Look at the Download Speed.
(That's equivalent to 20Kbps! EVEN SLOWER THAN DIAL-UP!
for the "Up to 2Mbps" they say in the ads.)
For those who are planning to subscribe to SMART Bro in Quezon Province, be forewarned. Do not be fooled by their ads because it's definitely misleading and deceiving.
I have subscribed to their Unlimited Internet Plan 999 Plug-It last March 25 and since then, i can say I am not truly satisfied with the service I am receiving. I opted for SMART instead of other internet service provider, first, because they are the only provider who offers Unlimited Internet for their Plug-It and secondly, I thought all along that their service is better than the others because they are partners of PLDT. I have PLDT at home, in Lucena as my internet provider and it never failed from giving me the speed I am paying for. If only PLDT DSL can be carried anywhere, I wouldn't have been deceived by SMART.
I tried the Plug-it in Lucena City first before I went back to Lucban, Quezon. It did not go well. In fact, I did a speedtest and it just gave me about 0.10 Mbps download speed. I thought that maybe it just needs a good signal (though it has 3 bars of HSDPA then).
I went back to Lucban. I reside in a place close to the SMART tower. But in my first three days, I could not even play a youtube video nor could I open www.speedtest.net without waiting for minutes for them to load. So I contacted their customer service representative to inquire about my problem. They asked about my laptop's specs. Probably, they could not find any loopholes from my system all because it was just two weeks old. They promised to act on my case. After two days, I followed-up my concern and only then did I see some results. For two days, the speed improved quite a bit yet still reaching probably 200Kbps. After two days, it went back again to even slower than before I complained. During those two days, I expected more than 200Kbps because they said it could reach up to 2Mbps yet I never even felt half of that speed.
So I just waited for the month to end, paid my bills on time, waited and waited for another month, hoping they're doing everything to fix the problem, paid the next bill on time but still, no good results.
This is the second month already. I came to realize that I've been fooled by the company to be tied with them for two years and to earn 24, ooo pesos from me for the 24-month contract I signed in.
Look at the Receive Rate. Look at the Signal.
The receive rate is 0.00 even though I have full bars of 3G!
I became furious for the sluggish connection. I can't watch videos from the internet. I can't even open websites because the receive rate is always down at 0.00 eventhough I have five full bars of HSDPA signal! I've read a lot of hate posts in the internet regarding the services of SMART Bro and I was infuriated even more by the fact that they are fooling not only me, but probably majority of their customers. If you would look at the user rating at www.speedtest.net, you'd be surprised that SMART Broadband Inc. only received 2 out 5 satisfaction rating.
Everytime I call their customer hotline, they always ask me the same things. They do not want to admit that it's their network who's got the problem, not their users. They once told me that the speed also depends upon the number of users on the network. So, does that mean that their customers are to be blamed for slowing down the connection speed? Is it fair to blame customers who are using the service they are loyally paying for the slow connection? Well then, why are they still accepting more subscribers if they know their system can't hold that much? They should have mentioned in their ads or their employees, before their customers sign the contract, should have said that the "UP TO 2MBPS" speed they are boasting is TO BE SHARED and cannot be individually enjoyed. At least I would not be complaining like this if they informed me.
I e-mailed certain authorities about the problem and I hope they'd do something about this. I also learned that it's not only me who has this problem, but there are 2000 of us whom I can assure who are experiencing these problems. And I know there are more...
I hope someday, SMART would get better.
But right now, if you want to to experience the same thing, I'm urging you to visit your nearest SMART Wireless Center!
