MY previous blog post on watching the Pacquiao-Solis bout on your mobile phone drew reactions from readers who are far from happy with the Smart Bro wireless service.
In fact, a number of Smart Bro subscribers are so unhappy that they’ve set up The Smart Wifi Chronicles site.
Here are some of the recent entries on the site:
April 11
What is your current download speed?
Posted by khalil1974 as DSL/Broadband ReportsI noticed an increase in my download speed just last month… Normally, I only got 45KBps d/l speed and that’s max and until recently, it got up to 62-65KBps.
I am on SmartBRO 988 Plan. I guess, they have upgraded their service huh?
April 8
Call for a Class Action LawsuitGuys, can’t we form a serious Class Action Lawsuit against this BIG SMARTBRO / WIFI SCAM?
I mean, instead of just posting our frustrations, we can open a dedicated thread to petition signatures for a CAL. We need to get a good lawyer.
This HELL must stop. We’ve been trapped in this for a year, and they also renew it automatically if it ends. Be sure to call them in advance that you don’t want to continue your subscription. One year is enough hell to deal with their crappy technical and customer support. And they have the nerve to sue if you don’t pay. Evil to the core.
Please, whoever is capable of opening a dedicated section for CAL, here or on some other website, do so. We need to act together. I’ve read stories of people forced to pay for SmartBro service that they didn’t receive. If we take on them one by one, we can’t do anything. We must take on them in full force and in the manner they play.
PLEASE!!!
So what gives, Smart? Are you doing something to address these complaints?
December 18th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
dapat natin e ban ang SMART company at e report e2 sa media magkaisa tayo mga smart broken subcribers mag post kayo sa internet tungkol sa kawalangyaan ng smark broken nayan pati dyan sa lugar nyo magpakalat kyo ng bad quotes sa smartbroken nayan sa friendster.myspace at sa media o city hall at baranggay STOP this global phenomenon scum ng smart sinungaling tlaga tayo lng ang mapeperwisyo n2 pls mag post tayo at magpakalat tyo ng bad comments sa knila
November 23rd, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Tama kayo mga subscribers, kagaya ko agent pa naman di ako nagpakabit ng smartbroken na yan.Ang dami kung nabasa halos Mga Negative Comments about this broadband service.Kahit mga Clients ko wala pang 1 week ayon txt ng txt sa akin wala daw connection.As an agent alam ko lahat tungkol sa wireless internet or wireless networking.I do have my own wireless setup like as bridge…configuring the canopy settings, Ip dynamic Ip, router, sharing, etc etc. At ito mga SmartBroken…Nagshare kayong lahat sa isang server yun ang reason bumabagal yung connection nyo..lahat nang Pc users ngayon marunong ng magdownload.1 cellsite has 6 servers on it..kaso pag ikaw ay napunta sa server na doon marami ang user na mahilig mag download don ka mabubwisit.Kahit nga wired connection bumabagal pa naman, how much more if it is wireless tapus shared pa.1 server 384kbps lagay natin 20 users lang tapos 10 users doon mga mahilig mag download…hahahahaha.Ito ang sabi ni Smart 384kbps..yun ang speed advertized speed nila..hindi 384kbps per subscriber…384 pinaghatihati ninyo lahat ang server na may 384 bandwidth at isa pa walang CIR o commited Information Rate na binigay ni Smart..so pag downtime talagang down ang speed mo hanggang 2kbps.So dapat magbigay cla nang CIR kahit half of the advertzd sped nila pwedi na.If you want to have internet connection with CIR subscribe to smart corporate o enterprise edition 388kbps with CIR at email add at php 2,200 or 588kbps @ php6,200/months yun talagang may CIR at both has its own Dynamic IP, kagaya ng Bro na yan Static IP lang yan naka DHCP kasi shared bandwidth at connection.. Ano ? did you get my point?I hope malinaw lahat so if your planning to get 1 then accept the conditions.If you are an IT or a computer wizard make sure you know your canopy IP at saka Server IP para naman ma check mo always yung connection mo.
November 17th, 2007 at 10:54 am
Too slow for a broadband. They haven’t live up to their claims. Any feedback on globe wireless broadband?
September 12th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
All of us have the same experiences regarding “smart broKEN” kind of service. i believe its time for us to raise our our concerns to fearless authority like isumbong mo kay tulfo or imbestigador.
September 9th, 2007 at 7:49 am
SmartBro sucks. We had to wait and haggle with the technicians for weeks before they even visited our house. Only to tell us flatly that we probably couldn’t get a signal anyway. We switched to another tech who thankfully didn’t make any discouraging observations. He just installed an antenna, and we did have signal. Those first f**rs were just lazy.
