8 Responses for "Can’t surf websites"

1. PrettyD January 11th, 2007 at 4:01 pm 1

   smartbro sucks! and they know that… God knows that! God bless na lang sa kanila. Kung hindi nga lang naka-lock in ng two(2) years, ipapaterminate ko na. Mag-go-globe HSDPA na lang ako yung visibility plan nila. Php2,000/mo. pero 25x faster than the dial up or 10x faster than DSL. Galing noh? meron na nun ang cousin ko. totoo! okay. sana ma-improve ng smartbro ang connection. Taasan nila ang bandwidth na ibinibigay nila. at itrain nilang mabuti ang mga contractor at technical representatives nila.

2. PrettyD January 11th, 2007 at 4:01 pm 2

   correction: 1 year contract (Lock-in)

3. PrettyD January 11th, 2007 at 4:06 pm 3

   Urgent Complaint/Request re SmartBro/SmartWifi
   National Telecommunications Commission
   BIR Road, East Triangle, Diliman, Quezon City
   Metro Manila, Philippines

   Dear Sirs/Mesdames:

   As a co-convenor of TXTPower, a consumer advocacy group formed in 2001, to safeguard and assert consumer rights and welfare vis-a-vis the telecommunications companies, we wish to inform the Commission of mounting complaints from subscribers of SmartBro, formerly known as
   SmartWifi, the wireless broadband service of Smart Communications.

   Since the start of commercial operations of SmartWifi and even after its subsequent repackaging as SmartBro, this service has generally been perceived by its customers as substandard, unreliable and untruthful in its marketing pitches.

   Since April this year, when Smart Communications relaunched the service as SmartBro, problems of intermittent or dead connection, lack of automatic refunds for such occurrences, inadequate number and lack of knowhow of the Smart customer service personnel assigned to the service, and the refusal of Smart business center to accept complaints and service queries (except to accept service applications) have continued to rile SmartWifi/SmartBro subscribers.

   A certain Mark Baul, who calls himself “a SmartWifi/SmartBro victim” has emailed the Commission as late as yesterday, as per a copy forwarded to us. His problem is the same as those of many others, as the Commission will know by visiting online forums where subscribers pour their anger and frustration over the service:
   http://www.pinoyexchange.com/forums/showthread.php?t=210173&page=22

   Some have even set up a website dedicated to chronicling the travails of being a SmartWifi/SmartBro victim: http://www.smartwifi.org.ph/

   Due to the bad and unreliable service, many SmartWifi/SmartBro subscribers have naturally entertained suggestions of shifting to other broadband internet providers. However, they are prevented from doing so by contracts binding them to SmartWifi/SmartBro for one year.

   Needless to say, these subscribers demand government action to protect their consumer rights and welfare. On their behalf, we in TXTPower ask the Commission to:

   1.Order Smart Communications to immediately respond to all complaints regarding SmartWifi/SmartBro including that from Mr. Baul;

   2.Conduct its own investigation and provide all fair and legal remedies to aggrieved subscribers including rebates, refunds and the rescinding of subscription contracts;

   3.During the pendency of (1) and (2), to order Smart Communications to stop accepting new subscriptions to SmartWifi/SmartBro; and

   4.Investigate similar complaints of subscribers of SkyDSL, BayantelDSL, PLDT myDSL, Globelines Broadband and other broadband internet services.

   We would gladly extend all possible assistance to the Commission for the thorough investigation of this issue and towards the satisfaction of consumer rights and welfare of aggrieved subscribers.

   Looking forward to the Commission’s positive response.

   Respectfully yours,

   Tonyo Cruz
   Co-Convenor
   TXTPower

4. miku January 12th, 2007 at 8:39 pm 4

   I know one solution. I just posted it. Hopefully, you can read it.

5. miku January 12th, 2007 at 10:46 pm 5

   English. *sweat*

   I’ve just registered but I’ve been visiting this place whenever I have problem regarding smartbro. I’m not pro/anti-smartbro because, well, I’m a subscriber ^^’ I chose smartbro so everytime I encounter a problem, I patiently call their customer service and ask for help and, although, I have to admit that they usually can’t be of any help ^^’ (yeah, I’m sure we’ve memorized all those troubleshooting they’re asking us). This last problem I AM encountering, the “connected-but-can’t-browse web sites” nearly made me lose my temper, though. ^^’ But I’m glad I got to meet somebody working for SmartBro (through Pangya, imagine?!), as far as I’ve remembered, he’s one of the people? or The One?, behind SmartBro system, and he truly helped me.

   To get straight to the point: he taught me a “temporary” fix and, well, gave me the permission to share it to people who’re encountering the same problem.

   So: If you can connect to the internet, can play MMORPG like Pangya, and can open Google (yes, I’m fairly sure you can open Google), BUT CAN’T browse other websites like Yahoo! and Friendster, this might probably help. By the way, the problem was probably? triggered by the earthquake.

   The temporary fix (temporary because The Man is currently working on it):

   A short explanation of the solution:
   Use a proxy. Change your browser configuration to manually configure proxy.
   Proxy URL: proxy.smartbro.net
   Port: 8080
   Nevermind the SOCKS.

   I am not sure whether this is necessary, but I was also asked to manually configure my DNS.
   Primary DNS: 203.84.191.216
   Secondary DNS: 203.88.128.3
   I forgot the Third, sorry ^^’

   THERE. Hopefully this helps. AND, please do check your browser, from time to time, if it can connect without the proxy to know if the problem is solved already. AND, if you have the time, please inform me of the outcome or any other problem that you encounter. Email me or comment on this page or visit any of my blog or YM me, to help solve the problem. Thank you.

   I’m doing this because I respect the guy’s (Sir Vincent Michael Arniego) effort of helping me.

   ^^’

6. Syeblig January 22nd, 2007 at 2:56 am 6

   I guess it will be of a great help.. Though the problem I encountered after the earthquake is reversed… I’m having no problem browsing the internet but connecting to games is really a pain in the ***.. Imagine sitting for MORE THAN AN HOUR trying to login but always got disconnected and even if you succeded, either you can’t move or you got disconnected again.. Anyway, my connection are back to normal now..

7. smartbrobulok February 17th, 2007 at 9:23 pm 7

   gud pm po. tulungan nyo rin po kami sa ibang site. we need to spread the rust smartbro has been putting on us users for years now. this needs to be stopped. sobra na po talaga ang kahayupan ng smartwifi o bro na yan sa mga subscribers nila. they are not human. they are money-suckers. mga friends marami din po kami sa ibang forum na we need assistance din po. please help other smartbro victims. kung may time po kayo drop by kayo sa http://www.pinoyservant.com nifer din po ako dito ng taga dun. i think message boards should spread talaga issues on smarbro services. we need to do something.

   pangit po talaga service ng smart. getting into my nerves na po. hope talaga na may isang legal group na tumulong sa mga kagaya natin.

8. kevin May 19th, 2008 at 10:35 am 8

   at Syeblig…

   games use another “proxy setting” … if you are setting up proxies on firefox, those proxies apply only to firefox..

   try to go to control panel –>internet options–>connections–> lan settings..

   there you will be able to set the “default” proxy for almost everything.. hope this helps… c\