I was reading through a couple of websites that are tackling the subject of SmartBro, “a revolutionary high-speed broadband internet service” in the Philippines, and I was not at all surprised to see that there is quite a number of Filipinos who are unsatisfied with their very poor Internet service — and hundreds more stories about bad connections and horrifying customer service encounters. The reason behind why I was suddenly interested to read about other people’s complaints is because my own connection at home went down (again) for a whole week. I wanted to bug their customer service non-stop again but after I tried to troubleshoot with a couple of CSRs, I suddenly got tired. I stopped pressing my luck since I knew that I will only get crappy answers and phony solutions to my problem as I did before.
Fortunately, after I turned on my PC today I was happy to once again see the default website flashing on my browser! Then again, I didn’t have a connection for ONE WEEK so I’m still not really happy about it. However, while everyone’s going all ballistic saying all those bad things about SmartBro I, on the other hand, will stay calm…
I will stay calm as I bluntly say that, in my opinion, it is the poorest Internet connection out there. If you’re thinking about subscribing to SmartBro, then you better think twice. I’ve experienced frequent disconnections in the past, usually lasting a week, then when I call to negotiate with their billing department, they will only give me 99pesos as rebate, non-negotiable. Crap. This is not a nasty attack on SmartBro, I am merely sharing my own opinion based on personal experience.
But, if you call this entry an attempt to badmouth SmartBro then so be it. Heehee. Just kidding. :P
shucks gusto ko pa naman magpa-connect…hindi na lang siguro… time for DSL to shine! haha! Globe broadband kaya ok? :)
already warned you about smartbro :D anyway, once my account expires, i’ll switch to globe broadband, same price, hopefully better service :D
I seriously hope that with all the ‘downtime’ that your internet connection is having, that they aren’t making you pay for that said down time. I’d be bitching that they take off a week’s worth off the bill. lol
Oh dude, I feel for you. It sucks when the internet is down. That actually sounds like a total loser/indication-of-a-pathetic-life thing to say, but you know, net addicts like us just have so much to do on here, I’m not gonna lie. haha. Nothing really ever gets boring. Plus I’ve learned so much on here so I can’t say it’s dumbed me down or taken away from me. But Okay: Hope you get your net up soon. 8)
true to that.. smart’s internet service sucks -.- na experience ko din yan madalas tapos pag tumawag ka eh paulit ulit lang sinasabi nila or “mam may technical activities po kasi” sheshh walang katapusan technical activities, saka ang bagal dumating ng bills nila sobra…
hi Joni! ^.^ salamat poh for the nice comment!!! hehehe ooo i love your layout too!!
ughh… i’ve never heard of that interent service.. gah.. kinda reminds me of AOL & Charter here in the states.. X__x; hehe RoadRunner rocks! lol! take care poh!!! hehehe ooh well linkex???
hehe mag globe lines broadband ka na lang :P 999 lang at 512 kbps pa hehe, ganyan talaga ang wireless hehe
Wow I thought me only – many pala tayo!
I will NOT pay anymore. Attention SmartBro:
So, SUE ME!!!
TO all smartbro user visit http://smartbro.blogspot.com to increase your bandwidth. thanks!
OMG! kakausap ko lang sa HOTLINE (2007-14-03)! ragarding the WR512 (from 384Kbps to 512Kbps) yes tama kayo sa nabasa nyo na nag upgrade cla “DAW” ng SPEED (KUNO!) eh bakit ganun! MAS LALONG BUMAGAL ang CONNECTION! ang hirap kc! kahit anung sabihin natin sa HOTLINE eh! anung magagawa nila dun! kakasama lang ng loob! actually nung sinabi nilang! “SER NAG UPGRADE PO ANG SMARTBRO NG 512KBPS SPEED” wow parang gandang pakinggan! hehehehehe! anyways, i-share ko lang po na NAGUPGRADE DAW CLA! peste ultimo tong forum na to eh gapang ang bar ko eh! heheheheh
Would you believe?
