A few years ago, internet users in the Philippines were enjoying unlimited connection. Anybody can shuffle between the two giant network providers to get their true unmetered internet access. Those days are gone.
We live in different times now. Many subscribers today are subject to a standard policy from both SMART and GLOBE where they are only allowed on average 15Gb of data storage monthly at 1mbps. After reaching this cap, users can only use their internet for browsing, since their internet speed is throttled to a maximum of 200Kbps.
Each bit and byte of data transmitted has an effective price tag: You are paying for unlimited service so long as you, like many others, ignore the fine print that specifically tells you just how much unlimited service you’re going to get until your ISP gets pissy. We can all agree that this practice is a complete joke, and it’s just one more way for your data providers to slowly squeeze the noose until everyone is paying higher than they initially intended.
But is it really that bad?
It goes without saying that the country’s Internet infrastructure (and pricing models) can vary wildly from those found in the rest of the world. But let’s not end the comparison with just a throwaway statement like that. Why don’t we ask how do Philippine ISPs fare against their American brethren?
Currently the two largest ISPs in the U.S., AT&T and Comcast, are already imposing bandwidth caps on their subscribers, and companies like Time Warner is toying with the idea of metering. However, the ceilings remain relatively high, typically between 100 and 250 GB a month. Even if there are no guarantee that those numbers won’t shrink or – more likely – fail to scale as bandwidth hunger grows, it is still better than what SMART and GLOBE are offering to Filipino consumers.
Besides the large discrepancy between the major ISPs in the U.S. and in the Philippines, there is also no assurance that bandwidth caps are being implemented in the name of controlling network congestion. Nobody can will stake their lives and say that the caps adoption is not another backhanded way of making more money.
Hence, it might be high time for the next batch of lawmakers to introduce a measure that will give consumers the tools they need to manage their own data usage, institute industry-wide data measurement accuracy standards for ISPs, and impose disciplines to ensure that ISP data caps are truly designed to manage network congestion.
We live in different times now. Many subscribers today are subject to a standard policy from both SMART and GLOBE where they are only allowed on average 15Gb of data storage monthly at 1mbps. After reaching this cap, users can only use their internet for browsing, since their internet speed is throttled to a maximum of 200Kbps.
Each bit and byte of data transmitted has an effective price tag: You are paying for unlimited service so long as you, like many others, ignore the fine print that specifically tells you just how much unlimited service you’re going to get until your ISP gets pissy. We can all agree that this practice is a complete joke, and it’s just one more way for your data providers to slowly squeeze the noose until everyone is paying higher than they initially intended.
But is it really that bad?
It goes without saying that the country’s Internet infrastructure (and pricing models) can vary wildly from those found in the rest of the world. But let’s not end the comparison with just a throwaway statement like that. Why don’t we ask how do Philippine ISPs fare against their American brethren?
Currently the two largest ISPs in the U.S., AT&T and Comcast, are already imposing bandwidth caps on their subscribers, and companies like Time Warner is toying with the idea of metering. However, the ceilings remain relatively high, typically between 100 and 250 GB a month. Even if there are no guarantee that those numbers won’t shrink or – more likely – fail to scale as bandwidth hunger grows, it is still better than what SMART and GLOBE are offering to Filipino consumers.
Besides the large discrepancy between the major ISPs in the U.S. and in the Philippines, there is also no assurance that bandwidth caps are being implemented in the name of controlling network congestion. Nobody can will stake their lives and say that the caps adoption is not another backhanded way of making more money.
Hence, it might be high time for the next batch of lawmakers to introduce a measure that will give consumers the tools they need to manage their own data usage, institute industry-wide data measurement accuracy standards for ISPs, and impose disciplines to ensure that ISP data caps are truly designed to manage network congestion.
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