Are you a PLDT MyDSL victim?
Since yesterday morning, my broadband connection has been slow and spotty. And that’s the good news. The bad news is that between slow and spotty, my internet connection is dead. PLDT customer service (outsourced, of course) has put in a recording to explain the “browsing problem” with an assurance that their engineers are working to restore service at the soonest possible time. Or something to that effect.
Early this morning, I finally managed to get a live person at the other end of the line and I asked what exactly the trouble was. He mentioned “server” and “gateway”. I was informed that the trouble began on Sunday, November 24th but, as of today, customer service is totally clueless as to the status of the repairs as well as the expected length of time needed to complete them.
What is the practical effect on me?
1. Yesterday, I almost failed to make it to my deadline with Manila Standard Today. Sure, I could have e-mailed the column using a cell phone but how does one write a column without reading up before doing the actual writing? Rely on the TV? Oh, please. Not for accurate news reporting.
2. I could only access locally-hosted sites all day yesterday. I can access a few foreign sites today but Google and Yahoo! still play hide and seek with me. I can’t get to my public mail (Gmail and Yahoo!), I can’t access Sassy Lawyer (on a Dreamhost account) and a hundred other sites. The foreign sites that I am able to access, well, let’s just say that before the index page loads, I have more than enough time to go to the kitchen to make coffee and walk leisurely back to my computer in the bedroom.
3. The pages of my locally-hosted sites, including this one and Pinoy Cook, load ever so slowly because the internet connection takes its sweet time to reach scripts hosted abroad (like Adsense and Blogher).
I know, this is beating a dead horse. It’s not like I haven’t written three op-ed columns and about half a dozen entries in Sassy Lawyer about why outsourced customer service sucks, period. But what else can I do except to reiterate that while outsourcing may be more profitable for businesses, THEY ARE NOT MORE EFFICIENT, RESPONSIVE NOR CARING to us customers.
The boys and girls who answer the phone when we dial Costumer Care are given specific lines to deliver to us customers. Any information that can make the company look bad are withheld from them. They are there to take messages and to pass on those messages to the company that should be answering our calls. And NOTHING MORE.
A few weeks ago, I read somewhere that India, the number one provider of outsourced customer service (a.k.a. call centers), is reconsidering the significance and long-term effects of the industry on its people. Long and short of it is how the call center industry is churning out generations of people who no longer train for any real skills. How I wish that our enlightened (sic) government officials would start looking at the call industry in that light too instead of glorifying it only as a viable, albeit short-term, source of employment and income.
Please don’t say “Get broadband service from another provider.” In this part of suburbia, there’s only sucky PLDT. Besides, even if I can get another provider, it’ll have an outsourced customer service department too. Is that substantial improvement?
A third of what’s been written about me is true, a third is half-true and the rest consists of drug-induced hallucinations. I suppose I’d better let me, rather than them, tell you 
61 responses to "Are you a PLDT MyDSL victim?"
i’ve been inquiring insiders about globe visibility, their ‘hsdpa’ (just the acronym will make you imagine you’re getting something faster
) and if the possibility of internet access anywhere you are is even remotely going to happen in this country. if anyone on the tech forums have anything to say about that, then please, let’s hear it from all you guys and gals.
Ooooh, a BETTER alternative will be most welcome. Here, it’s PLDT DSL or Smart Bro and that’s not a real alternative.
i maybe off-topic, ok ba ang hosting ng dreamhost?
“ok ba ang hosting ng dreamhost”
Cheap pero leaves much to be desired.
PLDT MyDSL customer support is sucky at best. Most of the time their “tech people” are plain clueless and it’s really an exercise in futility trying to get their help.
I once had a connection problem spanning several days as well. Since, I got dismal support, I ended up running my own diagnostics and calling them up again to tell them my findings. After I told them the problem that their authentication server is the one disconnecting me, they still wouldn’t believe me and kept on telling me that what I’m doing is not possible and that it would cause problems (even if I’ve had the setup for years during that time). In the end, I got them to admit that they transferred my cable to another switch so I demanded them to put it back where it was before. The moment they did, my connection got stable again.
kapeadik, naku, i can tell a thousand tales about the god-forsaken customer service of PLDT MyDSL. I feel your woes.