We do only get 45-40kb/s for downloads and slightly higher for uploads. I can’t complain tho, we’re not exactly in the center of civilization. ^^ But it’s a far cry from all the hype.
THE problem I’m currently having is that I can’t access some sites. I know how my firewall works, antispy etc… and it’s not them. I tried to access the site from a friend’s PC with smartbro with the same results. Neither is the site malicious in any way. So… why is it blocked?
I’m a 3d Artist and its frustrating to not be able to access the homepage of your team. I have to content myself with our irc.
If you’re on smartbro, please try to open this site:
http://www.affuniverse.com
It’s the homepage for Angels Fall First Universe, a sci-fi game dev team.
If it works for you AND you’re on smartbro, I’ll know the fault is mine.
email me btw: astepintooblivion@yahoo.com
September 4th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
NA TRY NIO NA BA GMITIN 3G PHONES NIO FOR INTERNET CONNECTION… P. 20/HOUR XA PERO SING BILIS DIN NG SMART BRO… AT LEAST UN KHT SA GITNA NG BUKID MERON… TLGA NMN TONG SMART OH… SIMPLY AMAZING WHEN IT COMES ON ADVERTISING…(HANGGANG DUN LNG….)
September 4th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
UNG NAGSASABI NG MABILIS SMART BRO DYAN MALAMANG KAPIT BAHAY MO UNG TORE NILA OH D KAYA DUN KA NAKATIRA SA MISMONG TORE….
September 3rd, 2007 at 7:44 pm
not everybody is unhappy. my smart bro gets a consistent average of 250 download, and 320kbps upload for the past 5 mos. never needed to call them. depende din yun sa location din ng receiver mga tsong, at sa diskarte nung nagkabit. pag palpak yung lugar tapos pinilit pa rin, ayun.
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:03 pm
GRABE YUN SMARTBRO!!! ON AND OFF NA NAMAN CONNECTION KO!!!! KAILANGAN NA TALAGA NILA GAWAN NG PARAAN ITO! YUNG MGA CSR NILA MGA WALANG KWENTA! WALANG ALAM KUNDI MAGTROUBLESHOOT!
CHECK NYO ITONG THREAD NA ITO, MAY MEMBER NA NAG ADVISE KUNG SAAN PWEDE IREKLAMO ANG SMARTBRO
http://www.pinoypetfinder.com/forum/index.php?topic=1272.msg13337#msg13337
contact nyo nalang ako dyan sa site, hirap kasi magpost ng email sa net masspam lang eh.. post nalang kayo dyan
August 27th, 2007 at 9:26 am
i think all they’re csr and technicians are incompetent…..
the csr guy is like a robot programmed to answer “there must be a problem on your base station”
—> my comment: that is sooo true. tumawag ako kahapon sa *1888 to complain na napakabagal ng internet connection ko, i did a speed test and its only showing 70-80kbps. i know its not a problem on my end kasi lahat na ng virus scan, spyware malware scan ginawa ko na and na format ko na rin harddrive ko to make sure, pero wala pa ring kwenta yung internet connection ng smart. Hell buti pa nga dialup! sobrang smartbroken. after “troubleshooting” with the smart csr sabi sakin may pupunta daw na contractor technician baka may sira yung canopy. in my thoughts at last…may nagawa ring mabuti. pero 8pm last night may natanggap me na tawag galing sa smartbro (manager ata nung rep na nakausap ko) sabi may “upgrade daw na nangyari” sa base station kaya mahina ang connection and advised me to do another speed test that night. I did and result at 10pm 79kbps and at 11pm 58kbps lang!!! OMG! later i discovered if magoonline ka ng 12midnight or madaling araw ok yung connection, pero if peak hours 10am onward, sing bagal ng pagong. ginagatasan lang talaga ng smart yung mga subscribers! sana lang maimbestigahan to ng gobyerno!
August 25th, 2007 at 2:15 am
i think all they’re csr and technicians are incompetent…..
the csr guy is like a robot programmed to answer “there must be a problem on your base station”
August 24th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Smart Bro “the amazing internet service provider” should me change to “SMART BROken “The amuzing internet service provider..”
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:42 pm
I relocated by smart bro service and I was told by their contractor that I would need to pay 450 for an extra 10 feet pole since using the default 10 feet will have a weak signal. I told him that is not my problem since if only their signal didn;t suck a 10 feet pole coould do it. contractor said signal is good but 20 feet pole is needed. HOW STUPID WAS THAT??! IF YOUR FREAKING SIGNAL IS THAT GOOD IT WOULD NOT MATTER IF THE RECEIVER IS AS TALL AS A PESO COIN YOU DORK!!! called customer service regarding this one and all they do is to put me on “hold”. Heck the rep didn’t even bother to really place me on hold knwing they would be on hold for a long time as hold times are being counted in call centers. I know cause I worked for one. all reps that in that stupid customer service had no asnwer for me. no spiel worked because I keep on blocking it until they reached a freaking dead end with their thoughts. Stupid customer service, stupid smart bro service!!!!All CRAP!!!
