In an article I published in Technobiography, I shared a theory:
I have this theory that Smart WiFi is getting more flak than it actually deserves. I think that we’re reading a lot of negative comments because it is the dis-satisfied customer that looks for venues to air their grievances.
On the other hand, the users who are pleased with the service “” they generally are less noisy.
Now that I’ve been using Smart WiFi for 5 days, I have first hand experience with Smart WiFi which I can now share. I’m not here to paint a good picture of Smart WiFi. I’m here to give feedback and tell it as it is, whether good or bad.
The verdict: I’m happy about Smart WiFi …. so far …
To the dissatisfied subscribers, I hope Smart / PLDT get their act together and provide you the service that you deserve.
To those who are thinking of getting Smart WiFi, be aware of the complaints.
But know this: there are some subscribers who are happy with the service.
My take:
a.) Find out if there are Smart WiFi subscribers in your neighborhood. Find out if they have been getting good service.
b.) If your neighbors are getting good service, I say Smart WiFi is worth a try.
c.) Keep your expectations low.
wirelessly yours,
ka edong
Disclaimer: I’m not from Smart. I’m not being paid by Smart. I have a good friend in Smart and my friend knows that I will tell my story as it is, whether good or bad.
26 comments
So is your netgear router working as it’s supposed to? 😉
angelo
angelo,
yes it did. But i just borrowed it from my brother, so now I don’t have it.
ka edong
I was thinking of signing up for this as well.
Great to see that it’s cheaper than I expect (after visiting your blog).
A question: how hard would it be to transfer the service to another location?
Most of the time, the service is okay but last night it was so bad, only certain sites worked for several hours. I guess we get what we pay for.
wait till you experience the long downtimes, you’d rather go back to dialup
Hi Glenn,
Theoretically, it should be easier to transfer Smart WiFi than it is with landline subscriptions. I’d think it would cost at most P1000 which is the cost of 1st time installation. Ask the hotline. *3888 on a smart cellphone or 026727233.
Markku, Andre,
I’m half-expecting downtimes. Maiinis din ako pag-ganun, I’m sure. You’ll hear it from me too if/when I experience the downtimes.
Technology is just a tool. It will cause us headaches only if we let it to get on our nerves. I’ll just keep in mind that there are alternatives.
Perspective:
Remember the days of dial-up when you needed to dial many times just to get connected? Remember how we’d get just 24kbps or get disconnected after an hour or so?
Mas nadarama natin ang epekto ng downtime ng Smart WiFi unlimited broadband dahil tumaas ang expectations natin at pangangailangan nating maging connected.
I say:
Smart WiFi has the potential to connect Filipinos in 7,107 islands to broadband internet, to connect even the most remote barrio to the rest of the world.
Where else on earth can you find such an affordable technology that can do that?
😉
pilosopong edong
well, smart wifi, meridian telekoms and pldt dsl-w is running on same system, now i think all three are having downtimes cause of some technical activities that smart is undergoing, according from what i read they are upgrading their system, it will last for 2 weeks (feb. 2 -21)… wah!
and ka edong since 1 week palang yan, hopefully you wont experience the same things that happened to the 80% subscribers, the waiting time for the contractors to come (the said schedule are a joke), the scedulers to actually call (said that within 24 hours but they won call unless you demand them too.), and alot more, I was as happy as you are during my first 2 week but after that thing went sour. One of our school professor who actually signed up with them has no connection for 2 months now, sad sad sad!.
anyways Ka Edong, can you join are forum [url]http;//smartwifi.uni.cc[/url], its all about smart wifi, pldt dsl-w, and meridian telekoms, theres also different disccusion aside from the wifi internet. ty po.
btw im not saying don’t risk applying for smar wifi, but if you have globelines on your are better get it P995 lang naman amonth same speed less hassle. Even though all dsl providers have problems i think Globe is much better handling them, and faster too.
I’ve been using smart wifi for 7 months now…only problems are my metrobank payments that don’t reflect to their system even i verified from customer care…but if i pay to BDO, no problems naman.
hi vmyap,
Curious lang, where did you get info about __80%__ subscribers (being dissatisfied with Smart WiFi)?
