As the Globe turns (for the worse), the Sun rises

More than 10 years ago when PLDT monopolized the telecoms industry in the Philippines, clients had to wait for years to get a phone line. Phone lines can be bought from the black market for as high as P30k. I bought one for P15k plus the arrears of the seller. But PLDT cannot immediately transfer it to my house even if I had paid the transfer fees. I ended up losing close to P20k. When Globe entered the market after the deregulation act, phone service became much easier to acquire. And Globe gave good service too. But that was then.

Today, Globe is giving us shitty service. It looks like they oversubscribed. PLDT, on the other hand, recovered under Manny Pangilinan, although people can still remember its monumental inefficiency. And now the once lowly regarded service provider, Sun Cellular, is gaining much deserved renewed attention.

My Globe landline is out of service for two weeks now. The bundled DSL service conks frequently. I reported the matter to the hotline who told me that there is an ongoing system restoration project. But two weeks hence, the phone is still dead and the Internet is still intermittent. Last night I paid my phone bill and reported the matter again to the customer service. The guy there told me that although I've reported the matter days before, the incident report was not given a tracking number, thus technicians cannot act on it. But now, the guy gleefully said, I have a tracking number and I can complain again to him if technicians fail to act on my case by the 18th.

The obviously happy guy told me that if I want to terminate my service, he can waive the termination fee. What termination fee? He said I am still in the holding period because my 1mbps DSL started only last May, even if it's just an upgrade from the 384kbps service I had for 4 years. To me, that looks like Globe is capitulating. It is admitting it cannot fix my problem. They're willing to let a longtime (since they started service in San Juan) client go. Wtf!@#$%^&*.

My attention is now turning to Sun. I bought a Sun Broadband wireless because of the problems with Globe. Lo and behold, it is blazing fast compared the the Globe Tatoo I borrowed from my brother. It connects immediately, unlike the minute or two it takes for Globe. The connection speed peaks at 2.3mbps. My Globe DSL speed is measured at 0.6 to 0.8 mbps even if the service contract is at 1mbps. Sun people say I can convert my prepaid account to unlimited by buying a new SIM. The unlimited plan costs P799.

What about a landline? I ask them. Landline fees cost P499/month. P499+P799=P1298. That's about the same bill I have for my Globe landline and DSL.

Anyway, I am still giving Globe until Friday to fully restore my service. Or else, ... here comes the Sun, here comes the Sun, and I say...