Meralco refund

I was pleasantly surprised to see my Meralco bill for the month of April was less than 1K php. Normally, this time of year, it should be close to 2K php. Careful examination of the document revealed that this is due to the Meralco refund of the overcharge late last year that was deemed illegal by the Supreme Court. "Overcharge" is too kind a word, let me rephrase that, Meralco returned the money they tried to steal last December because they got caught red handed, there, that's more like it. This is not the first time that this thieving company was caught trying to steal from the public and sadly it won't be the last. Maybe some bright lawyer out there can file criminal charges against the Meralco execs to teach them a lesson.

Smartbro Pocket Wifi

I have been testing SmartBro's pocket wifi for about a week now. And as a device, I find it very useful and convenient. It's about the size and weight of an old Nokia phone, and has it's own independent power source (i.e. battery) and therefore quite convenient if you're on the move. This little gadget can sniff out Smart's broadband signal even in places where the old SmartBro USB stick can not, and this without the hassle of putting up a canopy or anything of the sort.

First four days at home and the pocket wifi was clocking at over 4 mbps! It was advertised as "up to 7 mbps" so 4 mbps within the Metro Manila area seems fair enough. At almost 2K Php, it's definitely a good buy.

Oh except for one issue, and I found about it, ironically, because the pocket wifi did clock at an almost constant 4 mbps the first four days of my seven day unlisurf load.

Fifth day of the seven day unlisurf load, and the pocket wifi was down to 200 kbps tops. So I called *888 (smart tech support) and reported the issue. Each time  I called (I called three times) I get an immediate speed boost -- for about an hour or so and then it's back to 200 kbps or so. So I Google searched, and there I heard rumors of this mythical creature called the "Fair Usage Policy". While Smart has admitted to the existence of such a policy, they remain cryptic about the details of this creature -- how much is the cap? Talk about fine print! You need to be a psychic now, I guess. Just how fair is the "Fair Usage Policy" if Smart can not talk about it? Fine print using invisible ink, yeah, Smart, that seems fair!