Globe subscribers, your Internet access is going to be throttled if your downloads and uploads exceed 1 gigabyte in a day. For most of you, whose Internet access involves mostly just emailing and interacting on Facebook or Twitter, this isn’t going to be an issue at all. But for those who use the Internet (via Globe Telecom) for business, a broadband cap is going to be a major problem.

Filipino netizens today are very sophisticated, constantly finding amazing and creative ways to make use of the Internet. Buying and selling online are activities that aren’t so newfangled anymore, and an increasing number of Filipinos are finding jobs through websites and making a living via the Internet. These people are in need of better Internet access, which Globe Telecom would do well to provide.

Everyday, I hear complaints from people around me about their Internet access woes. At home, in the office, in public Wi-Fi hotspots, Filipino Internet users are dissatisfied. But more urgently, the satisfaction of Filipino Internet users whose living depends on the Internet are not being met.

In a news article, Globe Telecom purports that a minority of users are abusing access:

In a recent internal analysis, Globe said about 5 percent of abusive subscribers use 80 percent of the available broadband Internet bandwidth in the company’s network.

This leaves only 20 percent of the capacity to be shared by 95 percent of the remaining users.

Source: INQUIRER.net

They seem to be blaming “abusive” Internet access on illegal downloading of content (music, TV shows, etc.), but are they for certain that these are the only activities going on online? It’s like saying excessive use of knives is bad because it kills people. Do chefs kill people for a living?

I don’t think telecommunications firms in particular, or businesses in general, are in a position to dictate which activities are illegal and which aren’t. That’s the government’s job. In my opinion, Globe Telecom is imposing their broadband cap because they do not want to invest further in their facilities and infrastructure.

Do they really give a damn about Filipinos, about protecting us from illegal online activities? I doubt that very much. And my reason for saying that is this: if they did care, they would be proactively anticipating the fast-paced growth of Internet usage in the country, and addressing this by meeting our requirements. But no, what Globe seems to be doing now is attempting to hide the fact that their Internet service provision is sub-par and does not even meet the minimum requirements of today’s netizen.

I’m quite certain that everyone who’s using the Internet for work or business will agree with me here, that if Globe, Smart and the other telecoms firms provided better Internet access, productivity would soar and we would have more time and resources available.

TXTPower, a mobile users watchdog, has a very cogent suggestion: for the government to conduct an independent review of telcoms companies’ existing facilities and services vis-à-vis consumer demand. Let’s hope that the National Telecommunications Commission finds it persuasive enough. But if you doubt that, then let’s all be vigilant and defend our universal right to a better Internet.

As soon as I plugged the SIM card in, I was able to surf the Internet with no hassle at all. There was no trouble configuring my Nokia 6500, since ümobile automagically sent me the setup data via OTA.

Too bad, however, that the change-number function isn’t available on their website yet. I would really like to change the number to something more meaningful to me.

So far, though, so good. Thing is, I’d have to get another phone for this new mobile number. Good thing WOM World is sending me yet another trial phone — an N82 is en route now.

I haven’t received any ads yet, although I’ve already completed the online lifestyle survey. It’s intriguing how viable this business model will turn out to be for CURE, the company behind ümobile.

This mobile provider is the first in Asia to offer ad-supported mobile telephony services. The literature says that users get credits worth Php100 per month. As there’s no information on how to reload, I assume users get rewards (cell phone credits) for eyeballing relevant ads.

Let’s see how this pans out. Personally, I hope they succeed. It’s going to be interesting, though, how Filipinos will take to unsolicited SMS and MMS ads…

Update

I apologize. There is a reloading service, but only via their website. You’ll be able to access it once you have your SIM.

He’s connected to the Internet via PLDT myDSL. Why is PLDT seemingly blocking Google? In fact, it’s not just Google but AltaVista, Yahoo! and MSN as well. And on that landing page is PLDT’s own search engine, with advertisements.

If you notice, Bob’s using OpenDNS, but when he turns it off, he says the resulting page comes out the same. I use OpenDNS too, but I’m not having this problem.

To verify this, my other friends who are on PLDT myDSL confirm this strange development. A backward development, if you ask me.

Is PLDT blocking search engines and portals so that they can offer their own online services? If that’s the case, that is very much akin to the Gestapo tactics of World War II Nazis.

But there’s more. Check out this next screenshot.

This is a journalist’s blog, Istambay sa Mindanao, which is being blocked by PLDT, because it’s categorized as a blog. Other Davao blogs being blocked so far are Councilor Pete Laviña’s, Taga-Davao, Village Idiot Savant… My friend Bob thinks his blogs will fall into this black hole as well.

Are we in China here? Or Saudi Arabia? If this is indeed the doing of PLDT, do they think such deceitful devices will stand for long in a free and democratic country? (Where there are a lot of bloggers, I might add!)

I’m on SmartBro DSL, which is also part of the PLDT ilk. Are they going to follow suit as well?

This just in: Gmail is also being blocked by PLDT. In my estimate, tens of thousands of Filipinos use Gmail. What’s next?

While PMC Telecom’s site also features other telephony products, it’s BT Phones that we’re focusing on here. Within this manufacturer’s main page, at a glance, online customers are able to view a product’s basic specifications, the price tag, and a clearly rendered photo of the item. I also like this small touch: atop the page, a different product appears each time you refresh the page.

For each item displayed, one can click on a “More Info” button that leads to the product’s own webpage. This page is, of course, more detailed in terms of product description. In my opinion, they could’ve done well to have added more pictures of the product itself. Doing so might just inspire customers to use the built-in shopping cart system right then and there!

The BT Phones section of the PMC Telecom website is clean and uncluttered, but it could’ve arranged the products in separate categories. Having gadgets of various uses in one page might tend to be confusing to some customers. However, I think the easy-to-use interface, and the fact that there aren’t really all that many items, more than make up for this.

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