August 20th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
Yep, SmartBro sucks. When I had a problem their customer service reps couldn’t fix, I suggested they send over a field representative to my house. They told me they could only send someone if it involved the antenna. My solution? I told the CSR I would break their antenna “accidentally” and then they wouldn’t have an excuse to send someone over. They sent someone the very next day.
The funny part is that the tech guy fixed the problem with a few minutes without touching the antenna. When I asked if a CSR could have just talked me through the process over the phone he said …”Eh, wala namang alam yung mga CSR kung hindi mag pasa ng complaint sa amin… Buti na rin pumunta kami…”
Btw, there’s nothing more annoying than being told by a SMARTBRO CSR “Thank you for patiently waiting” after the 8th time you’ve been put on hold with no new information…Just answer my question without the god damned spiel… I lost my patience ages ago, moron!
August 13th, 2007 at 12:05 am
simply amazing isn’t it? how they take their clients for granted.. I just recently had my subscription cut (actually it was just last night). reason why? simply coz they suck. I reported a slow and non-existent connection aug 3 (average speed was less than a 100kbps). guess what the excuse was? naturally the “base-station-upgrade/base-station-techprob” excuse. so i continually called their hotline (in every occasion losing at least 15mins of my precious life because no one was answering) to report and do followups. and then aug 9, I talked to “jack” and said that I was scheduled for a field visit on aug 11 to check my canopy settings because the problem maybe there. WHAT?? so why then were they saying before that the problem was in their base-station. They were practically lying to me. unfortunately for the agent, i wasn’t stupid to fall for their crap and received the hell out of me. Guess what, Aug 11 passed without a shadow of their contractors in my place. Had it cut Saturday night after waiting the whole day for a no-show contractor. I told the rep at their wireless center don’t they dare demand from me the remaining months off my contract (still just 6months with smartbro so i’m still within the lock-in period). If they want to sue me, feel free, they’ll be facing a losing battle. Whoever is planning to go SMARTBROKEN, don’t! ridiculous service!
Whoever is planning to apply for a SMARTBROKEN connection, suskupo wag na maawa ka sa sarili mo
July 31st, 2007 at 9:24 am
Mga pre pare-pareho lng tayo!!!Wla kaming magawa dhil nka kontrata kmi ng one year.Wish nlng namin n mtapos n ang one year, at magpapalit n kmi ng cable internet.
KASAR TLAGA!!!!
July 8th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
If you think PLDT sucks, try smart bro.
Smart bro can not access all internet websites. I suspect because of unfair marketing. Certain Netblock address range owned by competing companies like PLDT DSL are blocked. Dis means, di mo ma access some local websites hosted by the other big isp providers. Why will you subscribe to a company that controls what you surf ? I want to surf at a webpage hosted through a competitor’s IP address, but I can’t because smart bro has blocked the competition punishing in effect smart bro subscribers. Kaya yun, I moved to PLDT just because smart bro used unfair biz practices and violates my rights as a consumer. We are basically paying them for a gimped internet.
btw PLDT also sucks but I’d rather choose the far lesser evil.
July 3rd, 2007 at 12:13 am
Smart BRO is the worst service provider I have ever come across with. Not only that they have a very unstable connection, they even have a horrible customer service. I recently filed a relocation request last June 5, 2007 to transfer my Smart BRO from my Las Pinas City residence to my Dasmarinas Cavite residence in SM Southmall Wireless Centre and was told that it will take only 5-7 working days to complete the request. I waited for a full 2 weeks and there was no action so I decided to do a daily follow up at their Alabang Town Centre branch from June 23 - 29. I was told that my request would be prioritized. And on June 27, the Smart BRO contractors pulled out the antenna equipment from my Las Pinas residence. I was then expecting that it will be installed the following day. But unfortunately nothing happened till today. I am so disappointed with the service since relocation requests doesn’t come free as I paid Php 1,400 for it. It is only right that they provide the appropriate service. On top of this I am also being billed for usage for the month even though I was not able to use the service since they were not able to transfer the equipment as requested. This is just plain and simple robbery. I hope that there is some government agency out there who can control such malpractices by these service providers. I have also been sending out complaint emails to their customer care but to my disgust, I did not get even a single reply from them. It is quite ironic that they label themselves as customer care when in fact they don’t even care a bit of their customers. I would like to rant more about the kind of service Smart BRO is providing but it only gets to my nerves. So I guess I don’t have any chhoice but to wait for their so called “support” or “Customer Service”. I just wish that these ranting of mine gets heard by someone who can look into this.
