Sunday, June 20, 2010

Smart Bro WiMAX

Ever since moving to the new house, my main problem was having no internet connection so last Monday I went to the Smart branch of Trinoma to inquire on their Smart Bro plans. If you follow my blog, you'd know that I curse the living daylights out of Smart Bro. As in nung nasa Baguio ako, sinusumpa ko ang Smart. This is because the signal of Smart Bro is really weak in Baguio. I was fooled into using Smart Bro in 2007 and that was one year of hell for me. Slow connection, rude and useless technical support reps, people from the wireless center giving me the run-around, and crap like that. Go Globe!

Apparently dito sa Manila in our area, the signal is very strong because our village is close to the tower of Smart. My neighbor uses Smart Bro and since she had the whole house on WiFi, I'd normally connect my phone or laptop on it, I'd ask permission every time of course. Oo nagpapaalam ako! The first time she told me that she was using Smart, I was in utter disbelief. Gaya nga ng sabi ni Charice, "I can't bilibit!". She showed me the canopy, and the moment I saw it, I believed that she was on Smart.

So back to my story. Though I was really, as in really hesitant of using Smart Bro as my Internet Service Provider, I hauled my ass to the Smart Wireless Center at Trinoma to apply for one. It seems that they no longer offer the Canopy as part of the Smart Bro plan, they only have WiMAX, Router, and the Plug-In shit. I asked a few questions which they answered properly (wow kelangan ng Smart Baguio na ma-train ng mga taga Trinoma). Despite every bone in body saying No, I applied for Smart Bro WiMAX. They told me, I will be contacted in 2-3 days.

Thursday I was getting anxious as to where my ISP was. So I tried calling the number they gave me. No response. I triedn texting, again no response. I was getting agitated. Friday while at work my Blackberry and iPhone kept on ringing, apparently it was the people from Smart calling. So I answered the call during my break, they asked me a bunch of questions. They verified a few things and they said that they'll go to my house after my work. Since I had a few errands to run that day, I got home at around 8 and when I got there, there they were waiting for me. Wow ah, house call talaga.

So we used their sample unit on my laptop but they also gave me the unit that'll be mine and wow was I amazed at the speed. It's even faster than my Globelines connection in Baguio for the same price. Here's the unboxing:





So that's Raymond Villasenor, the guy who went to the house. He was very helpful and very patient considering I am one demanding bastard. Picture was taken by his companion Ms. Gie who declined to be photographed for reasons I cannot fathom. Now for you to know if the WiMax unit is working, it needs to have a minimum of 3 green bars. That means that your connection is strong. So I was really amazed by how fast they were able to get my internet connection up and running. Oh by the way you'd have to wait for 24 hours for the activation of your modem. Mine just started working properly last night. Unlimited downloads, here I come. And I'm one of the very few in the country who's using WiMAX.

If you would want to inquire or apply for Smart Bro WiMAX you may contact Raymond at +63919.910.0351.
 
I can say that I'm fairly happy with my connection at home and that's saying something because I have unbelievably high standards for internet connection.

Cheers.

22 comments:

Xcon said...

hello it's smart bro's latest product sympre papa-impress.
I don't know what's the difference between Share-It plan and the WiMax.
Sa Share-It you can get 2Mbps++ speed at 999php/month. Well, that was 1 year ago, when only a few of us have that plan. Now, barely 1Mbps, not even. Sadly, they still suck.

8H said...

My smartbro share it is crap . How fast are your download / upload speeds ? Ping and speed good enough for online play ?

Adam said...

@8H Well when I download I can clock at 130kbps and yeah Its fast enough that I can download and play online games at the same time. I think the speed depends on your locations.

Anonymous said...

user ako ng smart bro wimax for 1.5 months... ung 999 plan. location? sa novaliches. for one and a half months may oras na minsan mabilis or mabagal sa pagload ng internet elements... sa madaling term, hindi xa consistent. pero pagdating sa dowloading at streaming ng video ok., ung download ko 115to145 kb palagi.

pero this past few days, bumaliktad. naging mabilis sa loading ng page... pero nabawasan ung downloading rate(24-40kb n lang) ko.. hah.. nakakabaliw.. bat kaya ganun?

un share ko lang... salamat.

Anonymous said...

Ako gaMit ko share it ng smart bro.... Try nga naming i trade nalng o mag pa end of contract kasi ang bagal ngaun ng serbisyo ng smart pag dating sa share it... hindi na ako makapag youtube... basta lahat ng page na may video streaming.... bad trip un ... ang bagal pa ng download ko... 7..kbps .. astigin sa bagal..dati pumapalo ng 255kbps nga un wala na... ang tagal ng ganito problem ko sa smart ..one month na.. still working parin ung mga engineers ng smart sa problem ng shareit ko .... kasi nasa 3rd degree na ng problem.... un na ung pinaka matinding problema... hays kalalabas pa naman nga un ng Nba 2k11 sa psp..... sayang di ko madodownload.. try ko nalng sa internet shop

Anonymous said...

lam nyo mga tiong, dami factors para bumilis speed ng connection nyo. una, ung cell site na pag-coconekhan ng device nyo.. hsdpa enable ba yan o 3g lng.. 2, ung bandwidth na allocated para sa cell site na yun.. 3, ung density ng gumagamit.. shared ang bandwidth sa mga subscribers ng isang isp para sa DSL at Broadband(except sa mga dedicated lines i.e E1, E3, T1, T3 ...) in short, depende sa lugar lng yan.

