Pocket WiFi

[payxibka 10,045]

Anybody use pocket WiFi in Phil?  I am going to be in Liloan Cebu for a month in March and will be working remote.  I need a solid connection.  Any help or suggestions would be appreciated

[doggieandsam 765]

the internet connection in the philippines sucks by default. pocket wifi works in cebu but it will be at the most spotty and/or slow. you will be better off connecting to your hotel wifi (but even that may also be slow). we have fiber dsl line at home used by at most 4 people at any given time and i still want to smash the router sometimes! lol

[payxibka 10,045]

1 minute ago, iamdegie said:

the internet connection in the philippines sucks by default. pocket wifi works in cebu but it will be at the most spotty and/or slow. you will be better off connecting to your hotel wifi (but even that may also be slow). we have fiber dsl line at home used by at most 4 people at any given time and i still want to smash the router sometimes! lol

I won't be staying at a hotel.  I will be staying with my SO.  We are looking at PLDT hardline as well but we ordered it 2 months ago and it is still not installed.  PLDT is not giving us hope that it will be installed in time

[Hank_ 9,174]

39 minutes ago, payxibka said:

Anybody use pocket WiFi in Phil?  I am going to be in Liloan Cebu for a month in March and will be working remote.  I need a solid connection.  Any help or suggestions would be appreciated

I have a pocket wifi  (Huawei)  thing to watch for when buying a pocket wifi is that it handles LTE G4, I found way too many that only did G2/G3 and the sales people aren't that helpful with this.  I paid about P4,000+ for this a few years back.  Now the pocket wifi sits in a drawer as my Phone does HOTSPOT and is dual sim.

 

 

[payxibka 10,045]

2 minutes ago, Hank_ said:

I have a pocket wifi  (Huawei)  thing to watch for when buying a pocket wifi is that it handles LTE G4, I found way too many that only did G2/G3 and the sales people aren't that helpful with this.  I paid about P4,000+ for this a few years back.  Now the pocket wifi sits in a drawer as my Phone does HOTSPOT and is dual sim.

 

 

My SO's phone will do hotspot but I don't want to monopolize her phone when I am working.  She also uses globe as the carrier and I need to check to see if Smart or Sun has better coverage in her area.  I will also see if I can just SIM up in my phone which I presume I can though it is locked to Verizon

[Hank_ 9,174]

24 minutes ago, payxibka said:

My SO's phone will do hotspot but I don't want to monopolize her phone when I am working.  She also uses globe as the carrier and I need to check to see if Smart or Sun has better coverage in her area.  I will also see if I can just SIM up in my phone which I presume I can though it is locked to Verizon

I do understand about the issues using the hotspot function, but when out and about it saved me from carrying the pocket wifi. 

 

At the house I have a Huawei B-593S which won't fit in anyone's pocket   and I have that hooked to an outdoor antenna up on a pole.  But you are looking for something portable  so find a good LTE G4 Pocket WIFI and enjoy.

 

SMART has G5 up and running, I have pulled over 75MB download speeds since they have been updating in our area.   G4 max's out at about 45MB    Of course once Smart got it running steady then down graded all the max speeds.

 

I use SMART for internet and GLOBE for phone .. Smart has the better pre-paid LTE packages, and Globe is the most common for everyone around us for phone.

 

Doubt you can use a locked phone  with another provider.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Hank_

[Balamban 113]

If she has globe LTE at the house or knows someone who does and it has a strong signal I'll bet that the best bang for the buck would be  Globe Tattoo E5573CS 4G Pocket WiFi Router (Black) for 1879 delivered to your SO from lazada.com.ph.  I've ordered several items from them with the order originating in the US and delivered to Balamban, Cebu and have always been pleased.  You might look for a 1st purchase discount code also.  I'd expect it to arrive in a couple of weeks.  YMMV

 

https://www.lazada.com.ph/globe-tattoo-e5573cs-4g-pocket-wifi-router-black-30246347.html?spm=a2o4l.searchlist.list.6.61011692gg6QeT

 

Signal strength measured at her house is usually a good indicator.  In Balamban tattoo was pretty good but take it just one mile south and nada, but nothing else worked either.  I'd suspect that Liloan has excellent LTE signal and tattoo will drop to and through 4g if necessary.