June 21st, 2007 at 7:01 pm
I’m feeling your pains brothers and sisters, Those son of a bitch tech support and call center agents give the same bullshit every god damn day.
- A very angry person
May 27th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
I am posting a copy of complaint letter I sent to ntc@ntc.gov.ph(does not work, my letter bounced back) and ospac@ntc.gov.ph
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing your good office because of my predicament. I am Erhard J. Larga, 40 years of age, a businessman owning several colleges and residing in 84 Mother Ignacia Ave, Quezon City, Philippines. Last year 2006, I applied for a DSL line with PLDT but was informed later on that they do not have available line in my area. Some time later, one of PLDT’s marketing officers called me over the phone and offered their wireless internet connection informing me that the connection is fast and will be like the regular DSL. I accepted their offer and was installed the connection on March 23, 2006. After installation, it worked for a few hours then the connection became intermittent. In the succeeding three or four days I still experienced the same connection but every time I called the service hotline they appeared to get the problem fixed but then the intermittent or no connection at all returns again after a few hours. And thats the better part of my experience.
Sometime middle of April of 2006, I totally lost my internet connection and after trying to get the thing fixed over the phone with the help of Tech Support, I was advised that they will just send technicians to my place to fix the connection. The first time they set an appointment I did not go to work and waited the whole day but they did not arrive, was even advised to wait till 9:00 pm . They again scheduled a visit by the technicians but the same thing happened. Another day wasted. Finally hoping to put an end to this problem I again called their tech support and for the third time they scheduled a visit by the technician. I was assured that the technician will arrive before 10:00am the next day but I waited till evening but nobody arrived. I called their tech support again and was advised to just wait for the technicians the following day so I again waited in the house the whole day but the same thing happened, no technicians showed up. Already fuming mad I still gave it another try, for the third consecutive day I was again made to wait and was promised my case will be the first to be acted upon the following day . I waited till lunchtime that day and when the technicians still did not show up, I called Tech Support again but to my surprise I was informed that the technicians already dropped by my place and they alleged that there was nobody in my place. I informed the Tech Support that their technicians may just be lying because I have been waiting for them in my place for the past few days wasting my time for nothing. During my conversation with the Tech Support, I was made to wait and was assured that the technicians will be back that same day, I again waited until late in the evening but again they did not show up. All throughout these incidents, their Tech Support did not have any decency to inform me that their technicians will no longer be coming, they just made me wait and wait . I am a very busy businessman and I have lost a lot of productivity during this period.
After experiencing the worst kind of service , bar none in any business, I finally decided that I had enough. So I called Tech Support requesting that my subscription be cut . I was informed that I need to pay pretermination charges, and I countered that I do not remember being informed regarding this by their marketing officer when they offered the service over the phone so I insisted that they waive the pretermination charges. I was made to wait again for the approval of my application. After a month of regularly following up the status of application for service termination, I sensed on my own ipinion that they are delibarately delaying processing of application so that my monthly bill will continuously pile up. And on July 11, 2006 I again called up 171 and requested that even if they apply pretermination charges, I no longer care, I just want to get this thing over with, I just wanted that they stop sending me bills because it is irritating to receive bills for something that I am not consuming. I was informed that I need to pay all my back accounts and clear my account before they process my application so I immediately paid all my accounts hoping this will end my predicament. All throughout this episode, the following service personnel and supervisors I dealt with can attest to the authenticity of my experience; Agnes Salvador, Carol Abaya, Francis Cadiente, Michael Sy, Tessa Isip, and some that I failed to jot down surnames who are as follows; Marge, Vio, Ellen, Phil, and Laarni.
Finally on July 31, 2006, I was informed by Ms. Cynthia Almirol that my account had been terminated and I will no longer be receiving bills .Unfortunately my misfortune did not stop there as up to now after exhausting all my means to finally put an end to this outstanding service called SMART BRO, they are still billing me. For the past months I have been going back to PLDT Aranerta Center Cubao Office and SMART Center Megamall like a Ping-pong ball to sort this matter. Last January 5, 2007, I visited SMART service center in Megamall to show proof to affirm that I should no longer be billed as shown by the report given to me by PLDT Cubao Office. Ms Jenny Po of SMART said they needed clearer document showing proof of my claim so I went back again to PLDT and asked for that PROOF. I got the report and submitted it to Jenny Po . She said she will get back to me as soon as she gets the result of my request. I made several follow-up after that visit but until now they still do not have a decision.
It has been a year since this big headache hit me and it has got to stop. I already lost a lot of productive time, that is equivalent to lost income opportunities which means loss of substantial amount of money attending to this problem. I also spent real money to pay for something which was not delivered. Therefore I would like to request your good office to help me rectify this injustice that was being inflicted on me. I would like your good office to help me in the following;
1. Get a full refund of all my payments to PLDT Wireless Internet Service and/or SMART Broadband Inc. Internet Service.
2. Compel SMART Bro to stop sending me monthly bills as I have already requested for the termination of service a long time ago.
