The title is a mild way of starting off this sentence: Excuses are like assholes. Everyone has them and they all stink. I don't like making excuses, especially when I'm making them on behalf of someone else.
Some of you may wonder why I don't respond to email or blog comments in a timely manner. You know I'm up and around, awake and ready to go. It's not my fault I'm not responding as quickly as I should and I'm not making any excuses for my Internet provider. Subictel sucks to no end. For a minimum of 8 hours per day, during the day, I've had an intermittent connection where I'm connected maybe 10 minutes per hour (if I'm lucky — I've been trying to post this for over two hours). I have a decent connection from 10 pm through 10 am, on holidays and on Sundays.
I have a multimeter here. Rather, my brother-in-law June does. I've been using it off and on for the last month to measure the voltage and amperes coming through my 220V line (I have a 110V line also). Despite what the Subictel technical support representative told me (and I bought off on it at the time), there isn't a power issue. I suspect there's another issue, but I'm not technically inclined enough to put it into words.
Earlier today, I called Subictel and gave them a piece of my mind. They said they would start a "job order". I've heard this line more times than I can count. I have the current monthly bill in my possession. I'm not going to pay it until they fix my connection, one way or another. This isn't the US. They can't ruin my credit.
Until very recently, I was stuck with two choices: 1) Use a prepaid dial-up card and 2) Subictel DSL. A third option appeared a month or two ago that I couldn't pursue because of my one-year contract with Subictel. Globe Broadband is available with a Wi-Fi connection. They even provide a router so that more than one computer can be connected. One of my neighbors, Joel, is using it now. He gets more than 3 megabits per second while I get 1.5 megabits on a good day (or night I should say). He pays 2000 pesos per month. I pay 2500 pesos per month. Who's getting the better end of the stick? He is!
For my Filipino friends: If you live in Olongapo City and you have broadband choices, skip Subictel. Their service is horrible and they make nothing but excuses for it. What do you expect from an ISP who hasn't updated their website since 2002?
