Last Friday, 12 Jun 2009 — the entire Philippines is celebrating the commemoration of its 111th Independence Day — the Sky Broadband servicing team finally made their way to install their cable modem at our place.

With Smart Bro, here’s what I get:

Now, with Sky Broadband (same monthly subscription fee with Smart Bro):

With the same MSF (Monthly Service Fee) as with Smart Bro, I will no longer be in contact with lousy customer service agents and no more long lines of queue at their business centers just for a simple request to be done. The Sky Broadband customer service is indeed very good — cannot be matched by Smart nor Globe.

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SMART has just launched a variant of the BRO wireless internet service bundled with an Asus Eee PC 904 GO. This netbook is an 8.9-incher, runs on an Intel Atom processor, and comes with a 1GB RAM (upgradeable to 2GB) plus Smart BRO embedded in the unit (HSDPA/HSPA).

The Smart BRO package will cost a subscriber around PHP1,799.00 per month (PHP1,000 for the Eee PC + PHP799 for the wireless internet connectivity of up to 60 hours free).

Read the entire press release here.

Popularity: 7% [?]

It was two months ago when I made a post on how to setup a home wireless network using the CD-R King LP-8186 Wireless Router. Since then, I had received  numerous email messages inquiring on how to go about the configuration. The answer is pretty much easy: I just followed what was instructed by CD-R King (found inside the box/package) — that’s it.

Now, for those who wants a clearer visual of my settings, here it goes:

REYESHOME

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Last week, we began experiencing an odd on and off connection of our Smart Broadband (SmartBro). Thursday, they advised us that their technical crew will visit us on Friday morning. Came Friday morning, the technical crew arrived, but there was a power interruption in our area, so I asked them to comeback the next day at around 1500H (since I have a class in the morning).

Saturday came, and at around 1300H, my wife sent me an SMS advising that the SmartBro technical crew are already there — too early for the 1500H schedule. So I sent instructions to my wife, based on what the CSR and I had agreed upon — to replace the LAN cable and AC adaptor of the Motorola Canopy antenna. To my surprised, my wife sent me an SMS again saying that the SmartBro technical team advised her that the LAN cards (01 onboard the mother board, 01 PCI, and 01 USB) are all NOT WORKING. What?! I immediately called home, and advised the technical crew to wait for me til 1400H (that was 1335H already).

When I arrived home, some 15 minutes later, the SmartBro technical crew were nowhere to be found. Apparently, they had lunch while waiting for me — that’s OK! So, when their team leader finally came face-to-face with me, I asked him what is their findings, and he said that my LAN cards are all defective. WTF?! Is that a coincidence or what?! I told him that it is impossible, since the PCI LAN card came from a workstation, that is in tip-top condition, plus the USB LAN card is working 100%. As I see it, it’s the Motorola Canopy antenna or the LAN cable from the Canopy to my LAN cards which is defective.

So, he brought a new (still sealed) Motorola Canopy antenna, attached a new LAN cable to it and the other end to my LAN cards (testing each of the network adapters), and still the error is “A network cable is disconnected.” He then insisted that my LAN cards are all defective. But, I told him, during the installation of the service two years ago, the technical crew had to change the Motorola Canopy antenna four (04) times, before we were able to connect to their base station. So, with a grin in his face, he went back outside and returned with another set of sealed Motorola Canopy antenna. He said, if this one will not work, it is really my LAN cards which are damned. But, before I let him attach the new antenna to my PC, I showed him that the onboard LAN card (Intel) is indeed working, as reported by the diagnostic tools software.

So, the cables were all changed, the new Motorola Canopy antenna attached, and wallah! SmartBro is back online in my PC. Now I firmly believe that their technical crew are NOT that technical at all. You see, troubleshooting needs some analytical thinking, and I do not know if they have it.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Two days ago, my wife noticed that the Smart Bro connection in our Windows XP machine is off and on. The network connection icon at the Windows XP task bar keeps on changing from “Connected 100Mbps” to “A cable is unplugged.” As someone who understands how computers work, I checked on the lan cable (that is connected to the Motorola Canopy antenna): it’s secured; checked on the LAN card thru the Intel diagnostics tool: it’s working properly; then I just noticed that when you move the AC adaptor cable, the connection is UP but when you drop it, the connection is DOWN. Could it be that the AC adaptor that powers the Motorola Canopy antenna is malfunctioning?

That very same night, I called Smart Bro Customer Support, and after talking to someone by the name of Jason for almost 30 minutes using a GlobePH mobile phone, the line was disconnected. It was almost 2300H already that night, so I didn’t bother to make another call to them.

Last night, the same problem is being experienced. I made call to the Smart Bro Customer Support again, and after being on hold for more than 15 minutes — using my GlobePH mobile phone (I did advised the CSR that I am using a mobile phone), the CSR instructed me to replace the UTP cable of the Smart Bro. WTF?! All I am asking was for a technician to drop by our place and check the cable connections, and now you are asking me to change the UTP cable by myself?

