Posted by arnold in Telecoms | 141 Comments
Broadband provider’s performances after the quake
We’ve all been experiencing the effects of the recent Taiwan earthquake. Our internet connections are mostly down if almost unusable. Here’s my own experience with the 3 major broadband providers.
PLDT MyDSL
Location: Mandaluyong, residential
While I’m not a heavy user at home, it is still annoying to crawl through websites. My connection speed is almost, if not slower than, a typical dial-up connection. There are some websites that are inaccessible.
Globe Broadband
Location: Mandaluyong, business
As our primary internet connection at the office, this one’s useless — unusable. Period.
Smart Bro
Location: Mandaluyong, business
Surprisingly, this provider as our back up internet connection, is the one that’s keeping us alive. It seems to me that it’s delivering the expected speed as if it wasn’t affected by the recent problems. In my mind, Smart Bro and PLDT must be using or sharing the same infrastructure, but why is the Bro working good and PLDT MyDSL isn’t?
What’s your broadband experience at this time? (please state location)
Related posts:
- MyDestiny and the quality of local ISPs
- PLDT’s Php5,000 myDSL downgrade penalty
- PLDT, Nortel Network Inauguration at AdMU
- Increased Bandwidth?
- Lousy PLDT DSL Service
to Daniel,
what you are experiencing could be signs of a last mile problem. You might want to try pinging your local gateway and check if it’s stable, if it’s not then the prblem is between your SmartBro radio and the base station you have line of sight with.
sherwin,
I understand what you are saying, as I do live a fair distance from the site. But we had to pay a guy from smart to come out and extend the antenna for that reason shortly after we had the service installed a year ago. So no, not the case this time as the current problem started just before the news of the earthquake.
I”m using globe broadband in Mandaluyong. Its so slow and sometimes totally useless especially during peak hour.
PLDT MyDSL
I start experiencing intermittent internet connections since early December. But after the quake in Taiwan, gosh, I’m downloading files in less that a kilobyte(bytes/sec). Well, its to wierd also because I cannot access the internet and YM for example, but however I can download music files at Limewire at the same speed before the quake happend.
PLDT MyDSL
I start experiencing intermittent internet connections since early December. But after the quake in Taiwan, gosh, I’m downloading files in less than a kilobyte(bytes/sec). Well, its to weird also because I cannot access the internet and YM for example, but however I can download music files at Limewire at the same speed before the quake happend.
PLDT myDSL
Location: Araneta Avenue (near SM Centerpoint)
All i can say is.. bulok -> “so so” internet connection speed. The past few days, I’ve been able to connect to the internet, pero wala akong mapasukang sites. i use firefox and I usually get the “Server timed out” or something like a website taking too long to respond. the next few days, i was able to get to those sites and surf happily until after a few hours biglang mawawala ulit yung net. seems like it bogs down from time to time. and i also get frequently disconnected. that’s the most irritatingly friggin’ part. i usually use the net for surfing, ym and playing mmorpgs, and i tell you, dc is not a good thing for us gamers hay… san ba merong site na pinopostan ng pldt about news or status ng net nila? medyo parang pakitang tao kasi yung site ng pldt e.. hay.. it’s nice to know that there are blogs like this that exist. i’ll try to check my connection again this afternoon.
pldt mydsl – pasay
yo.. email and surfing seems back to normal speed today. able to access sites. just happy about it. sana tuloy-tuloy na ito.
halos mag iisang buwan na ganito kabagal ng internet. hindi pa nga lumilindol sa taiwan,mabagal na GlobeBroadband dito sa Cavite.
I’m on PLDT MyDSL 1mbps connection.
While there are some websites that are inaccessible, or occasionally inaccessible, my Internet connection has been stable even after the earthquake, except for a few minutes when the earthquake probably struck, and another time when no downstream was almost possible. My upload worked very nicely at that time on P2P connections.
I’m still getting my 140+kb/s speeds when downloading something and my uploads are at 40+kb/s.
My only complaint is that I haven’t got my speed upgrade which the customer service rep said I would be getting last September. I’m paying 3000 for a 1mbps service which should be 2.2 mbps by now. I find this unfair. I called again last week and they said I should be getting a reply by the end of the week. The weekend has come and gone and still no call from them. I’m getting p*ssed =/. I’m paying for something I’m not getting. wth.
Smart BRO – san mateo
I say that smartBRO is at 70%-75%. i can still play online games. but can’t open up major sites like microsoft, yahoo,hotmail and even friendster.
