I am new here. This is directed primarily to coolbuster, but anybody is welcome to reply if you know the answer.
I've used smartbro(ke) for about 6 months, in a province in Cebu. After applying the 20 step process, I was able to increase my download speed from about 250 kbps to 350. I did this the second month. On March 11, my connection was gone. Sometimes it came back, but very slow like a dialup. CRC errors are 30% + and packet loss is sometimes over 50%. I called Customer service, and they gave me some of the scripted lines they use.
After a week of this BS, I demanded to speak to a supervisor, who told me the base station was having "problems transferring packets" but they could not commit to when it would be fixed, but they were "working on it." After another week (now 14 days total) I demanded to speak to an engineer. They finally lamented and I spoke to one in charge of my area. He denied any base station problem, but stated that they were doin "bandwidth reallocation" and it "may affect my connection" sometimes, but my connection was currently "normal and stable." I strongly disagreed and he finally said he would send a "technician" to my place to check it out.
The "technician" was nothing more than an installer, who knows less about computers than my 14 yo kid. After changing the SM TWICE (I had to show him how to access it!) he threw up his arms and said "I surrender!" I would not let him quit, and told him let me mess with it. I got it working again, but only the same condition it was when he came. He then said the problem was probably my lan card is "bad." LOL!
After another 3 weeks of smartbroke running me in circles, using every lie they can find, some saying the base station was still broke, or they need parts, or nothing is wrong, the connection is STILL the same. Yesterday, level 2 support said they wanted to send the installer again to "verify the problem" AGAIN. I told them that they already had 40 days to "verify" it, and it should already be fixed! I then told them I was going to complain to the NTC and disconnect them if they don't get the damn thing fixed.
Looking at the configuration page of the base station transmitter, I can see that there are only 6 users on my color code, my signal is 600+ and my jitter is 2. The only other color code in use has 15 users, the signal is only 200 and the jitter is 10+. So I am sure I'm on the right one. In addition, I am 800 meters away from the tower, with a very clear, unobstructed view of the antenna.
The only possibilities I can think of are these:
1. They are too stupid to figure out how to fix the problem or even know what the problem is
2. They know damned well what the problem is, but don't want to spend the money to fix it because too few users on this station to justify the cost
3. They caused the problem themselves by screwing with the bandwidth allocation, making incorrect settings or beta testing new throttling techniques on our little station
Sorry this story has become so long, I will cut it short now. My question is, what technique (software / hardware) are they using for the new "bandwith allocaion" they just did here? Because I believe the 3rd possibility, above, is the one making the problem. I think because they don't have enough bandwidth to go around as it is, they are trying to "borrow" it during times it is not used. I think this because sometimes the connection is very good, 300+ kbps, but then suddenly flatlines. Then you must reload the speedtest page to try again. Most times it timesout like that, but when it does complete, download is about 60 to 150 and upload is over 200. Upload is ALWAYS higher. Pinging the gateway, DNS , smartbro.net, yahoo etc give a 10% or 15% timed out, intermittently.
I checked with others who have smartbro here, and they ALL are having the same problem, so I know it's a base station or network problem. I also have 4 computers, they all give the same result, but work fine on DSL
Thanks for bearing with me, and I appreciate any assistance
Craig
