Narrow-minded Broadband

Yesterday, I my ISP had some problems and i  could not connect to the net and i was not able to check my mail one task that has already become a habit for me, every morning. Checking mails, for me, is like drinking a cup of coffee, it's like my day would not be complete with out having to log-on to Yahoo mail or G-mail. I think this is because I've gotten used to this kind of lifestyle since I am a Distance Education Student.

After trying to connect ,desperately, to the web with my PLDT Vibe dial-up connection. I realized that they have a problem with their server or maybe they're just taking time to maintain their servers. Oh well, that's one of the down side of using dial-up connection (thank God it's already Sem break, or else I may have missed very important mails from my professors.)

Dial-up connection has a speed limit of 56kbps, well, actually it only gets as high as 50.6 kbps on my Dial-up line, that's not bad for people who only check their mails and chat in Yahoo, but if you're the type that likes to download things from the web, that speed sucks, and it sucks hard. It normally takes me about2-4 minutes to download a 1-2 MB file. And an eternity to download anything that is larger than 50MB (service packs and windows updates included, even MP3s). So, this is why I tried to sell the idea of having a DSL connection for our PC. My Mom liked the idea (since she is also using the PC to talk to our other relatives abroad). So, I jumped in front of my PC and connected to the net to see what kind of promos ISP companies could offer me. there are only a handful ISP that offers cheap DSL packages, one is PLDT MyDSL. The most basic plan for MyDSL is P799 (if i'm not mistaken) this is because if we choose MyDSL it would only be an upgrade from their Dial-up (this is good, because we'll be able to save about P100 per month). But, one thing that really pissed me off is that they did not even have any available port in our area. Now, that sucks!

Disappointed with MyDSL I researched the web for other ISPs that will offer us DSL connection. Then, I saw this add by SkyDSL in friendster, they are offering 300+kbps for only P899. not bad, i will only be adding P100/month to have 128kbps more. So, I told my mom about this offer and we paid their installation fee of P2,000. They promised us that DSL will be connected within 5-7 working days. a few days after we paid the installation fee (that is very expensive by the way) the contractor called us and told us that they'd be able to connect the DSL within that day, so I waited for a whole day for them. they finally arrived about 5PM and they called 10AM in the morning (so much for fast installation). So, they came but they did not do anything, they told us that they will survey the ports first. Again, i waited and waited and waited, until it was about 8 days after we paid the installation fee I still don't have any DSL connection in my PC.

We tried calling the agent of the DSL company but it seems that the agent is MIA (Missing in Action). So, again very disappointed with what happened to our application we decied to refund our installation fee. It took us about 1hour just to be able to get our refund, It seems that companies train their workers to move as slow as they can when they are going to refund fees from unsatisfied costumers, Again that Sucks!

So, i tried to search for people who are complaining about ISPs And DSL connections in the web, and Of course there are about a million unsatisfied users who are ranting about slow and "on/off connection" from MyDSL and other DSL companies. There is also a growing number of Smart BRO users who are complaining that they are paying P899 (a common DSL rate) for a Dial-up bandwidth (56kbps and even less).

One question, why is it that DSL and Wifi connections in this country so horrible? are we actually becoming guinea pigs for these corporations? and worst of all they are doing this at our expense (literally) we are shelling out big amounts of money in exchange for horrendous services. What is the government doing to make sure that the interest of the consumers are carefully looked after?

Are we going to bare this kind of cross forever? when will these companies listen to all our complains? and when will those stupid costumer service agents keep us on hold?