Crazy About Nail Polish

...And I'm back. After a few weeks on hiatus, I decided to do an entry due to boredom. And due to someone who cussed me in the comments (which I marked as spam in Disqus immediately) in one of my SmartBro entries.

I don't know what his/her problem was, I'm not even affiliated with Smart. Oh well. Maybe he didn't understand English, since he didn't get that I've had my account disconnected because of unsatisfactory service. I've already blacklisted him.

Anyway, what I really came here for was for these:

Caronia Tahiti Brown and Bobbie Candy Cane (which added the glittery effect on my ring finger)

San San Blush Pink and Bobbie Candy Cane

Bobby Kohl and Bobbie Candy Cane

The past few days I've been cray-cray about nail polish. All of them are actually old nail polish (the Bobbie ones are my sister's LOL), except for the Caronia Tahiti Brown which I bought just last week.

I love the effect Bobbie Candy Cane has done to plain colored nail polish, and my favorite is the one I'm wearing now (3rd photo).

Quick review on the Bobbie nail polishes: Even though these are already a few months old, they haven't thickened yet unlike other nail polishes I know, Plus they dry easily once applied. The brush is too thick for me though. I took longer to clean up than the actual application of the polish. :p

Smart Has Sold My Account To Their Trusted Collecting Agency

I can't believe this. In the middle of negotiating about the waiver of my pre-termination fee for the Wimax internet connection I have stopped using on the 3rd week of December 2011, Smart has went behind my back and sold my account to a collecting agency. And here I was waiting for them to process my request and reply to my email messages.

They already called the house this morning and my brother was the one whom they talked to and they said that they were a collecting agency.

Now I know who the freak is calling me up during office hours without even texting first if he/she should call. Different numbers starting with 0948110- ring my cellphone without any hesitation at all. However, I don't answer numbers not in my phonebook, so best of luck to you bastos people out there. I'm not hiding, just at least have the decency to text first diba? I reply naman e. Plus I answer as soon as you let me know who you are and why you need to talk to me, through text or email. Bastusan kasi e.

Anyway, I sent an email again letting them know that I know that my account is with a collecting agency already, and I cc'd my contact at the NTC. Smart, just disconnect my account already and I will gladly pay for my ***USED*** balance, that is, 2 weeks from last December 2011.

SmartBro WiMax X: Smart's Response on SIM Card Only Plan Migration

Apparently my suggestion for WiMax to SIM Card Only plan migration was not approved, and I'm back to square one - waiting for the approval of the pre-termination fee to be waived.

I'm not so sure if they are really processing it, and I am losing patience. It's been two, almost three weeks since my request. I've been really, really patient with them and professional. Tell me, does it really take THAT long to process such a request? I know for a fact that SmartBro WiMax in Luzon has been their problem for awhile now, due to their faulty modem. I have my sources. Even one former celebrity (hence, VIP) has been submitting a similar complaint with mine.

I already told them that this December will be the last month I pay for that internet connection until my request gets approved, and I'll pay it in full (monthly fee of P799), even though I have not used it for two to three weeks already.

I CC'd NTC with my latest reply to Smart; hopefully they read the email trail and see how unfair and slow Smart's service is. I'm really disappointed.

SmartBro WiMax IX: NTC's Response

Here's NTC's reply to my email:

Good am,

Thank you for your email. With regards to your concerns, rest assured that we will act on your complaint accordingly and inform the parties concerned for the immediate resolution of the said matter.

For your guidance and information.


God Bless and have a nice day.



Kind Regards,

Victor A. Gusto

Permanent Support Staff

OSPAC - NTC

-----

Smart has also replied regarding te plan migration. To my dismay, Angie offered SmartBro variants that are even more expensive than my current subscription:

Dear Ms. Rafols,


Thank you for writing us back.

[area hidden for confidentiality - author] has SMART Bro Fixed
Wireless Canopy and SMART HSPA coverage. However, successful
installation of the Canopy antenna will depend on the Line of Sight
(LOS) from the actual installation address to the nearest serving site.

Please write us again if you need further assistance, Ms. Rafols.


Sincerely,

Angie /edb
Customer Care

-----
I responded by suggesting the SIM Only variant of SmartBro, and that I will not consider plan migration if I pay for anything other than the P999 first month fee for the SIM card. I'm still waiting for the waiver of pre-termination fee.