1. 512k is not completely rolled out yet. As of yesterday, the CSR I talked to said that only some provinces have it, and there is no mention of Metro Manila. So 384k is still the top speed in Manila.
2. Be satisfied if you can reach 256k or even 300k. The same CSR I talked to yesterday said that they will not elevate your problem if your speedtest result is at least 100k. Then they will ask you to test your speed at PLDTPlay, which is within their network (home court advantage). Even if you don’t exceed 128k on their advertised 384k while you’re paying for the full 384k speed, there is no problem with your connection! I do remember that 128k service costs only P799/mo, not P999…
this is just so true! I HATE SMARTBRO!
Dear! I’m getting smartbro sa MAndaluyong. I do hope na —all you’ve said that’s bad about the service will NEVER happen to me. After all I wish it will be a better service than my every 5 minutes disconnected GlobeDSL! :)
SMARTBRO SUCKS! I applied for smart because that was the only dsl connection available for my place.. and loh and behold, it’s been only 2 days and I no longer have connection. I called smart, and their response is, the antenna was connected the wrong way. So I told them to bring over their installers/technicians. It’s been 2 days already and I’m here at a computer shop because, I haven’t seen a single soul from smart to fix the connection. I’ve called them more than 10x in a day, and all they can tell me is someone is supposed to come. If by tomorrow their still ain’t anybody coming, I’m going to their office and drag one of them to fix my connection because this is really getting to be a pain. My work revolves around having internet connection and I can’t just because their equipment, support, and people are total idiots!
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!
OMG im not the only one experiencing smartbro’s badddddddd connection pla…
just this summer i’ve experience a whole month f*** connection as in 30days. everyday i turned on my pc bcoz no class after all, then NO CONNECTION agad… then reset ang connection then after 40mins to 1hour ayun may net na… then after 30mins nawawala… masmatagal pa hinintay ko pra may net kesa sa nagkanet na… oyeah
after a month nawala na… but after that ah mga once a week na lng…
but yesterday august 22, 2007 SMARTBRO S***s
from the speed of 100Mbps ngaun 10Mbps na lng…
shi****************
ang hina tlga… i watched a video yesterday and F*** masmatagal pa ang loading ng full video kesa panoorin mo… example… the vid is about 35mins but loading ng full vid is 1hour…
nagtry ako tumawag sa customer service but its been busy so much this 2 days….
can’t wait to have a new broadband internet connection…
Bad mouth smartbro? why no bad mouth smart telco! THEY SUCK BIG TIME!
Facts about smartbro:
1. Bandwidth promised is a just a teaser.
2. 80% downtime
3. 1 year undisclosed contract.
4. No rebates given for downtime. (as 4 me 3 months downtime no rebates given.)
5. Beware if you don’t pay your monthly bill on time a ridiculously high interest rate will be slapped in your face.
6. No amount of explanations, emails, begging, shouting will help you get a better service with smart.
7. You will always lose money if you go for smart. You may even get a heart attack.
8. It’s the no. 1 swindling company here in the philippines.
The bad news is that there will never be a solution to the Smartbro problem, and here’s why:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2170719,00.asp
There are tens of thousand of hits in a google search for this smartbro problem. Smart is ripping of many people and this is a problem of national importance. Consider the amount of money that smart is stealing. Stealing from hard working folks, folks that rely on their internet connection for their school, work, business, and communication around the globe.
It looks like smart will continue the ripoff by appearing to be concerned and providing dubious support and building false hopes of problem resolution. The problem will continue because it’s unsolveable.
Smart may be just keeping the cash flowing in for now, and plan to roll out WiMax sometime in the future when they can no longer deceive subscribers.
walang hiya na smartbro,,, sa globe ang 995 is 1.5Mbps sa inyo is 384kbps,, wala naba kayong hiya? mukhang pera
don’t fall for globe yet..
http://www.pinoywifi.com/index.php?topic=964.0
wala ba matinong ISP dito sa pinas?????
really don’t know what to do… am i the only one suffering in this kind of connection? asking me to pay for 7000+ and i didn’t even use it! could someone help me out here pls?!?