I just had PLDT DSL installed in my condo… after three weeks of waiting, they finally get around to it. And the modem conks out after 8 hours of use. After replacing it… i now encounter the “spotty” — i.e. unusable “browsing”, the euphemism for Internet access. “Pikon” doesn’t negin to describe how I feel. In the meantime, I’m using good ol stable Smart 3G and a prepaid SIM to connect. P10 per 30 mins and it doesn’t crap out. I suggest you try it - I’m using a 3G/HSDPA modem connected to my laptop, but you can do the same trick on any 3G phone.
hay naku, i used to be a pldt mydsl subscriber and i had the same problem, the solution was to file a complaint with pldt and change to globe. after month’s of follow up and paying useless dsl connection by pldt, we received a response they were wiling to give credit for the months that we paid that we were not able to use, but since i refused to have my dsl reconnected, the refund was used to pay for our pldt landline, which is cheaper that dsl. as a result, it has been months since i last pain my phone bill. still have a credit with them of i think 4-5K, that was how long i was paying my dsl without getting any service. hope this would help you guys. so far, globe is ok, have been using it for i 5months now
Jim, 3G is faster than PLDT DSL? Gosh, I feel so desperate sometimes about my internet connection — I willing to try anything.
april, globe’s service doesn’t reach to the boondocks. not sure about visibility though. am also looking into bayantel.
I’ve been having the same problems even way back early November. I just kept my mouth shut about it, but these past weeks I’ve really had it. My friends that live in the south (makati onwards) does not seem to be affected much, but up to Pasig and QC are experienced really bad slowdowns.
I’ve also noticed that people who need to input their username and password (”Old Platform” according to PLDT) do not experience the problem but those that get assigned dynamic IPs (DHCP) or just plug and use their connection get bad service.
I’m getting really desperate as well, finding other solutions to my internet problems. Update me if you find a solution or decide to finally switch over haha. peace~
1 month na rin akong may problema sa PLDT connection ko. Hindi naman DSL ang gamit ko kundi VIBE (dial-up connection ng PLDT) Lahat na yata ng anti-virus at anti spyware ay sinubukan ko dahil akala ko nuong una ito ang salarin, yun pala ay hindi. Wala na namn problema sa connection kaya lang after 10 or 15 minutes, hindi na ako makapag-browse at disconnected na ako sa site na binuksan ko. Well inamin naman nila bandang huli ang dahilan na may problema raw. Pero kailan kaya nila ito magagamot?
P.S. Ang ganda ng blog mo, especiallythe content.
Arid, if I find another provider, I will blog about it — with a review if it’s better or worse.
Hi Ysrael, I tried Vibe once (prepaid kind) when DSL was down and I was scrambling to meet a deadline. You’re lucky if Vibe service is good in your area. From my end, it took two minutes for my Gmail inbox to load.
P.S. Thank you.
Darn. Well, you have someone else here who is experiencing the same effin problem. I think these interruptions started to affect my line late November. It’s kinda hard to explain what you will feel if your DSL running at 800+kbps become a DSL running at 50-70kbps. Yeah, just slightly above a dial-up connection. IMO PLDT should really work on their customer support. I mean, we should talk to the one who know and knows how to fix the problem. And I just hope this problem works out real soon; I also have a lot of stuff going that’s been delayed by this . . .
Anyway, is Globe really that good? Does upgrading my DSL plan with PLDT change anything? I have to know; I’ve been considering replacing this plan, or even the line. Thanks ^_^
satori, during my darkest PLDT experience, I was getting a speed of as low as 17kbps. You can view the screenshots.
Yeowch. Were those speed checks taken successively? 17 kbps would really make me hit the modem very hard and shout “Work you piece of …” - you get the idea.
