I’m not an expert and I’m not in anyway affilated with Smart or Meridian. But below is my observation regarding SmartBro since i’ve been using it eversince they first tested it out here in Baguio City, yes, I’m one of the first to have this kind of service and I still have the basic (128Kbps/PhP788/mo) account/connection/service.

So, anyway, I haven’t have any major issues with Smartbro eversince it was installed. And since 2004, I only called them up around 5 times (as far as I can remember) and 2 of them, requesting Port Forwarding and IP Passthrough.

Ok, worst experience.. intermittent connection, which was fixed within 8hrs of calling them up.

Second worst experience, no connection… fixed in 3hrs.

and lastly, server has to authenticate me (https://portal.smartbro.net/) every time I boot back to Kubuntu & Fedora (which was fixed by a simple configuration on my distro).

So anyway, every single SmartBro subscribers are behind a NAT. Meaning, almost everyone here in Baguio uses a single Public IP Address (203.87.200.21). I would understand why they did this, cost… a single IP for everyone is way less expensive than a Dynamic/Static IP for each and every cxn.

We also connect via MAC Authentication and you won’t be able to plug in your POE from one computer to another without first logging in to the Portal Page. It’s much more effective to use a router and set it up to connect via DHCP.

Port Forwarding & IP Passthrough isn’t available. If it is, then imagine how many of us would setup their Apache… hehehe, 1 IP 10-20 Apache’s.. won’t work unless Smart configures a pointer. Don’t bother calling them up since I already did and also emailed them… got the same response, if I need a Static IP or an IP Passthrough (Static IP is much convenient) then I would have to subscribe for a Premium PPPoE service from Meridian Telekoms.

Port 25 / SMTP Lockdown is also implemented in all ISP’s and in all consumer accounts (business accounts are not affected). In sending out emails, you need to set your Outgoing Mail Server to Smartbro’s server (sorry I don’t know since I don’t use Smartbro to send email). If you need Smartbro’s POP3, then you don’t have to configure anything. But if you have a 3rd Party or Business/Personal POP3 account, just set it up as usual and just change the outgoing mail server or smtp server… If you want to bypass this.. then you have to subscribe to an IMAP service provider or use Google’s GMail… Why Gmail? Well, as you know, they use an SSL-enabled SMTP connection via port 587. So setup your outgoing server to point to smtp.gmail.com, make sure you check SSL and set up the port to 587… Remember.. it’s Port 25 Blocking/Lockdown.. not Port 587. And also yes, you may use other SMTP providers as long as they don’t use port 25.

What else, BitTorrent? You don’t need to ask them to open ports for you since they’ve implemented Port Triggers and as long as a specific port has been opened by an application from any account, that port would remain open even on the outside… Just be patient with BitTorrent since SmartBro’s NAT need time to resolve those connections… I’ve been using KTorrent and micro(uTorrent) and I havent’ had any problems yet.

Streaming Media will never be affected. SSL/FTP/whatever connections will also not be affected as long as you’re not the server.

As I see it, you just can’t serve pages, games, database, content, etc. And if you want to, use a free service provider…. http://www.110mb.com/ since they offer 2GB space, 1SQL, and Gigs of Bandwidth per month.. They also offer FTP & HTTP uploading with unzip features… Better check them out.

And if you have a connection problems, please don’t jump immediately into conclusion that the service sucks… if you’re using Windows, then expect that you may have consider reinstalling a program, restaking tcp/ip, and resetting winsock. Always try pinging an IP address.

And for those of you who’ve had very unpleasant experience due to a genuine connectivity problems, then by all means, call them up and ask for rebates and they’ll be more than happy to give them to you. Yeah, I did get a few days service extension. Also try asking them to personally take a look at the canopy and your computer…

One last thing, SmartBro needs to have a direct line of sight to a cell tower, falling leaves may cause technical problems. Better use a more stable connection like DSL or Cable (which has their own downsides due to old wirings and shared connections) if you keep on getting bad connections.

Maybe I’m just lucky I rarely get connectivity issues… even during the hurricane which toppled BillBoards and uprooted trees. - Dax Solomon Umaming

Popularity: 77% [?]

