SINGAPORE–As usual, being in Singapore has reminded me how unfortunate we Filipinos are when it comes to our information technology infrastructure.
Frankly, I don’t know how our telcos do it. I don’t how, year after year, they can get away with providing us with lousy service while still raking in money. While the availability and affordability of broadband has, to be fair, improved over the years, it doesn’t change the fact that what passes for broadband in the Philippines is laughable by the standards of other countries, such as Singapore. And forget quality of service — if all the horror stories we hear about the quality of broadband in certain areas are anything to go by, even when we part with our hard-earned money, we’re never really sure just what kind of service we’ll get, depending on which area we happen to reside.
So why do telcos get away with providing broadband services that are sometimes much slower than dial-up connections? Why are we consumers expected to grin and bear it if the service in our area is horrible due to some technical problem or lack of adequate coverage?
And to think of all the money they spend on glowing ads that tout how cutting-edge their technology is and how much they’re improving the lives of Filipinos. How many Smart Bro users out there feel like puking whenever they see those ads claiming that this service is the “broadband ng bayan”? Where exactly are these areas where Smart Bro actually has speeds that qualify as broadband? And if you’re one of those users who doesn’t get to enjoy these speeds, sorry ka na lang ba. tiis na lang?
You hear horror stories about all broadband services in the Philippines, whether it’s from PLDT, Globe, Destiny, whatever, that you start wondering if availing of these services in the Philippines is a crapshoot, a game of chance, only we keep ending up with crap.
So what’s the solution to finally ensuring that Filipinos won’t have to put up with shitty service? Is it finally time to get rid of the service area scheme, because quite frankly, I’d like to have as many choices as I can — if only to get the lesser evil. How much are telcos actually investing in their infrastructure?
It’s a pity, because we Filipinos do have world-class talents and skills. We can compete with the best of them when it comes to creativity. But unlike Singapore and countries more blessed than we are, we’re held back by private companies that keep dropping the ball when it comes to infrastructure — and a government that keeps letting them get away with it.
So tell me, who’s your broadband provider, and what’s your horror story?
June 26th, 2007 at 6:49 am
I guess we’re lucky kasi sa province maganda service ng SMARTBRO ko…or maybe marunong lang akong magmaintain ng computer? 90% of Internet connectivity problems are mainly bec of lack of knowledge and negligence of the user. Although our Broadband services here are definitely not at par with other countries, survey shows we’re still better off compared to “hitech India”
June 25th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
We have a broadband service but is not covered by quality of service, you can take it or leave it. How come that our BPO industry is growing while our Internet facilities still sucks! Where these companies get their telcos huh!?
June 25th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
VOIP as once included in Globe’s list of services now its gone even there call center agents and subcontractors and employees and the company as well is very silent about this. I still have an unused top up load of about P400 since February and still now yet to be refunded or to be reflected on my monthly bills. its now June
June 25th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
we have SmartBro at home. I guess we were outSMARTED coz the connection is so bad, every so often it gets cut off. And we have to shell out P999 every month. We see their advertisements everywhere. But the service is UNRELIABLE!
June 25th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
hi all,
we all share the same sentiments.
internet subscribers should be informed that when an ISP claims that they can provide you with 128, 256 or 512Kbps of internet connection, subscribers should ask their ISP, what is the CIR or commited information rate? the CIR is what you pay for. CIR normally way too low than what this ISP claims. if they give you 512Kbps this only means that your connection is burstable to 512Kbps but your actual connection is way too low, you’re paying for your CIR. don’t be fooled by this large/fast bandwidth. your connection quality depends on where and how many subscribers are connected simultaneously. for example, wireless broadband is a shared connection. depending on how many of you are connected in a given area divide the bandwidth and it gives you your connection speed. simple mathematics but most subscriber are totally unaware of this reality.
the govt should act on this marketing ekek of these giant ISP’s claiming this and that but at the end of the day what you’ll get is their lousy service and lousy connection.
dont blame the ISP’s, blame our govt. and its corrupt officials at NTC.
NTC should be liable for all this lousy internet services.
puro kasi lagay e. puro kurakot kaya malakas ang loob ng mga higanteng negosyante gumawa ng kalokohan dahil corrupt naman ang govt natin. they can just slap this officials with their money and that’s it, they can do anything they want. sino ang kawawa sa huli? tayong mga taxpayers at end-customers.