in retrospect…

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[am not a researcher nor a true writer, so you must forgive me the title and the following texts... i just want to rant and look like i know what i was saying... ]

the Internet has become a regular part of our daily lives and rue the day we find that we cannot go online to check our email, read online news, blogsurf, and such mundane, simple things that we’ve taken for granted thinking that they will always be on hand when and where we need them… true enough, there are now free WiFi connections sprouting around the metro — i even heard from a lady friend that Davao has a free city-wide WiFi connection — and you can’t turn your head without seeing an Internet cafe… it has become so commonplace that we can expect to be online anywhere, anytime even without a computer… there are now cellphones and phone services [3G, for example] offering online services for a measly P10 per 30 minutes!!

we’ve really come a long way during the BBS period of 1992-1994 when we dial [yes, dial!] to an online server one at a time, download conversations and emails from other people, read them offline, reply offline, dial again, and upload these replies and possibly download new ones… and later on, those text-only web pages and IRC really made things so simple… we definitely do not need a very high-speed connection then… a 14.4K modem and a phone line are all that’re needed to get to the world wide web… then…

and today?? stop a regular guy from the street and ask him how his Internet connection is at home… and normally than not, he will tell you that, although he is connected to a big-name ISP, his connection is so crappy or so slow or both, that he is considering of going to another ISP he heard has good services… at least, that’s what i’ll tell those interviewers, not that i’ve been stopped before and asked a question like this… but i will… tell them, i mean…

i have been surfing the Internet for close to 15 years now, and eversince my first dial-up connection until now, i have yet to find an ISP with a really good Asian backbone connection to the US… PLDT should have, but their widely-used and much-maligned MyDSL proves that they do not know what they’re doing… or their SmartBro WiFi [formerly Meridian Telekoms] is so slow that it is usable only within their own network… Globe Innove’s broadband connection proved that they don’t even have a backup in case of a disaster… just like the recent Taiwan earthquake…

and so on and so forth… PLDT/Smart and Globe are 2 of the biggest ISPs here in the Philippines, that they have a monopoly of the Internet business, and they can basically dictate the state of the Internet… but i tell you no lies when i say that their ISP connections are so stupidly slow that it would have been better if we just use a dial-up connection because that is basically what we’re getting from them using their DSL or broadband or WiFi or whateverelse connections…

i should know, i was a previous MyDSL subscriber, and today both a SmartBro and Globelines user…

my experience with MyDSL was not so bad as i was having right now… though it was so awfully slow even for a 512kbps connection, i, at least, had a very good experience as far as their technical support was concerned… all i need to do was call and they’d have a technician immediately to my place… this was facilitated further by the fact that there was a PLDT center near my place…

i got SmartBro early last year since it was needed for my work then… i am only paying half [P500 max] but it was half of what i am not willing to pay for… i haven’t had the chance yet to call their technical support hotline since i haven’t had the displeasure of being constantly disconnected, but the Internet connection is really so slow that you’d spend precious minutes simply to load an image-free website!! i really am not expecting much out of it, though, that’s why i am not that disappointed with it…

and it all boils down to Globlines Broadband… December of last year when i first heard of this service as i was looking for something better than SmartBro… yep, the service for new connections was fast… i mean, i applied Monday evening, and by Wednesday, they had my phone line installed and the broadband connection by Friday morning… how fast was that?? and it was good, too, for the next couple of weeks… but all of these were dashed by a single event at the end of December… i am talking about the Taiwan earthquake which destroyed cables connecting the Philippines to the cyberspace…

but when’s something too good to be true, it cannot be always true, i found out to my chagrin… from January onwards, the connection has been dying out on me, every 15 minutes at first, every 30 minutes the next, and now, a day wouldn’t go by that my wife [because of disappointment, i have since given it to her to use...] will not suddenly wail and complain that her connection is again down… when before, a simple restart of the modem will fix things, now, everything has gone south needing a call to Globe’s technical support… alas, i am not the only one… a simple Google search for the term “globelines” will now equate their service with the words “hate“, “slow“, “poor service“, “crappy“, and so on… i can go on and on, but one thing is sure, that Globelines broadband is one of the worse ISPs in the country today… a blogger even went so far as to write a breakup post with Globelines…

their technical support is no better!! try calling now and prolly, you’d get an answer about 4 or 5 hours later if you decided to stay on the line… and all they can say is “sorry about that sir. i will note down your concerns and bring this to the attention of our technical support.” or the answer which is now becoming their classic response, “so sorry about that sir, but we are currently having a regular maintenance which will run from 24 to 48 hours”… damn!! regular maintenance, my ass!! if not for the GP rating of this blog, i would have simply filled this post with cuss words and be done with it!! shet…

and this brings us to the point i’d want to raise, but explicitly said by one of jhay’s commenters… he said[sic]:

And why does the government allows such a bad companies like Globe and PLDT to be the masterminds in teh Philippines only while their services is very bad. Guys, isnt time that foreign PTT firms like ATT or internet providers like AOL also can come in even by prepaid and download their services like skype does? The problem here it still needs to go via Globe or PLDT and since the corruption is a bad part in the Philippines, maybe we cna only dreaming from this speed.

like i’ve said, sic, so don’t blame me… hehehe…

am now on the lookout for a new provider, but nothing is better out there right now… i heard good praises fof Bayantel’s skyDSL and broadband, but they don’t have a port yet in my area, so that one is a no go… dang!!

i am now contemplating either of 2 courses to take:

1. to simply not pay at all and wait for them to take me to court; and,
2. to go to either DTI or NTC and complain outright.

the thing is, i am just a poor regular guy, and i don’t have the resources Globe has… i am sure, with its battery of legal beavers, they will win faster than anyone can say “broadband”… anyone care to back me up on this? i am sure, if we all file a class suit against them, the courts and those government agencies responsible cannot but heed our complaints… so, what do you guys, say??

Ciao, sweetie…

Tags: [ Internet | ISP | Globe | SmartBro | PLDT ]

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Posted in Blogging, Internet, Personal