Rex |

When Smart decided to drop the  price of their broadband prepaid plugit kit from P1995 to P995, I immediately decided to buy it even if I already have the Globe Tattoo which I bought some months ago for P1895 (now costs only P895).

The main reason I opted for Globe Tattoo before was because they charge every 15 minutes compared to Smart Bro which charges every 30 minutes. But now, Smart offers an ideal per-minute charging which means I can disconnect and reconnect anytime without being concerned of paying for unused minutes. Be aware though – you need to periodically register online to avail of the per-minute packages. Also, Smart Bro can be loaded using call and text cards with a simple text from any Smart phone unlike Globe Tattoo where I  have to insert the SIM in a phone just to use load cards. Also, I sell Smart load myself (hehe..) so I get to save on my profit margins if I load my Smart Bro myself. One more thing. The Smart Bro USB stick looks way better than the Globe Tattoo USB I got with the cheap stickers.

However, I do have serious complaints about this Smart Bro Plugit. First, it always takes about 1 minute and 30 seconds before I can connect from the moment I insert the plugit. That is very annoying. The Globe Tattoo on the other hand can connect almost immediately. The software of the Smart Bro Plugit is also inferior to that of Globe Tattoo. In fact, it is littered with bugs. Sometimes when I get disconnected for no reason,  the software would get stuck and the numbers in the speed indicator go berserk. Also, when I click the “Connect” button, the software tells me the USB modem cannot be detected even if it is and is already detected by the computer. Smart Bro also does not have the real time statistics graph present in Globe Tattoo. I like watching that graph very much. The interface of the Globe Tattoo software also looks better and is more functional in  my opinion.

As for speed and connectivity, Smart Bro and Globe Tattoo are about as fast as each other in my location. I do however get disconnected without warning from Smart Bro more often. I don’t  know if it is just a temporary problem with their system though. At certain periods, I also get the error message below every time I click the connect button which is very, very annoying. (UPDATE: disconnecting and reconnecting the USB might help)

A connection to the remote computer could not be established, so the port used for this connection was closed. For further assistance, click More Info or search Help and Support Center for this error number.

So between the two, will I choose Smart Bro or Globe Tattoo? I will go for Smart Bro! Why? Basically because I sell Smart load myself so minus my profit margin, an hour of internet will cost me only about P17.7! Haha! Also, the real winner is their per-minute packages. Thus, I disconnected to type this post offline and I will reconnect again for only a few minutes to post it. I only pay for the minutes I actually use!

For now, I can afford to bear the very very annoying cons of the Smart Bro Broadband while waiting for Sun Cellular to offer their unlimited mobile internet outside Metro Manila.

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