⌛ wireless internet

im going to the philippines and im bringing my laptop.
i wanted to get wireless broadband for it but what is a good brand to go with?
i heard about globe tatoo and smartbro but is it fast intenet?
also is it reliable like always connected to a signal?

 

get both, they are only about $20 each and then you just load money on the stick as you go for access, that way no matter where you are you have a good chance of being online

 

how is the usage metered? is it by Meg or Gig?

 

i not too sure i would like to know too

 

If its PAYG ., then they use blocks of 30 minutes ( smartbro) if they used megs or gig they would be bankrupt any time soon. their speeds suck. :(

 

really yeah thats what i would think the speeds slow

 

I have been using Sky Cable for broadband and TV for the past 4 months here in Mangnao, Dumaguete. All went relatively well until 2 weeks ago some @ss cut the cable up on the main highway and after it was 'fixed' my download speeds had dropped significantly to about 500-700 kb/s. I am a techie and had the Sky guys here for the best part of 2 days messing about with all sorts of tests. They replaced some components but nothing they did could restore the former speed, so they have given up!

I am a website designer and spend many hours online every day - which is now tedious, to say the least! I have taken on the SmartBro USB modem (see Home - Smart Bro for all the options) and have it turned on too at the moment. I can switch from one to the other in about 10 secs and compare download speeds. With Smart I am getting an average 400-500 kb/s, about 80% of the speed of Sky Cable. The advantage of the Smart device is that I can take it with me when I move from here to Davao in a couple of months. That's appealing, though the speed sucks.

I lived in a hotel for 2 months when I first arrived here and they used Globe - a bag of **** if ever I saw one! I vowed that would be the LAST supplier I would ever go for.

So, here in the Phils there is no such thing as real broadband, the technology isn't here yet. Around 500 kb/s is usable, it's just a pain waiting for websites to respond.

Cheers
Adrian

 

Raff

Yes i totally understand your frustration,one of the important criteria's of me being able to stay here ? was to have reliable access to online banking on a daily basis,sometimes though i cannot get connected for hours and when i do it is so ridiculously slow that i lose my patients and just give up.

 

I've had Smart, Globe, SmartBro and Globe Tattoo. Smart was ok, no speed demon, but ok. Globe used to be really terrible, but lately is pretty fast. I have the hi-speed option of internet only for 995/mo.

As to the WiFi options, forget globe. I can rarely connect at all, in Dumaguete, Cebu or Manila. Bro - it depends on where you are and the number of people signed on. South of Dumaguete in Bacong, you can usually sign in, but there's almost no bandwidth. So response time is VERY slow. In the city it depends on the number of users, time of day, etc. Sometimes response is fair to good, other times can sign in but get no bandwidth at all.

Good luck...

 

smart has an unlimited stick it's 1500p per month and the speed/signal is fine. even on inter island ferries