I’m experiencing my share of slow Smart WiFi internet connection this morning. Baaaad.
donbagsit, thanks for sharing.
mabu-hey!
ka edong
im guessing cause most people i asked and talked about their accounts are mostly disastified customer, though i think i over rated it. Maybe not with the speed of the internet but mostly the after sales service, the csr are mostly trained to answer and act on different situation, some doesnt have any backgrounds on networking at all, so sometime its better to look for answers on the net than calling the csrs.
but i think smart is improving slowly as in slowly when it comes to their internet speed. I heard that meridian subscribers (pre smart subscribers) were mostly dissatified because after smart taking meridian their net suddenly slow down.
one more rant i have about them is the billing statement, they dont deliver any to me, well only twice in 4 months, and both of them i have to ask. secondly they only waste time and money sending their billing statements since they are mostly delayed and i already payed them before they come and in the statement there this past charges that i already payed that are still present on them.
im planning to get a smart wifi… basically wifi connections are a lot like a radio signal… the closer you are to a base station the stronger the signal and vice versa… given that there is direct line of sight na tinatawag.. meaning youre home atennae is pointing “direcly” towards the nearest cellsite without any object blocking them (i.e buildings, hills, etc.) the best way to achieve this the cellsite must higher than the recieving antenae… (check smart wifi website). so youre location must be put into consideration. malapit ka nga sa cellsite pero marami namang mga objects na nakaharang in between your antenae and the cellsite chances are youre gonna get a bad signal because these objects are blocking the “line of sight” also…so for those who are living sa mga subdivisons sa nearby provinces with a nearby cellsite they have a big chance of getting a stable signal rather here in metro manila na maraming matataas na building… i hope i shed light to these matter….
@g not all province subcscribers have good connection with smart wifi, but as you said they do have a higher chances of getting better signal thank here the metro. btw smart wifi’s maxiimum speed in the province as of now is 256 Kbps for P788, which is not bad compare it to a dial-up.
sa mga magsa-subscribe ng smart wifi!!!!
make sure na may malapit na cellsite sa inyo at maghanap ng subscrber na malapit sa inyo at tanungin kung ok ang connection nila!
precaution lang para hindi kayo masama sa mga nagrereklamo dahil lock kayo ng 1 year sa kanila.
me ang speed d2 sa bagong silang caloocan .nkalagay sa local area connection ay 100 Mbps medyo ok lang but syempre di 385 or 256 mbps pag nag dowload nasa max 56 mbps mapabilis p kaya ito itaas ko kaya antenna ko/
im not sure if ano dapat but sa land card ko nkalagay ay 10/100 Mbps ewan if tataas pa sya para mag 385 Mbps but ok narin wala choice wala naman telephone d2 dsl for home mahal 3000 pesos pang business lang medium rate lng but hope ma improve sa quality ng speed para smart choice talaga
ewan if maka buy tayo ng land card 100 to 1000mbps tranfer rate .meron d2 sa site ng
http://chinawtl.en.alibaba.com/
malamang tataas pa ito sa 100 bka mag 385 na mbps kasi max transfer rate ay 1000 Mbps kaya ang 256 up dba? ano say nyo?
I could symphatize to those prostrated smart wi-fi subscribers.I would like to suggest that smart wi-fi should be investigated by NTC for giving faulse hopes to us.They should be investigated because the were given tax holiday for 6 years as pioneer in this technology.Imagine they gained profits at our own expense???Shame on you….SMART WI-FI…!!!!
Smart Wifi unlimited 256kbps is a lie…. yan kasi experience ko.. hindi nga pumapatak ng 200kbps.. this last 3 days ay 7 times akung nawlan ng signal.. hindi naman teknologiya ang problema eh.. ang problema ay ang paggamit ng substandard na gamit… second hand lang kasi transmitter dito.. dapat may discount kami.. im not discouraging wifi users, gusto ko lang itama yung kini claim nila.. kung 128kbps lang ang kaya bakit hindi yung itinda nila..hindi yung malayo sa katotohan… bakit may 24hrs bang nagclose palagi.. hehe…
To all those na nawawalan ng signal…. pls, don’t judg to harshly, ang line of sih siguro ng sites eh di kau abot, and by the way.. yung mga laging napupunta sa smart wifi portal page everytime you open the browser(IE, firefox) try nio lng to…. maglog in kau tapos sasabihin nya irestart ung computer. Un lang tapos sakin hindi na ulit nag ganun.
