing.

SmartBro Canopy

I’ve been using SmartBro’s Canopy system since May 2008, so almost a year and a half now, and have been pretty happy with it.  My only real complaint is that it is not too great for VOIP.

Test results:
Latency:  230ms
Download Speed:  409Kbps
Upload Speed:  235Kbps

Rated speed is “up to” 512Kbps, and I often get speeds even a little faster than that.  I suspect that the reason VOIP performance is not that good is because the latency is a bit higher than I would like.

SmartBro ShareIt

I’ve been using SmartBro ShareIt for about 2 months now, and I am very happy with it, for some applications.  When it comes to speed, it simply is unbeatable in my experience in the Philippines.  However it just is not usable if you want to do VOIP.  Also, it has been experiencing outages of up to 24 hours at a time regularly lately.  Because of this, if you don’t have some backup connectivity, you are likely to be frustrated with ShareIt service.

Testing results:
Latency:  315ms
Download Speed:  1.71 Mbps
Upload Speed:  417 Kbps

If I just want to surf the net, I want to use ShareIt every time!  For downloading files, it’s great too.  There is a podcast that I enjoy listening to everyday, which is a download of about 40 Mb each time I want to listen.  The download time for that file is rarely more than 2 minutes.  Not bad at all!  But, for anything that requires upload too… ShareIt tends to suffer.  VOIP is unusable.

For now, I’ve decided that I’ll be keeping all three connections, and using them for different things.

I have each of the three connections on a WiFi Network, so I actually have three different WiFi connections in my house!

Oh, what about the prices?  Well, they all cost exactly the same amount – P999 per month.  Having all three is not costly in my opinion – P3,000 per month, and I’ve got multiple connections, redundancy.  I should have Internet access all the time, or at least close to all the time now with the redundancy that these three connections give me.

Addendum: I originally wrote this article about a week ago, but other events pushed it’s publication date back.  During the time since I wrote the article, the flooding occurred in Manila.  During the Manila flooding one Internet provider or another was down at almost any given time due to the weather, but through the entire crisis, I had Internet connectivity at all times because at least one of my three connections still worked.  I must say that during the weather crisis the most reliable connection was the SmartBro Canopy system without a doubt.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Great info., Bob!
    I've been wondering what provider will be best to go with in Davao & on Samal. My in-laws' connection – no idea which one they have – seems to be very slow. It sounds like another "adjustment" I'll have to make in my expectations.
    Mike

  2. Hi Bob – I have to agree with your observation regarding internet connectivity during a weather crisis. Tropical Storm Ketsana (Ondoy) provided us up north with heavy downpours of rain, high wind gusts, thunderstorms and some microbursts/waterspout activity all night long, Friday 9/25 night.

    I lost connectivity via SmartBRO somewhere in the wee hours of Saturday morning but it was restored by 11:00 AM. The problem was most likely "down island" but restoration was relatively quick.

    My Vonange VOIP-box provided an excellent display when service was lost and later reconnected. Didn't need to troubleshoot anything – status was easily discernable.

  3. Bob, you seemed to have done an excellent job evaluating the different systems. One observation after reading all that you posted: Did you evaluate the Wi-Fi routers within the house?

    I tried to research that myself and came across this link: Is 5 GHz Wireless Network Hardware Better than 2.4 GHz? It's possible the wi-fi within the house contributes to the overall problem. I'm certainly not an authority on this subject but it might be worth taking a look at.

    Article: Is 5 GHz Wireless Network Hardware Better than 2.4 GHz?
    http://compnetworking.about.com/od/wirelessfaqs/f…

    On an entirely different subject: I retire in two days! Now comes the fun part — sell the house, sell the car, sell everything but cameras and computer gear. You know the drill I am sure. Bottom line, hope to be in your area in January 2010.

    –Rich–

  8. <img src="http://www.speedtest.net/result/578646553.png&quot; alt="SpeedTest" />

    <img src="http://www.speedtest.net/result/578647694.png&quot; alt="Speed Test" />

    Speed alone doesn't tell how well your internet phone will work. I ran across a web page that told all that was needed for good phone service. First you need a fast computer that is able to do lots of work. When I bought my 4-core system my phone got better quick. I doubled my internet speed going from one gig to two gig. All ona wireless internet. It's speed is 5.8 gig. Very fast and smooth but line of sight only. I am only 3 kilometers away from the tower and have nothing between us.

    I sure wish I could remember what to other main factor was for good phone. It was a word meaning flutter. Don't know how they measure something like that? Cannot remember..getting old I guess.