I’d rather avail of a DSL account rather than a broadband connection. The Philippine broadband service is not as smooth as they claim on the advertisements because it is still immature service-wise. Kailan lang ito sinimulan sa Pinas kaya marami pang gusot, ‘di tulad ng DSL na stable na.
Oo nga pala, SmartBRO rin ako. And guess what? I cannot access google, blackle, YM, chikka, Gaia Online, etc. Goddammit. I already brought this to the CS’s attention but to no avail. They refuse to welcome the thought that it is their system that is at fault and not my PC.
dude or dudette,
i salute you for coming out with that very honest feedback regarding smart’s broadband service. in fact, i for one also experience your one week NO-service at all of smart and it also took them another week to figure out that their indeed wireless antenna had been the one causing all the problem… now, i am presently out of the country and i’ve failed to pay my bills for that reason… though i still plan to pay when i get the chance to because i can’t seem to figure out how to pay online. my point? …actually to pay until i finish paying up my one year contract and hopefully file for a disconnection…. i discourage everyone to subscribe to smart bro’s broadband… yes… it is a waste…. and you’ll be saving yourself alot of money and time….
just an opinion. believe me… i’ve experience their so called false promises of good service…
I’ve had a bad experience with Smart Bro as well and blogged about it on Smart Bro Downtime A Downer.
It happened to us also..for 2 weeks…that was when they install the connection..ai! indi tlga xa maganda..but didn’t have a choice.
My brother also had a bad experience with Smart Bro. Hassle lang talaga service nila.
Haha.. good 4 me ‘coz i have Globelines broadband 1mbps for 999.. I also heard a lot of bad experiences about smartbro.. sa mga blogs man o kaya sa youtube.. hehehe!
mga bros, mga sis.
there is no problem with SMARTBRO connection, ang problema sa kanila is yung mga nagkakabit ng kanilang ANTHENA ( lagi walang signal ). I also experiece the same problem you tackled post here (like one week akong walang signal, kung meron man on and off, tapos hirap pa sa pag connect), pero when i got a chance to fix my ANTHENA to get a good signal ayun nawala.
Mga trainee lng kz ang mga nagkakabit ng ATHENA nila at nagsesetup, most of the time yung ISA marunong yung isa hinde, kaya minsan nde magkatugma yung dalawa sa pagkakabit nung ATHENA nila at and the same time sa pagcheck kung may signal na narerecieve ang ANTHENA.
When they installed my ANTHENA d2 sa bahay eh wala ako, so they just installed it infront of my brother after that its ok na, basta may internet pages na lumalabas and the connection is ok, then they go na. Nataga pa nga kami ng 1Thou dahil sa tubong ikinabit sa ANTHENA, they used 3pipes para dun sa ANTHENA.
So nung ginagamit ko after a month, aba wala akong RECEIVE data, puro SEND data ang operation ng LANCard ko, so mean walang pumapasok sa signal ko, when I called up SMARTBRO CS, they said ok naman daw yun ANTHENA ko so nothing to worry baka lang daw maraming nakaONLINE that tym (pero after a week pa yun grabe, on and off, nde ka makadownload ng MP3 at FLV files sa Youtube ) then i decide to up our roof to position the ANTHENA to gain signal.
From then, ok na sya no HASSELS. sarap.
try nyo galawin signal nyo where it can receive more signal.
o-o
Ato Macapagal
BTW, why i know this things. I’m a compTech by profession so i know how to troubleshoot problems like this.
