By Estnislao Albano, Jr.
I visited your office on January 7, 2017 to follow up my letter dated and received by your office on December 19, 2016 asking clarification on the minimum speed for Plan 1299. Since you still had no response, I talked to Jayson Arugay who gave answers that raised more questions.
First, he alleged that E.G.M.L Telecommunication and the Globe Telecom official Facebook account had misinformed me when they first said that the minimum speed is 7 Mbps and the latter has stated that the acceptable speed for my plan is from 6 to 10 Mbps because according to him, per flyer, there is only “up to” and no minimum speed indicated and that the minimum speed depends on the available signal in the particular area which in the specific case of Tabuk, is 200 Kbps per your guideline. He explained that E.G.M.L Telecom was just after the commission and that you have no control over the contractor because it is the Globe head office which hired its services. He did not tell me why the Globe Telecom Facebook account would misinform me. Is the absurd allegation of Arugay that the speeds of plans depend on the available signal in an area true? Is it true that there is no standard quality of service for the plans you sell and that the average signal speed for plans vary from place to place? Is it true that Plan 1299 holders in Tabuk City are not entitled to what the Globe Telecom Facebook account said should be the speed of the plan? Per regular practice in the telecommunications industry here and abroad, could a plan be satisfactorily and fairly delivered if the speed averages 10 percent of the “up to” for most of the day when the system is being used? I could back this claim with test results from the time I connected to Globe on October 28, 2016.
I would like to comment that if the official Facebook account of Globe Telecom and 211 – 211 said that clients should get at least 60 percent of the “up to” of their plans – are misinformed about the “special” situation in Tabuk City, they should be updated by your branch so that they will not continue to feed us false hopes and in the process, rub salt on our wounds.
Second, when I pointed out that the speed in Tabuk City could go up to the range Globe Telecom Facebook stated (6 to 10 Mbps) from 2 AM to 7 or 8 AM, he said that that’s because there are a few users during that time and that during the day, the speed weakens because Globe has to spread out equally the available signal to all users in compliance with a policy of the National Telecommunications Commission to that effect. The question here is how come Tuguegarao Globe sells different plans when it knows fully well that it must comply with this alleged policy of the NTC to distribute the available speed equally to all customers? In effect, Arugay admitted that the Globe is collecting graduated prices for one and same quality of service. Is that Globe’s idea of fairness and public service?
Speaking about the capability of Globe to deliver 60 to 100 percent up of the “up to” at midnight to 7 to 8 AM, of what good is such strong signal to sleeping people? Are the plans of the Globe so designed so no one would really enjoy them since they are only satisfactory when people are asleep and during most of the day, the speeds could not even make clients browse with ease so to speak? And you call Globe a public utility company!
Third, he said that the policy of the Globe head office is to sell plans for as long as there are slots and at the same time admitted that you do not monitor the speeds in Tabuk City. So how do you know there are still slots when you do not know the strength of your signal in Tabuk City? You mean your policy is to sell blindly, meaning, regardless of the condition of your service in the city already which means even if the average speed goes lower than the current unthinkable 200 Kbps, you would still sell for so long as the national office does not stop you? In the entire organization of the Globe, who is supposed to monitor the kind of service Tabuk City is getting and to look after the welfare of the clients there – the Cagayan de Oro City Branch?
This Globe practice as per statement of Arugay that the speed range for Internet plans is taken from the bottom half of the scale and not at the top is contrary to human experience where what is considered passed is taken from the upper part of the scale like in school and government exams, in athletics, in employee performance evaluation, etc. It bespeaks of the utter callousness of telcos in this country. What if Globe clients only pay one-fourth of their bills since that is the service actually delivered?
Arugay could not answer when I asked if public utility companies are not supposed to see to it that they deliver satisfactory service and how could Globe do that in the case of Tabuk City when it does not even monitor the strength of its signal there? I pose the question to you now.
What I notice is that Globe is engaged in a farce designed to rip off its long-suffering clients in Tabuk City. You pretend not to know the situation in Tabuk City and that your role is only to sell plans to people there when it is only an hour away from Tuguegarao City. You pretend that you do not know the current number of clients in Tabuk City when it is very easy for you to get the list from your billing department. A communication company, you pretend that communications is not possible and is not happening among your departments. And the purpose is so you could say that your poor service in Tabuk City is not the fault of the Tuguegarao City office. But as the office selling the plans to and the branch closest to Tabuk City, shouldn’t you lead in the effort to see to it that the people you have sold to are served well?
The drama of the Globe Tuguegarao City is just a part of the deliberate attempt of the Globe to make itself appear compartmentalized to frustrate and discourage clients from seeking fair and passable services and thereby could get more money from the clients than the service it renders is actually worth. Imagine a branch under whose jurisdiction an area falls saying that it is not in control of the operations because it’s the head office calling the shots but at the same time does not even make any effort to have a say in the activities of other parts of the company concerning the delivery of services in the subject area.
May I have copies of communications from your office to your head office and other groups involved in the Tabuk City operations showing that the delivery of good service to the people of Tabuk City is of any concern to you. I would also like to have a copy of the guideline of Globe which says that for Tabuk City, a speed of 200 Kbps is already considered to meet your obligation to Plan 1299 clients.
Your answers to these questions are keenly awaited by myself and other Globe clients in Tabuk City. If you have no answers or do not intend to answer, kindly say so so we will know what other steps to take. **
