January 16, 2012

Sun Broadband Review

Finally, we decided to get a broadband connection to replace our becoming-obsolete dial-up connection. I find it hard to believe that our nearest supermarket stopped selling dial-up prepaid cards?.

Anyway, PLDT is no longer an option and we have been hearing negative feedbacks from Smart and Globe wireless solutions.

We planned to get a prepaid broadband from Sun and avoided the unlimited plans (we're just light internet users. It's not we're going to download torrents 24/7). We went to the Sun Shop and the salesman recommended their Plan 350, featuring 45 hours of free internet hours per month.

The application process was fast. The only requirement was a valid ID. We paid the downpayment and we're given the modem and SIM card.

We were unable to use the connection right away, probably because they still have to update their database. After 6 hours, our account was activated.

The download speed is OK. It's not too impressive but definitely a step up from dial-up. The upload speed was disappointing though. Uploading pictures might take a while but still acceptable. However, video uploading was nearly impossible. We still have reasons to visit our nearest internet cafes.

Overall, the whole process was good. The service was OK and recently, they upsized Plan 350 to 60 hours of internet monthly.


Here are some quick stats based on my testing with this connection:

Downloading 750MB file: 1-3 hours (depends on server)
Downloading 750MB file through torrent: 8-12 hours (depends on how many seeders)
Uploading 5 pictures, 2MB each: 5 minutes.