*i think PLDT’s so…so… performance is because pldt want to drag DSL users into changing to smartBRO. pldt has lost a large amount of money on cable replacements etc.
*pldt cables in our area were stolen in March 2006. Their services both telephone and DSL were down for almost 4 months.
PLDT MyDSL
Intermittent and slow connections still, but FTP sites are working at normal speeds. Inaccesible sites like http://www.meebo.com. YM does not work either. So sad
PLDT myDSL
Location: Araneta Avenue (near SM Centerpoint)
ok im back, nakakaconnect ako sa dsl pero yun, may mga sites din ako na hindi mapasukan. it took so long to connect to ym, problema yung hinihintay kong kausap hindi naman makaconnect (dial up connection). ayun. isa pang angal ko about pldt dsl is that i’m paying for plan 1995, i get speeds of only 500kbps+ .. gulat ako nung nabasa ko sa site nila ung plan 1995 daw 1.2mbps na, what’s that? a joke or something?
@badz
These should explain:
999/month @512kpbs [Promo(1-year lock-in period)]
999/month @384kpbs (No lock-in period)
These should also apply to other plans and their respective speeds.
Zpdee, subscribed at 768Kbps. Surfing, HTTP download and FTP download/upload normal. Torrent: Absolutely terrible. I’ve been downloading @ 80kb/sec using Utorrent during December, but this past 2 weeks I’m only down to 10kb/sec. Anyone know if Zpdee limits Bittorrent traffic? I feel that everytime my download per month reaches around 20 gigabytes my torrent speed suddenly crashes. Anyone know if its Zpdee’s hidden doing?
Zpdee User, I agree with you…downloading torrents now with ZPDEE is terribly slow. Would anyone out there know why this is so?
Globe DSL Sucks!.. 11 days past Year 2007.. ala pa rin. PLDT same problem…..
as i was surfing the net a week ago, the internet connection was very slow. I could hardly connect to yahoo mail and ym messenger. When will the internet connection in mandaluyong recover from the effects of the recent Taiwan earthquake?
PLDT MyDSL – Caloocan (Monumento)
It seems like everything is back to normal, try restarting your PCs if it wont download packets when your “connected” already. It worked, somehow.
Haynaku! DApat gawan ng paraan ng GLOBE connection namin. Hindi na kami kumikita mahal pa naman ng monthly service fee namin buwan-buwan. Pakibilisan lang po SANA… Malamang mawalan na kayo ng subscribers hindi lamang sa internet sa lahat ng services offered nyo…
GlobeBroadband – Cebu
HayZzz! being an IT student is really tough without any technology in your hands. This SLOW speed connection is making my head explode! Kaya nga ako nagpakabit ng DSL para mabilis ang pag-surf..OMG! we are paying our bills on time and this is what we get in return? a poor service? the hell?! you are hiring the top people suited for this job and still they can’t fix it? sheeeeshhhh.. >_
its been 3 weeks now that my connection is very slow… While others like PLDT in our area has back to normal.. why is that? GLOBEBroadband sucks.. We paid exact monthly amount, but we’re getting a very slow connection.. very slow customer service.. we are planning to shift to other internet service provider if hindi pa ito matatapos… please.. ..fix it as soon as possible…
PLDT DSL service here in Cabanatuan resumed to normal about three days ago. But then, about an hour ago, ayun bumagal na naman ng sobra.. Sites that I could access this morning wihtout any problem couldn’t be accessed right now. Darn. Don’t tell me this will last another week? That’s subscriber hell!
i agree with skyline. i am an IT student as well, and greatly dependent on the internet, especially on Y!groups. globelines has been really sluggish even before the earthquake struck.
i just hope globe’s service would greatly IMPROVE. i’m paying for this connection out of my own allowance, and this is what i get?
f*ck this pldt tumawag smin nagtanong kung mabagal daw ba ang internet connection sbi ko oo super bagal magupgrade daw kmi tpos tinanong ko kung mai bayad sbi meron daw amf nagbabayad kna nga ng matino tpos magbabayad kna nmn pra lng bumalik sa dati
I’m on a residential PLDT MyDSL Plan 999, but since 31 December 2006, I could download at speeds of 40 kiB/s at the average, except on peak times (afternoon-midnight) where it’s slower than a 56-kbps connection, and Yahoo! Messenger connections just suck. This past week, however, my connection could reach download speeds as fast as 120 kiB/s, which is really fast, but it gets to average (i.e. before Taiwan quake) speeds during the peak times.
