Still Globe (In)Visibility?

I just visited the forums where Globe's HSDPA service (Visibility) is the topic and all I can see are more and more complaints from its subscribers. It seems that until now the problem of network congestion is still there and Globe has not been able to resolve this. Isn't Globe being bothered by the bad publicity that their company has been getting in the forums and blogs?

I think they are trying to catch up with Smart in terms of revenue and if they would put up new infrastructures to provide more bandwidth it would set them back. Isn't this sad that a company such as Globe Telecommunications known for quality of service seems now has only more revenues in their minds.

This problem of network congestion is not only being felt by those who have Visibility subscription but also those who have Globelines Speak and Surf and DSL subscription. The problem also is that when you call their hotlines they won't tell you that the problem is being experienced throughout their network, so you would think that it was only isolated in your area. Reading through the posts in forums such as TipidPC.com would tell you that it is not isolated and is prevalent throughout Globe's network.

Enough is enough with Globe Visibility!

I had it with Globe and the lies they are peddling to their subscibers and the would-be subscribers. They have this tv show where their guest are saying that thanks to Globe they can have an internet connection anywhere. What a load of bull! Okay you may get connected but what bandwidth can you get, based on my Visibility experience a dial-up connection is faster that what Globe HSDPA network provides.

This is not the first time that this has happen if you would take a look at my old posts. I think sometime in May this problem exploded in their face and they admitted that it was due to network congestion. I think Globe has not learned its lesson that is why this is happening again or their network engineers are sleeping on the job while their sales people keep on selling this service without coordinating with the engineering people. Lack of communication for such a big telecommunications provider!

What is very disturbing is even though they have been experiencing network congestion they have not stop selling or accepting new Visibility subscribers. Reading new posts in TipidPC.com and other blogs plus comments by those who read my blogs, I finally decided to rescind my contract with Globe today. Though it is very difficult for me to take such action not only because I am a long-time subscriber of Globe, I have been endorsing this service to my clients and friends, I had enough of their promises and lies. After they asked for another week and it had expired and Globe still wasn't able to resolve, I on my own gave them one more week to resolve it but until this morning the problem still persist.

Finally, I serve notice to Globe that I am rescinding my contract with them due to the grounds that the service that I entered into which is an HSDPA service whenever available with speeds of up to 1.4 Mbps was not being delivered. It is okay if in my area HSDPA or even 3G is not available and only EDGE/GPRS are the signal that I am getting but that is not the case, I get an HSDPA connection even though I set my Mobile Connect to GPRS preferred but the speed I am getting is only good for a dial-up connection. The signal was a steady HSDPA and the action of Mobile Connect of automatically putting/connecting to an HSDPA signal means there is HSDPA availability in my area but Globe can't provide the speed that goes with an HSDPA connection.

Globe Visibility SUCKS!

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I am proud to present to you the speed that Globe Telecom has been providing not only me but also its other Visibility subscribers. Don't believe me? Well you can check out the Globe Visibility Support Thread (Broadband On-The-Go) on TipidPC.com.

If you really don't believe me then go ahead ignore this post and get yourself a Globe Visibility subscription with a corresponding 2 year lock-in contract and experience the same HELL that me and other Visibility subscribers are going through at the moment. I just don't want you to be stuck in the trap Globe Telecoms has set laid out in connection with getting a Visibility subscription. Why a trap you may ask, well if you try to have your subscription terminated then they will dangle the pre-termination fee over your head. This leaves you stuck with a very expensive dial-up connection.

Now for all of you out there who have kind hearts and care for other human beings, I can't stop you from sending the link to this post to all your contacts and I won't stop you either from posting your comments on this post.

Visibilty Ordeal Finally Over?

I was reading Wifely Steps most recent post and she wrote that her Visibility is now working though not yet at the same speeds it had before. I also read on TipidPC forum that some of its members are at the very least not experiencing those connection timed out error message but there are still complaints on the speed that they are getting.

With the way Globe had increased its rates for Visibility subscriptions there will be a slowdown on the number of new subscribers hence less jockeying for those oh so precious limited bandwidth that Globe can provide. Though I hope that they haven't stop on upgrading their servers and bandwidth allocations since on my end I still am not getting the speed that I was getting before May 7, 2007 and I don't think I am alone on this.

Let us just hope that like what they assured Wifely Steps that the speed will pick up will hold true.

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.

Hey What's With All This Restriction for Visibility

To those who have not subscribed to Globe Telecoms Visibility may this serve as a warning to you and for everyone else who already have Visibility read on.

First is all your outgoing mails must use their outgoing mail server(mail.globenet.com.ph) and this is kind of a hassle for those who have or their company has their own outgoing mail servers. Why is this a hassle, well for starters when you have your own or your company has its own domain (www.yourdomain.com) and usually it has its own outgoing mail server(smtp.yourdomain.com) you would need to change your email client/software settings to use mail.globenet.com.ph which is Globe's outgoing mail server whenever you use Visibility. Now if you have another provider or your office has its own provider and you will be sending emails you need to change this settings back to smtp.yourdomain.com. PLDT's WeRoam doesn't make it necessary for you to do this changes because it allows you to use your own outgoing mail server. I think other ISP's also would allow you to use your own outgoing mail server.

Second is not allowing you to use Virtual Private Networking (VPN) connection unless you are on corporate subscription. Take note that corporate subscriptions for Visibility is cheaper than personal subscription. Personal would cost 2,000.00 pesos per month whereas corporate would only be 1,700.00 per month.

I don't understand why Globe has all these restrictions when on their advertisment they say its like having your office where you are.