I wonder how long will this new interruption take? I’m already sick of calling their (non)customer (dis)service. I just get the ‘inaayos pa po namin at paki-check na lang/antabayanan na lang’ stuff.
Yep, within minutes of each other. Then, I wrote a column and their PR people were suddenly the most helpful people in the world. As though that solved the problem. It felt more like they just wanted me to shut up. As though I would. LOL
Another way of looking at the reliability of connection issue is to note that if the cellular providers such as Globe and Smart are now developing the ‘internet anywhere’ notion, then it might be worth going that direction rather than still looking at landbased or hardwired answers. And since the cellular network in the country is already pretty tried and tested to be more than halfway reliable and that we’re already mobile communications dependent, I think it’s just a matter of time that options like Visibility or Smart Bro that make use of the cellular network may be a better ‘always on’ connection or solution. What I’m saying is that it’s that sector of communications that’s most likely to get the most improvement in the near or long term.
If you subscribe to Sky Cable, you might want try Zpdee, their cable broadband service. Í’ve been using it for a year and a half now, i’d say i’m quite satisfied with the speed, plus you get a discount on your Sky subscription rate.
We actually have free myDSL installed with our PLDT line. Balak namin ipa upgrade so we can give up our ZPdee(mas mura kasi), kaya lang ive heard’so many myDSL horror stories so nagdecide na lang ako to stick it out with ZPdee =))
[...] For example, Connie Veneracion writes Are you a PLDT myDSL victim? [...]
We don’t even have Sky Cable in the area, cookingmama.
Since November 19th, I have had MAJOR problems with my dsl as well. Quite frustrating as I have just started working from home. At first I thought there was something wrong with my computer. When it first started, I spent what must have been at least 3 hours on the phone, talking to 3 different customer service personnel, trying to figure out what was wrong with my computer. I have had no connection since 9AM, i explained. No matter what trouble shooting tips they tried to explain, i couldn’ fix it! Frustrated, and feeling very non-techy and stupid, I finally hung up and gave up. Two minutes later, my connection came back. the next morning, it was gone again. It’s been like this ever since. Hay.
After speaking to a tech from PLDT he said that they are systematically trying to fix the server per area. And he also blaims my village’s copper wire in the main box. He said it should be rewired to fiber optics. He also said they’ll probably fix it after this year. He also said the plan I got was not supported by PLDT in our area, but they let me take the plan anyway to suck my money out.
So I’m paying for a sucky internet connection until next year. Yay. So if any of you guys got the plan 2000 or so, make sure your main line is made of fiber optics or inquire further if your area supports it.
so brady ang PLDT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DAMN PLDT DSL!!! guys, cguro dapat eh i-boycott ang PLDT. With the kind service they have… THEY ARE POCKETFULL OF BULLSHIT!!!! i say this because lagi n lng akong napapagalitan d2 s ofc pag may problem sila. kasalanan ko b yun??? i’m doing my job rigt sana naman eh ung PLDT ganun din. dumudugo n tenga ko s kttawag s CS nila kahit alam kong paulit-ulit lng naman ung sasabihin nilang problem or solution s akin. i have no choice but 2 call them para lang maipakita ko d2 s ofc n i’m doing my work. ubos n oras ko ala pa kong natapos n work 4 d whole day dahil lng sa katatawag s kanila. grabe…
here’s a temporary fix. use google (under freeproxy) as a “gateway” to visit any site that is currently inaccessible.
http://www.freeproxy.in/index.php?q=d3d3Lmdvb2dsZS5jb20%3D&hl=3ed
ito kasi ang problema ng pldt eh.
http://www.bnshosting.net/?p=169
John, is freeproxy better than OpenDNS? It’s what I use…
i tried openDNS (208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220) but it didn’t work. still got the same problem.
did openDNS work for you?
Most of the time, yes. When it doesn’t, I use a PLDT IP BUT that means turning the modem on and off when the DNS starts failing. Kainis.