 

Keep in mind that I'm American and am sort of guessing as there are so many variables, but then I've been fighting with finding inet in Cebu on and off for 4 years.  We have a great connection now in Balamban (2M down) (not hard-wired either) it's wi-fi, maybe from a nearby pole and though I was told such a connection was not available--it was, though it took quite a lot of pestering my partner to call, and call, and call....  So nice to have a solid signal.  My SO will take the tattoo out into the backwaters of Toledo and it works fine there.  (Rain can smack the signal though, but that's true with our main inet because it's wi-fi from (I imagine) a nearby power line pole.

 

Try this for load:

 

http://www.pinoythinking.com/2017/06/new-globe-dsl-and-broadband-plans.html

 

Consider greasing the palm if you want a hard-wired connection, if you can find the installer.  $10 or $20 US might give you great returns.  I suspect that the installers are overworked and underpaid but oh they do know some tricks.

[Chris Duffy 1,257]

3 hours ago, payxibka said:

I won't be staying at a hotel.  I will be staying with my SO.  We are looking at PLDT hardline as well but we ordered it 2 months ago and it is still not installed.  PLDT is not giving us hope that it will be installed in time

Been there done that.  I can feel your pain.

 

You know the saying ' It's more fun in the Phiippines.............

 

[John & Rose 7,239]

4 hours ago, payxibka said:

Anybody use pocket WiFi in Phil?  I am going to be in Liloan Cebu for a month in March and will be working remote.  I need a solid connection.  Any help or suggestions would be appreciated

Look into China Telecom.  They are coming into the Philippines in March and are offering a 200 mbps line for 1500 php a month.  They are a new player that Dueterte threatened to bring in if the local internet providers didn't up their game.  Now PLDT is making some offers but require a long term contract.  

[PaoSelle 35]

try the globe at home prepaid wifi. fast and reliable. netflix was super quick. it's available at any globe branch. but if you opt for something a little bit more portable I'd go with the new 4g lte pocket wifi, the black one up to 42 mbps but sometimes if you're lucky and in a good location it's way  faster. 

[doggieandsam 765]

9 hours ago, Balamban said:

If she has globe LTE at the house or knows someone who does and it has a strong signal I'll bet that the best bang for the buck would be  Globe Tattoo E5573CS 4G Pocket WiFi Router (Black) for 1879 delivered to your SO from lazada.com.ph.  I've ordered several items from them with the order originating in the US and delivered to Balamban, Cebu and have always been pleased.  You might look for a 1st purchase discount code also.  I'd expect it to arrive in a couple of weeks.  YMMV

hi there, i'm from balamban! small world! where is your wife from?

[Chris Duffy 1,257]

11 hours ago, John & Rose said:

Look into China Telecom.  They are coming into the Philippines in March and are offering a 200 mbps line for 1500 php a month.  They are a new player that Dueterte threatened to bring in if the local internet providers didn't up their game.  Now PLDT is making some offers but require a long term contract.  

What is long term?

 

If a fiancé or spouse it planning on leaving PI in few month or 6 months, just sign up and use the services.  I had my fiancé do the something similar with Globe or Smart, Had wifi installed, they had spotty service and issue for a few months.  I had her run up a bill and leave it unpaid, really nothing they can do.  It was kinda payback for all the poor service.

 

I will personally don't believe we will see a 200 mbps line for 1500 piso any time soon in Philippines,  But it would be nice.....

[Hank_ 9,174]

PLDT with their fiber is only at 50MB  and it is P2900      availability is fairly good

 

Globe with their fiber is 100MB at P2900     .. Globe fiber has very limited availability 

[Balamban 113]

18 hours ago, John & Rose said:

Look into China Telecom.  They are coming into the Philippines in March and are offering a 200 mbps line for 1500 php a month.  They are a new player that Dueterte threatened to bring in if the local internet providers didn't up their game.  Now PLDT is making some offers but require a long term contract.  

Good for Duterte!  So many monopolies, duopolies and lack of competition in RP.    In Balamban we pay 1500 and I think it's PLDT, it's fairly good and supposed to be 4 gps down, but we get about 2.  There is that omnipresent "you get up to" which reminds me of the used car salesman who advertised "up to 60%" off but when you go, it's really only 2% off the price as those others are always long gone.

 

If China T comes what would be really nice would be a stable 2 Gps for 500 peso, then many families could afford to have internet.  Even 1500 is quite a lot for most. 

 

I had 200 Gps (Verizon Fios) last year and it was so sweet, currently my provider (in Massachusetts) Spectrum gives me 92 down and 12 Gps up for $38, that's enough for me.

[Hank_ 9,174]

PLDT offers 20MB, unlimited fiber for P1900  on their website.   If fiber is available in your area  ... that is the kicker

Edited January 21, 2018 by Hank_