  9. Bob,
    Have you ever used or tried Bayantel or now the Globe internet? I have heard some Globe users are happy. Over the time here, one week people love PLDT and the next Smart, then Bayantel is great and Smart is not. Each week it is something. For me, we have used PLDT for 2 years. Lately the ASDL light on the modem goes off which means we lost their signal. A few minutes it comes back. This happens about once or twice an hour on average, but it has happened twice since I have tried to send this comment.

  10. Hi Gary – Yeah, that's what I wrote in the article I linked to about VOIP – speed is not the most important thing. Any modern computer has the horsepower to handle the processing end. It's the latency that makes a big difference. Big latency numbers create flutter, which is why SmartBro ShareIt does not work well on VOIP.

  11. Bob,
    I decided to test my speed and here it is using Speakeasy and using San Fran for the test. I do not know how to insert a photo so the results are:

    PLDT
    1331 kps Downnload
    447 kps upload

  12. Bruce – those are respectable numbers, I see no reason to complain about them. The issue with the signal dropping a couple of times an hour sounds like a bad piece of copper wire, and should be easily fixed. After you get that repaired, you have a good connection there.

  14. yea i failed to change the settings to bits instead of bytes but you get the idea, at the top of speedtest there is a settings tab :0

  15. Bob & Bruce, concerning the dropped signal with PLDT, I have the same exact problem! So does my neighbor who also has PLDT. I have called and called PLDT, just went into the local office and complained again about the problem. My biggest complaint with PLDT is "NO SERVICE" after getting you hooked up. Here in Dipolog, we lose the phone line 5 or 6 days a month as well, and dialing the customer service line is an absolute waste of time. My only recourse is too go to town, sit 30 minutes waiting and complain once again to the clerk there.
    One solution is to unplug the connection and replug it right away. Reconnects the service for another 30 minutes or so,. then it drops out again. Let me know what they tell you Bruce, hopefully the technical people in your area are smarter than the ones in Dipolog.
    I have successfully avoided the "Ugly American" image, but that company is really trying my patience!

  17. Hi Dave – Sorry to hear that you have the same problem as Bruce! That's too bad. I hope that you can get it fixed, and sorry that the customer service you are getting is not "up to snuff."

  18. hi every one my wife and i have pldt in davao and the only problem was after about 1 yr the modem died but other than that no problems

  20. The plugits from SMART, SUN and Globe also offer up to 2mbps in theory. If you want the manual or where to find the antenna for the share it check the blog links below.

    Smart Bro plug it is now 995 with reviews & suggestions and speeds http://smartbroplugit.wordpress.com/

    Globe Tattoo plug it is now 895 & suggestions and speeds http://globetattoo.wordpress.com/

    Another alternative is SMART Bro Share it with antenna connection possible http://smartbroshareit.wordpress.com/

    You can get the Globe usb or the SUN usb unlocked read more about it at my plug it sites above to use with any sim.

    SUN INTERNET USB PLUG IT NOW GIVES 180 HOURS FREE SURFING READ REVIEWS

    Sun just finally met the competition a little by now offering 180 free for 30 days when you buy their 1895 usb plug it modem. Smart now offers modem for 999 and Globe for 895 http://suninternet.wordpress.com/

  21. For wired broadband internet connection, I would suggest to have a Globe Broadband 995 package. Just get the internet only and not the package with landline. It works best for me and at the speed of 1MB, I think it's quite cheap already.

  23. Hello patrickross – Glad to see you comment here! Maybe you can tell me… why is my ShareIt not working for 2 days now? There is no 3G signal. As I reported on this post, this is happening regularly, now 2 days in a row!

  27. Interesting sidebar article I just stumbled across on Yahoo news just now.
    http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/151779

    You can paint your interior walls with a special paint to keep the neighbors from stealing your Wi-Fi signal capability. Of course the safest and most desirable way to solve that problem is still to use encryption. I did not realize this but if your neighbor is downloading something illegal thru your W-Fi you may be held liable (because the IP address can be traced back to you.) –Rich–

  28. Hi Rich – Wow, I had no idea that you could block your WiFi signal by painting your walls with special paint! I'll just stick with WEP or WPA encryption! 😆 I was aware that your IP address can get you in trouble, though, if the wrong people use it to download the wrong things… gotta watch out for that!

  29. Hi, Bob. It is unfortunate to hear that. I would like to help you with this, if you could provide me with your Service Reference number, that's indicated on your bill. Please do send it via our email address or here, as well:[email protected].

    Thank you.

  31. What's the cable internet situation like in the Philippines? My girlfriend subscribes to Destiny cable in Manila and I'm wondering if she should subscribe to their cable internet service as well (at least I think they offer such a service).

  32. Hi Bill – Cable Internet is very spotty, only a few neighborhoods have it, and only in major cities. I have never had cable internet, because it simply is not available anywhere that I have lived. I have heard good and bad about it, though.