Anonymous said...

hmmm.. habang dumadami ang users sa isang location.. or base station... nagiging congested ang network within that location.. nung una mabilis ang plug-it pero nung dumami na ang gumagamit.. bumagal na... gn2 rin kya ang wimax? pano ihahandle nila ang congestion?

krizzyla said...

by the way adams ano pala klaseng WiMax Modem ang gamit ng Smartbro gusto ko lng malaman kasi yung sa Globe ang gamit ay EchoLife BM622. Nasubukan mo na ba sa gabi magdownload sa peer-to-peer sabay ng 10files kung mabilis parin?

vmnable said...

I'm a wi-tribe sub and I am very happy with the consistent connection... U will get the published speed talaga if they said you are under 1mbps plan you will get 900kbps to 1.5mbps speed...pero may capping sila but still you will get the promised speed and it is consistent...however, mahina sila sa retention unlike with smart promising mga freebies nila... However, nakakatakot to subscribe kasi madaming di magandang reviews...can anyone from Mandaluyong share his/her smartbro wimax experience?

Anonymous said...

smart bro wimax is using motorola cpei 750 modem. but i heard that they also release some zte modems. motorola is much way better than zte. regarding the speed, please be aware that the telcos is using the unit KILOBITS, not KILOBYTES. for example, they promised that they will give you a speed of 512 kilobits per second. not 512 kilobytes per second. if im not mistaken we can use the unit KILOBYTES to measure the maximum speed that it can reach. for a 512 kilobits per second plan, your maximum download speed is 64 kilobytes per second. how do we get this one? simply divide 512 by 8. remember that kilobits is smaller than kilobytes. expect that your connection is susceptible to some interference since it is wireless. signals are traveling across the air and factors like huge infrastructures and trees blocking the pathway might downgrade the reception of the signal. better place your modem in an open place preferably beside a window. also, clean your system by eliminating files that re not necessary. use disk cleanup or CCleaner (you can download this application anyway). another one is to defragment your hard drive atleast once a month. after browsing the internet, delete the cookies and history in your browser. remove virus and spyware in your system. if you want to start again, reformat your hard drive and install windows 7 ultimate. if you have 2 gb or more RAM installed, choose the 64 bit version. you can also install the 32 bit if you want because it requires less specifications. enjoy guys.

Anonymous said...

Hi. My parents are planning to give me a wimax instead of the canopy plan. I just want to ask if I would have a good connection in Baguio, when I return to school. What do you think? should I go ahead with Smart Wimax/ canopy or try other networks? Thanks! :)

Anonymous said...

Adam, how is your upload speed? I am subscribed to plan 999 yung w/ antenna, I have no problems whatsoever with my download speed, its the upload speed that sucks, 0.02MBPS, mataas na yung 14 at around night time. During daytime, mga .20MBPS, but I am a worker from home during the night and I use VOIP, kaya pag gabi, umiinit talaga ulo ko dahil ang baba ng upload speed to. I want to try wimax but can you tell me about its upload speed. Thanks much...

Anonymous said...

I want to get the Smart Bro Wimax for my parents in Masinloc, Zambales to use for FaceTime on the iPad. Does anyone know how their service is in Masinloc?

Thanks.

Joe Nas said...

Good for you man. I'm now in my 1 year contract with Smart. And believe it or not I never felt satisfaction with their service. My connection is always having problem that I don't really understand - intermittent, no signal. I'm planning to terminate my f*****g contract but I'm afraid I'll be paying the remaining months in my 24 months lock in period. DAMN IT!

Anonymous said...

just wanted to share my experience with SMARTBRO WIMAX. i got this motorola wimax modem for about 11 days now, but im having a hard time with the internet connection. i get speeds upto 900kbps blah blah blah... my only problem started 4 days ago, i get disconnected from the internet every 5-10 minutes, and i have to enter the modems' configuration page to restart the damn thing, after restarting BOOOM im connected again. WTH do i have to restart the FKNG thing just to get connected to the web again, can any one help me out with this.

crappybash said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
crappybash said...

and my smart wimax just started working but shit im being disconnected in the middle of my online game. dammit

Adam said...

Hmmm... you're previous comment isn't here but Im pretty sure I approved it. I received a notification eh. Regarding the WiMax, I had to wait for 24 hours for it to be activated. About it getting disconnected, that happens sometimes specially at night which sucks coz thats the time when im at home. Try moving the unit around. The more bars you have, like 4 bars for example, the less disconnections you get. Well thats based from my experience.

Hope this helps :)

crappybash said...

ohh I hate it so much it hurts. Sir thank you. I tried moving it and found 2 bars the most.:((
I am a gamer and Im near to crying now. When I open my game (Dragon Nest) I was just in the middle of typing my log in account when the connection will suddenly go down and BANG! disconnected! and when I close the game, the connection will be up again. I hate it. Im like, Smart you fooling me?? I made a wrong move to Smart I guess. Should have just chosen Globe instead.:(((

Karlow said...

Having same disconnecting problems every 5-10mins. Anyone na pwedeng makatulong about this? I have a myBro wimax. (black box with 2 ant.)

Adam said...

Whenever I have problems with my WiMax, I powercycle the unit. That usually works. Pero pag wala parin, I call the smartbro hotline and yell at them and then they fix it haha

Unknown said...

why are you guys still connected on that crap....mag GLOBE LTE na 999 lang 3mbps na...widest network coverage with 4600 lte cellsites nationwide...