GLOBE?? Super ! Super bagal. They are using phoneline (MODEM) signal para ding nagdial up ka ng FAXModem using 56kpbs, yung sa GLOBE, ginawa lng nilang DEMODEM ang router so para ka na ding nagdial up kya lng nde halata sa una kz akala mu sa ROUTER, so ang LOGIC talaga ginawa lng nilang MODEM ang ROUTER so nde ka na magdidial up using the MODEM kundi via LANCard to ROUTER (DEMODEM). tsk tsk.
o-o
Ato Macapagal
another issue sa GLOBE, ADSL (asymmetric) sila not like SmartBro SDSL(Symmetric).
— quote from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-adsl.htm —
The “asymmetric” in ADSL refers to the fact that the downstream data rate, or the data coming to your computer from the Internet, is traveling faster than upstream data, or the data traveling from your computer to the Internet. Upstream data rates are slower because Web page requests are fairly miniscule data strings that do not require much bandwidth to handle efficiently.
Some businesses, however, may require matching upstream rates for uploading large files. SDSL, or Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line is an option. “Symmetric” indicates that both datastreams are operating at the same speed of 1.5 to 7 Mbps, depending on the grade purchased.
SDSL service requires a dedicated telephone line because, unlike ADSL, telephone and fax services cannot share a line with SDSL service.
— end quote –
o-o
ato
oiiiiiiiiii…….. kung nakakakuha kau nang 512kbps or 384kbps sa umaga……. edi tama lang ang smart sa add nilang speed……… hehe…….. kya mumabagal pag 10am hanggang 8pm ata e kz marami nang nagamit nang mga webite……. naooverload na kya ang bagal(kasama na sa nagamit ang pldt,globe,digetel etc……….) ok
nakuha ba..
ralph_1029900@yahoo.com
ahaha……… wla lang
makontento kau
ako nga minumura ko na smart…. bwaaaaaaaaaahahaa
oi makapagal……. ehehehe……… IT ka ba?? tagal ko nang napagaralan yan ahhhhh hahaha…
peace
Have you thought “why would I get SmartBro?”. Have you thought of asking other people that you know in your area that have SmartBro before you subscribed? Have you thought of the differences and properties of wireless and physical connections? =)
I had difficulties connecting with it at first, but the problem was nothing to do with the service but with my ethernet configuration. The succeding days are ok, up till now.
I am not taking any side at all.
These may be the reasons why you are having problems with your connections:
1. Your antenna is old. (Electronic parts deteriorate physically together with its performance.)
2. The antenna setup is bad. (Loose screw/s and or wire/s, bad grounding)
3. The module, the white rectangular thing, might be facing the wrong direction. IT MUST FACE A SMART TOWER.
4. The module must not be obstructed/blocked when facing a tower. Try to remove the obstruction if possible or get your antenna extended. Additionally, the module connection through line-of-sight (Similar to eye contact but please do not exaggerate).
5. You are far from a Smart tower. The farther you are the longer it is for your antenna to ping or request a packet [data].
6. You have a misconfigured Canopy. Ask for assistance.
7. Your ethernet setting must be accidentally set to 100base-T. Try setting it to 10base-T full duplex or Auto Negotiate. (Mine is Auto Negotiate because I cannot connection at 10base-T full duplex even if it is the setting on the Canopy.)
8. Your ethernet card is grounded. Check it. Moreover, get a new one.
9. There are too much interference in your area. This is pretty much hard to change.
10. Rain, dust, smog, fog, (snow fall; if ever), and others can deteriorate connection performance.
11. You system is failing.
12. You have a virus. There are certain types of virus that can block internet connections.
13. If you want other actions… be persistent to Smart. I had an issue once with the connection; e-mailed an inquiry attached with screenshots of my connection status to Smart. I got a quick reply and they offered me that will be bringing technical assistance. I declined. The connection was back to normal again.
…..ang bagal talaga!
You should not expect more from the given 384Kbps bandwidth, wireless connection. Of course it is way much slower than its physical DSL counterpart. I as I had posted before, ask yourself why you should subscribe to SmartBro. Do a preference map before you do subscribe. Final.
