Laptop Mobile Specs: Service providers and connectivity

Showing posts with label Service providers and connectivity. Show all posts

There is a war raging between the countries top two telecom companies. Globe had just unveiled its My Best Ever Super Plan which allows you to tailor fit your plan more than ever before. Smart on the other hand has added some very interesting services to its own configurable All-In Plan.

The most interesting new offering is the Php999 Unli Call & Text Combo which gives you unlimited calls and text with the Smart, TNT and Sun networks with 1 GB worth of mobile browsing for 30 days.

Another interesting new option is the Php400 Tri Net 400 option which gives you 500 minutes of Smart, TNT, Sun and PLDT Landline calls, 2000 SMS to all networks and 150 MB of mobile browsing for 30 days.

One new offering that does not seem to be worth it is the Php300 Tri Talk 300 which gives you 300 minutes of Smart, TNT, Sun and PLDT Landline calls. It would seem to make more sense to add Php100 and get Tri-Net 400.

These All-In Plans come bundled with mobile phones. The most interesting phones offered are as follows:

All-In Plan 1200 - Huawei Ascend D1

All-In Plan 1800 - HTC 8X and Sony Xperia V

All-In Plan 2500 - Sony Xperia Z

Smart Communications is offering Apple iPad's and iPad's mini's discounted when bundled with a data plan. Bundled with Data Plan 999 you get a Php8,000 discount on a 3G/LTE iPad with Retina Display.

Bundled with Plan 499, you get a Php1,000 discount and deferred payment over a period of 24 months.

Plan 499 falls under Smart Anti Bill Shock plan, so even if you exceed your 65 hour allocation, you will never go beyond Php999.

Smart Communications is offering Apple iPad's and iPad's mini's discounted when bundled with a data plan. Bundled with Data Plan 999 you get a Php8,000 discount on a 3G/LTE iPad mini.

Bundled with Plan 499, you get a Php1,000 discount and deferred payment over a period of 24 months.

Plan 499 falls under Smart Anti Bill Shock plan, so even if you exceed your 65 hour allocation, you will never go beyond Php999.

Globe Telecom's new plan allow you to unbundle the plan from a "free" device. The reality is that we actually play for the free device we get from out carriers in out monthly bill.

To compare how this works, I used Globe's online My Super Plan creator to compute what it would cost me to get a Samsung Galaxy S4 at Plan 1799.

The plan I put together comes out as follows:

Device - Samsung Galaxy S4
Cash out - Php4,800
Unlimited Data
Consumable for calls and text - Php1,101

Now I created another Plan 999, without a bundles phone.

Device - None
Cash out - 0
Unlimited Data
Consumable for calls and text - Php701

If you use about Php1,000-Php1200 of calls and text a month:

You would pay Php800 less a month, but would get Php400 less consumable. So assuming that I used the Php1,101 consumable a month I would save Php400 a month. This would make Plan 999 at total of Php14,400 cheaper over two years, without a bundled device.

Given that a Samsung Galaxy S4 will cost you twice that much, it is still worthwhile getting a phone with your Globe Plan, comparing these two plans.

If you use about Php600-800 of calls and text a month:

The entire point of a data plan is to use less calls and SMS. If you font used the Php1,101 consumable at Plan 1799, the comparison would be different, This would make Plan 999 at total of Php24,000 cheaper over two years, without a bundled device.

Globe Telecom will give you a Galaxy S 4 at Plan 1799 for a 24 month lock-in and Php4,800 cash. Bundle in Unlimited Data and you will have Php1,101 a month consumable for calls and SMS.

The closest Plan from Smart is Data Plan 2000. At this plan you can get a Samsung Galaxy S 4 with a 24 month contract for Php4,000.

Total commitment under the contact:

Globe - Php47,976

Smart - Php52,000

Consumable:

Globe - Php1,101. Globe to Globe calls @Php6.50 per minute, and other local calls @Php7.50 per minute. SMS a Php1.00. The consumable can be converted to other bundles like unlimited call and test with the Globe network.

Smart - 150 minutes of calls and 200 SMS to all networks. Calls in excess of 150 minutes at @Php5.09 per minute or Smart to Smart calls, and other local calls @Php6.11 per minute. SMS a Php1.00.

