PLDT & what appears to be INTENTIONAL broadband choking activity

@ Ray61,

I do understand your points but just disagree with most of them.  I will not take a position that my knowledge is above the 97th percentile. I am not better or above any other human!! 

I do believe that:

1. Most people do understand my posts enough to get they they are being cheated out of proper services.

2. I am helping some here with my posts.

3. That improvement comes with sharing of knowledge where people are not considered to be to low or stupid, to take the time to share with them.  There are many intelligent people all over this globe (including expat members here), so who are you or I to determine which persons may be below our perceived intelligence (to where our spoken words are measured as if we waste them on people below us)??  I lived in Europe for 2.5 years and I still do not want any part of elitist thinking.  Back on topic…..

What are my points?

1.  That speed testing is only a tool to be used and understood as a way to measure the services we pay for.

2.  That PLDT is suggesting speed test that do not measure true internet speeds.

3.  That each expat is free to go to PLDT or stay home and do zero about their connection performance.

4.  That it is better to be informed than to be ignorant (without being an expert).

5.  That ISPs can and do make changes for the better when pressured and or their lies are exposed.

What am I trying to do?

1. I could care less about showing that PLDT has some slow connections in the Philippines.  What I do care about is how they intentionally mislead the public with false speed reports while still collecting fees for intentional sub-standard service. 

2.  To share the tools and experiences I have used to demand the services I pay for.

3.  To assist others that may not feel as you do. 

4.  To dream that maybe with enough expats "singing the same tune from the same song book" that PLDT will provide the services we each pay for to the best of their ability, with integrity and customer service in mind.

At this point, it must be very clear to most reasonable readers here what my post topic is about. If you are happy paying P3.7K to get 1-2Mbps service, that is your right to swim in that delight.  Based on your points & stated views here, I am sure you would be equally happy if you stopped at a Philippine gas station and paid Php 2000 for gas but the station attendant only delivered P400 of gas to your vehicle.  Before you left the station, a well intentioned customer observed you getting cheated and attempted to inform you of this fact.  I am sure you would just tell the person let it go, why bother to complain, as you drive off with a smile because your cost of living is still so low here.   

If any expat/person here feels offended by my words or details, I would ask that they accept my apologies in advance.  If any expats/persons feel my words have helped them, I am sure this blog will show that also.

Yr gaz example  is not good. PLDT advertises for maximum speed and we sign for a minimum speed. And usually, they are above their minimum.
Any way, do you have a small idea about how many expat members have other contract than the first 999P? Most of them dont care about speed or are not in a PLDT area. What do you propose to them? You are not on a IT forum here but on a forum for expats are more of them are retired and surf only. They will be only mad if they cannot surf or send their last pictures to their familly and they dont care of the time to send them.

PLDT ad says, "Enjoy internet speeds of up to 10 Mbps and plans as low as P990". 

Either PLDT is offering internet services (as defined by world standards) with selected speeds or they are not?

Either PLDT is reporting our internet speeds, as tested to Makati only, or they are not?

Either the PLDT Makati server represents a true internet connection to the word web (www) or just a test within the Philippines or not?

Either PLDT is charging for the up to max speed rate or they are not?

Either a person on this blog finds various topics to be of interest or they do not?

Either a person finds that this topic is of interest to them/is worth their time to read or they do not?

You are very angry with PLDT and I enjoy to reply to you (same when I was shopping this morning, using a Globe connection in an old mall...) because I work also on IT.

For me, if I don't have Internet, I cannot make money and it's my only income (3000 USD a month). So, I'm the good one to reply to you. But don't you see that we are chatting alone on this topic, most of replies are ours! Read all first reactions to yr first post, most of them show that they are not the good audience. It's like an IT engineer wanting to talk to a classroom of retired people who doesn't listen to him or talking where to buy a car, where to live and so on. I don't say that you are wrong. Your analysis is good, but it doesn't has any effect here. Their concern about Internet is much more like this https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=534377 and you did not reply there. Why?

