Prestissimo! Prestissimo!
Remember how, at the height of the Cola Wars, cola manufacturers would air television ads claiming that they had won the taste tests? These ads would show people being accosted in supermarkets, blindfolded (with their consent), and asked to sip from two glasses, one containing the competitor’s cola, and one containing the advertiser’s. Inevitably more people would prefer the advertiser’s cola, since advertisers are not likely to promote their competitor’s brands. Some might question the methodology of that experiment—Shouldn’t the tasters have some sorbet to clear their palates before sampling the next glass?—but the issue was taste, a quality that is hard to quantify.
Speed, however, is quantifiable. Smart Bro recently released a TV ad in which Mo Twister declares that their nomadic broadband stick (I love the term! It sounds like they’re roaming the desert wearing dashikis) enable faster Internet connections than their main competitor’s (The third provider of nomadic sticks was completely ignored, giving them an opening to argue that they were, in fact, the fastest of the three broadband networks).
Today Globe Tattoo invited the media to a presentation reacting to Smart Bro’s claim and countering with their own speed test. (What am I doing in a Globe Tattoo lunch? One, fair’s fair: I ranted and raged, so I should listen. Two, they bothered to invite me despite recent history—fair of them.) According to the Globe Tattoo reps, their speed tests conducted by NESIC (NEC System Integration and Construction Phils) are more reliable than the Smart Bro speed tests conducted by a consumer research company.
Their argument is based on the methodology and procedures used in the speed tests. Theirs used not just the Speedtest app featured in the Smart Bro ad, but also FTP (local server) and HTTP (international server) download tests to measure download speed over time, average speed and consistency of connection; and the 2Wire app to measure webpage download speed. Speedtest.net, they said, only measure speed at a specific point in time; it does not quantify speed over time. The impressive speed recorded in one second does not properly represent what the connection speed will be over a longer period of time. Random tests were conducted in high human traffic areas in 26 cities all over the archipelago.
The methodology argument speaks to me because it reminds me of our high school Physics teacher, Ms. Basas. (If you saw the movie Pisay, she is the fearsome yet sympathetic character played by Eugene Domingo.) Recently a friend recounted the way Ms. Basas fulminated about a TV ad for a beauty soap. In the ad a dry leaf is “resuscitated” by pouring olive oil on it. Without olive oil the leaf crumbles, with olive oil it doesn’t. The advertiser then compared the effect of their soap on human skin to the effect of olive oil on that leaf. That is not a properly-constructed experiment, Ms. Basas said. It does not have a control group. There are too many variables that could affect the outcome, and they are not taken into account.
So the Cola Wars of our childhood have been replaced by the Broadband Speed Tests of our day. Very exciting, and I hope the consumers are the real winners.
November 11th, 2009 at 17:44
Speaking of which, I received this advisory from Globe:
Effective December 6, new NTC regulation requires all mobile networks to implement “per pulse” [max of 6 sec/pulse] charging scheme vs. the current scheme you are in, which is “per minute”. Globe will send another advisory on the new call rates once NTC approves.
WTF! <—- is my reaction!
November 11th, 2009 at 17:57
i remember that tv soap ad and its memorable line, after the leaf was crushed by hand: “see how it crumbles?”
i hope globe tattoo won’t crumble the way the leaf did. in my books, smart is still tops. i’m a switcher.
November 11th, 2009 at 23:14
I use Smartbro…Works fine with me… Globe has totally zonked out in our area, signal-wise…even our neighbors complain about Globe’s broadband :(
November 12th, 2009 at 01:16
i dunno. they can argue with me all day, i’d still stick to my broadband stick which is smart bro. i have used tattoo more than a few times and it just failed me miserably each time. meanwhile, smartbro has served me quite well and has never once disappointed me. PLUS, it has wider coverage. i don’t to use a stick that works only in makati. hahaha! but i exaggerate.
November 12th, 2009 at 09:54
Nomadic broadband stick…hmmmm…so when will we learn to ride giant sandworms?
November 12th, 2009 at 11:01
Globe should be lowering the rate or something to get people to switch to their network. Speed tests, duh! Arguably Smart is fast enough, we want cheaper service with the same quality of service
November 12th, 2009 at 15:21
Speed isn’t the only concern I have with regards to connection quality. How about network Quality of Service (QoS)? We do lots of things when online, from browsing, streaming media, gaming, downloading. How do the networks handle that?
Globe says they did test via FTP and HTTP, how about VoIP? Bittorrent? Streaming?
Although I’ve only experienced both hardline connection from either company (PLDT myDSL, Globe hardline broadband), I’d say PLDT has better service. At least they are transparent. Globe’s network seems to traffic-shape/throttle some connections, and in some instances, drop connections outright, while PLDT myDSL hasn’t dropped a single connection for over 48 hours straight. But again, the plural of anecdote is not data, but that’s just my experience.
November 13th, 2009 at 00:51
I am using PLDT Weroam and the ride wasn’t always smooth, but I’m generally satisfied with the service. When it comes to nomadic broadband stick (if that’s the popular term these days) it’s location location location. So I can’t vouch that everybody else will have the same Weroam experience as I have.
Per pulse charging is nice, though per second would be much better. Still 6.50 pesos per minute (even if charged per pulse) is still more expensive than in a supposedly “poorer” country than the Philippines that I’ve been to recently. There it was equivalent to 30 centavos per second, or 1.80 pesos per minute. No wonder people there would mostly use txt only if nobody’s answering on the other line. And international txt are charged the same as domestic.
November 14th, 2009 at 00:13
hmmmm ms basas. just hearing her name gives me chills down my spine. one thing i appreciated though was learning to fold a piece of paper in half to “maximize” writing space.