The information that we are waiting from Manny V. Pangilinan was revealed yesterday in a lunch press con in Makati Shangri La. Almost everyone are in there, media, bloggers and blogger friends that I haven’t seen for such a long time, it was like a mini reunion.
Coming from MVP himself, the big announcement is about SMART’s new gimmick.. to provide free internet here in the Philippines. Everyone were shocked to hear this and some clapped their hands because this is the next big thing in the world of mobile communication.
I listed some of my speculation of MVP’s big announcement and I was right, they will give free internet to all SMART prepaid subscribers. You can read my speculation list here at http://azraelsmerryland.blogspot.com/2014/09/some-speculation-and-ideas-about-manny.html
The Q and A is very interesting, MVP answered it and then he got some backer to answer some techie questions. Then we learned that the free internet is only 30MB, you can use it per day as long as you are an active SMART prepaid subscriber.
It will require you to have at least PHP 1 peso load, just send a text “FREE” to 9999, and then you are ready to go and enjoy your 30MB for a day. The FREE internet promo is also activated on the hour of the press con. The free internet also applies to 3G and 4G connection.
The free internet of SMART opens only to email, blogging, Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and etc.
But then its not available for Youtube, video streaming, peer to peer sharing, VOIP, messaging app and download of videos or content. You can use it only for web viewing and web posting.
They also shared some stats like:
- 1/3 of their prepaid subscribers are using the internet
- a total of 66 million SMART prepaid subscribers
- 90% of pinoys using prepaid
The reason for SMART’s free internet promo that will run til Nov 30, 2014, is that this is part of SMART’s advocacy that started years ago – “free internet for all”. Me as a SMART subscriber, and also a blogger for telco news, I felt their advocacy from the very start and this is the best turning point to offer free stuff for their subscribers.
There’s a big debate already on who started the FREE Facebook, Globe already said that they started first, but then I just learned that Smart did it first during the first release of HTC Chacha and then followed by the SmartNET, which I heavily used in posting and reading Facebook and Twitter status (with PHP 1 or zero load – which no one believed in me haha)
But what the heck..its free and we will use this in time of need. MVP and his team told us that this FREE internet if for the Filipino people who can’t afford to buy internet or to those who aren’t familiar using the web. With this free internet promo, they now have the opportunity to use it for free everyday and to encourage them to try and use internet for their their communication, entertainment and education.
During the Q and A, I learned that SMART will also run an awareness campaign on how to use the internet responsibly. I hope that they can pop up a website and menu with lots of readable info on how to use email, surfing the web, use Facebook and also how to be a responsible newbie netizen.
MVP said that SMART is ready to receive big traffic, because they are prepared for this and ready to serve millions of subscribers. For me, this sounds like a stress test, let’s wait and see if mobile internet of SMART can accommodate millions of web surfers per day, I think they need this if ever they want to upgrade.
As for post paid subscribers, I feel their complain that its not fair that everyone gets free 30MB of internet. I know that SMART’s agenda is to open the web for those who can’t afford it, but if you serve your customers the right way, they should open a free 30MB for post paid subscribers, just to be fair and square.
But its okay, its an early Christmas gift from SMART, and I’m sure that the Nov 30 expiration will be extended…as MVP said, they will increase the data cap in the future if they see a positive result.
my wish list:
make it 100mb per day or week
Here are some photos I took from the press con / using my new Nikon D5300
hhahaha. I’m still having newbie vibe when using a new DSLR for the 1st time.
After the press con, I personally tried the FREE Internet
I checked my load and it says that I have PHP 9 left.
so I texted FREE to 9999 to register my phone for the free internet of SMART
and here’s the reply I got.
That’s the confirmation message that I know qualify for the FREE internet
My first attempt is to post a photo in my Instagram
and here’s the result.
I noticed that the 3G signal is still the same, it fluctuates, sometimes its fast and then there are times that it is slow. But that’s okay, I blame my old sim because it can snatch 3G signal only. I will try next time with my pocket wifi with HSDPA. ( read in their website that this wont work on broadband prepaid)
with SMART free internet, I can also read and surf some blogs
btw, that’s my blog in mobile format.
I can also surf around Instagram and also Facebook
After some minutes, I checked my load and the PHP 9 is still there.
I tried surfing Youtube but the connection stays dead and it didn’t allow me to surf through it.
There’s also no web notification yet if how many MB you have used.
I hope they can redirect me to a site just like in SMART powerapp where I have the option to continue and pay for additional charges to surf Youtube, just like what they did to the Facebook surf unlimited promo for PHP5 per day.
here’s some info about Smart Free Internet
you can read more info here at http://www1.smart.com.ph/prepaid/freeinternet
and here’s what you can do with a 30 MB
I used it in surfing the web, FB and IG, and for me, oks lang.
thanks SMART for the free internet...too bad that I can't use this here in Cavite, because 3G is dead in our area. pls fix it.