I think that this topic will be soon closed also, because it's not the place for it and it's not the audience for it. Let's see.

While I am not an "IT person" I too make money off the net and can fully understand the frustration  Cal Native is expressing, (I do believe his point is why can't PLTD just tell it like it is?) Perhaps I am wrong, I have had Globe and PLDT both and my assessment is they both are guilty of false representation. Just tell the truth is it not that hard.

Of course, it looks "fake advertising", but it's like this in many many countries, Thaïland, Cambodia and in my last place Madagascar (the worst about Internet) and we can shout out as much as we can, they will not have individual reaction. We will see improvements when all their Internet network will run better. Before this, we cannot do nothing.

I just check my download speed now. 7Mbps. This morning 1Mbps. It's like this. No need to stress about that. I stress only when it's below 1Mbps and in this case I switch to Globe or Smart pocket wifi (I have the 3).

PLDT just replied also to me. If I want to have a minimum of 4Mbps to 10 Mbps (4700PHP/month), I have to apply business contract, but to have such contact, I must be a company.

To Calif Native,

As always, informative useful information for those who wish to learn, confirm or simply understand how it works.  We also do not accept the quick response from a vendor particularly if it is untrue. That is a mistake and as a paying customer, being lied to is unacceptable and in our case will provoke a fight to prove what is right. Sometimes I think we may win simply because they want us to go away, if that's the case then it still counts as a win.
Corruption only flourishes when it is accepted as the norm. I find it unacceptable and will continue to fight when presented with lies or half truths, particularly when it affects me and my family.
Thanks again for the time taken and the info.

General speed update!  PLDT has reset my router about 3 times in the last 4 days.  Each reset has seen a different Makati server and as of 1600 today, my test results between Tagaytay and Irvine California are:

Ping: 167 (was 301), DL 4.95 Mbps (was alway .5-.7 during this time of the day), and UL .35 (has been .5 -.6).

This would never be if I did request 2nd level PLDT management help in the last two weeks.  I think my purpose is speaking loudly here.

In fact, I was angry like you guys, when I was in Madagascar, because there, they do the same and worst, "fake advertising", very expensive contract, and most of time, no connection at all ! And when i called their tech support, they came on my place, but before they opened widely my connection. So when they checked my connection, this one was perfect. Once they left my home, I lost again my connection! Like this, during one year and I decided to leave the country because, I could not work from there.

But in Thaïland, Cambogia, it's about the same and in many other countries also. PLDT does only the same than the other companies in similar countries. To improuve their network, they need money. To make money, they need customers and to find customers, they lie on their advertising but not on their contracts!! So, no need to complain, they are the winners. We have only to know the real speed in each region and it should be easy for each of us to ask to other expats before to come there, since we know that advertised speed is not the real one. IT people must know that.

I don't beleive such advertising from longtime because I'm living from 20 years in such countries. But I understand that you are disappointed, or surprised, or upset that such companies make such fake advertising. I would like to say, it's normal in such countries and it's also our choice to live here and we can guess that Philippines are not rich enough to provide very good connections.

Calif-Native wrote:

General speed update!  PLDT has reset my router about 3 times in the last 4 days.  Each reset has seen a different Makati server and as of 1600 today, my test results between Tagaytay and Irvine California are:

Ping: 167 (was 301), DL 4.95 Mbps (was alway .5-.7 during this time of the day), and UL .35 (has been .5 -.6).

This would never be if I did request 2nd level PLDT management help in the last two weeks.  I think my purpose is speaking loudly here.

You mentioned earlier that you do not feel you are above the top 97 percentile.  I think you may well be in this subject. 

I've been involved with computers since the 70's and many have considered me an expert, even though I feel I am normal....................  But reading your comments, most is way over my head, (although I understand the basics of it, it just gets too technical) and I will say that most non "experts" would need your help to discuss this, and get a satisfactory reaction, from PLDT.

