Internet in the Philippines

If I knew how I would show my screen shots of my speed test.  That way you can be better informed.  I get around 25 to 35 Mbps download and 2 to 5 Mbps upload..

I agree with you, I ain't no expert either. But I tried the 995 a month and found it too slow, check the speed at Speedtest.net and it will tell you, I went to hardwired service into my house, I get 5.0 mbps download and 1.0 mbps upload, that is the advertised rate in reality it is about 4.75 mbps and .70 mpbs, PLDT is my provider and it costs 2300 a month

It varies a LOT. 

The Philippines actually has some of the faster speeds in the world in some areas, but also has some of the slowest in some other areas.

I spent a few months in one area that didn't have enough speed to download photos in emails.
But my last few months I have had faster speeds than my daughter in Australia.

Speed also varies depending on the time of day.  1 am to 5am is often the fastest.

The Internet is shared and the more users there are, then the slower it gets.  When the kids leave school, they get on Facebook, and the web slows down for everyone.

The current Philippines Average Download Speed is: 2.7 Mbps (332 kB/s)
The Philippines Average Upload Speed is: 1.2 Mbps (149 kB/s)

However, the average for Laguna is 29.7Mbps
and
Toledo City    Cebu            11.6 Mbps
Catarman    Northern Samar            23.0 Mbps
Vigan    Ilocos Sur            109 Kbps  (0.109 Mbps)
Lamitan    Basilan, Mindanao            89 Kbps (0.089 Mbps)
Diffun    Quirino            44 Kbps (0.044 Mbps)

To share your internet speeds

Go to: http://www.speedtest.net/ and BEGIN the speed check.

Wait until it finishes
Then click SHARE THIS RESULT when complete
Then click the FORUM option and then copy.
Once it says COPIED

Come back to this thread and paste the result {CTRL + V} will paste it using a keyboard.

[url=http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/4737472346][img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/4737472346.png[/img][/url]

Which should result in this:

This result is in Australia as I am back there for a while

I am sorry but please allow me to disagree with you, the Philippines is one of the worst ISP overall in all of Southeast Asia.  All of the neighboring countries has a higher more constant and reliable service than the Philippines. It was rated as having the slowest  speed for the most money.

madhatter868 wrote:

Philippines is one of the worst ISP overall in all of Southeast Asia.  All of the neighboring countries has a higher more constant and reliable service than the Philippines. It was rated as having the slowest  speed for the most money.

Philippines is getting better, but here are some current world rankings, from 236 countries:

1    Switzerland
2    France
8    The United Kingdom
14    The United States
62    Australia
73    Thailand
113    The Philippines
116    Indonesia
129    Malaysia
235    Tuvalu
236    Niue

Unfortunately though, to get good speeds, you need to be in very specific areas.

And, as you say, it is expensive for what you get...
eg: 
100 Mbps Fibr plan costs P20,000 a month.  Average wage is also about P20,000 a month...

My Internet speed in Makati in 2013

Note that this was faster than 61% of the Philippines at the time.

20000 php is equivalent to 600 AU or 450 USD that is a lot of money for substandard service.

Check out my Ookla Speedtest result. What's your speed? http:///my-result/a/1502276492www.speedtest.net

sirrobcentral wrote:

Check out my Ookla Speedtest result. What's your speed? http:///my-result/a/1502276492www.speedtest.net

This seems to be yours.  One of the fastest in the Philippines, in the top 8%.  Faster than 92% of the Philippines
Not many areas will get that speed


So this confirms that it varies a LOT...

Yes it varies a lot. Sometime you would experience a stable internet connection and sometimes a fluctuating internet connection depending on the internet service provider. Location is also a big factor.