Hai, the only thing I can say is this, “wag na kayong umasa sa pldt”. My connections been fluctuating for what seems like forever and after tons of complaints to the customer service and probably a hundred reports they managed to make it worse. My download speed is a mere 19kbps yeap 19 kbps and my upload is around 39kbps. When I called them, they told me to wait till tomorrow since their technicians work only until 5pm. If there is a better alternative I’d gladly take it but pldt is the only provider in my area. I wait for the day where a decent dsl provider will show its face
Nice to hear all the inputs…I am currently connected to Smartbro who’s outsourced customer service also sucks… I am considering changing to PLDT but I am sure I won’t after seeing your posts….I’ll just wait for Globe broadband which is coming very soon in our area. I heard they are much better than either PLDT or Smartbro…
Smartbro CS…..they can’t even tell you at least an idea when the connection will be fixed…but of course when you call he/she will always make you check your computer connection according to the script they are reading..after at least an hour of talking to them and performing system checks…they will still say they don’t have problem with the base station and will say thet will just file a report ha ha ha lol..these CS are non technical people who’s job is to read to you what they are asked to read.
im cursing pldt now. can someone relate to the problem i encountered and give me some advice? its posted on my blog. http://pusangkalye.com
we’ve got the line fixed, and it seems that our plan 888 got it’s bandwidth downgraded to give way to plan 990 (not plan 999, 888 and 990 are landline+dsl, 999 is an add-on)
it’s really funny to hear of what the operator said:
us: “Ano yun, swinerte lang kami sa 800 kbps?”
them: “Ahm, opo.”
They just opted us to upgrade for plan 1299 (which gives a, i dunno, 512 or 756 kbps). right now it’s kind of weird since i’m capped at 400 kbps, makes me think they’ve put us at the 384 mark, while we’re paying at maybe 512 or 756 since plan 990 is supposed to be 384. One word: damn.
ganito kasi common problems jan sa mga mydsl subscribers
una ay lokasyon - baka pangit lokasyon niyo at malayo sa ISP…
saka ung modem, baka kasi may sira yung binigay ng pldt, mas maganda pag kayo mismo bumili, kaysa mag rent sa PLDT 1.2k/mo —- softv92 data fax modem at Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Lan Card gamit namen, ok nmn (recommended by pros)….
one more eh ung PC niyo, baka may virus, worm, trojan, spyware, etc yan,,, na sobrahan kayo sa kaka download eh may nabunot kayo jan na virus, kaya bumagal speed niyo.. mag AVG kayo recommend ko…
at kung bakit hindi niyo makita ung ibang sites eh, gumamit kayo ng Mozilla Firefox, wag Internet Explorer kasi halos mga IE users eh nakaka hakot ng virus at spyware… isa rin ung cache at cookies , jan ung isang cause kung di niyo ma access ung sites, pag nag clear kayo ng cache at cookies, close muna IE bago gamitin… at baka naman talagang mabagal PC niyo, at least 256MB - 512MB Ram gamit niyo (Dual Core Recommended)
P.S.::: 5 mos. na ako Plan 990 user, speed ko ay 774kbps (latest scan), di nagbabago from 768-800 paminsan minsan, pero “di” na bumababa sa 750… Download speed ay 85-120 kbps (30 seconds to download a song XD).. tuloy tuloy streaming ng dalawang youtube..
Alam mo, Hideki, naka-Mac ako, 1GB dual core at Mozilla Firefox. Pero, palpak pa rin yung PLDT DSL ko. Yang location, issue yan kung Smart Bro at may naka-balandra sa line of sight. Pero ang DSL, linya yan. Kung paano gumagana telepono, dapat ganun din DSL.
naghahanap ako ng mga reactions ng mga tao about MYDSL, so far, almost lahat kayo frustrated sa PDLT…
pero, remember, there are many factors involving the speed of your connection…
baka nmn malayo kayo sa satellite or etc. . .
SMART BRO AKO, nababagalan ako tlga, 300+ kbps lang kasi, tapos same price lang sa MyDSL, so parang sayang nmn ung konting speed….