Hey guys,

so i’ve had my smartBRO wireless installed a month ago, and everything is good with the connection up until now. Yesterday night there was a brown out in baguio city and it seems that the connection is disconnecting a certain amount of minutes and i don’t know if its a problem with server or with the frequency. I’ve never had this problem before up til now. Has anyone encountered this situation?

Next would be the NAT or portforward rather for Bittorrent programs and such, does anyone i mean anyone know how to open these ports so they are open and the dl is faster? i use the program azureus and never does the icon turn green for NAT. any suggestions?

One more things, is there any possible way to get a faster kbps dl rate, because i never had this problem in the states. all you gotta do is mess with the router config for uplink burse and downlink burst. any suggestions for th three will help. thanks

Popularity: 2% [?]

How to switch from public IP to private? anyone knows how? i need to change to private so i can access my SM again. I got blocked. thanks..

elijahpaul87@yahoo.com

Popularity: 6% [?]

My brother got this free Zyxel DSL (P-330w) Router from the bag which he bought from state.

Then he brought it here in the Philippines, at first it few minutes it was working… after a while, the connection got lost then I boot up my PC then evrything got worst!….My network connections gone and I cant connect to the net.

I dont know the problem if its the SMARTbro’s who’s doing the disconnection or my router….please help me with this thing.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Just this afternoon, some customer representative from smartbro called me for the scheduling of visit of one of their contractors. It was very nauseating because the lady started raising her voice and kept telling me that sending their contractor by 5:30pm is a waste of time ( talk about courtesy ). They want to send the guy earlier than 5:30pm when in fact, my connection thoroughly cuts off at exactly the same time? How will they fix something which isn’t even showing the symptoms of a broken internet connection? I had been very patient with dealing with them but this time i’m not going to be nice. And in addition to all that, i was decieved by the technicians which installed my connection. They said that there are no connection fees which they included in my bill, No hidden charges when they hid the fact that there was a connection fee and told me that i could cancel my connection anytime i want for FREE! That was such a fat lie, considering the fact that i trusted them into providing that 24 hour service they promised. As for that customer representative, i’ll do something she’ll never forget. Something that suits those people who cause much damage in time, money, and effort. That’s an idea! Can we sue them for causing damages and pay us in return?

Popularity: 5% [?]

hahaha! malas nyu naman na nkakaranas ng problems sa smartbro connection nyu! ako sobrang satisfied kaya! just look at my stats.. para maingit kau ng konti..

:::.. Download Stats ..:::
Download Connection is:: 424 Kbps about 0.42 Mbps (tested with 386 kB)
Download Speed is:: 52 kB/s
Tested From:: http://testmy.net/ (Server 2)
Test Time:: 2006/10/07 - 2:41am
Bottom Line:: 7X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 19.69 sec
Tested from a 386 kB file and took 7.469 seconds to complete
Download Diagnosis:: Awesome! 20% + : 90.13 % faster than the average for host (176.206)
D-Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-O70BAYW1I
User Agent:: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1) [!]

see? ganyan lagi stats ko day and night.. tumataas pa nga pag minsan eh! sarap ng download life ko! I LOVE YOU SMART BRO!!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Help naman guys regarding sa grounding ng unit.. Kasi lately ang lakas ng ulan at may kasama pang lightning ang panahon e di ba there is a chance na tamaan ng kidlat ung canopy antenna ko lalo na kung nagiinternet ako during those times.. I know may kasamang lightning suppressor ung unit nila pero di kinabit ng contractors eh..

So heres the story:

Dumating ung mga contractors dito ofcourse para ikabit ung antenna. Ang ginamit lang nila ung black na wire at ung adaptor. Ung black na wire ung one end nya nakakabit sa antena then the other end dun sa may adaptor na going to my lan.. So ok na raw.. Bago sila umalis iniwan nila sakin ung white na wire at ung box na supposed to be para sa lightning suppressor, tinanong ko kung bakit di nila kinabit ung “box” ang sabi lang nila “ah sir, para lang yan sa extension kung sakaling gusto nyong ilipat ung pc nyo kabit nyo lang ung black sa isang jack then ung white sa kabila then adaptor then sa pc nyo..” Un sabi nila then umalis na sila dala nila ung mga di nagamit na wires, grounding pole, nails, etc.. (may vulca seal pa nga yata akong nakita dun).. So hinayaan ko na lang muna.. After mga ilang buwan napansin ko nga ang lakas ng ulan with matching lightning pa nga.. Naisip ko na posible ngang tamaan ng kidlat antenna ko tapos la pa grounding unit ko sure na sabog pc ko IF EVER na tamaan nga.. Comming to realize it, ako na lang ung nagkabit ng sarili kong grounding.