I worked in wire line and wireless telecom for a long time in areas where there were mountains, flat land etc. Expert? I'm not sure about what qualifies you as an expert, though I will share what information I have with those asking questions about how their internet performs.
We paid 1699 for our install and the router and 799 a month for the service with Gobe and it works well enough for us. We pay for 1Mbps and usually get about 1.5Mbps.  With that we are able to watch movies and music videos without issue most of the time. Our service has been dependable with the exception of typhoon conditions where we have had some outages.
The suppliers equipment capacity, the placement of the towers and the antennas all affect your service as does the distance from you to the tower.
The capacity of the providers equipment can also affect your service during peak hours and off hours.
DSL or internet that runs on copper can also be affected by the distance from the dslam and your home as well as the condition of the copper and whether it is spliced (bridge tapped) along the route to your home. Simply cleaning your connections at the box on your home can improve service. Fiber connections also have limits and can be affected by dirty connections.
When using a wireless router in your home, your speed can be affected. Run a speed test hard wired with an RJ45 cable to your computer to your wireless router and then run the same test on your wireless connection to your router without the cable, the speed will in most cases be a little slower.
The small portable hot spot that you can haul around with you for a connection while traveling is also affected by the distance to the tower and the equipment being used. We have one for traveling and when used in the house our connection speed is slower than when outside simply because there is no external antenna as with our pole mounted antenna connected to the router in the house.
If this is helpful so a member, that's great. Am I an expert, no just sharing some info. No more, no less.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/4756646584

Are you kidding me! Is this really the kind of internet speed I will have in the Philippines? What happened to high speed cable? Here in Florida the average to above average speed is 105 mbs., which is what I'm getting now. I'll probably fall asleep waiting to download a site. LOL. Hey Australia, why only 4 mbs.? It should be better than that. You're not like the Philippines. I plan on retiring there in less than 2 years. I hope by then technology catches up to the 21st century.

arty5987 wrote:

Are you kidding me! Is this really the kind of internet speed I will have in the Philippines? What happened to high speed cable? Here in Florida the average to above average speed is 105 mbs., which is what I'm getting now. I'll probably fall asleep waiting to download a site. LOL. Hey Australia, why only 4 mbs.? It should be better than that. You're not like the Philippines. I plan on retiring there in less than 2 years. I hope by then technology catches up to the 21st century.

Love your response, got a good chuckle.
Australian telecom provider Telstra is teaming up with Philippine company San Miguel to provide voice, text and internet services here in the Phil. Maybe speeds will have improved by the time you arrive, though I wouldn't hold my breath. Here's a link to the story.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-econ … k1ra9.html

I don't understand the big deal about speed.  When I click on a link to the page it comes right up. When I open an attachment it opens right up. When I  post pictures to my facebook they load within five seconds. When I  Skype or facetalk with my grandkids it's uninterrupted... So please tell me what's the big deal?

When we moved to Bohol. We enquired about an Internet Connection. PLDT said it as not possible in our area, as there is no Landline. Smart and Globe didn't even give us a reply to our enquiry.
We were told to ask our Cable TV supplier. He installed an Antenna, and a Router, for 12000 Pesos.
We bought a Sim Card from Globe for 900 Pesos (Although we always exeed the limit , and pay a 600 Peso Penalty every Month.  So our cost is 1500 Peso) 
It isn't ultra fast. But adequate for our requirements.

The only time it is a big deal, is when the pages don't open fast enough, or is you are working online and your client is not satisfied, for me what I get from PLDT is fine.

Our connection serves our needs.

sirrobcentral wrote:

I don't understand the big deal about speed.  When I click on a link to the page it comes right up. When I open an attachment it opens right up. When I  post pictures to my facebook they load within five seconds. When I  Skype or facetalk with my grandkids it's uninterrupted... So please tell me what's the big deal?

Agreed

I have a PLDT DSL at my work. It's adequate for my business needs. But for almost a week now, I haven't had any internet connection there. I have a broadband at home. So I go home, which is just a 5 minute drive, if I need to urgently book a flight, read or send an email, or order online. No big deal. I cannot bring the broadband with me at work since there's no signal there.

From my experience, there's actually an advantage to having zero or unbearably slow that you just give up kind of connection: Other things get done faster. It takes me around 2 hours to complete a project quotation / estimate. But without internet connection, I can do 4 of those in the same amount of time. Haha. My assistants find themselves assigned with more work and urged to do things quicker. Quarterly tax returns are done almost a month before they're due. Maybe I should just cancel my internet subscription at work.