@calif. I'm not sure about your conclusion; I experienced also bad connection these 2-3 last days, but this afternoon, perfect ! it's D7,5 Mbs / U.65 Mbps. But good for you. Let see if the connection stays like this. They said also, last week that they got a big problem with their international connection from Manila.

I have my PLDT modem from 6 months. I had never to reset it, same if I have the PLDT password to reset it myself.

Ray61 wrote:

You are very angry with PLDT and I enjoy to reply to you …....

@ Ray61,

We may have a very different set of views on ISP support expectations and that is 100% ok with me.  I am not angry with PLDT at all!  I am very disappointed with any business that takes my money and offers lies, misinformation and false trials to follow to get the right answers, that is all.   

Sorry if I don't look at/consider or announce how many responses are listed here (in the open or in private mail) before I still feel I am helping others.  Sir, I only wish to inform my fellow expats here and I am not interested in a measure of if I say and or limit the right technical words to the right level of expat intelligence, to prevent topic closure.

@ Ray61,
FYI, our routers can be reset at either user end or server end.  If reset at server end (PLDT controlled) all we see is a red internet light and a few minutes later it is clear.

@calif. Mine is all the time front of me and I never saw that and I've never tried to reset it myself through the PLDT menu (for PLDT support only).

In Agoo (La Union) or here, in Palawan, I have usually good connection. Currently D7.5Mbps but these last days it was about 2Mbps.

The only point that I told to PLDT recently, was just after my move to Palawan, my IP address was still the same than the one in Agoo. I don't like that because I use sophisticated position applications, Now, it's changed in Cebu or Palawan IP's. I would like static IP address but again, only companies can have static IP's. Since I have to connect everyday to my servers (US/Europe/Australia), all the time, I have to update my whitelists through SSH to update my new IP's and I loose my time. But I will find a solution to switch, soon, to a professionnal contact, to get static IP and 4Mbps minimum.

ps: You don't know me, but I have been teacher in IT for professionnals and I worked, more recently, also for some gov's services...(not for my country)

@ABC,
I do understand your comments and the fact this topic is not easy for all. 

If any expat/person here wants to have a talk with PLDT here are the main set of points to focus on:

Fact - PLDT has all clients in the PI confirm their speeds with a test between the client's PI location and the PLDT Makati server location. 

Result - Since the testing never uses the internet and connects with servers in other countries, it is very fast and comes back as a fast speed test, giving a false high speed.

Conclusion - Any PLDT speed test that shows Makati or any PLDT server in the lower right corner of the test results will show a false high that needs to be compared to a US location (which can be selected by moving the green box over to the USA prior to starting the test).

When you pay for 5Mbps service, PLDT will state that less than 80% of the service is considered a valid complaint.  Therefore if the Makati server test shows less than 4Mbps, they will provide a ref. ticket.  However, by only testing to Makati, PLDT will resist fixing a 4Mbps+ speed.  When the client test 30 seconds later to a US location, they only then see real internet speed results (which in may case were 10% of what I was paying for). 

Over the last 2+ months, when I tested the Makati server it was returning a 4.75+ Mbps speeds, while a second test (30 seconds) later to California was returning .4 -.6 Mbps speeds.

This forced them to stop using the Makati location as a valid speed test since it was clear that I understand what they are doing (to all of us) when the typical speed test is performed to their default PI location.

I hope this is non-technical enough to help you and any others that may still be unclear on this.

Ray61 wrote:

I have to update my whitelists through SSH to update my new IP's and I loose my time.

That will be a bit tricky and will, in part, be based on your cPanel/MySQL & OpenWRT tools/skills, you may be able to provide a simple wrapper over the iptables interface.  Always a big challenge whitelisting an IP Address with mysql database using SSH.  This is not my thing or interest since my son does this as part of his data-mining business processes.  It is also off-topic for here. 

