Headaches of using PLDT WeRoam
- Customer Service, Tech Support, WeRoam -
By Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net
PHILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone (PLDT)’s WeRoam wireless Internet broadband service is supposed to make my work convenient and faster. But it has been more of a headache lately causing delays and inconvenience.
I experience good service usually before 12 midnight. It get around 60 kbps (kilobits per second) of wireless Internet speed but the wireless signal is weak. It is just teeny bit faster than dial up at a higher cost. A100-percent signal (based on the service’s indicator on the laptop) won’t even reach the promised 1.8 Mbps (megabits per second) speed.
PLDT and Smart are both boasting nationwide service coverage. But how come I am having signal problems in my area which is in Manila. I called the PLDT corporate customer care service (177) several times until they referred me to a WeRoam expert who admitted that I couldn’t use 3G (third-generation mobile service) in my area because of the “walled area” in Supreme Court and the Department of Justice. They said even users in the Office of the Chief Justice are complaining about their WeRoam connection.
They said they would be installing a hub inside the Supreme Court to resolve the 3G signal problems but that would take time. So I just had to rely on slower GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), which is what is usually available if WeRoam can’t deliver the promised 3G speeds. Fine, but it has been weeks now and my GPRS signal is nothing but annoying. Sometimes, I just couldn’t use my WeRoam. I would call the hotline. But no one could give me a straight answer. They promised to call me back but they didn’t.
Their promised of a strong, wireless, faster signal, is really no more than “so many feet of the blue sky.”