"""But without internet connection, I can do 4 of those in the same amount of time. Haha. My assistants find themselves assigned with more work and urged to do things quicker. Quarterly tax returns are done almost a month before they're due. Maybe I should just cancel my internet subscription at work """

Phil/mom, don't do that :then you won't be able to play games on your computer. LOL

If you are looking for a place for yourself, it would be a good tip if you check your cellphone signal and it will give you a good idea on what speed of internet you could probably have.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/4766619606

My result is a little less than 5Mbps down and 2Mbps up. My cell phone company in the U.S. had better bandwidth by 1000%. I did pay more than what I pay here, but there was a time that I had two different service providers for redundacy. The two of them combined cost me P5,400 and my bandwidth was sporadic at best. Service in Pampanga province is shady. I have used every service provider and the one that seems to work better than all overall is ComClark or Converge, the new name.

PLDT was so bad that I just paid them off for the last year of the contract period and vowed to never use them again. Most of the time either my landline or Internet was inoperable. Sometimes when I called customer support, they would tell me that my phone line was down and my Internet was fine. I would be calling them from my phone line. Or vice versa...

Digitel (Sun) now PLDT, Globe Telecom, and Smart had bad customer service. I could see the Smart tower from my apartment and I would have slow or no connection. It would take a day to reach customer service and then they would tell me to wait 24-hrs, while monitoring, and if the problem still persisted, they would make a report for a technician to come out, the following 48-hrs.

I know there are good speeds in the Philippines. They are just not in my area, unless I am in a certain area, facing the sun on a harvest moon night at a 45 degree angle during the day and a 90 degree angle at the base of a stainless steel pole connected to an antenna.

I give up now after 11+yrs. of complaining and sub par service. I just accept it for what it is and know that at some point in the near future, I will return to a land of better customer support and service.

The average income in the Phils. is nowhere near P20,000/month. It's more like 2-3000 per month, and that's not counting all the people at 0.

I pay 1000 a month for internet service in Davao, and am quite pleased with it. The speed is quite acceptable for what I do, and comparable to what I was getting in the U.S. before I came over here, at about twice the price. Very occasionally I lose the connection, but that happens in the U.S., too.

Popsicola wrote:

The average income in the Phils. is nowhere near P20,000/month. It's more like 2-3000 per month, and that's not counting all the people at 0.

A friend in Northern Luzon with 19 1/2 years on the job makes P12,500 per month. She has two degrees, one being an MBA and she has teaching certification for elementary and high school students. She is a University administrator. Money is tight in the Phil and monetary reward is small at best for most.

I totally agree with your comment!

Yes, the highest paying jobs are probably teachers, government workers, and those who work in call centers. They generally make P10-15,000 a month, though those in high government positions make more, and so do some in call centers.

A few people make much more through business. There are a lot of pyramid-type sales schemes here, and though most people don't get very far with them, I have met a few people who have done very well. E.g., I know one guy who has two brand new cars he bought through his sales income, and another who has bought two condos for investments. The object of all these sales jobs is to recruit people who pay a % of their sales to you, then they recruit more people who pay a % to them and a smaller % to you, and so on. If you recruit enough downlines, as they are called, you can do really well, actually make more than P100,000 per month, but of course only a tiny proportion of people succeed.

Some people do well through pure criminality, of course. I have been told by a close friend that all the councilors here in Davao, who make a nominal salary of about P25,000 a month, actually are given about P1 million a month. No, that is not a typo. And I have no reason to doubt this story, because i know one councilor very well, and have seen him take junkets to the U.S., Hong Kong and Boracay, where he stays in very expensive hotels (e.g., more than P20,000 a night in Boracay). Obviously, that would not be possible on his nominal salary. Those familiar with the recent pork scandal in Manila will understand it was just taking this fairly common practice to an extreme.

By the way, I'll bet very few people know that the salary of the President of the Philippines is more than the salary of the President of the U.S. Why? I'd guess the rationale is that if he's given enough money legally, he won't be tempted into graft. It's a pretty strong bet that most of the Senators are embezzling in one way or another. I mean, if all the major politicians in Davao are getting away with it, it's pretty hard to believe that the national reps aren't, too.

For the average poor person, there is one line of work that is quite lucrative, but unfortunately the idiot, hypocritical legislators in Manila have made it illegal. That is working online at one of the sex or porn sites. I know girls who have done this (gay men also do it), and it's possible to make P50,000 or more a month quite easily. I know this for a fact, I've seen it done. You'd think in a country where prostitution is legal virtually everywhere, the authorities would welcome the chance for poor women to make good money from their own homes with none of the risks associated with real prostitution. But Filipinos are irrational, IMO it's useless to expect them to allow anything that might actually allow some people to better their condition.

