SmartBro vs Globe Broadband

I haven't been able to post for a while because of some net issues and some work to do. Now that the problems have been settled, I wanna post my initial feedback on SmartBro and Globe Broadband.

My bro got a SmartBro connection at home for almost a year now. Of course, the plan is up to 384kbps only. To be able to use it for his PC and the two laptops at home, we have to use a wireless router. Setting up the wireless route ca be quite tricky for non-techie peeps esp since their upgrade problems last month but I managed to find solutions for this. Net speed is ok even for some downloads.

As my bro primarily uses it for gaming at night and during weekends, my sis got another connection last week -- this time using Globe Broadband at 1mbps with landline included. I have to say I'm quite disappointed with their connection. Although Speedtest.net records it as having around 800kbps-1mbps speed, other speedtest sites record it as only having 150-250kbps. Globe's tech support who checked the connection a couple of days after installation said that I have to check the actual download speed when downloading, etc... And they did say we can use a wireless router so we can share the connection at home but they just haven't tried it with the router at home. I managed to set it up with the wireless router here. After all, settings are automaticically detected (dynamic allocation) unlike Smartbro's fixed settings.

When Globe said that we base our speed test with our downloads, I can now compare the two. Using a shared Smartbro connection, I can download a 4mb file in 3minutes and a 40mb episode file in 30min or less. With Globe, the 4mb file takes more than 10min while the 40mb file takes around 80-100min. Aside from their lousy download speed, connection keeps on getting dropped.

Between the two, I'd say I rather have the 384kbps connection from Smartbro.

I Finally Have My Lappie Back For Good!

A couple of posts back I've written that I left my Compaq Presario B1285TU at Digital Interface to check on my webcam problem. I finally learned that it's a hardware problem and needs some part replacements. After a number of partial releases to me while waiting for the parts to arrive, I finally got it back for good this afternoon.

Well, according to the receipt I got, they've changed the LCD (with all the plastic coverings making it looking brand new than when I first bought it) and the mainboard to make sure all the will be working properly. I've checked the webcam and sure enough, it's working now. I just hope I won't encounter anymore problems with it.

Next time I get another lappie or gadget I'll probably get mine there because of their excellent service. Tomorrow, I'll setup this laptop again... customized to how I want it to be. I can now get back to my work... and my hobbies. hehe...

Thanks again to Digital Interface!

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I won't have a laptop for a couple of days

I will be leaving my laptop at Digital Interface this afternoon for maintenance. I hope I can get this back early next week.

More than a month ago, I brought my lappie to the HP service center at NCCC mall to have my webcam and cpu temperature checked. Everytime I try to use my webcam, a webcam not connected error appears. From searching the net, I found out that many HP laptops have this error with Vista. I asked their email support and got no useful feedback. The tech support at HP here wasn't helpful also. I was just told to reinstall my OS and that my 93-94degrees CPU temp was quite normal. Hello! That's already very near the boiling point. He just wasted my time. As I have to use my laptop for finish a lot of task, I put off reinstalling my laptop until 2 days ago. After I finished with the download of updates, I still get the webcam not connected error. So yesterday I decided to bring this laptop to another service center -- Digital Interface.

Customer Service was good. They called the tech guy and he inspected my laptop. Based on how he checked it, he looks knowledgeable enough than the tech guy at HP. He said it could be a hardware problem and I have to leave it for a couple of days. -- I was quite unsure -- I need my laptop. How many days? 2-3 days. That's tolerable. Then the customer service gal said it's only 2-3 days if the necessary part is available. I asked how long if it's not readily available? 2 weeks, they said. Oh my... that's not good!

While I'm at it, I asked the tech guy what should be the highest tolerable cpu temp of my laptop. He looked a the model and asked if it's dual core. I said yes. He said 65degrees max although 70 is still tolerable. I told him I got much higher than that -- 93-94. I told him I got screencaps of it. He said he'll check this problem also.

So there... I brought this back home last night to backup my files. Later this afternoon, I'll bring this in and hope that I can get this back early next week. I just hope they'll be able to fix the problems. And that when I get this back there won't be any scratches 'coz I hate that.

I'll make another post regarding their service when I get my lappie back.

DNeero: No Sweat

I'm not really sure about sports apparel since I'm not really into sports. Apparently, there's an issue about this:



What's your take?

Chrome: The New Google Browser

Google has released a new browser named Chrome. It's still in Beta and I've recently installed it in my lappie. At first glance, the features seem to be like the features found in the Opera browser --tabbed windows, most visited pages (Speed Dial in Opera), integrated search, and zoom. The speed dial feature is my fave in Opera. With Opera, I can point it to my fave sites. With Chrome, Google will detect your frequently accessed pages and place them in the Most Visited page. In this case, I prefer Opera's implementation.

Of course, it is still in Beta and so we can still expect many improvements on its final release. Speed isn't an issue. It looks quite a fast browser. But looks like I won't be swapping my Opera yet with its array of other helpful features. However, I'll be checking on this new browser from time to time to see its improvements.

If you want to check it out yourself, download your copy here: http://google.com/chrome.