Sabi ng fren ko, MyDSL user, 300+ daw ang speed nya, di na bumababa, pero umaakyat upto 800kbps…
possibly, depende sa area niyo ata…
PERO SULIT BA? KASI DIBA, 990 KASAMA NA ANG TELEPHONE BILL… correct me if im wrong… un kasi ang habol ko sa MyDSL, may broadband na, na mabilis, SAVE MONEY PA SA phone BILL…
please reply.
jessrocked, I pay anywhere from 1600 to 1700 every month.
help naman po… i just got my plan 990, it suppose to have a 384kbps speed, but when i ran the speedtest…. im so disappointed… i just got a 50kbps speed.. what could be the problem… can anyone help me?? thx po…
@CM
call customer service, ask politely, i tried it before dati kasi 100 kbps lang nakukuha ko, kinausap ko yung rep ng maayos at ininglish inglish ko pa, e since local call center lang sila natameme yung rep kaya binigay nya kagad sa team leader nila, in 20 mins tinawagan ako ng tech support, then now im getting 350kbps yun lng
yes indeed pangit talaga ang customer service ng pldt, but considering the deal ok naman, kasi here in manila ang pinakamurang phone service is around 500 - 600 … so adding 400 a month and you’ll be getting an unlimited internet connection is not a bad deal right? before kasi bumibili pa ako ng card na 350 for 1 month just for internet access, so i think in my case im satisfied with PLDT PLAN 990.
I can’t even access my email and Yahoo Messenger because of the slow connection
I have homework to do and I can’t access the sites I really need to visit >,
@Hideki:
My PC may be old, but it’s still up to speed. Here’s the specs:
1.5Ghz P4 Northwood Processors
512 PC133 SDRAM
AND I use a D-Link LAN Card.
*I don’t think Dual-core is really recommended since I experienced my 800+kbps DL speed using this PC.
I use Mozilla Firefox 2, and Bitdefender Antivirus - search the top ten, you’ll find it on the top, your AVG stands at eight place. Here’s the link - http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
Final thought - I think all that you said is already checked, except for one - the location - more on that later. In any case, the fact remains that PLDT still have their faults, and I have no deficiency with my PC whatsoever. Anyway, thanks for your afterthoughts, Hideki-kun >_
Now, IMO location can still be a factor of our lessening bandwidth. I based this from physics - the longer the wire an electric current travels, the higher the resistance. As we all know, we’re using telephone lines, copper wires inside - electric currents flow here. If we were using FIBER OPTICS, then it would’ve been better, since they use light signals - the speed of light is unprecedented. But of course, PLDT still has responsibility over this, and I still blame them for my effin bandwidth. Oh yeah, add to that their misleading commercials [UPTO 3 Mbps(?)], crappy customer (dis)service, and others.
@ Hideki - in addition:
Dual-core processors just speed up the processes of your PC, not the bandwidth. It just makes the computer see two processors, so as to divide the working load (a.k.a. applications like Firefox, and not bandwidth of ISPs) and make it more efficient. It may help, but it’s not really recommended since any PC can connect properly to the internet at an above average bandwidth (like what I experienced - 800+Kbps or 100+KBps). In Connie’s case, knowing the capacity of Macs, I really think that PLDT is the one at fault. Just to give a bird’s eye view, they are one of the best computers around.
subscriber ako ng plan 999 ng PLDT myDSL..tinest ko ung speed ng connection ng PLDT myDSL…d ako mkapaniwala…akalain mo 4.4kbps lng pala to!!!
pero sabi sa brochure nila up to 1mbps daw..ano to lokohan?? sana nman ayusin nila to…sayang lang perang binabayad sa services nilaa….
