By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
I had mixed feelings when I came upon the letter to the editor of Globe SVP for Corporate Communications Yoly Crisanto titled “PH’s mobile internet ‘comparable’ to other countries” in the January 8, 2018 issue of the Philippines Daily Inquirer (PDI). Crisanto defended the company from the allegation that together with PLDT, Globe is to blame for the “slow and spotty but expensive internet and mobile phone services across the archipelago” made in the article “Duterte wants telco duopoly broken by March” in the December 20, 2017 issue of the PDI.
I was amused to find out that Globe knows how to write after all but apparently, is choosy about the adverse stimuli it responds to. In this case, it took exception to general allegations against it but not to a claim of specific deceitful act by the company. I am referring to my letter to the editor slamming the company for its absurd 256 Kpbs minimum speed for its Internet plans appearing in small prints in its flyers (“One for the books, an unthinkable absurdity” which was published in the Letters section of the PDI on November 11, 2017, or a month before the article Globe is replying to the letter of Crisanto. Among others, I had stated in the letter that the minimum speed is 20 times slower than the 5 Mbps minimum speed of PLDT and allows it to continue deceiving the public with its false promise of “blazing speeds” in its advertisements.
Their letter also aroused anew my anger over the company’s resolve to keep people in the dark about the issue of its minimum Internet speed.
Actually, that was my second letter to the editor on the issue of Globe’s minimum Internet speed which the telco refuses to answer. In the first letter published on May 2, 2017 in the Business Mirror, I had related how I wrote Globe CEO Ernest Cu on January 6, 2017 asking what is the minimum speed for my Plan 1299 the Globe Telecom official Facebook account said I should have at least 60 percent of the advertised speed, their official e-mail feedback address talk@globe.com.ph wrote I am supposed to get no lower than 8 Mbps and Globe Telecom Tuguegarao City employee Jayson Arugay had told me that per company policy, the obligation of the Globe Telecom to holders of Plan 1299 in Tabuk City is already considered met with a minimum speed of 200 Kbps. My inquiry started around the middle of November 2016, two weeks after installation, because the speed had gone down to an average of 2 Mbps from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., going to as low as 130 Kbps during peak hours, which was way below the 7 Mbps the installing team told me would be the minimum acceptable speed of my plan.
I got additional damning proof that Globe is deliberately ambiguous about its minimum speed when I followed up my letter at the Globe headquarters in Global City on March 3, 2017. Customer Service Representative Carol Rivera tentatively said that it’s the email feedback address that is the authority meaning I should have 8 Mbps but then she could not really state it categorically and ended up connecting me with someone on their hotline she would later identify as Anne. Anne said among others that the minimum speed of Plan 1299 is 8 Mbps and that there must be congestion in Tabuk City if my connection does not reach that speed.
All the while their customer service representatives make these at least 6 Mbps minimum speed claims, their flyers and even online advertisements contain a small print stating that they have 256 Kbps minimum speed at 80 percent reliability which means, that the speed could still go down 20 percent of the time.
Come to think of it, Globe’s continuing refusal to clarify its declared minimum speed is a violation of Memorandum Order No. 07-07-2011 because Rule 2 thereof provides: “The subscribers/consumers shall be properly informed of the broadband/internet connection service being offered to them.” But then again, that is the least Globe would worry about because the NTC had approved its preposterous 256 Kbps minimum speed which of course is another topic altogether.**
