Just a few months back I moved to a new apartment somewhere in Makati-Pasay area in Metro Manila. As a tech blogger, one of my main concerns in was the internet speed reliability and service quality in the area especially the home broadband line, which was solved already, and the cellular network.
My first choice back was going to PLDT Home DSL Speedster Plan 1299, but due to the lack of available port in our area, I just went to Globe Home Tattoo wired with bundled telephone, which I currently enjoy with rare maintenance or downtime so far.
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Poor SMART signal coverage in my location
The experiences from wired service were relative in my mobile cell experience. Smart, Sun Cellular, and Talk’n’Txt have very poor coverage in my place. I’m surprised because I’m in a populated area, yet Smart is unusable. The signal is between 2G/GPRS or 2.5G/EDGE. It’s very rare to get a 3G/HSPA/HSPA+ signal even in one bar, but connecting still result to a very slow and unstable internet.
In my phone with Globe prepaid SIM card, I’m always on 4G LTE, which aside from that, Globe’s 4G LTE is open to all its promo including the GoSakto for prepaid or postpaid. You won’t need to specify before subscription if you want a 3G or 4G-only connection.
See also Smart Bro LTE is now SurfMax Plus
Smart has SurfMax for 3G/HSPA+ and SurfMax Plus for 4G LTE. The same with their postpaid plans, you need to subscribe or upgrade your SIM. Be reminded that Smart starts data capping and speed throttling when you upgrade to their 4G LTE esp. for postpaid.
To be fair, I performed a speed test in different locations just to see if which network really provides a better connection and not just conclude within a singe location. Of course, I cannot guarantee that my test results would reflect all. Overall speed will still depend on many factors including ping or latency (higher = slower) and distance to a tower.
Before going to the numbers or results of this test, let’s first lay out the different factors that contribute to your internet speed.
See also PLDT Home vs Globe Tattoo vs SkyCable Plans Price, Speed
Factors for fast or slow internet speed in download or upload
- ping or latency, affected by hops, server distance (lower = better)
- location or distance from the cellular site or tower
- the number of users within the area
- software (running apps, virus, etc.)
- processor speed
- transit vehicles (slower when you’re in a moving car, jeep/bus, or train)
- the wireless chip and other hardware components
- an environment such as weather, noise, etc.
I used Speed Test app on two phones with the Globe inserted in my Huawei Nexus 6P and Smart in LG G4 and LG Nexus 5X.
Results of internet speed comparison: Globe vs Smart
| Telco | Globe | SMART | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Link type | Download | Upload | Ping (low=good) | Download | Upload | Ping (low=good) |
| SM Megamall, San Juan | 18.85Mbps | 6.54Mbps | 18 ms | 2.81 Mbps | 1.07 Mbps | 49 ms |
| LRT Buendia / Libertad, Pasay | 2.94 Mbps | 2.50 Mbps | 28 ms | 2.48 Mbps | 0.84 Mbps | 435 ms |
| SM Manila | 1.05 Mbps | 0.11 Mbps | 458 ms | 7.72 Mbps | 0.46 Mbps | 46 ms |
| LRT Central | 3.38 Mbps | 0.22 Mbps | 335 ms | 4.43 Mbps | 1.37 Mbps | 189 ms |
| Bangkal, Makati | 4.91 Mbps | 2.56 Mbps | 20 ms | 3.34 Mbps | 1.66 Mbps | 34 ms |
Note: ms = milliseconds, Mbps = Megabits per second (1byte = 8 bits) where MBps is MegaBYTES and Mbps is MegaBITS, 1 Mbps = 1000Â kbps
All in automatic server except on SM Manila and SM Megamall which used Makati as the server.
See also Mobile Internet Promo, Prices for Prepaid by Globe GoSakto
The scores listed in the table are the highest from the 2-3 tests in each location. Also, take note that Nexus 6P was on 4G LTE all the time while LG G4 on HSPA+ (SM Megamall), and Nexus 5X on 3G HSPA. We just realized during the test that Smart only provide LTE to SurfMax Plus and postpaid users with 4G enabled number.
Remember this also, that 3G is more congested than a 4G network, vice versa, depending on the capacity and traffic.
Which is faster Globe or Smart? Which has the best internet service between Globe or Smart?
In our test, Globe won by 3/5 locations for having faster download, upload speeds, and lower ping rate. But again, this test will not 100% reflect on the over speed and reliability you will be getting in your area.
Feel free to share your results too in the comment section. I will also update these once I visit Ayala, Greenbelt, Ayala Triangle, NAIA 3 Terminal in the airport and more locations.
Yeah as what as i have observe, yes Globe has the fastest internet in our country but many times after downloading a big files i found out that many of these files were corrupted and compressed files like .rar or .zip cannot be extracted and shows errors of corruption. i am not against Globe ,this is only as what i have experienced. Unlike SMART ,eventhough i could’nt get the fastest speed i want but it is very reliable in downloading Big Files. After downloading, files is intact and not corrupted.
– Arcjade
To my actual experience globe is better in terms of lte coverage. I have a monitor for globe and smart lte’s. I travel from my home in Pasig and makati. And my monitors for both telcos are open. Smart cuts services in most areas with globe almost all the time lte’s always on. So forvyou guys who want to have wifi on board on your vehicle like mine I recommend to use globe.
All operators in the Philippines have one of the slowest speeds in the world and most expensive bit per second in the world making them most expensive operators. Not kidding
Globe prepaid (and thus gosakto) uses a different apn from globe postpaid. My moms postpaid data is much much MUCH faster than mine
even with the same phone?
Have never tried it. But its a big difference in data speed. My mom has an iphone 6 plus and i have an lg g2. I dont think that phone speed is that big a factor in our case. Its more like a network issue.
I see. How about the promo you are subscribed to?
Gosakto with 1gb data
you are comparing globe lte and smart 3g??? di ko gets pero i think this is unfair. globe 3g to smart 3g dapat and globe lte to smart lte please. kasi obviously lte is far way better than 3g. unless those areas are not yet supported with smart lte.
some areas do not have 4G LTE for certain telco. There are times that HSPA+ is also faster than 4G LTE.
Internet speeds in PI really suck! Well, better than none.
Downloading files like .rar it is our problem not in globe first learn what is the difference in file type before we download dont blame globe to lack of impormation of the user