I understand that this process can be abused, and there needs to be a minimum age. Recently, there have been several well-publicized busts of rings that were using underage Filipino girls. In fact, the sites that run these businesses try to screen the women that sign up, all of them I'm aware of bar underage females from signing up. But the authorities in the Philippines also bust adult women who practice this, I've known several in their 20s who were jailed. This is ridiculous, these same women can solicit customers for real sex on the streets with impunity, but can't show their bodies online?

According to the web Aquino's salary is 120000 php a month, in USD it is $2575.00 per month Obama gets $33333.00 a month, I am not sure how you figure Aquino makes more than Obama

sirrobcentral wrote:

"""But without internet connection, I can do 4 of those in the same amount of time. Haha. My assistants find themselves assigned with more work and urged to do things quicker. Quarterly tax returns are done almost a month before they're due. Maybe I should just cancel my internet subscription at work """

Phil/mom, don't do that :then you won't be able to play games on your computer. LOL

My kids comment that my desktop and laptop are very boring, i.e. no games, except perhaps for minesweeper and other free games with Windows OS, which I don't bother to play. What gets me when I'm online with a good connection are those darn cat / kitten antics viral videos. They're so funny. I have playful pet cats at home who run into similar adventures and mishaps.

Is that a wireless modem or a PLDT cable?

You can't judge average wage in the Philippines by Davao, because wages are lower there than other parts of the country. See the verdict from ILO below. Warning: the data is 3 years old!

The Philippine average monthly wage of $279 (roughly Php 11,700) is 19% of the world's average as calculated by the International Labor Organization (ILO).

That is true. Because the wage differs by location. For example, the rate in Manila is not the same as it is in Batangas or Cebu or in Leyte.

My speed in Malate Manila using PLDT My home P1,299 pm , 500 one off installation fee.
Download 1.96 MBps, Upload 0.68 MBps

sirrobcentral wrote:

I don't understand the big deal about speed.  When I click on a link to the page it comes right up. When I open an attachment it opens right up. When I  post pictures to my facebook they load within five seconds. When I  Skype or facetalk with my grandkids it's uninterrupted... So please tell me what's the big deal?

The big deal about speed would not be a big deal if everyone had your speeds.

Yours are one of the fastest in the Philippines, in the top 8%.  (as shown in earlier comments)

The rest have to make do with slow speeds, and that is why it is a big deal to them.

Popsicola wrote:

The average income in the Phils. is nowhere near P20,000/month. It's more like 2-3000 per month, and that's not counting all the people at 0.

You are right, I was thinking more of Luzon, but I did say average wage. (Obviously excludes any non wage earners)

Looking at just Manila...

Average Monthly Salary in Manila
This is a guide to Various average Salaries quoted on the Internet in August 2015, for the Manila Location.
Note: Makati City has a separate figure.
Average Monthly Disposable Salary (After Tax) 23,694.51 PHP (www.numbeo.com)

Average Monthly Salary in Manila: 41,987 PHP (www.salaryexplorer.com)

Average Monthly Salary in Manila by Occupation (www.payscale.com)
37,696 PHP Male All Jobs
27,960 PHP Female All Jobs
37,000 PHP All Permanent Jobs

arty5987 wrote:

Are you kidding me! Is this really the kind of internet speed I will have in the Philippines? What happened to high speed cable? Here in Florida the average to above average speed is 105 mbs., which is what I'm getting now. I'll probably fall asleep waiting to download a site. LOL.

arty5987 wrote:

Hey Australia, why only 4 mbs.? It should be better than that. You're not like the Philippines. I plan on retiring there in less than 2 years. I hope by then technology catches up to the 21st century.

I pay for 24Mbps in Australia, but, just like the Philippines, the small print allows them to give you what they like...

My speed today  (faster than 61% of Australia):

The High Speed Cable, this new bees knees one, is very expensive...  Just like in the Philippines

But, can't complain too much, the cost of living isn't much higher than the Philippines (for equal standard of livlng)

Sir, what equipment are u useing, is it a globe antenna and an lte router?

thank you
Rafael