General Info

[quote=hutsori;1621866]in metro manila fort bonifacio global city (aka the fort, aka bgc) has the most modern infrastructure. it's also one of the most expensive areas to live. i live in makati, in a newish condo in a middle-class barangay, and my wired internet thruput is dreadful during the evening and weekends (impossible to watch anything on youtube, for instance), but this is largely due to my landlord providing me mid-level service. since you depend on a video stream for your livelihood you'll require synchronous service rather than asynchronous. aside from putting flipflops on the ground, your best bet is to join an expat forum and post this question to the community. and of course check the isps to see what's on offer - read the fine print because their fastest service is often limited to certain areas.[/quote]i live in davao, and i pay sky cable, which is manila-based, about php4,000 a month for , a speed that i achieve maybe half the time. the actual upload speed varies between 3 amd 6, with much lower upload speeds of 1-2, amd this is about as good as it gets for regular service providers. much of the time i cannot watch streaming video, though this varies and sometimes i can. the 6 mbps is considered "fast" here in a country where the it infrastructure, or perhaps i should say the ict infrastructure is pretty much of a joke, much like the physical infrastructure.

i meant to say 6 mbps is what i pay for.
ge.

[quote=goodenough;1621908]i live in davao, and i pay sky cable, which is manila-based, about php4,000 a month for , a speed that i achieve maybe half the time. the actual upload speed varies between 3 amd 6, with much lower upload speeds of 1-2, amd this is about as good as it gets for regular service providers. much of the time i cannot watch streaming video, though this varies and sometimes i can. the 6 mbps is considered "fast" here in a country where the it infrastructure, or perhaps i should say the ict infrastructure is pretty much of a joke, much like the physical infrastructure.

i meant to say 6 mbps is what i pay for.
ge.[/quote][url]http://technology.inquirer.net/38731/internet-service-getting-faster-telcos-tell-senate[/url]#2.

no sooner have you asked for faster speed, and those wonderful folk at globe are already giving it to you. what a proactive country.

[quote=piratemorgan;1621760]i am a teacher on skype and need wired internet. i have read some things about internet in the philippines. most very negative. i really want to live there. i need at least 4 mb wired. of course 10 would be better. people talk about 'fast' internet. your fast could be my slow. so real understanding of the numbers is important. i really want to come and live there. makati? or wherever. anyone who can contribute would really be helping me and i am sure others would like some real info. thanks for any interest. i love isg people.[/quote]funny that this topic popped up, in anticipation of my upcoming trip i was chatting with wr about it over the weekend. current upload / download in cebu via private pldt account, hardwired and connected to personal router varied between 1 to 1. 9 mbps (max) upload / 2 to 3. 6 mbps (max) download. max speeds were only attained during off peak hours, lower end during business hours. wherein during my stay using shared wi-fi in various places i was lucky to get 0. 5 up / 1. 0 down speed; and many times it seemed old dial up speeds were faster, lol.

best way is to go there and try yourself. you can use this free web site to test it:

[url]http://www.speedtest.net/[/url]

i have pldt adsl at my condo in clark. i have no choice.

speeds vary with time of day from good to poor.

this joker says he's earning a living using the internet & since he'll pm you how rich he is i guess the obvious solution is for him is to ignore our anecdotal evidence about _residential_ grade services & contact the leading philippine isp's about pricing / qos of _business_ grade services.

av.

[QUOTE=PirateMorgan;1621760]I am a teacher on Skype and need wired internet. I have read some things about Internet in the Philippines. Most very negative. I really want to live there. I need at least 4 MB wired. Of course 10 would be better.[/QUOTE]Try PLDT Fiber to the Home service. Anything that uses copper-based DSL in the Philippines has no real service level. FTTH service has real throughput on both download and upload. As an aside, Skype needs just a fraction of that kind of bandwidth to deliver a videocon, so why you think you need 4 Mb is a mystery to me. No need to answer. Enjoy, AsianRain.

yes skype does not need 4 mb download speed. i just want that for general use. skype suffers below. 5 mb upload speed. the person on the other end will see a degraded picture. i met two females on philippine cupid last night and we communicated on skype. with video. not conclusive buy hopeful anyway. the connections were fine. one was 4 mb service. (by the way. i do not need 4 mb upload) i know it is hard to hit the nail on this one.

something called amavida has been making comments since i started this conversation (which others seem to have an interest in). why his comments about my having or not having money were made. or commenting on what people can and cannot discuss here. or his use of the subject pronoun 'we' instead of i. is puzzling to me. reminds me of the kid in school whose pants were always full of skid marks and no one wanted to talk or listen to him. this guys skid marks are at least a week old. better he just listen and absorb. and change his pants.