As the governing agency in-charge of the Telecommunication/Internet industry, I would like to appeal to your officers not to allow businesses to take advantage of helpless Filipinos. We are small and powerless and we rely on you to protect us from businesses who are without morality and decency and whose business model is comparable to a vampire with a novel trap (Aggressive marketing using exaggerated performance claims or should I say false advertising plus lock in contracts ) and then sucks the blood of every victim till they are all dead dry. But then again, the owner and the chief apologist of these kind of companies can always say ” Nobody Forced them In”. Good for them, but wouldn’t it be better if they just offer excellent products and services so that they won’t have to level with snake oil peddlers just to earn money?. I do not know how the owners of these kind of companies, some of whom are prominent sponsors of sports and fair play and very visible supporters of leading catholic universities , can tolerate these kind of business practices of their companies?.
As I rest my case, I appeal for your sense of fairness and may you act with decisiveness and urgency on this matter.
Respectfully yours,
Erhard J. Larga
May 24th, 2007 at 9:45 am
Ako din ngayon 4 days ng walang connection. I call the call center every night and keep getting promises on a location visit. BS talaga!
Hey guys if you have similar problems now please email customercare@smart.com.ph, I know they will just ignore it but cc niyo ang NTC complaints ospac@ntc.gov.ph. that’s what I did. and so far sumasagot ang NTC sa akin. Sana kung may problema din kayo send din kayo emails sa Smart and NTC para mapuno ang NTC at batukan ang Smart.
Mag email brigade tayo please. I just hate Smart bro’s service.
NTC’s complaint email is ospac@ntc.gov.ph
May 14th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
The pains of having a wireless connection…
May 12th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
Once again, Smart bro doesn’t go up to 100mbps, and it will never be that fast. That’s the PC’s LAN CARD speed. that’s the prompt that shows after starting up one’s PC. Smart bro averages from 256-380++ kbps. For some cases, in other forums, really TECHIE peeps get to have it shoot up to as much as or more than 700KBPS.
May 1st, 2007 at 1:07 pm
I started up on SmartBro in Dec 06 in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. For about a month the service was barely acceptable. By Feb, 07 the service was as good as no service at all. I went to their local wirelss center and complained and called their service center. I documented each contact I made with them. Since Feb 3, 07 up to today, May 1, 07 I have documented 62 contacts pleading for better services. The service center is indeed “robotic” and they always say, “monitor your connection for 24 hours”, “we are coordinating your report”, “we will escalate your report to the technical staff” and so on. But after 61 calls over a 3 month period, I have seen the pointless process of getting me off the line on the service center with the results never changing.
They promise that someone will give me a follow-up cal within 24 hours (happened only twice with no results in better service), said that I had to continue to pay full price for the NON_SERVICE until proper service is resrored and then get a rebate, and rebate is is offered but I have to agree to extend my serivice contract for an extra 3 months.
I took another approach. I would not get off the line. I stayed on the line for 3 to 6 hours telling them I would not take their robotic answers anymore. This frustrates the heck out of the people, but , Hey! I’m more frustrated than they are and if I can make them frustrated then I at least get a thrill out of it!
I am now demanding that they pay back all the payments I’ve paid them for the services since Feb 3, 07 and will take down their equipment and hide it until I get my money back, will make no more payments for their non-services and I want a letter of apology for their crappy treatment.
Does it sound a bit over the top? I think so. But if I shoot for a star, perhaps I’ll hit the moon!
Let me know where to sign up for CAL!
April 25th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
im a smart bro subscriber at least 1 year or so, at 1st the connection was good, but this year, they actually suck..i’ve been calling they’re tech support countless times about my slow connection and heck! 1 month later, no changes have been made, they say “sir please monitor you connection within 24 hours” or something like, “sir there is some “ENHANCEMENT” on your base station that is why you are experiencing slow connections”. enhancement huh…? with this i can work at there call center because i know what they’ll have to say to make people hope for a better connection..2 words “ASA PA”
April 18th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
sorry for the double post
@Alvin
very suspicious comments..
i never heard that from other subscribers, totally cannot agree with you. my smartbro connection if there is any is always broken. i regret to have paid 1 month advance.
April 18th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
huahuahua…. i am from surigao city, and i can actually remember the exact days i was online!!!!
send globe lines over here….
