Posted by: pamela15s on: February 16, 2009

I was at the NSO today and endured a freakin’ 5 long hours of processing. Man, was I exhausted! However, I finally got a Smart Bro Prepaid Kit later this afternoon, and it was about the only thing I looked forward to today. I was speaking too soon…
Naturally, I arrived home and tried it right away with my husband. It took a while to connect. When it did, well…I really don’t wanna say it, we were actually disappointed, at least as far as my PC is concerned.
In the bedroom, the signal was not as impressive. My dial up is better. Really. We took the laptop out into the balcony and it worked better there and for fairness sake, it was FAST. I wonder what a few meters difference is? We tried it several times hoping that maybe it was coincidence that the signal was stronger at the same moment we tried it outside. Nah, we ruled it out. It IS better outdoors.
This is good news for my husband for having the benefit of going wireless from time to time, but for my heavy duty dual core CPU and 17″ monitor, that won’t do for me. Is my life getting any harder?
Oh, I forgot to mention, the Smart Bro Prepaid Kit is now only Php 1,995 (from P2,500 original price) since V-day and it’s P100 preloaded. We bought it in case of emergency and a P10 charge for every 30 minutes isn’t bad as long as you don’t need to be online the entire day or you might as well try the Unlimited Plan.
With a subtle eavesdropping at the Smart Business Center, I heard, the signal isn’t the same over the city. Some areas won’t have services as satisfactory as the others, that’s why they ask you first where you are stationed so they could advice you. I know, I don’t get the point either. The kit should allow you to be online WHEREVER you are.
Lucky for us, we do have a good signal here in Tumaga ( I think pretty much because of the Government office in the vicinity?) but not so lucky for Divisoria, or so I heard.
I live in Zamboanga so I don’t know how it works for the rest of the Philippines. I do think, however, the same theory applies.
yes, it’s true because smart has a strong signal over Philippines like gprs, 3g and HSDPA areas. sa globe ok kaso paglabas mo sa 3g medyo mahina na yung signal di kamukha dun sa smart malakas kahit saan, madali pa makahanap ng smart wireless center outlets.I suggest we take all smart!
Just passing by.Btw, you website have great content!
Line-of-Sight works only with the rooftop antenna (used by Smartbro postpaid and other ISPs). (You’d notice the connection lags when it rains or when there’s a tree blocking the LOS between your antenna and the cellsite.)
Not so with the USB device. It should work on a radius/radial signal, like a cellphone, otherwise it would not work at all when inside the house (think of so many things blocking a clear LOS from your phone to the cellsite).
The reason your connection got better outside is that you got closer to the nearest cellsite, thus the signal got stronger. Also, walls naturally block some of the signal that goes into the house so that’s why you experienced lower signal inside, but that’s to be expected.
Thanks for the review. I might choose Smart over Globe, since there’s a cellsite just a few feet from our house hehe.
There’s just one problem with the Smart BRO kit. I recently encountered the “Cannot update phone book” error. I called the Smart customer service assistance but they couldn’t solve the problem.
So, I reinstalled the software. But the problem is still there. “Cannot update phone book”
After an hour of thinking, I uninstalled the software again… then i checked the c:\program files\… the directory is still there!…. WTF? this smart bro software does not cleanly uninstall!!! so I deleted the smart bro directory in program files…
I reinstalled the software again… tried to connect…
…
…
connected!
If a problem like this happens, you know what to do…
thanks for that bacs, I’ll sure keep that in mind.
hi guys! ok ba smartbro prepaid here in Bay, Laguna?
Smartbro prepaid is the best! You can surf unlimited only if you know how! bwahahahha!
hello i need help please..
i have this smartbro plan 1995
using my laptop windows vista
when i connect to the internet it keeps on saying “connection terminated” but when i try it on the other user it’s working help!
also this smart bro plan 999
it always say error code P30220
i don’t know how to fix it because my quick fix is also not working.
but when i try it on my friend’s laptop its WORKING..
my god help meeee..
hanie – try uninstalling your smart bro software. delete the folder that is associated with smart bro in program files. Install the software again. not 100% guaranteed but just try it.
@hanie : yeps, nde ka pde mgConnect sa INternet using ur admin account in Vista.. ganun din nangyari saken, sabi nung techy guy dun samen, may settings daw sa vista na blah blah blah.. nde ko na maalala.. hehe, gawa kna lng ng isang user account for your Internet browsing. oki?!
same problem with hanie, gumana sya sa laptop (vista sp 2) when i first installed it, pero the following day ayaw na laging may error (ie, connection terminated, modem not configured properly etc.) naghahang din pag shutdown since i installed the program. pero its working 100% okay sa desktop na xp. badtrip! eh dapat nga sa laptop sya magamit kasi portable.
u will appreciate the speed when ur usb socket is usb 2.0 the data transfer much faster than usb 1.0 or usb 1.1
may problem po ako sa smart bro ko… gumagana nman po sya.. i can connect sa internet, then HSDPA pa nga po ang connection nya but the problem occurs pag from HSDPA sya then count lng ng mga 12secs nag-3G sya tas disconnected ako … nde po ako tuloy-tuloy na mkpaginternet.. help nman po ..
Hi guys. ano ba mas ok sa dalawa kung globe tatoo ba or smart bro prepaid kit? kung mahina ang signal indoor pwede ba yun gamitan ng router for the laptop? makakatulong ba ang router? pls give me an opinion before buying any USB internet device.
February 16, 2009 at 4:31 am
The pre-paid kit i think is the only choice when it comes to laptop. I am using smartbro but the unlimited plan because now I do everything with my desktop PC. Smartbro works with the principle of line-of-sight so naturally outdoors is better but if you want to improve signal indoors, you can get routers that can pick up the signal outside and transmit it efficiently indoors/with multiple computers without loosing signal strength.
Halata bang tech support ako ng ISP? lols!