WiMax Round-Up: Globe vs. Smart vs. Wi-Tribe

I think we’re a bit fortunate to have 3 competing WiMax providers in the Philippines — there’s Globe, Smart and Liberty Telecoms. But just like the existing 3G networks that have been rolled out for years, WiMax is also dependent on location.

For reference, here’s a comparative chart of what the three telcos are offering — starting from 512Kbps up to 2Mbps.



Of the three, only Wi-Tribe is offering speeds of up to 2Mbps. Likewise, only Wi-Tribe is very transparent with their bandwidth capping policies. Globe also does bandwidth capping which is stated, in fine print, in the contract. I’m not sure if Smart has one but my guess is that they have to do this in order to maintain quality of service.

Again, the catch phrase here is “up to” — meaning if they say “up to 2Mbps” that means it could be somewhere between 1Kbps to 2048Kbps.

However, a lot of people experience something similar to what they call “buyer’s remorse”. This is mostly due to unsatisfactory quality of service.

I think the best way to handle this is for telcos to offer some sort of money-back guarantee. I think Globe offers a 30-day guarantee that customers can un-subscribe and get a refund for service they’re not satisfied with. Not sure if Smart or Wi-tribe offers the same.