April 16th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
i’ve been a subscriber for 2 years now. and i was lucky to have used my smart bro for a total of 15 days in that period. the reason i am still connected is because even after 8 times of calling the customer service and 5 letters to them to cut off my subscription, no action has ever been done to do so. i have already thought of filing a complaint several times. BUT, , , nah!!! filing a class action lawsuit will just give us a headache, on top of the smart bro headache we already have. I say this is what we do, we all don’t pay our bills!!! That way, we will return the favor of giving them headaches. Imagine, 200K subs, not paying bills amounting from Php 999 to maybe Php 3K. They will have a grand day trying to collect these very small amounts (small vs. their bigness) from so many people. Heck, they can even file lawsuits against all of us. Individually!!!! All 200K of us!!!! That will be fun!!!!
April 16th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
I am a smart bro subscriber for more than a year now and i cannot remember a month passing with out having a problem with my connection. Last December and this month of april are the worst. Last December we did’nt have connection for a week, then this month for about two weeks. When I called *1888 to complain it took them 20 minutes to answer the phone.I think subscribing to smart bro is not a very smart decision i’ve made.
April 16th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
My previous internet connection is SMART WIFI. It’s sucks. I’m more happier with PLDT weroam.
April 16th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
For almost a year and a half weve been using smart internet connection (wi-fi & bro(ken)). Signals and the services are always the main problem. I just cannot understand why they cant give us a 100% service when we are paying 100% for their services. I even made an advance payment for two months because i dont want to have any problems with my connection on internet and still they disconnect my internet. Lets go for a lawsuit for these unprofessional people.
April 16th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
I am a SmartBro subs for almost 2 years already. So far, I got 2 major breakdown only - meaning got no connection for 2days.
After my LOS (line-of-sight) have been fixed by the technical people, it is already running well.
AND I am so thankful I got the chance to receive the FREE ACCESS to Pacquiao Fight last Sunday-April 15.
The connection was seamless. I was actually expecting intermittent connection because of high utilization of the network for that day - BUT there was none. Cool ey!
The webcast was at 256K. Good enough. It was just a pilot webcasting for NeTVision using thru DSL/SmartBro.
I want SmartBro to explore more Webcast soon so that me as a happy Bro subs would enjoy to the fullest the technology of Wireless Broadband.
By the way, according to my Line of Sight info (got it from the technical people of Bro), I was linked to Paco,Manila site. (I guess covering the area of Sta.Ana,Paco,Pandacan).
This is Alvin… a happy SmartBro user.
April 16th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Hi guys,
The people who designed, build, and marketted SMART bro are no longer there. Meaning, the former Meridian boys are not anymore connected with SMART bro. They created another company, Latitude Broadband. I pity these people (Smart Bro) taking the brunt of what the big guys did with the company.
April 16th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
frustration, upset, stressful, and a lot more negative words for smart bro services. Its a big scam and they are not doing the best solution to their Smart Bro services. stop the smart bro services and please don’t start anther project like this. You are a big failure. And until now you are not doing a very good service to your subscriber.
April 16th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
I’m a smartbro subscriber from Nov. 2005 and have always tolerated their fluctuating signals.
I have had my final straw just yesterday when smart bro cut off my services yesterday April 15,2007 claiming that I have outstanding payments, My payments are up to date up til March 29.2007.
I’ve been complaining to Smart bro forever, from their frequent disconnections to the drop in kbps (as low as 34kbps once). Shouldn’t that mean that since it is 10% of the promised speed that Smart bro owes us 90% of our payment for that day?
Anyway, I’m in for a class action suit. I have a few ideas myself. Please let’s stop smart bro from victimizing more people.
April 16th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Hi guys. I’m based here in Laguna and I been a SmrtBro(ken) subscriber for a year now. The 1st 5 months was quite bad because there’s frequent service interuption. But this past few months, their service is relatively ok.
Pls note that this service utilizes wireless technology and it requires line of site link between your home antenna and the base stn. The problem could be is that in most areas especially in crowded cities, there are a lot of obstruction. Before, I encountered intermittent service because the technician linked my anntenna to a base stn quite far from my place. Smart has to do something in their declaration of area of coverage.
Nonetheless, Smart has to live up to their promise and improve their over-all service. Among the major areas for improvement is the customer service hotline which is very difficult to contact. It is more of a corporate service hotline because they shield the company from angry customers. Another is the internet speed that they claim. We are not getting the download speed that they claiming.
Salamat po.