Unli Data:

Globe - LTE

Smart - LTE until June 30, 2013. Not certain if there will be an additional charge after that.

All-in-all total cost is cheaper with Globe, the consumable aspect of the plan is more flexible and can be converted to thing like unlimited calls and text or other bundles and LTE is a certainty. Smart offers lower per minute and SMS rates.

Undoubtably, between Smart Communications and Globe Telecom, the former has a fair lead in the deployment of LTE technology. The problem is, they do not have a clear LTE policy yet. If you got a new Apple iPhone 5 last year, you had free LTE until April 30, 2013. The LTE "promo" has been extended to June 30, 2013.

If you are planning to get one of those nice new LTE handsets, like a Samsung Galaxy S 4 or Sony Xperia Z, you also get LTE connectivity till June 30, 2013, after which time what Smart does next is not clear.

Notice the fine print "Until June 20, 2013"

In the case of Globe Telecom its regular data plans are also LTE plans.

Basically, if you are like me, you are a Smart Subscriber about to renew his contract, it is pretty confusing at Smart right now. It feels like Smart is not sure what it wants to do with its LTE plans, and unfortunately they are leaving their customers uncertain of whether they will have to spend more in the future to maintain LTE connectivity. The uncertainty about plan pricing, minor data billing issues plus changes in retention policy makes Globe Telecom suddenly look a lot more inviting.

If you want to be sure that you get a Smart plan with LTE, without having to pay more in the future, you can avail of the Sony Xperia V or ZTE T82 which come with LTE Plans. The Apple iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S 4 and Sony Xpreria Z come with 3G Unli Data Plan with free LTE until June 30, 2013.

When the promo ends, it looks like you will have to pay Php1,000 over and above your current plan to maintain LTE connectivity.

Smart Communications has revealed that the Samsung Galaxy S4 will be available for free, bundled with the Smart Unli Data Plan 2000 with a 30-month contract. This plan comes with unlimited LTE connectivity and 200 SMS and 150 minutes of calls to all networks.

As a special treat for early adopters, those who submit their application for a postpaid plan and get approved from April 27 to May 2 at participating Smart Stores, can get the Samsung Galaxy S4 for free at Unli Data Plan 1500, and receive their unit on May 2, 2013.

Globe Telecom has announced its post paid plans for the Samsung Galaxy S4. Samsung new flagship smartphone can be for free at Plan 1799 on a 30-month contract, or Plan 2499 on a 24 month contract. Globe Telecom will also allow you to shorten contract periods by signing up for a higher plan or adding cash. Here is the complete matrix of Globe Samsung Galaxy S4 plans:

You can sign up for a Samsung Galaxy S4 from Globe Telecom at this link. Globe Telecom is also offering the Samsung Galaxy S4 as part of a prepaid kit.

Globe Telecom has priced the Samsung Galaxy S4 at Php30,990 as part of a pre-paid kit. The model being carried. d is the Qualcomm quad core version.

The official launch date of the Galaxy S4 is on April 26, so I suspect you can get one from Globe by then

Smart Communications Press Release.

[18 April 2013] Say goodbye to unexpected data charges as wireless leader Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) introduces its Anti-Bill Shock (ABS) feature across all of mobile and broadband postpaid plans.

“‘Bill shock’ is now a thing of the past,” said Smart Postpaid Business Head Kathy Carag. “From today, all data charges from our postpaid offerings will be capped to certain amount so that our subscribers could enjoy worry-free surfing 24/7,” she said.

Data charging has been identified to be one of the leading causes of ‘unexpected charges particularly for subscribers using Internet-enabled smartphones.

Based on internal data, a number of mobile users are not aware that their new phones automatically connect to data services. This ‘background connection’ incurs charges which may result to excessive monthly bills.

With ABS in place, Smart Postpaid users who are not enrolled to either an Unlisurf or Always On package will be charged the default rate of P10 per 30 minutes until his or her data charges reach a total of Php1,200.

To illustrate, a Smart All-In Plan 500 subscriber who has consumed P300 worth of voice and SMS services and unknowingly keeps his or her data connection on will only be charged a maximum of Php1,500 until the end of the billing cycle.

