Issues on Wireless Internet Providers and Speed Here in the Philippines

The Philippines as we see now is really trying to move forward in terms of technology. When I was young there was dial-up internet. When I was older came DSL. Then now we have wireless broadband connectivity nationwide. We have three internet service providers for wireless broadband here in the country. We have Globe Tattoo, Smart Bro, and Sun Broadband. The leading providers are that of Globe and Smart since Sun came last and still gaining ground.

I always get confused on user feedback when it comes to speed of these providers. Some say Tattoo is slow, some say it is fast. And same with that of Smart’s. Here in Cebu, both connections may seem okay but let’s see who gets the clearer advantage when it comes to speed. The following images that I will show are from Nesic Philippines, Inc. Click on images to zoom in.

From left to right: Smart Speedtest Result, Smart 2Wire Result, Globe Speedtest Result, Globe 2Wire Result

Here are what those images say:

• According to Speedtest.net, Smart Broadband has 0.85Mbps download speed while Globe Tattoo has 0.41Mbps. Smart wins.
• According to 2Wire, Smart Broadband has 542Kbps download speed while Globe Tattoo has 605Kbps. Globe wins.

Take note that these data are for Cebu area only. So we get a tie. I mean Smart wins according to Speedtest but Globe wins according to 2Win. And lookeh, the speed differences aren’t that much high right? But that’s for Cebu right? Let’s take a really really wide perspective and see who wins in the nationwide category (this means we get averages and the like). According to Nesic, here’s a larger picture, lol. Got this here.

But the data shown above is for Manila only. I can’t relate. But nevertheless, it shows that Globe fares higher when it comes to download speed average and max.

But what’s the bottom line to all of this? If we look at the bigger picture of our country and we take an omniscient perspective, Globe Tattoo wins when it comes to wireless broadband internet/download speed. This generalization is backed up by the Nesic Philippines wireless broadband speedtest. But we can’t use this average thing on our personal lives right? The Nesic test shows that no wireless broadband carrier can claim leadership over being the fastest as speed & quality of surfing experience is driven by a lot of factors. One of the most common factors in determining speed is location. So the next time you ought to buy and choose a wireless provider, check your location first, ask around which one of the providers give maximum speed. I cannot explain much about this for now but I will be tackling something like this in my Networking report next year.

Therefore we conclude, not Smart nor Globe can really claim their superiority when it comes to internet speed and download. Locations matter and as we have 7,107 islands in the Philippines, the speed variety can be quite a jumble. I suggest they don’t dwell much on issues like this but instead focus on improving their services for their customers. Good luck to both and happy netsurfing technoguys!

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About Bryan Karl

I am a software developer, a photography-enthusiast and a travel junkie.

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