I have been a happy PLDT DSL subscriber for 3 years until NOW! I use RDC (remote desktop connection) to connect to our computers in Sydney, and therefore rely heavily on my broadband connection to do work. But with the unbelievably super slow speeds (yes! slower than dialup) it just can’t be done. I really hope they get this thing fixed (coz I might get fired!). I think PLDT should at the very least not bill us for this month.
Ever since 1/12 PLDT DSL has been extremely bad. Timeouts occur so frequently that anything requiring a live connection is completely unusable unless you’re connecting during the ungodly hours of 2AM-5AM. Up until then PLDT was fine. It seems they must have done something, maybe allocate less bandwidth to their residential subscribers, in order to give more to the corporate subscribers because they stand to lose more money if those jump ship and move to different ISPs. I’m going to file a request for a rebate after the speeds get back to normal. I urge every other PLDT DSL subscriber to do the same. Let’s be realistic, ISP’s only care about your money. They clean up their act only if they are afraid of losing it. They won’t do anything if it isn’t going to be a monetary advantage for them. That means if you stay silent about their awful service, they won’t bother to improve it.
i have globe broadband here 384 kbps.. today’s date is january 16, earthquake hits last january 26.. (2weeks)
im experiencing very slow connection, i can’t connect to many sites especially youtube. Can you give us an idea when will it be back to normal?
Globe Broadband – QC
i really hate it. my backup bayantel dial up is way faster than my dsl.
i am subscibed to the 1mbps connection..i don’t think its even getting 56kbps.
i know it’s such a tradgedy with what happened to taiwan and all, and this slow internet connection is being experienced by most asian countries but they should give us a time frame on when this will be fixed.
it has ruined my small sideline and giving me a hard time to study plus its hard to download mp3s and movies for my ipod.
Bad news folks, according to fiberoutage website, sources in Hong Kong as of Jan. 16 indicated that the number of cable sections affected by the earthquake maybe as high as 16 sectors and that the damage is so widespread that it may be necessary for the repair ships to move to shallower waters where the submarine fibers are accessible by submersible repair craft. This would require several hundreds of miles of submarine fiber to be replaced. A job that could take some months to complete.
Mark here @Cavite… Today is Jan 19. Globe is okay now , although not Fully up, at least contious connection unlike intermittent connections before…
Last January 17, I was very happy when my globelines broadband started to show some spark of life. I was able to surf at “normal speed” from 10 in the evening up to 4pm the next day. My browser finally opened youtube! I thought it was going to be permanent, pero hindi.
I work online, I’m not gaining any money to pay for the shitty connection.
[b]PLDT MYDSL[/b]
[i]Araneta Center, Cubao Quezon City.[/i]
Sites like Yahoo are still sluggish, and sometimes totally unaccessible. Mininova, Deviantart to cite a few examples are quite, hopeless. I mean, it takes about thirty minutes to load a single page? Geeze.
I didnt have this problem until two weeks after the said quake. I was still able to surf at the fullest speed possible until the first week of January. The quake happened at the second week of December right? Something’s not right here.
[b]ISP BONANZA & MYISP(text myISP to 483)[/b]
[i]Magallanes Village, Makati Metro Manila[/i]
I’m rarely at home, so I stick to dial up there. Surfing the same three sites were horrible immediately after the quake, but at about the same day myDSL rotted out, the speeds to Deviantart were as good as normal for dial up.
-
Something’s not right here… I just have the gut feeling that there’s more to this than just an earthquake.
Hey,May I suggest that you go to the webpages that you surf most frequent at and save the websites via software such as Cannon WebRecord,that will definantly speed up access times,that way the only thing thats being updated is any new changes,the backgrounds and etc,will already be on your computer(may need a large hard drive for alot of sites)the WebRecord software is quite a few years old,and there may be better softwares available,but it still works fine for me,and plus if you can find a copy on ebay,or other auction sites,you can probably pick it up really cheap.
Anyhow this is just a suggestion.
Hope it helps.
Globelines Broadband/2mbps
Dasmariñas, Cavite
———————
When disruptions occurred, I thought my PC had gone wrong because of my attempt to update a plugin in Firefox (which actually occurred simultaneously with the update). I ended up formatting my PC which, in fact, was useless. On the first few weeks, I could only visit Globe’s official website and some porn sites I could churn on. Joke. Speed is hellish. Waiting for 48 years gives me regular headaches. Lucky that my Gnu clients download mp3s like how they used to prior the quake.