I don;t know pero sakin okei ang smart wifi… cheap and relatively fast (not lower than 150 kbps) so okei cya. =)
I just have a few words to say becoz im am soooooo fcking pissed right now…..
GO TO HELL….. SMART WIFI
Blacmailers/Shitty connection/Intermittent/DUMBASS customer support/service/ EVEN MORE DUMBASS Technician.
ACCEPT ng ACCEPT ng new user pero hndi nag papa DAMI NG BASE STATIONS mga mukhang pera! kaya agaw agaw bandwith mga pota na smart wifi.
ang hula ko yun mga disconnect sadya para yung bandwith mo mapagamit naman sa iba, then sila nmn ma didisconnect tapos ikaw nmn makaka gamit ng bandwith.. every 1-5 to 10 mins ganyan
And for everyones information, We had about 384kbps as promised at first connection when it was introduced/advertised so it is not US or line of SIGHT it is them, SMart wifi company that is getting away with their shitty service, it was only a month where it had been 384kbps and we are a subscriber since Oct. 04, 2005.
thanks to smart, i have access at my home in the province. BUT, why am i subsidizing them for their testing phase or their learning curve? i paid money, so give me my service. if i wanted to give charity, i should have bought a booklet of sweepstake tickets.
if they cant deliver, they can always give rebates… which they dont. the moral is: give rebates when its due. why do i need to give my sympathy to a corporation raking in money without delivering service? give us our rebate, we’ll shut up. period.
– dont love a corporation, it’ll never love you back.
..when i started d/l, u/l was measured in bits per second, the line used to go dead frequently when it got flooded, and there were 5 protocols on 5 different computers, mind you that was in 1985, on the small Scottish island of Islay, and my computer was 16k….
..in central very-rural France i saw the system go from 16k d/l,u/l to 56, 128, 512, 1GB WiFi or copper cable and more, my machine moved from Win95, and 32k to ME and 128 Ram….
..now, i’m on the edge of the known world, just, more or less as far from anywhere as you can get without falling over the rim, and i’m u/l,d/l ing at around 50KB/50KB, after early teething troubles (days with no connection etc) and my machine is soon to be running on 512 Ram, already with XP pro, 400Gbs memory etc…
..no, i don’t have a copper-cable option,i barely have a reliable electric supply, and don’t ask about main drainage…
.. yes, i do think it is amazing i can even get internet, never mind for now that i can’t get vunderkind download speeds, i can get the BBC, and as we all know, that’s important, where would we be without the cricket Test series, the Archers and I’m sorry i haven’t a clue….
..do stop winging and get real,
.. if you don’t like Smart, get, if you can, one of the wireless radio ISPs, 4.5MB d/l,u/l and that in Davao yesterday, if you have no choice then continue to support them, they’l get better, or do without, it’s your choice…
Can’t say I hate smart wifi because their speed is ok. But I really do dislike them because they are sooooooooo unreliable. My connection times-out so OFTEN, it just gets on my nerves :(. For those who have anger issues—STAY AWAY FROM THEM, kasi ako parang masira ko na ang wires nila sa kaka-reconnect.
Wish ko lang umabot ng 100kbps ang speed ko, okay na ako sa Smart Bro. u_u;; Kaso yung sinasabi nilang 384kbps, kahit minsan, hindi pa naaabot ng connection namin. Bakit kaya ganun? Since 2005 pa kami connected sa Smart Bro. Gusto na naming lumipat ng service, kaso halos walang affordable na service dito sa Biñan, Laguna.
Bakit sa ibang bansa okay naman ang internet nila, at nagrereklamo na sila kapag bumaba ng 100kbps ang speed nila? >__>;; Kapag tinitingnan ko ang download speeds ng peers ko sa uTorrent, inggit na inggit ako sa kanila… 50kb/s, 70kb/s, 100+kb/s… kasi sa akin mga 5kb/s lang… Masaya na ako sa 20kb/s. Ganun na ba ka-primitibo ang internet dito sa ‘tin??? ;~;
@dachan
Hmmm… It seems that your connection has a problem. A CSR from the *1888 told me that SMARTBRO’s good range of speed is from 150kbps up to 384kbps. So if your attained lower that 150kbps then you need to ask for a technical support. Kindly spare time to call their hotline or file a complain in any wireless center.
Let me know once your connection improves or not…