PS. Likewise, neither do you know me - My IT/Business background includes US Military training, many years in senior aerospace program quality management, earning two masters (MBA & MSIT), and being Pres/CEO of two US Corporations…   Good luck!

Thanks Calif-Native for the in-depth and informative post. As a former network engineer, it was quite enlightening to know that I was not the only one that experienced problems with PLDT and Smart. However, I have given up on both of them totally. I do not even subscribe any longer to PLDT and I will buy out my contract to Smart.

For 3+ plus years, I have received minimal LTE coverage with Smart, if any coverage at all for the data plan. PLDT was always dropping off line, whether it was my Internet or my phone line. When I called into report it, tech support would sometimes say that my phone line was down and my Internet was great. I would then inform them that I am calling them from my landline number and I have no Internet access. This went on for 2-yrs. I finally had enough of trying to explain to their technicians and supposed "network engineers" the way things should be and needed to be done. I currently receive my Internet through a cable broadband provider and I made suggestions to them about 10-yrs ago and I saw some implemented, though at a slow rate. I do not trust Smart or Globe in my area. I would not accept PLDT, if they offered me free service. It was that bad. It took Smart a year to rectify my account and PLDT did not correct my account until my request to rescind and close the account. It was actually a local CSR who knew of the continuous problems and adjusted everything, whereby I finally received a refund.

That's my rant for now...thanks again for the post. Enlightening!

@ alltojah,

Thanks for your positive remarks and shared history.  I do feel that with 5G here, the ISP's will be behind the technology curve with a very different set of issues.  Yet, as long as they maintain a hidden choke point with false speed results, service will remain well behind other Asian countries.  All business models and historical events point to the fact that a move south of an oligopoly will result in lower costs and better services to the end-users here in the PI. 

I am always trying to make a connection between a provider's stated core objective and how that folds into their business model.  This process leaves more questions than answers with what PLDT's actual strategy may be.  In some of my correspondence to PLDT I included my expectations that they would adhere to their code of business ethics including the 2nd page section that reads:

"B. COMPETITION AND FAIR DEALING
1. Avoid taking unfair advantage of anyone through manipulation, concealment, abuse of privileged information, misrepresentation of material facts, or any unfair dealing practice.
2. Deal fairly with the Company's customers, service providers, suppliers, competitors and employees."

Source:  http://www.pldt.com/docs/default-source … f?sfvrsn=4

No matter the corporate words spoken, a very strong dose of competition is needed to get them to have a paradigm shift that includes honest business practices and customer service.

Wow

thanks for that report, you should post this on as many Philippine Facebook pages and Philippine forums as possible. and anywhere else you can think of.

madass150 wrote:

thanks for that report, you should post this on as many Philippine Facebook pages and Philippine forums as possible. and anywhere else you can think of.

@ Madass 150,

Thanks for the comments and suggestion.  In general, I try to avoid FB but I am not opposed to any member here using any of my posted comments in any location they want.  However, it will be better to point to this specific https://www.expat.com blog URL (https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … =2#3036064) from FB (where context, content & syntax remains intact) than to attempt other forms of reposts.

Hello again!

I finally figured out what went wrong with my test using speedtest.net. In your original article you had a typo and referred to speedtest as speediest, which I took to be another speed test site. It took me a while to realize that no such website exists and it was just a typo.

Keep up the good work!
Frank

@ Frank,
So sorry about that.  It just proves I am just a regular person with mistakes just like the rest….   

Please post your speeds to Makati vs USA.

24mbps ???? Hey Australia.... Why such slow internet? You're not the Philippines. We'll be entering the year 2016, you should have much faster than that. You might as well have dial up.

arty5987 wrote:

24mbps ???? Hey Australia.... Why such slow internet? You're not the Philippines. We'll be entering the year 2016, you should have much faster than that. You might as well have dial up.

Higher is available at a price:

Here is one suppliers current prices:

Unlimited NBN plans

12 mbps $60 pm
25 mbps $70 pm
100 mbps $110 pm