SmartBro WiMax VIII: Smart Wrote Back Part II

Guess what, Smart replied again! I think they read my blog. Anyway, they're offering plan migration, wherein I get another SmartBro variant, although this is also subject to approval. I'm still waiting for the details. I would consider it if I don't have to pay for anything for the process.

SmartBro WiMax VIII: Smart Wrote Back

After a few days' wait, Smart responded to my email. A customer care attendant named Angie replied:

-----
Dear Ms. Rafols,


Thank you for writing us.

Request for disconnection of your Smart Bro subscription is done
over-the-counter through any Smart Wireless Center branch. Here are the
requirements for Voluntary Permanent Disconnection (VPD):

- Completion of the contract or settlement of the applicable
Pre-Termination Fee (PTF) if still within contract computed as: Monthly
Service Fee x number of remaining months under lock-in period

- Settlement of outstanding balance
- Completely filled-out and signed form for the said request
- Valid ID of the registered subscriber

You may also send a representative to transact on your behalf with the
following documents:

- Letter of Authorization (signed by the subscriber)
- Photocopy of the subscriber's valid ID
- Representative's original valid ID

Meantime, we have forwarded request to our support group for waiving of
Pre-Termination Fee. Please note, that this is still subject for
approval. We will advise you of any updates once we received feedback
from our support group.

Should you require assistance on other matters, Ms. Rafols. Please
write us again.


Sincerely,

Angie
Customer Care
-----

I told her that I was looking forward for the pre-termination fee to be waived and said (again) that the internet's too slow even during the dawn.

Please help me pray that I get this internet subscription disconnected before the year ends without having to pay anything other than my outstanding balance.

SmartBro WiMax VII: Request to Terminate

Fed up by the super slow connection even late at night, I decided to send an email to both Smart and the NTC. No response yet though. I still have no idea what to do if I get ignored. :(

SmartBro WiMax VII: Fast Connection in the Morning

I'm already at the office but I felt the need to share my observations earlier with the new modem.

1 AM.
Torrent download was fast - it reached 60kBps, but surfing was slow. I could open a website, but I'd have to wait for a few minutes. I tried Speedtest but I lost my patience and just went to sleep.

6AM-7AM
Torrent download reached a speed of at least 100kBps. I tried surfing and it was fast. I tried Speedtest, upload was at least 1MBps, download at least 0.4MBps.

I wonder what's slowing down the connection at night. Will test again later when I get home from work.

SmartBro WiMax Part VII: New Modem

I have a new modem. Or so I think it is. I'm testing it right now. No, I'm not using it to post this entry. I'm still using my phone's 3G connection.

The modem seems to be fine, aside from it takes awhile to find a decent signal. Forget about the internet speed. At this time, it's really

really

really

...

slow. I-can't-even-open-Speedtest.net-slow. And it restarts ever so often.

This thing has 1-year warranty. Although I'm giving it a month or two to die. I was hoping that there wasn't any extra unit in the Smart Wireless Center so that I had grounds to terminate, but it seems like they have an endless supply of modems. Or maybe they're just recycling the old ones.

Anyway, this is another chance for Smart. I hope they come through this time.

SmartBro WiMax VI: Modem Problems Again Part III

So I'm bringing the modem back to Smart today. Let's see if they give me another replacement this day.

If they do, I'll give them another chance; if I can't get a modem today, I'll ask for the email of the person/s I could write to for the termination of my subscription.

SmartBro WiMax VI: Modem Problems Again (Part II)

I haven't brought my modem yet to the Smart Wireless Center. I've been stressing about it lately and finally decided that I've had enough. This WiMax connection has been one of my stressors since the day I applied for it, sad to say. I don't have the time to bring their defective modem back and have it replaced only for the replacement modem to break down after a couple of weeks. I don't have the patience to do that anymore.

I wrote a letter to Smart Communications requesting termination of their service without having to pay for the pre-termination fee (PSF) and other such payments related to disconnection. I sent it through their WebConnect service 24 hours ago, and they haven't responded yet. But then it says that "valid" requests will be responded to within 24-48 hours of submission. I wonder how they classify a valid request. Anyway, if they don't respond within the hours they said, I will send them an email again or maybe go straight to the NTC.

