Cutting the cord

I use the SMART wireless Internet. Works fine and fast except when there is a longer brownout in Boracay.

Hope it works well for you long term Bob. Like Andy we had Globe wireless for a couple of years but they dropped the ball in the end, went to PLDT Smart wireless and it for 5 years has worked well until an extended power outage. Seems their UPS system only lasts 6 to 7 hours, slack.

Good luck with DITO Home.

Cheers, Steve.

Your best bet (if it's offered in your area) is fiber optic. It does not require power to transmit internet across the fiber optic. You do need to power your fiber box receiver and wireless router if you are not hardwired to the fiber internet. I highly recommend at least placing the fiber box near your computer so you can hardwire it to the internet. Wire is always faster and more stable than wifi.

But if you buy a simple battery backup ($15 USD in Lazada) you can keep both the fiber box and your wireless router powered for at least 6 to 8 hours during a brown out. Because the internet travels as light thru fiber optic cable. You can keep the internet going this way even during a brownout.

I've used all the others too. They are mostly cellular data devices. And they have sucked in both areas of the PH I have lived.

PLDT offers fiber where I am now.

But if you want true fast internet that will hardly ever be interupted. Spend the money in Starlink Roam. There is Residential Starlink which has a larger (but no more effective) antenna and Starlink Roam. Which has a smaller antenna. Residential works only at one location - your home. Roam works anywhere you take it in the world. Roam is about 3800 peso more for the equipment.

Residential is $65 USD for unlimited data. Roam is $52 USD for 50gb of data and $97 USD for unlimited data.

Couple this with an average sized battery station and solar panels (which is almost a must have with the frequent power outages) and you have internet all the time no matter what's happening with power. And if you need to flee an emergency or just go on a trip you can take Roam with you anywhere (even in your car) and always have high speed internet.

The problem with most internet is it is cellular based. So it depends on the cell towers in your area. And the quality of the service. I have found Smart cellular to be the best cell phone data supplier in Tagbilaran. Globe was terrible everywhere I've been. But Smart does work hardly at all at my apt. But everywhere I go it's great. I have a post paid plan (ore paid) of $25 a month. Because the throttling is limited.

Throttling is the biggest barrier in the Phillipines. Cellular companies reserve the right to define what "excessive use" is and can by contract downgrade your service from 4g or 5g down to 3g. Which basically the same thing as almost turning it off. Websites will no longer load. You'll be lucky to send a text or Whatsapp msg. And each provider can set whatever that threshold is in a day. So you leave your apt (off wifi and and using data) you use maps or surf the web and if you use maybe 3 or 4gb (even though your monthly or signed up klan allows say 20gb per month) they throttle you. And bang your internet is virtually shut off. It just stops working. Even though you haven't come close to using your monthly allowance.

Smart post paid plans are the only ones with a liberal throttling policy. Anyone else you sign up with might give you 5g or 10gb or even 30gb of data per month. But your allowed a small portion of that each day. And we all know each day is different. We might be running errands and searching websites during a particularly busy day. And then not using it all away from our home wifi for the next week. Throttling severely limits how much you can actually use.

Also ignore all the free 5g. It is not a factor when choosing. At all. Because very few areas in the PH have 5g. Like parts of Manila or Cebu. So when they keep blasting you with all the free 5g they're giving you. It means nothing if 5g isn't widely available in your area. I notice I occasionally get 5g in my town. But it's so rare I'm sure I'm not using but a small percentage of whatever free 5g I'm being offered. I think there are 5g towers sparsely spread across a carriers area just so they can market free 5g. All the marketing screams it. But it's not worth factoring into your decision. Unless it is solidly offered in a wide range of your area.

Lastly, use AI to research everything. It's the new internet search. And a million times stronger and faster than searching the internet. Also so dead simple a morn can use it.

I hear you Moab but for us PLDT fibre was a pain in the derriere and impossible to deal with, they were twats. Stayed with the cheap wireless net and been happy. we are not heavy users but can have 3/4 users logged in and no buffers and yes we can unplug it and stick it in the car or a hotel we book into, less than P800 for the hardware and from memory P1,300 per month unlimited.

Yes power outages are a problem here as their UPS has a short lifespan, they need to upgrade to at least 12 hours for their customers.

Cheers, Steve.

I have found Cable or Fiber providers lacking customer service. I get bomb blasted by Converge offering one installation, but trying to get customer service to repair my service take weeks of BS on their part, this is why I left them.

I should mention after the purchase of Dito WoWFi PRO for less than P2000.

Each month is P800. Speed this morning 36 mbs.

That works Bob, just checked ours. 51 down and 12 up but when all the school kids get home late arvo it drops by nearly half, still works though just a little slower.

Cheers, Steve.

@Moab762

Lastly, use AI to research everything. It's the new internet search. And a million times stronger and faster than searching the inte

rnet. Also so dead simple a morn can use it.

For important matters, make sure you compare answers across a few different AIs. They all seem to give very confident answers but you can catch them when they are wrong. When you do, they will agree that you are right but never take "intellectual" accountability for being wrong, as if they will continue to be confident in every future answer and if they are wrong in the future, you should let them know again. After all, it is free unless you have a paid version. But all in all, I find AI to be a great addition to my information resources.