Surfing in McDonalds Dumaguete

As we all know, the McDonalds branch of Dumaguete is currently Wi-Fi enabled. But how is the connection here? I decided to test their connection while I was waiting for BPI, which is located across the street, to open. I arrived at McDonalds Dumaguete at around 8am and proceeded to order breakfast first. I didn’t get the brand of their wireless router but you can see it on the wall on the left side of the counter.

I proceeded to turn on my MSI wind and automatically found the access point of McDonalds Dumaguete. No passwords, this is good. Once connected, I first ran a speedtest at speedtest.net using Google Chrome. The results are posted here. Not bad for a free connection. The sites that I tested like yahoo mail and Gmail opened up pretty quick. I was soon happily browsing the net while eating my breakfast.

After I saw that BPI was already open I prepared to leave. Overall Internet experience was good. There were a couple of people who were happily browsing the Internet as well when I checked the tables. Good thing there is free Internet in McDonalds, now all we need are power sockets so that we could plug our laptops and not worry about our batteries draining.

Using my w890i and MSI Wind u100 for SKYPE Free of charge using SMART Prepaid SIM

Here’s one quick guide to use SKYPE for free. What I use is my w890i cellphone with a SMART sim (Make sure to maintain at least 1 peso load). You also need a computer, what I used is my trusty MSI wind u100. Once the Sony Ericsson PC Suite has been installed in your computer try to connect your cellphone to your computer and make a connection to the Internet. You would be able to connect to the SMART network however you will not be able to browse websites or connect to your favorite IM clients, or so it seems.

I accidentally found out one day that you can use SKYPE to connect even though you only have one peso of load. I used to make a couple of calls internationally to friends without charge. I even leave my SKYPE on when I sleep. Not bad huh? Check it out for yourselves. This may just be a network glitch but hey, let’s use it as long as it’s free of charge.

Anyone out there can share their experiences regarding this?

Globe Tatoo better than Smart Bro in Dumaguete?

Is it just me or does everyone else have slow Internet speed using Smart Bro in Dumaguete City? I recently purchased a Globe Tatoo kit and speeds using speedtest.net usually range around 400kbs to 1.5 mbps in my area. If I use my HSDPA w890i cellphone using a SMART sim I could only get 115kbps and only a 3g signal, no HSDPA. Now, if you guys say that it must be a phone issue, I placed my Globe sim in my cellphone and guess what, the HSDPA indicator just went on. The speedtest I did using the Globe sim on my cellphone was the same as the one I got using my Globe Tatoo USB Modem.

For all those not familiar with (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) HSDPA, it is faster than 3G. For Dumaguete, the speed i get maxes out at 3.6 mbps for HSDPA while for 3G it maxes out at 115 kbps.

This could only mean one thing. There is no HSDPA signal for Smart in Dumaguete City while there is for Globe. I’ve also attached a map of the general vicinity where I did the comparison between Globe Tatoo and Smart Bro in Dumaguete.

Globe Tatoo using MSI Wind u100x in Dumaguete City

Here is the initial speedtest result of my Globe Tatoo here in Dumaguete.

Bought the new Globe Tatoo at the local Globe center here in Dumaguete. It just costs Php1895 and comes with free 5 hours of Internet time. As far as the connection goes, it seems to differ during different times of the day in my home ( Silliman Avenue Extension). Early dawn is when I can get a faster speed while early night time seems to be slow.