Similarly, Smart Bro Postpaid users who exceed their monthly allocation will also be charged the default rate of P10 per 30 minutes until his or her data charges reach P999.

If a Smart Bro Flexisurf Pocket WiFi Plan 599 subscriber for example exceeds the 50 hour monthly allocation, he or she will only be charged an additional Php400 for the excess data charges. The plan then essentially turns into an unlimited surfing plan until the next billing cycle.

“It’s worry-free mobile surfing at its best,” said Smart Broadband Internet and Data Services Head Lloyd Manaloto. “Come try out the best data connection only from the network with four times more fiber power,” he said.

Manaloto refers to Smart and parent firm PLDT’s modernized mobile network which has been super-charged with 54,000kms of fiber optic cables (FOCs).

FOCs, unlike legacy copper wiring, uses beams of light to deliver and receive data from the core network to the base station and vice versa.

“Our fiber-powered network can handle millions of calls, billions of texts, and trillions of bytes of data, said Manaloto. “We have the only truly future-proof network in the Philippines.

To know more about Smart’s data plans, visit www.smart.com.ph or go to a Smart Store nearest you. [END]

Smart Communications now has a pre-order page up for the Samsung Galaxy S4. But do not get too excited. No details are provided as to what plan the Galaxy S4 will be offered at, when it will be available and whether Smart will be offering the Exynos 5 (i9500) or Qualcomm (i9505) version.

Smart has a new service which will allow you to surf the web all day using the Opera Mini browser.

The Opera Mini is available for both smartphones and feature phones, so most everybody can avail of this service.

Opera Mini fetches all content through a proxy server which compresses date and reformats web pages into a format more suitable for a small screens. The compressed page is delivered to the phone in a Opera Binary Markup Language, which Opera Mini can interpret. The data compression can reduce the size of webpages, sometimes up to 70-80% making for faster download times and easier to handle it for low powered devices

Smart Communications sent out a teaser through Twitter, announcing that the company will be launching four new handsets in the coming weeks.

Which four? The Samsung Galaxy S4 is on that list for sure. I am expecting that to hit both Globe and Smart by May or June 2013.

The remaining are harder to guess. On the high end the list could include the HTC One and the Nokia Lumia 920. Smart has released all HTC and Nokia flagship phones in the past few years. The Sony Xperia Z or ZL is another possibility, but less likely in my opinion.

You could also expect to see some mid level Nokia models in the form of the Lumia 620, 720 or 820. From the Samsung end, the Galaxy S III mini and Galaxy Grand would be my bets. Well, that is nine.

Okay, but I should pick four. The HTC One, Nokia Lumia 920 and 720, and the Samsung Grand.

Care to venture a guess? Leave a comment below.

Learn more »

The National Telecommunications Commission has released the Quality of Service (QoS) benchmark tests for the first quarter of 2013. Smart Communications led all five categories again, but both networks passed the test.

The QoS tests measures the performance by using the following key performances indices.

Blocked Calls or Grade of Service —percentage of calls that were not given access by the network.
Dropped Call Rate —percentage of on-going calls that were involuntarily terminated.
Average Receive Signal Level—signal strength that was being provided by the serving cellsite to the mobile handset of the subscriber while a conversation is on-going. This parameter is measured using a negative number and as such, a lower numerical value is considered better (e.g. -10 > -20)
Average Signal Quality—the quality of voice transmission while a subscriber is using his mobile phone. The closer to “0”, the fewer errors in transmission.
Call Set-Up Time—time required for the network to activate the called party

Based on the results, 26 out of every 1000 calls made with a Globe phone are unable to connect to the network (blocked call), more than double compared to calls made on Smart. Fifteen out of every 1000 successful calls made with a Globe phone were involuntarily terminated (dropped call), this was nearly double compared to calls made on Smart. Smart also outperformed Globe in the terms of Average Receive Signal Level, Average Signal Quality, and Call Set-up time.

The results must be disappointing for Globe, since the company just completed the update of their network

As of end 2012, Smart had 54.1 million subscribers while Globe has 33.1 million. Smart's sister company, Sun Cellular has over 16 million subscribers.

