Smart Bro not smart after all

It was December 2006 when one of my classmates from high school, who is working with Smart, advertised about Smart Bro on our batch’s yahoo groups e-mail. Comments started rushing in from all directions. Some were dismayed while others were completely repulsive to the service.

Here are some of the comments and answers of my fellow batch mates. (Some of the comments have been translated to English for all readers to understand)

Mark: Sorry rhojie, but smart sucks in Vicmico…. no offense meant to our friends from Smart……

Rhojie: Smart BRO is different from SMART GSM. Motorola Canopy reflectors are now available for SMART BRO. There is also “Canopyters”. These could extend the signal with minimal drawbacks to latency. Talk to me, I can help. Also as part of South Luzon FO team, Efren installs them.

Wilfred: Sorry Rhojie but mark g was right. Smart Bro sucks even here in manila. I’ve been a Smart Wifi - Smart Bro user for almost a year now and the connection is very unstable. I wanted to end my subscription but I think there is a termination fee. The only thing they offered me was that I don’t have to pay for the months that the service was down.

Rhojie: I agree that Smart Wifi sucks. The system was only handed down from Meridian but we have already started to phase out the system. Though there may be areas that are still using the old system because we don’t want a wide service disruption to occur if the whole system be changed immediately. Migration plans are in place.

Sorry for your bad experiences with Smart Bro. Each of us has a different experience per area due to the fact that, more subs are available in Manila. So, our bandwidth is shared but major expansions are ongoing.

Rudy: No offense likewise. I’m, like Ali, also an unsatisfied SmartWiFi-turned-SmartBro user. Unfortunately, I had my subscription cut already because the support & customer service sucks! The only time I use my Smar tBro is only after I come home from the office. The browsing speed is OK but the download rate is very slow even at night and during wee hours in the morning. It’s not very much comparable to a 128Kbps DSL in terms of speed. They used to advertise a burst speed of 256Kbps but if you check some bandwidth meters from the Internet it didn’t even reach 128 Kbps.

Worst, if you open the Network Neighborhood, you would be surprised to see somebody’s workstation. So you Smart Bro users out there be careful because you might not know who are preying on your computer data.

The customer service really sucks. They’re not techy. They’ll just keep you waiting in agony in helping you with the problem. They’ll just forward you. One time, they keep on sending me bills even if the key they have provided have expired before its due date. So why would I be charged if their system has caused me some problems? Besides, they shouldn’t disconnect their customer’s access because they are charging us on a monthly basis. Worst, they keep sending us bills even if they haven’t credited the 1 month free promo plus the one month advanced payment. Until now, Smart Bro still owes me those bills and I want it paid back.

Efren: We’re using different equipment for subs with Smart Bro… Firstly, the one handed down by Meridian before and the other is the Motorola canopy… There are areas where subs work on certain equipment only and it depends on the serving site.

The speed is not dedicated but shared. If 384kbps, it means up to 384kbps maximum speed… depending if you have good installation plus LOS (line of sight) from serving site.

Regarding the workstations…. since the serving site is shared, you can see other workstations that are active every time you use the service though you can’t access them unless you’re a hacker.

So far, if you are more on downloading large files then the connection would be very slow.

Efren: Smart serving site of Vicmico is still in Victorias City. That is 3kms plus away from VMC.

There was a plan before to put up a site inside Canetown but was denied by the homeowners association led by Mr. Sevilleno. For what reasons, I’m not familiar with it. They wanted is outside of canetown ibutang… so if there is Smart Bro subscribers in Canetown, and no Motorola canopeaters (its job is to extend the signal of Smart Bro from serving site which is far from the area..) then the you’ll absolutely get a poor signal.

Smart Bro is designed for only an optimum distance of 1.5kms LOS (line of sight) meaning no obstructions along the path from serving site to the subscriber antenna. If there is, signal reception mo will surely be affected.

It is not the same as the GSM signal of your mobile phone that even if you only have one bar, you can still text. With Smart Bro, once you receive a slow signal your accessing speed would be slow as well. And if you’re not aggressive enough to call the hotline, nothing will happen to your connection.

Though our brave batch mates from Smart honorably answered every query with a solution, the fact still remains; that Smart Bro gave us a substandard product and an unsatisfactory service. So for all those who wanted to subscribe for Smart Bro’s service, please make sure to contact Smart’s local customer service representative and ask them if they have already migrated to the new subs or if they are using the Motorola canopy. And if ever their answer is “not yet ma’am” or “not yet sir”, then I don’t think it’s worth it.

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