Earlier today my mom had to pay her Sun bills so off we went to Megamall to take care of those cellphone bills. While waiting in line, I saw Sun's flyer on their wireless internet connection package. Of course I was intrigued because I figured I'll be needing this for times when I'll be in Cebu or Davao for product trainings, launches, reseller visits or simply to while the time away waiting in airports or catching up with friends (online) in my hotel room.
BAD NEWS: Sun only covers less than the 13 Metro Manila cities!! Which is really bad I can't use it in Visayas or Mindanao regions..
GOOD NEWS: The Smart Wireless Center is just a few cartwheels away - this has been a company known for its (relative) reliability and extensive breadth of coverage so I took a consumer sales ticket to buy myself a smartbro prepaid kit
This product didn't need much selling to me as I've been aware of their campaigns (with Sam and Toni running like crazy) and of course I understand the concept behind the product offering. It also helps that from the PHP 5,800.00 price from months ago, the kit is now down PHP 2,800.00 with 100 PRE-LOADED VALUE (The kit is actually only 2.5k, PHP 300.00 of that is regular load already). Sweet deal isn't it?
The transaction went fast, I paid through credit card at the cashier, and went on my way to shop shop shop some more before going home.
I didn't foresee any mishaps trying the smartbro but now I'm almost bordering on being a very disgruntled customer!!
First of all it wasn't really Mac friendly, had to search the web to find the download site for smartbro's Mac portal. When I finally installed it, the device could not be found!! Their FAQ cannot be found, the user's guide is not helpful at all, I have to rely on the feedback from fellow bloggers and the web community to make sense out of this.
So I tried installing the modem on my brother's Windows-based laptop, the signal was great (4 bars!) but Dialing always failed.
I called their customer service only to find out that the dialing failed due to zero balance!
WAPAKK!!!
Now how is that possible when I wasn't even able to connect in the first place??? Isn't it supposed to have been pre-loaded with PHP 100.00?? And then I asked what would happen if I'll load the extra PHP 300.00 here? She just told me it's better not to load it so that the "pre-loaded PHP 100" will not be forfeited!
WAAAAAHHHH!!!! It's just crazy!!!
So tomorrow I have to return to Megamall again (together with the laptop this time) so that they can fix whatever needs to be fixed before I go to Cebu!
Very frustrating...really...
--------------------
On the side:
I was proud pa to tell my Mom that smartbro was the brainchild of the owner of the previous company I worked for. It was actually Meridian Telecoms but the lady owner sold it to PLDT which even caused a rift between her (MV) and her dad (MJ). After that sale, it became known as Smartbro!
BAD NEWS: Sun only covers less than the 13 Metro Manila cities!! Which is really bad I can't use it in Visayas or Mindanao regions..
GOOD NEWS: The Smart Wireless Center is just a few cartwheels away - this has been a company known for its (relative) reliability and extensive breadth of coverage so I took a consumer sales ticket to buy myself a smartbro prepaid kit
This product didn't need much selling to me as I've been aware of their campaigns (with Sam and Toni running like crazy) and of course I understand the concept behind the product offering. It also helps that from the PHP 5,800.00 price from months ago, the kit is now down PHP 2,800.00 with 100 PRE-LOADED VALUE (The kit is actually only 2.5k, PHP 300.00 of that is regular load already). Sweet deal isn't it?
The transaction went fast, I paid through credit card at the cashier, and went on my way to shop shop shop some more before going home.
I didn't foresee any mishaps trying the smartbro but now I'm almost bordering on being a very disgruntled customer!!
First of all it wasn't really Mac friendly, had to search the web to find the download site for smartbro's Mac portal. When I finally installed it, the device could not be found!! Their FAQ cannot be found, the user's guide is not helpful at all, I have to rely on the feedback from fellow bloggers and the web community to make sense out of this.
So I tried installing the modem on my brother's Windows-based laptop, the signal was great (4 bars!) but Dialing always failed.
I called their customer service only to find out that the dialing failed due to zero balance!
WAPAKK!!!
Now how is that possible when I wasn't even able to connect in the first place??? Isn't it supposed to have been pre-loaded with PHP 100.00?? And then I asked what would happen if I'll load the extra PHP 300.00 here? She just told me it's better not to load it so that the "pre-loaded PHP 100" will not be forfeited!
WAAAAAHHHH!!!! It's just crazy!!!
So tomorrow I have to return to Megamall again (together with the laptop this time) so that they can fix whatever needs to be fixed before I go to Cebu!
Very frustrating...really...
--------------------
On the side:
I was proud pa to tell my Mom that smartbro was the brainchild of the owner of the previous company I worked for. It was actually Meridian Telecoms but the lady owner sold it to PLDT which even caused a rift between her (MV) and her dad (MJ). After that sale, it became known as Smartbro!