If you are the kind of person who is trying living it up on the net and likes to squeeze all the juices the net can provide that you do not have enough patience to wait much; SmartBro is not your stuff.
I guess I shall stop for now. I sleepy already T_T (zZZ)
Magandang Gabi
putang inang smartbro yan!
@ato macapagal
…anong DEMODEM pinagsasabi mo? employee kaba ng SMARTbro tol? Ibig mong sabhin kapag alang delay panonood ko ng Youtube sa globe ko ehh modem connection pala yun at inaayos lang ito to like like broadband connection? Hindi ba masyadong imposible sinasabi mo? Pero, the fact is that mabilis DEFINITELY compare sa Smartbro. So, I don’t get your idea. Computer Technician ka tol? Yung two years course ba or computer engineering?
…At yung mga nagkakabit ng antenna mukang mga gurang na ehh….OJT ba yun? Sabagay baka 7 years na sa course nila..
..anyways, yung mga info na kinuha mo sa kaka google search ehh does not impress me at all.
post lang ako ng hinananing ko sa SMARTBROKEN na to. kanikanina lang tumawag sakin ung tiga summit lawfirm yata. basta sa office daw sya ni atty. ewan. kinukulit nanaman ako pumunta daw ako sa wireless centre nila at ifollow up ko daw ung !##%!# complain ko para daw ma pull out na ung unit samin. its been half a year since pinutol nila ung connection sa dorm ko sa manila. wala na ko dun at iba na nakatira, walanjo naman kasi ung speed ko 3kbps oo “3″ minsan pag maswerte umaabot naman g 12kbps ilang beses na din ako nagrereklamo sa mga operator nila (bumili pa nga ako ng simcard ng smart para lang makatawag ako sa customers service) at ilang beses na din ako nagpunta sa wireless certre at pinadalhan ng repair man. wala pari nangyari! ganun pa din! even the repairman itself sinabi sakin na humanap nalang daw ako ng ibang ISP mabagal dawa tlga ung SmartBROKEN! then kanina nung tumawag ung so-called assistant ni attorney sinasabi ko sa kanila ung complains ko tapos habang nagsasalita ako cinut akong nung @$^%W^@ kausap ko at sabing “sir hindi po to opisina ng smart, sa kanila ka nalang magpaliwanag” pu%$!$%@$%na! anu un?! law firm pa naman sila tapos ganun pakikitungo nila sa kausap nila! at ano kakasuhan nila ko sa hindi ko pagbayad sa BULOK na serbisyo nila?! at saan? sa halagang 4-5k? ano yan?! napakawalang kwenta talaga nitong SmartBRO! dapat dito pinapaibestigahan na din katulad nung sa scam nung sa load at offers eh. mainit pa naman ung mga ganitong isyu ngayon. dapat matigil na ung pang gagantso ng mga hinayupak na yan!!!! nakakapanginig ng BUTO!!!!!! aaaarrrrgggg..!!!!
ganyan din ako pinadalhan ako ng sulat ng law firm ng smart bro at kailangan ko daw tawagan sila at bayaran yung contract na 1 year dalhin kung hindi ay kakasuhan daw ako… hahaha! bakit ko nman babayaran eh yung service nila indi nman maganda para ano pa at magbabayad ako ng ganon. 2 months ko syang indi binayaran dahil napeste ako. magDl kalang sa youtube inaabot pa ng 20minutes yung 5 minutes na panonoorin mo. ganun ba yun dapat? tapos tinest ko yung speed nya 90kbps ngaK! 384kbps ang iniapply ko sa kanila tapos gan2ng speed lang makukuha ko. so hinayaan ko nlang na putulin nila yung connection wala nman kasi mangyayari pagkinausap mo pa sila mauuwi lang sa dati. kaya kayo na gusto magpakabit ng smartbro wag nyo na ituloy baka ma smartbro-ken din kayo… try a DSL nlang mas stable pa ang connection bumaba man sya atleast di ganun kababa ang speed..
Speedup your smart bro mga kapatid.