I am actually very, very tempted to just ignore it, get another broadband subscription from one of their competitors. After all, all they could do if I don't pay up is to sell my account to one of the collection agencies, and then these collection agencies would send demand letters, have a "lawyer" call me and threaten to sue me. They can sue me all they want, I know that I won't be jailed for it. Section 20 of the Philippine Constitution states that: No person shall be imprisoned for debt or non- payment of a poll tax.

Real lawyers don't threaten people or coerce them to pay up or they will sue. That only happens on TV. I know that for a fact because I come from a family of lawyers too, and they don't act that way. 

Au contraire, if the consumer is actually forced to pay up or threatened, these "lawyers" can be the ones to be sued as stated in the Revised Penal Code Article 287.

SmartBro WiMax Review VI: Modem Problems Again

So I think my Motorola CPEi 23825 is broken. As you might remember, this is the second modem I got from Smart in a very short span of 3 months. They replaced my old modem of the same model because the tech supp couldn't figure out what was wrong with it.The new one right here has a different problem though: it couldn't get past the initialization stage, where the 3rd LED just keeps blinking. Different from the problem I had with the old one.Anyway, I'm about to write a letter addressed to Smart concerning all my past problems and that which is bothering me now, hoping that it would be enough to have them waive the pre-termination fee. I'm also prepared to bargain with them to just transfer my contract to another service as long as they agree to waive the pre-termination fee of my wimax subscription.I'm tempted to just ignore this and not pay for the remaining months but I don't want any legal stuff under my name so I'll just bring the modem in this weekend and be patient enough. *sigh*

Smartbro WiMAX Review V: Modem Problems

This morning my modem restarted suddenly. Now I didn't see any problem with it since I think it's a normal thing. However, I noticed that it could not find a signal, so I went ahead and checked it's control panel.

It turns out that it had hard-reset itself and now Smart's configuration (Security, Username, Password and Realm) is gone, so obviously it would not be possible to connect to Smart WiMAX internet. (I'm using my other internet connection now, btw).

I decided to call customer service despite the numerous claims that they sucked. I got a technical support rep in just one try. I then proceeded to tell him my story, and that I needed Smart's configuration to make the modem work. However, this happened:

1. He asked me if the modem had "running lights", and told me that it was looking for a signal. He suggested that I reconnect the modem and wait for it to find a signal. Which is a stupid thing to suggest, by the way, since the modem does not have Smart's configuration, obviously IT WOULD NOT FIND A SIGNAL.
2. So I asked him if it was possible for him to give me the configuration instead, but he told me that they don't cater to that request, and then proceeded on the "running lights" solution once again. This time I told him that I was actually an EcE and I at least knew the basic things about modems and how they FREAKING NEED the username and password from the freaking internet service provider for them to work. Actually, one does not have to be an EcE to know that! Nowadays, it's called "common sense".
3. Again with the "running lights".
4. When I asked him if I should just bring my modem to the wireless center, he actually was discouraging me to do so! He told me that what they do is the same with what the wireless center would do. It also seemed that he wanted to waste more of my time by lengthening the conversation. What, do they have a time quota for every call they get?

I'll be bringing my modem to the wireless center later, and hopefully they fix it as soon as possible.

*******

Update:

When I had my modem checked at the wireless center, the customer care representative did not get to find out what was wrong with it, so she had it replaced with a new one, which I am using right now. She also did not have any idea about the username and password necessary for the modem to connect to the internet. The tech support was right about one thing though: that the wireless center customer care would do the same exact procedure he was asking me to do (although I've done it numerous times already, that's how I knew what was wrong), although of course as he was on the phone, he couldn't replace my modem, which the wireless center could do. LOL.

Tatagalugin ko na: Smart, pwede ba paki-update yung mga manuals ng mga customer service at technical support reps nyo para hindi sila nagmumukang tanga. At wag nyong pagmukaing tanga ang mga customers nyo, matagal nang gumagamit ang mga tao ng modem kaya kahit papano alam na nila yung basic troubleshooting. Nagsasayang kayo ng pampasweldo sa kanila, wala naman silang naitutulong sa mga customers.


