Visible Again? (Update on Globe Visibility)

Starting last Friday I have been getting decent speeds with my Visibility account though not yet pre-May 7, 2007 at least now it is constant and not those server timed out messages. Hopefully everyone else who had the same problem with Visibility are also having the same result as I do. Wifely Steps hasn't updated yet her post on her situation with Globe Visibility but hopefully she is having the same speed or better that I do right now and that goes for everybody else.

I read from Mobility Philippines that Globe has increased its rates for Visibility and I agree with those who are saying that since Globe is having a difficult time providing the speed they are advertised to their current subscribers, this is their way of putting a cap to the ever growing number of subscribers. For a company known for its quality of service, it can't tell the public that they don't have the capacity yet to accept new subscribers and had to stop selling Visibility.

The rates that I got from Mobility Philippines' blog would simple stop dead on its track anyone planning to have a Visibility plan. From the previous P2,000.00 monthly service fee now its P3,000.00 plus you have to shell out P11,700.00 for the USB modem.

Updates on Globe Visibility

I still can't get a decent connection from my Globe Visibility up to this time of writing. Globe's Corporate Solutions Department which handles the Visibility account still can't find an answer to this problem of mine, and just recently I found out that it was not only me who was having this kind of problem. I am getting frustrated with this kind of service from a company who prides itself of giving quality services to its valued subscribers.

I did my own testing just to find out if the problem was isolated in my area because one of the customer service representative suggested to me that it could be related to the location. I went to Greenbelt 3 to test my Globe Visibility connection using my Huawei E220 modem. I had a 5 bars UMTS signal strength as indicated by Mobile Connect and so when I connected it was HSDPA. Lo and behold I still had the same connection problem. I then went to the Globe Platinum Lounge situated at the Digital Exchange in Glorietta and tried it also there and still the same problem persisted. I then tried using Globequest WIZ and I got a very good and fast connection and no more of those timed-out error messages.

So my last step is to go to their office at Globe Telecoms Tower in Pioneer St., Mandaluyong and have them take a look at it themselves.

Invisible Globe Visibility

To those who are suffering a very slow connection or timed out connection with your Globe Visibility plan, you are not alone! I have been experiencing this problem for three days now and counting. Until now no one can give me a definitive answer on why this is happening or what is causing this or what steps they are doing to remedy this. The best advice they can give me is to switch my Huawei E220 connection from HSPDA to GPRS, well that's one great advice (NOT!). If I wanted to have a slow connection then I would have sticked with a dial-up or at best PLDT's WeRoam. I do get an HSDPA connection which from their ads I should have a download speed of up to 1.4 Mbps, but sadly I don't. What I get are error messages like "Page cannot be displayed, or "Timed Out", or "website taking too long to respond." In other words no data is being downloaded!

Another thing to note to those of you planning to switch or get a Visibility plan is that they don't have a technical support hotline. They have people to answer your call but these people are not trained specifically to answer technical queries regarding their wireless data service. I salute these people for trying their best to give me an answer, but this is not what I expected from Globe. They charged everyone who avail of this service 2,000 pesos for installation fee without installing anything but they should at the very least spent that money to train people to assist us, Visibility subscribers.

I am publishing this to serve as a warning to those who are thinking of switching from their current fix wire broadband connection to Globe Visibility. Don't do it just yet, basing it from my experience with Globe they still are not ready to support this type of service. If having an Internet connection is a necessity for you please veer away from getting this service, stick to fix wire broadband connection.