Now, I’m writing an investigative report about the internet disruptions. For the initial interview, Globe CSReps in SM Dasma rejected me. Haha.
as for me…nothing’s working. zero. no connection.
globelines broadband
imus, cavie
as for me…nothing’s working. zero. no connection.
PLDT myDSL plan 999
After some days after the quake about 3 days I noticed that my browsing speed crippled especially to international websites, tried my download speed using a real downloadable file and not from a speed test, guess what I got 0.4 kbps while downloading a 45 mb file and will take as short as 2 days while back then I have a completely stead 43.3 kbps if downloading only. Now it somehow improved a bit some weeks ago I have fast connection in UK sites while uber slow to North and South America, now it reversed. I get bombarded by timeouts between 12-5 pm after the blinking of the ADSL link it looks the connection is fine then a timeout again and it happens again.
Also after reading some info that plan 999 will be upgraded to 512 I still get 384 connection while upgrade to 768 gives me not 512 but about 400.
Stop lying PLDT!!!
Globe Broadband/Bacolod City
Ever since the new year started,my Internet was getting speedy at least. There are times when Broadband Internet connection is roadrunner fast especially during midnight and early morning and sometimes,noontime. Net connection is going fine now but I hope it could go faster than this. I know they could.
Let’s face it,
Gloabe Broadband may never bring their connection back to normal at all.
Tsk Tsk. And they make bwi with their good call center service but what will we do with that?
What you can do when Globe Service Sux? Since the earthquake hits taiwan last year, i have very terrible internet connection. It is really disgusting, like hell, its getting into my nerves. Its like they are just sparing me some few bytes of bandthwith. I searched exepriences of other subscribers and they share the same hell with globe. Now I’m an unhappy and disgusted customer, what can I dot. My works same with most freelances and small business depends on it.
Surprisingly, those using Smart Bro has good connection even after the earthquake.
just curious.. are we all back to normal?
yes, globe broadband connections is still useless almost two months after the quake. The worst thing than this is that I still received my bills without rebate, so I paid 995 for the whole month of january for a useless dsl connection. Gago talaga ako. Worst, I am in a one year lock-in period with Globe broadband. So, I am expecting to pay the rest of the year 995 per month without using my broadband. Gago talaga ako. Help me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
pangit pa rin ba connection ng globe dsl dto sa navotas? kaibigan ko kasi nagpa globe broadband rin itong Jan. 2007 , kaya ako rin gusto ko na rin magpa globe dsl, pero sa mga comments dto, mukhang mag-iiba isip ko e
pangit pa rin ba connection ng globe dsl dto sa navotas? kaibigan ko kasi nagpa globe broadband rin itong Jan. 2007 , kaya ako rin gusto ko na rin magpa globe dsl, pero sa mga comments dto, mukhang mag-iiba isip ko e
Putang ina smartbro yan bakit nyo block yung SilkRoad Online gago kayo lilipat na kami ibang connection kung ganyan gagawin nyo panis kasi yung ibang online games nyo hayopppp “SMART_BOBO”
My ISP Bonanza really works better than this broadband i have subscribed to. The dial up type will be highly reccomended. If you try to call their helpdesk for assistance, youll find it useless.
It’s nice to hear that “NAKA BROADBAND NA KAMI”, as if it increases your social status and technical level, but would you believe that these people realizes that “NAKA BROADBAND NA KAMI” would last for only one day? And would definitely make your heart pound for dissatisfaction. For those people planning to be a “NAKA BROADBAND NA KAMI” subscriber, think again.
bayatel DSL speed just ok at sta cruz manila
DL speed 35Kbps
anyone at sta cruz manila using mydestiny???
ano DL speed ???
globelines broadband is definitely useless…
i have a 1.5Mbps connection and im only getting 50-120kbps bandwidth…tapos download speed ko walang kwenta bytes lg… hindi lg ako ang my problem sa internet ko, pati buong kapitbahay ko na may broadband nagrereklamo rin.
ibang klac tlaga mga to…
GLOBELINES = PINAKAMAHAL NA DIAL UP SPEED SA PINAS!!!
I have a t1 connection that didn’t suffer any problems, but my colleagues and friends all had a wide array of delays and speed issues. Some of my friends still don’t have access at all.