WAAAAAAAAA……
nung una d ko pa tinest ung speed nung connection akala ko ksi sa pc lng ung problema kaya ung ginawa ko nagtiyaga akong magdownload ng windowsxp, internet connection, tsaka firefox mozilla optimizers.. kala ko ksi ung pc ung may problema.. pero after appying all the settings.. POOF!! wala p rin mabagal p rin ung connection.. tapos tsaka ko na naisipang i-chech ung speed ng connection at AYUN!! isipin mo ung 1Mbps daw na connection speed props lang pala nakukuha ko lng eh halos 0.000000000000001% nun mas mabilis pa ung dial-up!!!ano kaya ung problema?? please i need help…
churizzoo, i suggest you make a complaint to pldt. make sure you present yourself as the one who owns the line, they won’t give a damn if you’re someone else than the billed name. also, try checking here: http://www.speedtest.net then select the singapore server. vheck out your bandwidth.
anyway, give more symptoms of your lagging net, maybe i could diagnose >_
BAYANTEL DSL 768kbps peak hour 1.2mbps off peak 1299 kasama phone. Malabon Area po ako
HAY!!! PLDT SERVICE!!! SUCKS really i can’t take it anymore grabe amf!!… I just subsricbed and get this on the day they installed the modem di daw magdetect yung NIC ko sabi ko kakagamit ko lang nyan eh! then they replaced the modem and all… tapos na detect… NOW!!THE DAMN PORT IS NOT ACTIVE ….. GOD!!! SO I HAVE TO W8 FOR A PHONE CALL!!! from their people.
GOD HELP ME!!!
ang dami naman bad comments about pldt dsl, im using smartbro right now and so far nkaka-experience pa rin ako ng downtimes so i was planning to shift to pldt mydsl sana since 1 year na subscription ko sa smartbro this april. but looking at the comments, mejo nkakapagdalawang isip din tuloy. the good thing only is that pldt mydsl has a phone line which i needed also. worth it pa kaya to shift?
I’ve just heard a comment on Globe’s service from a friend. Well, he told me it only happened twice that their connection with Globe was having problems; that’s alright - but what’s not is that he said each lasted more or less than a week.
Currently, I’m being thankful that PLDT is improving. My line does have occasional foul-ups, but their customer service seems to be getting better. The problems I experience often get resolved within the day. Could this be the start of a new beginning? XD
You might learn something from this:
I recently found out that my frequent DSL loss of connection was due to an extension phone in my house. Whenever i use that phone i hear some “scratchy” static sound. It has a DSL filter so i thought there shouldnt be a problem.
But when i tried to connect that phone to another extension in the house, the sound was perfectly clear. So i thought the scratchy line noise came from the socket. (The small PLDT square box where in you plug the DSL filter/splitter)
I forced opened that plastic square box and found out that there were loose connections. Screws inside to clip the wires were not bolted tightly thats why i hear a lot of static noise.
So i did fix it and my dsl connection has been okay so far.
____________________
Some tips:
1. Make sure your phone lines at home are in “Ok” condition. No “line noise”, party line, etc.. Any problems might affect your DSL connection.
2. Make sure there is a DSL filter connected to “all” telephone unit/extension in your house. (If you dont have this you will definitely lose your connection)
3. When a DSL technician services your home, dont let him leave until everything is up and running perfectly “fast”. and get his cellphone # and give him a tip. (when something goes wrong, his celpone # is better than pldt’s customer support)
*Imagine calling myDSL and complaining about your connection loss, speed, etc. not knowing that the real problem was in your home telephone lines. Your connection will forever be hopeless…
PLDT DSL is FAST. ENjoy your internet ^_^
Grabe talaga ang experience ko with pldt my dsl. i am currently under the 1299 plan and i am supposed to have 512 kbps pero guess what! i took their speed test and my connection was only 110.3 kbps!!! imagine its the same speed i had when i was using a 100 peso dial up!! that shocked me nuts, so i called 173 to get help and they told me their tech team is going to try see what the prob is in 48 hours/72 hours and theyll get back to me after, but they never called back!!! now i called again and they said they already got a report on the way and after 2 days, bad connection parin! sa sobrang inis ko gusto ko talagang murahin na ung person on the other end. i wish they would just send someone here to fix it personally FUCK PLDT MY DSL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i forgot to say i not only have bad connection, i also constantly have to “REPAIR CONNECTIONS” every less than 30 mins to renew my intermitent connection imagine the stressss
Hey guys. I just wanted to share my experience with PLDT and how to deal with them. I have been dealing with PLDT personnels for almost a year now regarding my DSL connection and plan. I am subscribed to their Professional Plan (Plan 3000). By then, when I applied for it, they offered a speed of up to 5Mbps. Take note - 5 Mbps. After signing up for this plan, about 2 months later, they changed it to Plan 3000 to a speed of up to 3 Mbps.