[quote=piratemorgan;1622209]yes skype does not need 4 mb download speed. i just want that for general use. skype suffers below. 5 mb upload speed. the person on the other end will see a degraded picture. i met two females on philippine cupid last night and we communicated on skype. with video. not conclusive buy hopeful anyway. the connections were fine. one was 4 mb service. (by the way. i do not need 4 mb upload) i know it is hard to hit the nail on this one.

something called amavida has been making comments since i started this conversation (which others seem to have an interest in). why his comments about my having or not having money were made. or commenting on what people can and cannot discuss here. or his use of the subject pronoun 'we' instead of i. is puzzling to me. reminds me of the kid in school whose pants were always full of skid marks and no one wanted to talk or listen to him. this guys skid marks are at least a week old. better he just listen and absorb. and change his pants.[/quote]pm,

read the comments that others have given here and understand that there are huge "ifs and buts" around internet speeds. i have been chatting with pj a lot recently and we regularly test the speed and this varies enormously as amavida said in his fr.

i also use skype a lot and yes there are issues but you need to accept as is can be hard to get faster and you don't need the speed you have to be ok on skype as i have never got 4 mb and i still see the girl. or chat on ym as easier.

so listen to advice and don't be rude to people. although amavida describing you as a "something" did make me chuckle. as for the skid marks i cannot comment and i don't want to know as would spoil breakfast lol but we (as in pronoun 'we') all know a good boy never goes out without clean underpants so i very much doubt amavida are full of skid marks pm as he is always chasing pussy in ac and likes to give a professional impression lol.

[QUOTE=PirateMorgan;1622209]
Something called Amavida has been making comments since I started this conversation (which others seem to have an interest in). Why his comments about my having or not having money were made. Or commenting on what people can and cannot discuss here. Or his use of the subject pronoun 'we' instead of I. Is puzzling to me. Reminds me of the kid in school whose pants were always full of skid marks and no one wanted to talk or listen to him. This guys skid marks are at least a week old. Better he just listen and absorb. And change his pants.[/QUOTE]You did eloquently write up that? Well, I believe in your teaching skills.

With that kind of 'kind' words, I am sure you will make a fine teacher in Philippines.

It will be just a matter of time before somebody pops a 22 or a larger caliber.

Just saying.

Rule no 1, never offend the natives, and same rule, sort of, applies to any internet forum.

I don't see anything that Amavida said that should have touched a raw nerve.

And he is on the ball.

My BB internet in Baguio, Globe Tatoo, at 10 MB crawls when you watch youtube on High resolution, always.

And at times, my Smart pocket 3 G Wifi is faster that the Globe.

And when in Bauko, the Globe 3 G rocks, and Smart crawls.

And above all happens when the signal shows all bars alive.

this afternoon i was at greenbelt, and while having lunch, signed onto the "free" wifi to hit the cebu pacific site in order to buy a ticket back to davao for tomorrow. i would estimate that the first page took 30-45 seconds to load. i signed off, and just for the hell of it measured the upload speed, at. 2 mbps; barely there at all. no wonder this country's such a dynamic, envied, economic regional powerhouse. oh wait, i forgot, that's singapore.

[quote=piratemorgan;1622209]yes skype does not need 4 mb download speed. i just want that for general use. skype suffers below. 5 mb upload speed. the person on the other end will see a degraded picture. i met two females on philippine cupid last night and we communicated on skype. with video. not conclusive buy hopeful anyway. the connections were fine. one was 4 mb service. (by the way. i do not need 4 mb upload) i know it is hard to hit the nail on this one.[/quote]you need business grade isp services to support your online teaching then i stand behind my advice to get over here in the phils where i reside & check out the top tier isp's for qos & pricing of business grade services for your enterprise. myself & others have shared anecdotal stories of varying qos with residential grade services.

with air travel so cheap these day's any schmuck can afford a quick trip to the pi's.

[quote=piratemorgan;1622209]something called amavida has been making comments since i started this conversation (which others seem to have an interest in). why his comments about my having or not having money were made. or commenting on what people can and cannot discuss here. or his use of the subject pronoun 'we' instead of i. is puzzling to me. reminds me of the kid in school whose pants were always full of skid marks and no one wanted to talk or listen to him. this guys skid marks are at least a week old. better he just listen and absorb. and change his pants.[/quote]you sent me an insulting pm calling me names & bragging of your wealth. no idea why you started behaving like this or need to behave like this but i'm sure nobody on the open forum wants to read tit for tat nonsense so i'll demonstrate some restraint & manners in the hope that we get back to discussing our hobby.

by the way if you do come here, please let me know so i can buy you a beverage & share a few stories.

cheers mate,

av.

