what's going on? (Smart Communications)

i installed a parabolic antenna and Huawei modem several months back and pointed it at duma and was having consistant good service compared to using a ZTE mf-180 stick modem we got from Smart when we signed up. then, maybe about a month ago, the service started to slump and it gets worse by the day. yet... the internet connection icon in the system tray shows a connection and... the modem website (191.168.1.1) shows a steady 3G with 4 or 5 bars (out of 5) but loading most websites brings up a WHITE ''server not found'' page. the only page that loads regularly is duma info and when that doesn't load, i might as well shut down and take a nap. <mumble... mumble...>

the service is mostly very intermittent with long periods of ''timed out'' and ''server not found'' pages during the day which makes it hard to do most anything online, however, a few midnights ago i downloaded 2 movies ( about 800mb each) at a blazing speed of 200kb. the signal/speed was actually ok last sunday but usually, during the day (after 5:30am) and on weekends, it's more like an intermittent 10kb or slower download or nothing at all even tho i (supposedly) have 5 bar HSPA+.

restarting the modem doesn't help nor does cussin'.
is anyone else having these problems or is it just me? i've tried it on 2 different computers and a wireless/android tablet and get the same (lack of) service.

is it simply that the isp is oversold and i'm in queue to get connected to the isp?
is signal strength (bars) indicating data transmission or just good signal?

i've recently tried globe tattoo and get the same results tho globes signal isn't as strong as smart. guess that could be cuz i need to adjust the antenna? i'm 10km out of duma but the antenna is pointed at duma.

rather than ''it's more fun in da fils,'' it should read, ''the fils ain't for everyone''!!!

 

My Smart 'pocket wifi' has been mostly unuseable for the last 4 days. It's a Smart problem.

 

Today, Has got to be the Worst ever for Smart PLDT call em what you want. To get any response from the PC I have to have only One page open, the Answer I got from Smart was everything is Working, Asking them to define working was just a pointless waste of my Breath. I asked them to ring me back, When I did not get a return call I rang them again they said, number unobtainable! Can't be right I said it is working OK according to you. So I decided to leave it there.

 

hey wrye, thanks for clearing that up. my experience with calling smart or similar businesses is that you're wasting your time, they just tell you something to make you go away.

but ya hafta to wonder how the net can be soooo good one day and soooo useless the next day, even moment to moment, like something is turning the data transfer on and off.. i've read that certain atmospheric conditions can affect bandwidth but atmospheric conditions are fairly steady here. and how can i have 5 bars but not be able to load a page? maybe, too many users online?

is there a relationship between bandwidth and signal?

how about the unlimited promo you mentioned in another thread or maybe it was here, have you tried it? looks like a OK deal for wireless users.

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on a different thread, expatron wrote:
Here is some good news, I have had Smart LTE for over a year with mostly good speed over 6 to 20mbps. around 2 weeks ago they statred capping my usage, around 1am it would be fast and by moning down to 0.05.

A good friend of mine told me to buy a Kickstart sim pack. now after over 18 hours downloading a big movie and youtube all night here is my speed.
Speedtest.net by Ookla - My Results
< snip >

hey expatron...
i'm really curious about the Kickstart sim.

i searched the net and not much comes up. i searched KICKSTART on Smart Communications - Cellphones, Mobile, Broadband, Prepaid, Postpaid, #1 Network and NOTHING comes up !!!

 

Where did you purchase your antenna and router? I have been to a dozen places and found one that was orders only for the router.

Signal strength bars are almost useless for determining anything as there is no standards and two identical phones side by side could show 2 or 3 bars different. Also, they only are relevant for signal strength from the cell tower. They ignore the signal to the cell tower from your device and the quality of data stream you have.

So, the problem could be your Smart Sim account, Smart's data quality, Smart's tower, Smart's increased customers on that tower, your antenna was bumped and is no longer pointing in the optimum direction, a neighbor installed a repeater that interferes with your signal, and probably a dozen more possibilities.

 

The KickStart card was no better, it throttles in less than an hour when my daughter uses youtube. I just bought the newest Jump in card and it seems to be the same...

 

i got the antenna, router and cable from www.uplift.ph/SkyWave . great on sales and 3 day delivery but slow to nonexistent in the help department setting up the router. YMMV

btw... as far as i can tell, the skywave antennas are NOT the ones made in the states

sounds like kickstart, jump in, tattoo and the rest are the same thing with different logos. i'm not too concerned about being throttled with my slow connection : )

 

Like Wyre said signal strength just means your connected to their service but doesn't mean they have good service.

They constantly go saying its signal strength and once they know you have your own equipment that all of a sudden is the real problem or so they say. Simple truth is they are vastly oversold way past capacity but while they could purchase additional capacity quite easily it means less profit. They know they are vastly over capacity yet keep selling and no with the power to change anything cares as long as Manila has good service.

I explain it this way as it makes simple sense (at least to me, lol). Imagine a piece of grid paper with 1,000 squares. Each square is 1Mbps connection. This means they can sell 1,000 1Mbps connections or 100 10Mbps connections. Well imagine that each square is sold to 20 different people at a 1Mbps a connection and their excuse is not everyone will use their 1Mbps connection at the same time. Then of course meet Mr Peek Time which is when everyone wants to use their connection at the same time.

Had it been a car you were buying and they did the same thing they would be rotting in prison....