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Just musing over my SmartBro connection speed tonight:

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Yesterday, I dropped by Smart Wireless Center in SM Mall of Asia to renew my Smart Broadband contract (huh?! you may say, but Smart Bro is serving me good for my personal use). As a token of their gratitude, they gave me an LG KU250 Prepaid Phone Kit (costs around Php5,000 and it is 3G). I always wanted to try connecting to the internet via a PC/laptop and a mobile phone. I am NOT successful with GlobePH, so I wanted to try this time with Smart.

The Customer Service Agent at MOA gave me the dial-up number *99***1#, so I immediately created a dial-up connection with this number once I reached home. First try, nah! It didn’t worked. Called their Customer Service Hotline, and gave me a new dial-up number *99# — still does not worked. Then finally, a second call to their Hotline, the CS Agent told me that I need to install the LG PC Suite to use 3G dial-up.

So I tried to install the LG KU250 PC Suite using the mini-CD-ROM provided, but the next problem I encountered is that the LG USB Modem Driver provided is NOT Windows XP Certified — it won’t install on my PC (running Windows XP 2nd Edition with SP3). Surfed the internet and landed on a possible solution. Tried re-installing the USB Modem Driver, and wallah! It worked!

Now, here’s the settings in the LG PC Suite that worked my way connecting to the internet via 3G:

My Windows XP Internet Connection status tells me that I have a 115.2Kbps connection, but speedtest.net reached somewhere between 250Kbps to 350Kbps.

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Ever experienced going to a website and your browser will display: Page cannot be displayed?

The computer unit that we share for internet surfing at home uses Smart Broadband. It is not once that I have to call their Customer Service Hotline just to ask them to refresh their DNS Servers, because we are trying to access a website, which we firmly know that is online (because TurfSitePH.net is the host) and does exist, but gets the “Page cannot be displayed” error over and over again. It only means one thing, the DNS Server of my ISP is broken.

Now, if you do not want to spend wasting your time calling your ISP just to request them to refresh their DNS servers (based on my experience, they will act on it after 48 hours), you may want to use OpenDNS instead? OpenDNS will let you use their DNS Servers, instead of the ones provided by your ISP. In this way, we can be assured that we are browsing the latest version of the website, and it also gives you a safeguard against phishers and scammers, as they try to block websites that fall to these categories when you surf to them.

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My first speed post for 2008.

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Using two (02) different internet connection speed testing websites: TestMy.net and SpeedTest.net, both results will prove that I have a better SmartBro connection this early Saturday morning. Time to go to sleep. Will check again nine (09) hours later.

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Just after my class at the SDA building last Saturday, my attention was caught with this sign: “iHooked Internet … Internet at Lightning Speed.” I was actually thinking of paying Netopia UM a visit to check on my server remotely, but this one is nearer (and newer) — so I thought, why not give it a try.

Now, my initial impression cum review of iHooked Internet Cafe (http://www.ihooked.ph) Vito Cruz branch:

Since they had just opened, they offered me FREE internet surfing that day as well as a FREE Membership Card that will entitle me to discounts on all of their services (Internet Surfing is at Php40.00 per hour). The place is nice, the seats are better — something that crosses between a manager’s and a gamer’s chair. Their PC units are fast, though I wasn’t able to check on the specs, but I am certain that they are running Windows 98 with a Windows Vista theme *wink*; the computer monitors are Samsung LCDs (rectangular, not the square ones).

Now, let’s talk about their tag line: Internet at Lightning Speed .. this is where they failed .. I managed to run an internet connection speed test, and got only this:

Another minus point goes to the speakers. Even though each of the computer units sport a Creative Labs speaker system with sub-woofers, I will still prefer to have the ear or head phones.

By the way, the place is run by the same guys who owns Station 168 at the Makati Avenue (reminds me of the jerk owner of Sabiclub.com). Will definitely go back there this Saturday afternoon to check if anything had improved (especially the connection speed) since my last visit.

Now, for my not-so-nightly internet connection speed update:

Popularity: 5% [?]

Popularity: 5% [?]

Three nights ago, my Windows XP machine — my workhouse, the one using Smart Bro — was considered to be technically dead after showing the Blue Screen of Death since afternoon (as reported to me by my brother). I got pissed that I immediately swapped harddrives and installed Windows XP from scratch. After several hours of optimizing my “new” Windows XP machine, it’s back online!

But I had noticed that my Smart Bro connection will simply not go beyond 150 Kbps. Ah, now. I remember. I downloaded TCPOptimizer and set the MTU to 6000. Rebooted my PC and the connection speed improved. Tonight, 72 hours later, here’s my Smart Bro connection speed:

Popularity: 7% [?]

My download speed is relatively fast, but the upload is not.

Popularity: 7% [?]