Here is where my problem started…
I searched the web regarding sa grounding nga ng canopy. I came up with this: www.saiawireless.com/doc/300%20SS%20Unit%20Manual.pdf I followed the diagram naman. But as substitute for the parts the contractors took i away i used a 12inch long steel bar (ung ginagamit sa mga wall at poste sa construction) for the grounding pole and an ordinary wire (from an old extension wire which i splitted in two coz i only need 1 wire) for the grounding wire. Binaon ko sa lupa ung bakal then kinabit ko ung wire and the other end sa GND ng box. Heres where my problem arises, pag-on ko ng pc nakalagay “LAN is unplugged” then pagtinanggal ko ung ground wire sa box connected na uli. Then pagkinabit ko ung grounding wire sa box (nakuryente pa nga ako pero mahina lang) “LAN is unplugged” na naman..

Hmm.. I need help naman here.. Is it because of the wire na ginamit ko? (para alam ko kung bibili ba ako ng bagong wire) or is it because of the “pole” which i made?

*Naisip ko, pede kong i-sue ung contractors nila IF EVER taman ng kidlat ang antenna ko pero naisip ko, hihintayin ko pa bang tamaan ng kidlat e meron naman akong pwedeng gawin to avoid it kesa manisi ng ibang tao, iwas disgrasya pa.*

Popularity: 2% [?]

:::.. Download Stats ..:::
Download Connection is:: 24055 Kbps about 24.06 Mbps (tested with 12160 kB)
Download Speed is:: 2936 kB/s
Tested From:: http://testmy.net/ (Server 1)
Test Time:: 2006/07/14 - 7:30pm
Bottom Line:: 419X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 0.35 sec
Tested from a 12160 kB file and took 4.141 seconds to complete
Download Diagnosis:: Awesome! 20% + : 302.06 % faster than the average for host (188.206)
D-Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-RK40PIC6W
User Agent:: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060508 Firefox/1.5.0.4 [!]

Popularity: 1% [?]

They just left a few minutes ago, actually, because I had scheduled an appointment last Sunday, when our net went down and couldn’t renew the IP address even after multiple attempts to reboot and re-assign IPs. Take note, that was done under the directions of the Smart Bro tech support, but it still didn’t fix things.

So the guy referred me for scheduling tech guys coming over. The earliest they could come was Wednesday, but I had to go out that day. So I opted for the weekend.

(Sidenote: The net came back Monday, I think, so it seemed pretty useless to have them come over still. Nevertheless, I was still curious if they could fix anything.)

So after they left, I tried a speed test at testmy.net and got these results. Note: I’m uploading installation files via FTP as I did the download test, but it shouldn’t matter if the net is really fast!

Your connection is: 18 Kbps or 0.02 Mbps
You Downloaded at: 2 kB/s
You are running: 0 times faster than 56K and can Download 1 megabyte in 512 second(s)
Member Ident: CompID:1869592545216
Test Time:: 2006/07/01 - 1:24am
Test Browser and OS info: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060508 Firefox/1.5.0.4
Test ID: 7DACIWJ0F (if this is a screenshot go to testmy.net to see if this is fake)
Diagnosis ^info^: May need help : running at only 16.67 % of your hosts average (188.142)
This was tested from a 386 kB file and took 173.048 seconds to complete

Wonderful! So much for coming over and supposedly improving things.

Popularity: 5% [?]

You get speeds up to 1000++ KB/s at the start of your download, then it degrades quickly at every second. Now it’s at 10.5 9.2 8.3 KB/s and I it’s still going down. Pretty soon it’ll get pegged down at dial-up or below dial-up speed.

Popularity: 1% [?]