Smart Bro tops in connection, download speeds

MANILA, Philippines - Speed tests conducted by independent professional engineering service provider NESIC Philippines Inc. (NPI) has shown that the Smart Bro Plug-It has faster connection speeds compared to competition.

The tests, which were conducted in 100 locations around the country, revealed that Smart Bro outperformed its rivals 100 percent of the time in terms of average download speeds.

According to NESIC’s results, there is an average difference of 0.74Mbps between Smart Bro and its rivals with 26 areas reflecting a one Mbps discrepancy or greater.

Meanwhile, in terms of peak speed, Smart Bro also beat competition 99 percent of the time with an average difference of one Mbps.

“Peak speed” refers to the absolute fastest speed while “average speed” takes all results into account.

“Our subscribers are now enjoying the benefits of our improved network,” PLDT and Smart technology group head Rolando Peña said. “The numbers tell the story.”

Earlier this year, Smart and its parent company Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) began a new round of network upgrades. A total of P67 billion has been earmarked to update and install network elements, wireless base stations, fiber optic cables, and international gateways to further improve quality of service across all fronts.

“It’s easy to say that you have the fastest devices and the fastest wireless connection speeds, but if you don’t have a solid infrastructure working in the background, you can’t deliver quality service to your subscribers,” Peña said.

To date, PLDT and Smart have a total of 42,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables arranged in loops, with an additional 3,000 km of cabling set to be installed before end-2011. A “looped” configuration makes a network more resilient as it offers alternative means of transmitting data even when primary line of communication have been severed.

With thousands of cell sites located across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, Smart boasts of the nationwidest coverage in the country. Its HSPA and HSPA+ services are available in major cities and municipalities in the Philippines.

Smart is also pioneering the fastest 4G technology in the Philippines with the introduction of LTE (long term evolution) technology called Smart Evolution.