PLDT Upgrade

[GeoffH]

1 minute ago, Gandang Smile said:

2000 PHP or about 45 USD a month for a 25 Mbps connection is quite expensive by European standards. It kind of confirms that Internet is relatively expensive down under (Telstra a monopoly?) 

Telstra had a monopoly of copper cable and PSTN, their copper netowork (plus some smaller coaxial cable internet networks) were bought by the federal government in umm... 2014 I think.

Then a national wholesale provider (called National Broadband Network Co) was set up which resells bandwidth to retail ISPs.

It runs as a business structure (a limited monopoly) and has loans from the government it has to repay and loans from private financiers it also has to repay and the conditions of operation require certain revenue targets to be met as well as an obligation to provide internet across most of the urban areas of the country at the same price (remote areas with satellite access are exempted).  Other companies can set up competing netoworks but they are required by law to wholesale their networks, they can't operate as single vertical providers.

This has created artificially high prices in my opinion.

[Gandang Smile]

20 minutes ago, GeoffH said:

Telstra had a monopoly of copper cable and PSTN, their copper netowork (plus some smaller coaxial cable internet networks) were bought by the federal government in umm... 2014 I think.

Then a national wholesale provider (called National Broadband Network Co) was set up which resells bandwidth to retail ISPs.

It runs as a business structure (a limited monopoly) and has loans from the government it has to repay and loans from private financiers it also has to repay and the conditions of operation require certain revenue targets to be met as well as an obligation to provide internet across most of the urban areas of the country at the same price (remote areas with satellite access are exempted).  Other companies can set up competing netoworks but they are required by law to wholesale their networks, they can't operate as single vertical providers.

This has created artificially high prices in my opinion.

Fantastic explanation @GeoffH, now I finally know why 

[hk blues]

42 minutes ago, Gandang Smile said:

What's "fiber hybrid"? Fiber on download and ADSL on upload? 

I agree, P6000 a month just for the Internet connection is something no household should need or afford. I am basically using it as a business connection, since I work from my home office all the time. I probably don't need 300 Mbit all the time but if there were problems on average once a week, like I used to have with Globe when I was in Davao, I would be in trouble with my clients.

Fiber hybrid is Globe's euphemism for fiber cable on the mainline to the service box in the community then copper cable from that box to the subscriber's home.  It's more reliable than copper only even though no faster.

I know what you mean about Globe in the past but, as I said, things have improved a lot in the past 2 years or so and I doubt I have problems more than once in 3 months.  Problem is, when the brownouts come there is not much you can do IF your service box runs out of power which it may after a long brownout.  Some posters on here have actually said their internet stops as soon as the power goes out even if they have power back-up. 

[GeoffH]

5 minutes ago, hk blues said:

FProblem is, when the brownouts come there is not much you can do IF your service box runs out of power which it may after a long brownout.  Some posters on here have actually said their internet stops as soon as the power goes out even if they have power back-up. 

There are various types and sizes of fiber nodes (and ADSL DLAMS) in use, the larger ones tend to have on board battery back up but many smaller ones do not.  The amount and size of the battery backup varies but it is uncommon for it to be more than a few hours.

NB both a Fibre 'node' and a Fibre DSLAM have fiber to the box but the output is different, an FTTN box outputs short range and higher speed VDSL and a DSLAM outputs lower speed and longer range ADSL and/or ADSL2/2+

Edited November 24, 2020 by GeoffH

[hk blues]

1 minute ago, GeoffH said:

There are various types and sizes of fiber nodes (and ADSL DLAMS) in use, the larger ones tend to have on board battery back up but many smaller ones do not.  The amount and size of the battery backup varies but it is uncommon for it to be more than a few hours.

The box in our area does have battery back-up but it won't last more than 3-4 hours.  And, of course in time that diminishes as the battery gets older and isn't a priority for replacement. 

[jimeve]

33 minutes ago, hk blues said:

The box in our area does have battery back-up but it won't last more than 3-4 hours.  And, of course in time that diminishes as the battery gets older and isn't a priority for replacement. 

We have had a few scheduled brownouts that have lasted 10 hours during the day. I have battery backup for my modem and PLDT home fiber was on-line for the 10 hour duration. 

[hk blues]

26 minutes ago, jimeve said:

We have had a few scheduled brownouts that have lasted 10 hours during the day. I have battery backup for my modem and PLDT home fiber was on-line for the 10 hour duration. 

As Geoff says it is very much dependant on the individual boxes - we used to get similar to you (at least 8 hours) but nowadays that's dropped to 3-4 hours. My battery back up fore the modem way outlasts the main box. 

[Snowy79]

I have been put off getting cable where I live as the main lines run above ground usually wrapped around overhead powerlines and between branches of trees, crossing roads in many locations. Almost every week I see snapped cables dangling down at head height ready to snare motorcycle riders due to construction trucks catching the cables. It's a common sight, trucks with a guy on  the roof with a stick trying to push the cables clear.  

Edited November 24, 2020 by Snowy79

[GeoffH]

55 minutes ago, jimeve said:

We have had a few scheduled brownouts that have lasted 10 hours during the day. I have battery backup for my modem and PLDT home fiber was on-line for the 10 hour duration. 

Home fiber (fiber to the point) which means fiber all the way to the modem) is different to ADSL and VDSL (or hybrid fibre as they call it in some places) because it doesn't need a powered 'box' between the network switching location or internet 'exchange' and the house so if the power goes down then it is less effected.

A power outage at that primary distribution point will still cause your internet to go down but most larger switching locations have seriously large backup systems (often large diesel generators) and even if they don't and only have large battery backup systems then they're likely far enough away that a local power outage won't effect them (although a scheduled wide area brown out might).

 

[hk blues]

6 minutes ago, GeoffH said:

Home fiber (fiber to the point) which means fiber all the way to the modem) is different to ADSL and VDSL (or hybrid fibre as they call it in some places) because it doesn't need a powered 'box' between the network switching location or internet 'exchange' and the house so if the power goes down then it is less effected.

A power outage at that primary distribution point will still cause your internet to go down but most larger switching locations have seriously large backup systems (often large diesel generators) and even if they don't and only have large battery backup systems then they're likely far enough away that a local power outage won't effect them (although a scheduled wide area brown out might).

 

That certainly explains why we have much fewer disconnections since we moved to Fiber Hybrid - the only issue now is between the box and our house whilst before the issue could have been anywhere on the line. I think!