Ok I'm done ranting. It's just so frustrating that the one thing that you need, you couldn't get because of stupid people. Anyway, I'm just glad I have a new modem. And now for the test drive.

*******
Another update:


I can surf now! I was expecting the internet to be super slow at this time yet here I am updating my blog. So the modem was really the problem then. Or the base station. Since I have a new modem I also got a new serving site too. Hmm. Lemme ask my friend who works at Smart. :)

Smartbro Wimax Review Part IV

So it so happens that I have a close friend working at Smart whose expertise happens to be Wimax technology, and I happened to talk to him this morning.

This post was what started the grueling whole-morning troubleshooting of the problem of my connection. Unfortunately, the only thing he can check is the status of the serving site if it's behaving efficiently. So here's what I got from him:

1. The modem doesn't have to be in the line of sight of the serving site.
2. I'm the only one using Wimax on the sector I belong in so there shouldn't be a problem. Sorry I couldn't explain what a "sector" exactly is.

After he checked the status of the serving site, he said that there was no problem there, so I'm back to square one. He told me to try to call customer service but he also forwarded my problem to the complaints department already. I guess I'll just have to wait and hope that this gets resolved soon. :)

Smartbro Wimax Review Part III

So today's the 5th day of my Wimax connection. And it's getting pretty frustrating on the browsing part.

I've noticed that the connection almost stops - yes, STOPS - from around 7PM to 11PM. I could download my torrents but it's a bit slower than normal, and I could *not* surf the internet. I just hope this improves overtime. I hope someone from Smart reads this. :)

Smartbro Wimax Review

Last September 17, I bought a voucher from Cashcashpinoy on Smartbro Wimax 1Mbps (125MBps ***edit*** 0.125MBps ***edit***) subscription plus *free* modem for Php799/month, with lock in period of 24 months. I redeemed this yesterday, and since there were a lot of people in the Smart/PLDT center, it took almost 2 hours before I got my modem and subscription. I actually already have another internet subscription from another network, but since their connection is below average, I decided to try Smartbro Wimax.

The moment I got home, I ran to my room to test my new toy - a Motorola CPEi 825 Wimax modem. It was a breeze to install the product, but it took quite a while to find a signal. When it did, all the five signal bars were lit, which means I have perfect reception from my room. Oh and by the way, I first placed the modem on the window ledge to get maximum coverage, but since I didn't want to damage it (I heard it was hard to get customer service from Smart - haven't confirmed this yet, but I'm just playing safe. :D), I transferred it on my desk, which is still near the window so there was no difference in the signal bars. It took me a little more than 30 minutes to completely finish the setup (what, there were a lot of cables involved! :p).

When I started browsing though, was another story. I thought I'd try to check my connection's speed through one of the speed test sites. I noticed that my internet kept disconnecting and it was so slow. The speed test site even barely finished loading. I was really worried then because of the lock-in period. I could not last two years with that kind of connection. It was even slower than my 3G internet. :(

I tried all sorts of experiments to make the connection smoother and faster - I straightened the ethernet cable, updated the driver of my ethernet controller, restarted the modem - to no avail. But then at around 1130pm, the internet came to life! I had my torrent downloader on and it registered 60-80kBps download speed; although surfing was still kind of slow for me. I tried another speed test and it only registered 0.25Mbps download speed, which should be around 30kBps download speed only (is my assumption correct? Sheesh, I'm a certified EcE and yet I'm not so familiar with this stuff).

And so I tested this connection until around about half past 12 - way, way past my bedtime - and there were no downtimes unlike when I first fired up the modem; and yes, it was faster than my 3G internet, which is the way it's supposed to be.

In the morning, upon waking up, which was around 5:30, I checked my torrents and was satisfied that at least 600MB worth of files has already been downloaded, and there was another 300MB+ file about to finish, plus my 50+% One Tree Hill Season 7 download (7.5GB) has reached 70+%, which is not bad. True to their word, Smart's claim of it being more stable has been proven, at least in the first day of my subscription. I sure do hope this does not change for the worse though, I'm actually beginning to love my Wimax. <3

I'll still be observing it for the next couple of weeks and posting reviews every now and then, so stay tuned! :) Photos will be posted soon, I promise!