Looking at Globe Telecom's marketing materials in a visit to a Globe Telecom business center, I noticed that the Samsung Galaxy S III mini, free at Plan 999, is front an center of their marketing efforts. The Galaxy S III mini is a fine phone at the plan.

Globe does have a nice sleeper in the line-up. The ZTE T81 is my favorite Globe offering at Plan 999. The ZTE T81 is available free a both My Super and Unli Surf Plans.

The ZTE T81 is a Android smartphone with a 4.3-inch qHD display. Powering the phone is a 1.5 GHz dual core Qualcomm Krait processor with 1 GB of RAM. The ZTE T81 also has a system-on-chip LTE modem. While ZTE does not have the name recognition of Samsung, in terms of substance, the ZTE T81 is a more powerful handset the the Samsung Galaxy S III. It is the sleeper in Globe line-up of phones.

Errata: One of our readers noted that the specifications I posted are wrong:

The ZTE T81 version from Globe is actually only 4 inches with 800x480 resolution, and 5MP camera, as opposed to reports from the net that say 4.3 qHD with 8MP camera. The CPU is Qualcomm Snapdragon, though. I should know as I own one of the few ones (based on what the sales staff from Globe told me).

Sorry for the error.

The Sony Xperia V did not make out high end smartphone buyers guide this month. At Php23,800 the price is a little bit to close to the much more powerful LG Optimus G at Php24,500. The LG Optimus G comes with twice as many processor cores, double the RAM and four times the internal storage as compared to the Sony Xperia V.

Some phones that are not great deals on a cash purchase, are great deals from carriers. The Sony Xperia V is one example of that. Being offered by Smart Communications free at All-In Plan 1200. What I have not been able to verify if the offer for the Smart Xperia V comes with a 24-month or 30 month lock-in. Either way it would be a good deal.

Abe Olandres (aka Yugatech) tweeted an hour ago that there are apparently two models of the BlackBerry Z10 selling in the Philippines, a LTE and a 3G model.

After some discussions on the Twitter verse, it would seem that Smart Communications BlackBerry Z10's and retail units are 3G only. Globe Telecom BlackBerry Z10's are LTE models.

If you want a BlackBerry Z10, you should probably consider getting one from Globe Telecom. Learn more »

Some countries will be getting the LTE enabled version of the Samsung Galaxy S 4 with a Qualcomm chipset. Other will get the non-LTE Samsung Galaxy S 4 with the Exynos 5 Octa-Core. The Philippines, we will get both.

Samsung Galaxy S 4's with a Qualcomm chipset and LTE will be headed to Globe Telecom and Smart Communications. The Samsung Galaxy S 4 with the Exynos 5 chipset will be targeted at retail sales and might be headed to Sun Cellular.

Source: Sammobile

Smart Communications previously announced that it was offering the BlackBerry Z10 on Smart Data Plan 2000. Smart has now announced that the BlackBerry Z10 will be offered on All-in Plan 1800 with a 30 month contract.

This is actually a better fit for the BlackBerry Z10 in my opinion. Users interested in internet apps and web browsing will probably lean more towards an Android phone or an Apple iPhone. If you are still on a BlackBerry today, it probably means one of two things. It is a corporate issued phone leaving you with no choice, or you are a BlackBerry Messenger user.

All-in Plan 1800 lets you configure your services and can allow you to create the ultimate messaging platform. Bundle it with unlimited data and you get unlimited BBM, Facebook Messaging, WhataUp, GTalk, Yahoo Messenger and Viber (coming soon). Add select the Php350 per month SMS add-on and you have 2,500 SMS to all networks.

Smart Communications is offering post paid subscribers discounts on their pre-termination fees for subscribers who want to avail of Apple's iPhone 5. The size of the discount depends on the number of months remaining on the contract.

1-7 months remaining - up to a 75% discount
8-13 months remaining - up to a 50% discount
14-19 months remaining - up to a 25% discount

To find out if you are qualified, and how much your discounted pre-termination fee, you can text WIPEOUT to 2928.

You can get more details on Smart's iPhone 5 Wipeout promo at this link.

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