One of some very important consideration of a WAHM (work from home mom) who does her business online, for the most part, is a good (ISP) Internet Service Provider. My woes of unreliable service providers are documented in this site.
In 2008 – Stick with Smartbro or Switch to PLDT DSL – It did not take us long after our lock in period with Smartbro was done until we switched to PLDT DSL. I should say that for almost two years, PLDT DSL was considerably reliable. Then Ondoy happened. Our internet connection was never the same – regardless of the number of times technicians came to service and check the connection. It may have had a lot to do with the typhoon. Grounded issues or what not, there was no way I can afford to put up with such lousy service.
In 2009 – Shifting from Smartbro to PLDT DSL – I included here screenshots of SmartBroadband speedtests. Just to give you a taste of what I had to put up with for so long.
Since 2011 until early last year, we were maintaining a couple of postpaid ISPs – PLDT DSL and SmartBroadband, for online marketing purposes. When we noticed that PLDT DSL has taken its turn for the worse, we altogether had to choose to stick with SmartBroadband since it proved to be the lesser of two evils. There is no way we can go without an ISP because of the nature of my online jobs.
But then again, this happened — SmartBro, 72Kbps, for crying out loud! (Nov. 26, 2012 screenshot)
And that’s one of our better days, at that. Again, like PLDT DSL, SmartBro’s connection speed also took a nose dive and has stayed that way for a more than a couple of months. My friends and I are convinced that they have taken up more subscribers than they can handle, making their line (or however one should technically call it) overly congested. I have given them more than two months to fix their connection issues – to no avail.
Before 2012 ended, we decided to cut ties with SmartBro altogether after experiencing considerably better connection with SkyBroadband. This, after availing the 2-week trial that they offered. While I understand that this could be because there are not yet a handful of subscribers yet in our area, I am still hoping that SkyBroadband will not be greedy and take in more subscribers than they can handle. Here is hoping for a lasting internet provider relationship with SkyBroadband.