A Call for Action

I think its time for some action on our part as subscribers to let Globe Telecom know our grievances. Okay there's the support hotline (2199) which I think most of you like me have been calling up and telling them our present predicament and how terrible their service is. They usually give us their pre-canned reply that everything is being done to fix this problem and they would escalate it. They have been escalating it since May 7 and until now it is the problem of having a slow connection that has been escalating.

Like me most of you have been posting, reading and commenting on blogs that has the Visibility problem as their topic. We have been very patient with Globe Telecoms slow response to our current predicament but until now no solid response has been given to us and even a simple acknowledgment they can't even muster.

I don't know if you will agree with this suggestion but here it is anyway. Let us all meet at Robinson's Pioneer in Mandaluyong and as a group, we would march our way to Globe Telecoms office. I think it is about time that we haul our asses off our seats and take some actions ourselves. That way they will know that we won't take this treatment anymore and we demand some actions on their part. I know someone has suggested it already and was given a negative reply and that is the problem with our country right now all we do is complain but we don't take any action. Why don't we go there and at the very least if we have the numbers we would get notice.

Updates on Visit to Globe Telecoms

As stated on my previous post that I will be posting whatever the outcome of my dialogue with Globe Telecoms be it be good or bad news. The simple answer to the problem that all of us is experiencing at the moment is that there is not enough bandwidth to go around. Globe Telecom had and still is OVERSELLING their network capacity. This was the answer that I got from the Customer Service Representative that I talked to.

He continued to say that they have been receiving mounting complaints from subscribers experiencing the same problem as those who sent me emails and posted comments on my blog. The sad thing is that until now, although they have elevated these complaints, the network people are still not giving any feedback. All they can do is to accept the complaints and forward them to the network people.

I am asking for any suggestion from other people who is experiencing these problems with Globe Visibility on what we should do to make them these people do something about it. I was thinking that we should form a group or come as a group to their office and ask them what they are planning to do. I feel that if we go there individually, they will just give their normal pre-canned reply that they are doing everything they can.

Continuing Saga with Globe Visibility

It seems that I am not alone with my struggle with Globe Telecom's Visibility. I have been receiving comments on my blog and links to other peoples blogs like Mobility Philippines regarding the same problem with this service. It was further solidified yesterday when I was at Globe's Platinum Lounge in Glorietta and doing some surfing but using WIZ since I can't get any decent connection with Visibility. I overheard a guy asking the customer service representative if there is a problem with Visibility and the reply was there is sometime a problem with Yahoo! I don't know if Globe had trained this people regarding their Visibility service. I then approached the guy and asked him if the problem he is experiencing is the same as mine which are connection timed out, page cannot be displayed, server taking a long time to respond error messages and he said yes.

I went to Globe Telecoms office in Pioneer St., Mandaluyong to asked them if they can help me out with the bad connection that I was getting and sad to say they were saying that they are having problems with their 3G service that they hence they can't help me. I am going back there again today and I will post here whatever they would say or do with regards to my problem.

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.

Still Doesn't Work? Try this!

For those of you out there who read my blog on installing their Huawei E220 HSDPA USB modem running on Windows Vista and still can't make it work, this might help.

1. After running the Autorun.exe and having it install Mobile Connect on your PC, and Vista still doesn't install your device, go to the Control Panel, click on Classic View, then click on Device Manager.
   
2. Then have the Device Manager scan your PC for any hardware changes and it will install two devices, one is Huawei USB Mass Storage and it is under DVD/CD-ROM drives and USB Mass Storage device under the Universal Serial Bus controllers. Now don't worry if it still doesn't see it as a 3G modem, it usually doesn't on the first try.
   
3. Now restart your PC but you might need to remove physically your Huawei E22o from the USB port.
4. After restarting your PC, insert your Huawei E220 to the same USB port where you placed it while installing it on Step 2.
5. Go back to the Control Panel and Device Manager and again have it scan your PC for any hardware changes.
   
6. Now look under the group Universal Serial Bus controllers and you will notice that a USB Mass Storage device has a mark/icon indicating that it has a conflict.
7. Right-click on it and choose Uninstall.
8. Now have the Device Manager scan your PC again for any hardware change and for sure it will now detect your Huawei Mobile Connect - 3G Modem. You can see it under the Modems group.
   

Huawei E220 USB modem on Windows Vista

For other Globe Visibility subscribers that would want to upgrade to Windows Vista but where being told that the Huawei E220 USB modem either won't work on Vista or would have conflicts for its drivers, I have a work around for you.

For those of you who tried inserting your Huawei E220 USB modem to the your PC running on Windows Vista and have encountered it being detected as a CD-ROM don't fret. Don't try to open it either as Vista would tell you that it is corrupted.

SOLUTION:

First you will need a removable storage device(portable hard disk, flash drive or sd card) to make this work. After you have secured yourself a removable storage drive insert your Huawei E220 into a PC not running Windows Vista,

Go to My Computer, right click on the drive for your Huawei E220 and click Open.

Copy all files and folder from your Huawei E220 to your removable storage device.

Insert your removable storage device to your PC running on Windows Vista and open it.

Click on the file Autorun.exe (it is seen by Vista as an application) and let it install the Mobile Connect.

Restart your PC. After Windows Vista starts insert your Huawei E220, and Vista will start to install the drivers needed by the device.

If it says that it has successfully installed the device drivers, run Mobile Connect it will detect the wireless device. Now create the profile as per Globe's instructions and click on connect. Note: you might need to restart the PC if your Huawei E220 is still not being seen by Mobile Connect.

Try it. It worked for me, it could worked for you and if it does send me an email and spread the word, information should be free.