[quote=wickedroger;1622237]pm,


i also use skype a lot and yes there are issues but you need to accept as is can be hard to get faster and you don't need the speed you have to be ok on skype as i have never got 4 mb and i still see the girl. or chat on ym as easier...[/quote]well i stand corrected but i am also amazed as since this thread has been discussing the speed i now test mine at different times of the day and guess what? it reached 6 mb download and a good 2+mb upload. the photo.

but i have pldt, residential fiber optic and this was very late in the evening so please factor that into the equation as similar to ge's comment below, i have also had 0. 3/1. 1 etc. mostly the philippine web site have issues as i face the same with cebu pac, inquirer, phil star and many for nationally based websites.

and ge you could have said malaysia, indonesia, thailand in fact just about anywhere lol.

LMAO. I would think that "restraint" wouldn't include suggesting that someone is a schmuck. As for titting and tatting, it seems that AVs public comments were in response to an earlier pm from the Pirate. A rude pm should stay in the pm territory, although I know it is sometimes difficult to exercise such restraint. Sorry if I've misread the thread in any way.

Just curious about what others think, is a pm really private and should you expect it to be private? Would you take a private message and make it public? Oh, the Internet, so many conundrums. X Man.

[QUOTE=Amavida;1622386]You need business grade ISP services to support your online teaching then I stand behind my advice to get over here in the Phils where I reside & check out the top tier ISP's for QoS & pricing of business grade services for your enterprise. Myself & others have shared anecdotal stories of varying QoS with residential grade services.

With air travel so cheap these day's any schmuck can afford a quick trip to the PI's.

You sent me an insulting PM calling me names & bragging of your wealth. No idea why you started behaving like this or need to behave like this but I'm sure nobody on the open forum wants to read tit for tat nonsense so I'll demonstrate some restraint & manners in the hope that we get back to discussing our hobby.

By the way if you do come here, please let me know so I can buy you a beverage & share a few stories.

Cheers mate,

AV.[/QUOTE]

Your response to my inquirey.

I was not looking for anyone's opinion on anything. Just information. I went and read your other posts. I am still trying to figure out if you know anything about anything.

Then why ask?

I've given you my best advice based on your extremely vague question. I see you are active on the central American forums. Maybe its too far / too expensive to come here to the Phil's to do a recce? Honestly, if you are rich you can have anything you want in PI. You can get fast cable internet if you want to pay for it.

I stand by my advice, come here & get the lay of the land if you are considering a move here.

Cheers mate,

AV.

Then it's a good thing I am rich. Your comments are idiotic.

I now give up on the quest. Just wanted simple info. Not opinions. I have been using Skype for years and have always wanted to be on the cutting edge of 'presentation'. Making the experience as much like 'being there' for them. My students, including the Chief economist at the Central Bank of Costa Rica and the Presidents of five banks in see. Are. Have enjoyed their experience on-line with me. If I knew everything I would not have asked here on the board for information. A few of you had some good stuff to contribute and I appreciate that. The some total of my private exchanges is provided for your viewing pleasure. A couple of you wrote some comment to me about him they referred to him as a 'troll'. I would say more as they were private. Now. I will retire from this exchange.

[QUOTE=PipJaeger;1618544]The formal application like you use for a renewal is not needed when getting the visa at the airport (MNL or CEB). Simply present with your passport, the form they give you on the plane (completed of course), your itinerary or return ticket showing that will be departing (which they may not even ask for) and the respective amount in pesos (should be about p2,750). Once in MNL another guy didn't have pesos so they escorted him out to a money changer in the terminal; note that this was in the wee hours and it was not busy so I don't know if that was an usual practice for the BOI to do that.[/QUOTE]I was thinking of doing this rather than going to PP embassy in London (cheaper there but more hassle). But I am planning to go with a return flight of about 89 days (59 + a 30 local extension or go out and come back), in this case though I think the airline might stop me at check-in if I don't have a 59 days visa already. !? While with a visa in passport from London it probably be safer, no!?

for folks depending on video calls / conferencing in the phils, considering qos of the isp is only part of the story. problems can arise in your own router, your isp's edge routers, your isp's core routing & peering links etc etc.

the other part of the problem to consider is also what video software which you are running. i would hesitate to recommend skype frankly. their qos has been declining for some time.

business alternatives i would suggest looking at would be vsee or webex. you could see major improvements on the same 'iffy' connection compared to skype.

av.