Before I applied for that plan, I specifically asked them the difference of the 3 different plans they offer - Plan 999, 1995 and 3000. They said that each of them has a different speed levels which is “up to” 1 Mbps for the plan 999, 2 Mbps for plan 1995 and 3Mbps for plan 3000. But take note of the words “up to”. I told them that I don’t care about the maximum speed they can deliver but what my concern is the “minimum guaranteed speed” that each plan offers because that what makes it differs from each of the plans.
So, the person in charge and another person from manila and another from cebu told me that the minimum guaranteed speed that I should be getting is 70% of the plan signed up for and an average of 80% speed all through out if my location is or about 1 KM from the port.
Luckily for me, I am within 1 KM from the PLDT central office from which my DSL is connected. Unfortunately, with the plan that I signed up for, they can only deliver of less than 1.5 Mbps (test taken from the PLDT play which they have currently overhauled to give the “accurate” speed)which is still far below the 3.5 Mbps guaranteed speed.
But before this scenario, the pldt play and the speedtest.net singapore sever registered a very high output for my speed which ranged from 4 Mbps to 6 Mbps even if my connection was very slow. I could tell that my connection was slow due to the video(s) in youtube, ebaumsworld, etc. that they keep on buffering. (Don’t get me wrong, I have a little program running if i browse the net and I have a fast speed computer with dual core 64 bit processor and 2 GB memory.) And to some of my test sites in which I have a benchmark of the speed every hour, (like testmy.net, 2wire.com, etc.) they show a very consistent speed. During peak hours, the testmy.net and 2wire.com show speed that’s almost consistent with my browsing but PLDT play and speedtest.net singapore sever shows a different story otherwise. No matter what time of day, PLDT play and singapore server showed a consistent of 4 Mbps - 6 Mbps speed. But that has changed all now. Singapore server and PLDT play is quite consistent with the testmy.net results.
Enough for that, if you have complains about your DSL, make sure you know the terms or computer lingos or have somebody who knows computer very well to talk to the PLDT “network engineers”. You should demand that you need an “engineer” to fix your problem and not a “trained technician” of PLDT. A lot of their trained technicians don’t really know what they are doing. They will just give you “alibis” to satisfy you or give explanations which is actually not related to the problem you might be experiencing. You, as a subscriber and don’t know much about the networking, you tend to just accept their alibis. And in most cases, if the problem persists, what most of the technicians do is just tell you to reset your modem, turn off your computer or simply they will just reset the port of connection where your DSL is connected. You have to bear in mind though, that any resetting WILL ONLY SOLVE THE PROBLEM “TEMPORARILY”. If the problem is in the connection or the hardware or software which is most likely, the problem will still persist over time. The engineers should locate the real cause of the problem and fix it - not patch it by just pressing the reset button or powering down your system.
Another thing, if you call their 171 or 172 support, be sure to log every phone calls you make. Make a spreed sheet that logs your call - date and time of call, agent you talk to, nature of call, comment regarding the call, etc. This is very helpful for future reference especially if you apply for a rebate.
According to PLDT that they don’t issue rebate if the problem did not last longer than 24 hours. But this is a very bad practice. You as a paying customer, you should demand for a rebate regardless you were down for 1 hour, 2 hours or whatever - as long as you have a service interruption. Let us put this into logic, if they don’t give rebates to customers to a problem that did not persist for more than 24 hours, then they can interrupt their service for 23 hours a day and give you only 1 hour of service daily. Will it be fair enough for you especially if you are paying the full amount every month? The amount you are paying every month for your DSL service should be uninterrupted service for 24/7.
