It has been 2 weeks since the storm Frank passed by where I live and had damaged my Smart Bro antenna. It bent a steel bar (see pic below)! That storm really had a strong wind. So, I waited for a week to see if it had damaged my connection since the power was fixed a week after the storm.

Obviously the storm damaged something on my internet connection, it was just not clear to me what; was it my antenna or the smart’s main system in my area?

I tried calling the smart support hot line *1888 but I could not connect, it says “Your number cannot be completed as dialed. Please check the number and dial again.” With that, I decided to go to their office to report the issue, but when I went their, even their support is not available, because they said, they were offline and could not check.

WOW — that was really bad! They are Internet Service Provider, yet they went offline.

Anyway, I also have a Smart Bro plugin, but it didn’t work as well.

NOTE: I love my smart bro unlimitted because it is the only fast internet connection that could reach my area, and the speed I had with it and the service when it was working was satisfying. I just had my connection back today, after weeks of torture from the storm. I am happy with my connection now, but not happy of the support that Smart has.

I want to share to you a problem on my smart bro plug-it. Just awhile ago, I have encountered this problem. See that I am currently connected and that it is just running for a minute and 13 seconds. Also check that I have full signal on UMTS of HSDPA. I am within Iloilo City, so it is expected to have a full signal. Now, check the Rate, it is 0 and not moving.

It has been my third time that it happened, then after awhile when it is stuck to 0, it will disconnect.

Then I would connect again, and so on and so forth. So if you see, this plan has what they call, BLOCK of 30 minutes, so that 13 seconds is considered to be 30 minutes when it got cut off.

That is the problem with the Smart Bro Plug-it. I don’t know if it is because I am running it on Mac that it keeps on disconnecting, because they said there are still bugs in it. So, anyone having the same problems who is using windows?

I just have my SmartBro Plan 999 installed at home, since I am not satisfied with the Smart Plug-it using GPRS signal in my area due to no 3G signal available here.

Here is my first Speed Test and I am happy with it:

I just got my Smart Bro Plug-it yesterday and this morning I tested it in the office. Here’s my first test of its speed. This is the speed for a full bars GPRS / EDGE connection.

I was really disappointed and can’t believe of the result, so in a matter of minutes, I tested it again and there was a big difference. This is the speed for a full bar 3G / HSDPA connection.

Somehow this gives me a relief, but then again, there’s only a few spots in Iloilo that HSDPA is available.