April 16th, 2007 at 11:30 am
Ive been a subscriber for 2 months now and so far I haven’t experienced the disconnections you guys are talking about. However the download speed is really frustrating. You can check the following forums for other complains regarding smartbro and other broadband services:
1. http://www.pinoydsl.net
2. http://www.pinoywifi.com
April 16th, 2007 at 11:23 am
i was once a subscriber of meridian (acquired by smartbro), and had a lot of problems after a few months, had to go back to dial-up which was better & cheaper, but now i’m on dsl. got lot of feedbacks and complaints from friends who got smartbro & told them good luck with the year lock-up, if i were you if you have few months left on the lock-up finished it, if you just subscribe pay the termination fee, it ain’t worth it. no help from their customer service either. good luck
April 16th, 2007 at 10:13 am
I AM, I WANNA JOIN F%$#CK SMAR
April 16th, 2007 at 9:27 am
It always happens to any company that become a giant. I can’t even get an email reply from my friend from years back who is now one of the big bosses in this company. His mother and my mother were very close high school chums and we went out a lot when he was assigned in my province years ago in his previous company.
April 16th, 2007 at 9:13 am
i was also a dissatisfied Smart Bro subscriber. I had my contract terminated after a year. It took a year of bearing the brunt not because it was good but i just didn’t want to pay the termination fee of the rest of the contract if i had it cut off before the 1 year termination period.
Smart should seriously consider doing something about their broadband business.
April 16th, 2007 at 1:58 am
my brother in law is also a subscriber of smart bro. Grabeng pahirap ang dinanas nya dyn snce he start his first month…pati kmi, madalas tawagan para tulungan sya dhl laging naddisconect and setting up d config….now he seldom used it n they dont really want to renew their contract. Really poor servce. makakarma at makkahanap dn kyo ng katapat!
April 15th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
i just signed up with smart bro last month, despite the hullabaloo around it (globelines does not have services yet in our area, unfortunately), they started ok, 40-ish kbps… but lately nawawala yung connection, i find myself power-cycling the equipment twice a day na… buti na lang di ko pa nakakausap yung tech support at customer service… with your comments like that. moreover, my co-worker has been their “suki”, always asking for their manager hehehehe
April 15th, 2007 at 7:51 am
I was a subscriber of this smartbro, It has far better service when It was still on Meridiane and really went poor in service and Quality when Smart took over. I have no inernet most of the time then and when I do the speed is very slow. now Before my 1 year lock in period, I was still on Meridiane but I think they are already transferring now to Smart wifi that is why I had to go to their office which transferred from Pasong Tamo extension to Ayala. I submited a request for disconnection and paid 1 month advance so that I have no more worry when my last billing was over because I did not want to stay with them a day longer. To my surprise my bills still keeps on arriving and when I informed them they just tell me to ignore them. now several months and several bills now have arrived which now is amounting to 7,000. I was getting worried that something is not right. now they are telling me that I did not unsubscribed and I have to pay them all. that really got on my nerve. I am surprise why every month there is a payment presuming that I did not terminate my account because in the past even though I have paid in advanced before the due date to avoid disconnection, my internet would still be cut off and I have to call them and they would transfer me to accounting and I have to update their records that I have paid. I asked wny this is happening every moth. They just give me crappy answer without really answering me. Now that is my second reason for not liking Smart wifi. I told them that I dont like to be talking to them every month specially if I had paid early. I am happy now with Destiny. I wanted a second ISP at that time since Destiny was also having problems (but not as frequent as themback then). I am just glad that my nightmare with them is over and when ever somebody ask me what ISP to get, I always tell them not to get Smart bro so that they wont have to experience what I had before.
April 15th, 2007 at 6:47 am
I have been a SMART bro subscriber since April last year. Yes…for the first 4 months I did received a freaking service from Smart. If not for the strong personal intervention of Jeff Lim, one of their engineers…situation could have remain the same. I still experience at present although at lesser intervals, sputtering signal or even disruption especially towards last week of each month. Why????
April 15th, 2007 at 5:10 am
Im an OFW and during my vacation they offered me the service, buti na lang di ko kinagat. Biruin one month lang ang vacation ko tapos sisingilin ako for one year, and one more thing…pag umulan putol agad ang linya mo.
April 15th, 2007 at 12:29 am
my smart bro speed is 100.0 MbPS. I pay 999 pesos monthly. I complain whenever I get disconnected. so far no problem here in Tondo.
I was forced to get a smart bro after pldt telephone lines near our area were stolen and had no dial up connection for 3 months. Poor People use the pdt lines to steal electricity.
The site is very near our house. I checked first the distance of the site to our house before I got a subscription. I actually went up our roof just to make sure and did some research.
Pldt lines are now back in our place after over 9 months.
April 14th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
arnold jayona -> that 100mbps u are seeing, it’s ur LAN card max speed. Not Smart bro’s speed.
Samrt bro has been relatively ok. Not enought for me to complain about but not also that good to be called a great ISP.
April 14th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
arnold jayona
Im from QC, a smart bro subscriber for almost a year now while some is experiencing slowdown im sorry to say, but on my part i have not encountered any problem in the speed or otherwise, re: use of this broadband,my speed gauge is peg at 100Mbps not Kbps i just cant explain the technical side of this.Customer service is also great,very accomodating indeed.