You should call the 171-53 (log your call again) and apply for a rebate. If you have slow connection, complain and ask for rebates too. Tell the PLDT that you are not getting the service you are paying for.
I hope every one will do what I am suggesting and advising. I need every one to do their share so at least PLDT will improve their service. Right now, I am getting a regular/monthly rebate of more than P2000 until they fix the problem.
Hope this information will help you all.
I have been using the services of PLDT my DSL in our internet café for over 2 and half year and I have the 4000 pesos business plan. I work as an IT Specialist in an I.T. company and I know some basics of networking (or maybe some advance networking as well) and please forgive my English I’m an IT person not a call center agent.
I experienced a lot of problems with PLDT my DSL from November 2007 to March 2008, from disconnections (about a minute or less) and sometimes an hour of disconnections. It’s true that the call center agents in the line 171 (customer service daw) doesn’t know anything. They’re only job is to log the Trouble ticket of the call and advice the caller to do some very very basic troubleshooting. And they will tell you to wait for the call of their technicians. For me that’s the worst customer service from one of the top company here in the Philippines. They tell me the usual troubleshooting stuff like reset your modem or restart computer (as if I’m dumb not to that in the first place), then they tell me to wait for the call of their technician which I don’t personally receive. And they keep saying that for about four months and my connection still doesn’t improve.
I visited the Nearest PLDT branch in our location and they told me that I should have called the customer service (171) because they are not the one that repairs the connections, they only install it. (Sheezz talk about total customer service) and that makes me very angry. I said to them that I have the problem with their DSL for over four months and the call center agents don’t know what they’re doing. So finally they one of their engineers agreed to go to our site.
When the engineer finally inspects our telephone line, he told us that the ones who installed our connection didn’t do a good job. And he also told us that the one that installed our line is a third party company hired by PLDT. That’s great, a lousy customer service and a not so good third party technicians.
I hope PLDT will finally hear the cries of its customer. Did they forget one of the most basic elements in business? “Customer Satisfaction?” Or does PLDT thinks.. “Hey just let them whine… they can’t leave us anyway… the other ISPs also sucks and the Globe DSL doesn’t cover as much area as we do”
Geeez…. I hope this is not the future of the Philippine Technology.
been a pldt dsl customer for years already and haven’t had too much problem with their connection.
as regards to connie’s entry, i think that was when there was an earthquake somewhere and the cable that connected the philippines to the “outside world” was broken. i think everyone in the asia pacific region was affected. correct me if i’m wrong.
as to their customer service representatives, sometimes, i end up explaining to them what might be the problem. and i think anyone who knows about networking (kahit konti lang) may be able to pinpoint where the problem may actually be, be it their server, dns server etc. just know the data path, try each one for access/response and where it stops, that might be the problem…
and yep! pldt’s dns servers may sometimes fail that’s why i use opendns’ dns servers…or pldt’s other dns servers…
Connie, would it help forwarding all these complaints to PLDT? Maybe we need a whole page print out of this in your newspaper.
Dennis, re earthquake. You’re right. Doesn’t it make you wonder that they fixed that faster than the cable theft incident in Rizal provice?
JMonreal, they only listen when they get lambasted in the newspaper.
I agree fully with the criticisms. Loads of down time. Awful ignorant service reps–I pity them.What kind of unethical company is this–a whole team of professional liars? What’s worse is their rates are HIGHER than in the States but their labor costs are fractional . . . no value added accept to line PLDT’s pockets . . . good bye PLDT!
I think you’re taking this too exaggerated, i’m using pldt mydsl plan 990 (384k) and i don’t get this problems, if you know, the speed of pldt and bayantel dsl are scheduled: from 7am - 12am the speed is 250k+ and from 12am - 7am the speed reaches 400k+
SIMPLE
And the best part is: I don’t get disconnected whenever I used the internet
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