>> dude, that 100Mbps is the that of the NIC/Lancard. that does not represent the true speed of your connection.
April 14th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Im from QC, a smart bro subscriber for almost a year now while some is experiencing slowdown im sorry to say, but on my part i have not encountered any problem in the speed or otherwise, re: use of this broadband,my speed gauge is peg at 100Mbps not Kbps i just cant explain the technical side of this.Customer service is also great,very accomodating indeed.
April 14th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
I guess we’ve fallen into the trap too of subscribing to Smart-Bro’s not so smart service. I just started my subscription 2 months ago and my connection gets cut-off everyday, lucky if it will stay connected for an hour straight, but most of the time,just a few minutes and I have to reconnect again and again and again….. Please count me in if you guys are contemplating on a class suit.
April 14th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
talagang ganyan ang 2.4 ghz, paglumalayo sa main server,humihina. palpak ang antenna nila. hindi kaya ng malayo.
April 14th, 2007 at 11:37 am
I’m very much satisfied with Smart BRO. I’m already on the 7th month of subscription and so far I haven’t encountered any problem (maybe because there’s a Smart Celsite just a few meters from our home).
The speed is fairly fast. At times, I get a speed of 300 kbps. The lowest speed that I got was around 272 kbps. I knew because I constantly check the speed using PLDT’s speed meter.
Last night, I downloaded an email attachment of a high-resolution photo. The size was 2.7 MB and it took me around 30 seconds to download it.
I’m on Plan 999. I use the internet mainly to download programs, watch streaming video (www.cinemanow.com), send and receive high-resolution photos, etc. I also have a VOIP here at home (Packet8).
.
April 14th, 2007 at 11:04 am
Just want to share that I am now very happy since I switched to Globelines Broadband.
I used to get between 10-20Kbps at SmartBro and now I am receiving 500-600Kbps with Globe for the same price of P995 a month.
April 14th, 2007 at 10:53 am
I am here in Mandaue on company assignment.Can’t even send pictures to our main office because our connection always gets disconnected. I’ve stopped using on line fm radio because the reception gets cut.Our office is located on a major commercial road and they PLDT does not even have a DSL connnection here that is why I have to contend with Smart Bro. Really poor service!!
April 14th, 2007 at 7:34 am
They are misrepresenting the bandwidth they are selling. I’ll join any class suit that you intend to pursue. Include PLDT na din. sa kanila rin yun di ba?
As an aside, I’m a PLDT DSL subscriber. The charged me 3 months penalty for supposedly cutting my subscription before the contract ended. But until now, I am still using their service and still paying. These guys even have the nerve to charge for the months which does not have any service.
Class action suit na!
April 14th, 2007 at 5:56 am
clearly, kulang ang infrastructure ng smart bro sa ratio ng customer nila.
April 14th, 2007 at 2:41 am
I just subscribed to Smart Bro last February. After a month, I was sent to the US to work. I called their Customer Service informing them that i want my service to be cut off since nobody will use it. They said that I need to pay still since i’m under contract. I told them that it’s useless. Also, the service that they offered to give didn’t come into fruition. It was a freakin’ slow connection. I will file a complaint with you, guys.
April 13th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
hey guys…we got no problem here in cotabato…smart bro is giving us nthe speed that we really need….faster than the bullets that comes our rooftop once i a while….lipat kayo dito para enjoy…
April 13th, 2007 at 11:22 am
yes, smart bro is becoming an inconvenience and very annoying. Please contact us if there is a CAL. They need to upgrade and make faster their service.
April 13th, 2007 at 10:32 am
katuwaan lang guys! i came from meyc, bulacan. it’s very obvious, pahirapan na lang natin ang collection section nila. let’s do them a favor, pasakitan natin ulo ng accounting section nila, at least me tatawag sa ating phonelines, we get thier attention hehehehe
April 13th, 2007 at 10:28 am
my bad. i should replace my ISP. ANYBODY with globelines in meyc. out there?
April 13th, 2007 at 7:33 am
I have long tolerated the disservice of smart bro among them are:
- service slowdown
- incompetent technical services &
- annoying and frustrating customer care services from robotic callcenters.
But the most unacceptable was cutting off an updated subscription payment for internet services due to non-payment of accounts!
Joel, if you are contempleting to file a suit, count me in.
April 13th, 2007 at 2:35 am
While some experience a slowdown, my SmartBro line in Balanga, Bataan frequently goes pffft, anywhere between five minutes and 12 hours.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:42 am
by the way guys, here is my address tarzanboy1746@yahoo.com
April 13th, 2007 at 1:41 am
hey guys i subscribed to smart bro last year…i get frustrated with their service…i am young lawyer contemplating of filing charges agains them…who wants to join me?