I just recently installed a Smart Bro “Share It Unlimited” internet broadband connection for P999 per month. Smart Bro’s newest unlimited wireless service promises speeds of up to 2mbps and comes with a free HSPA modem, which doubles as a WiFi router. I’m so excited to finally be able to share my experiences now that I have it connected to my home network.
Why I applyied for Smart Bro Share It
I actually have a great Smart Bro Plan 999 post paid connection, which I’ve been subscribed to for 3 years already. The signal in my area is great and I’ve enjoyed its published speed of up to 1mbps (in my experience its mostly around 700+kbps) and I’ve only had disconnections very rarely. Recently, I’ve upgraded to Windows 7 and found out that it does not support the latest drivers of one of my LAN Cards in my desktop computer, which is the internet server here at home. We lost our home network and, as a result, my sister couldn’t use her netbook to connect to the net. This left me with the option of buying a new LAN card with driver support for Windows 7 (less than P500) or a new WiFi router (around P2000+). Good thing I discovered Smart Bro’s new Share It Unlimited service before I had bought a LAN card or a WiFi Router.
What’s the catch, why does it seem too good to be true?
I inquired about the new service in our nearest Smart Wireless Center and asked them particularly what the difference is between my current Smart Bro “Plan 999 Unlimited” and “Share it Unlimited.” I wanted to know if there’s any “catch” … why they offer faster speeds and a free WiFi Router for the same P999 price. The general answer I got was that it’s a great service since for the same price I get more for my P999 per month BUT it’s only available to selected areas covered by Smart’s 3G network. Sound like a good deal to me since my area (Mandurriao, Iloilo City) has 3G coverage and a great signal from Smart since our house is near their cell tower.
What do you get with Smart Bro Share It Unlimited?
True Wireless Service
They added that their Share It Unlimited does not require an antenna (canopy) since the modem receives wireless signals via Smart’s 3G (HSPA) network. This means their new Share it Unlimited is a true wireless service not like the Plan 999 service, which they just claimed to be wireless but (if you don’t have a wireless router) you actually still need cables to connect the canopy to your computer … You can actually easily bring the new modem with you and transfer to a new location with Smart’s 3G coverage anywhere in your province.
I was told that their modem has a province lock and you have to apply for relocation if you want to use it in another province. You can only have the modem registered in one province at a time and can apply for another relocation every 4 months.
Free WiFi Router
The 3G / HSPA modem doubles as a WiFi Router, which can handle up to 5 connections at a time. The modem also has one port for LAN connections if, like me, your desktop computer doesn’t have a WiFi adapter / receiver. The CSR of Smart told me that only 2-3 connections is recommended as not to sacrifice speed and connectivity. The WiFi Router also has a usable range of about 30 meters.
Unlimited Internet Connection
Share It Unlimited is now post paid … No more limited free hours and additional charges per minute of excess.
Faster Speeds of up to 2mbps
Now we get to the most important part. Does Smartbro’s Share It Unlimited live up to its promise? I’ve done a speed test and got this result: Download speed of 1.61mbps, upload speed of 0.29mbps, and ping / latency of 321ms
It’s not 2mbps but I’m not complaining … for the same P999 price I still get twice the speed of my old connection.
What will you need for the Smart Bro Share It Unlimited?
To apply, you will need to fill up their Subscriber Application Form, Proof of Address (Power, Water, Credit Card Bill etc…), Proof of Identification (Government ID), signed Waiver Form, and initial monthly service fee of P999.
Smart Bro Share It Unlimited has a lock-in contract of 24 months. If you decide not to comply, you will have to pay for the remaining months and P2,500 for the modem / WiFi router.
I hope Smart Bro’s Share It Unlimited will consistently give me a good connection for the whole 24 months. If you have your own experience with this new service, please let us know and leave a comment.
Smartbro Share It Speed Test Update
Did the speed test again and it’s true! Share It Unlimited does go up to 2mbps (1.96mbps was the average speed but it got up to 2.01mbps a briefly). I got this speed when I moved the modem closer to the window. Download speeds go up to 250KB/s.
Smartbro Share It Ping Test
Just found out its flaw, which could be a very big deal to a lot of potential subscribers. I get a high ping most of the time. I tried to play DoTA in GG client and the hosts keep kicking me out because I have a ping of 120-140+. I’ll try to find out what’s the problem but I’ll get back to it next week since I’ll be leaving for my next trip (and the last for the year) in Guimaras. Here’s the ping test result that I got:
"Smart Bro Share It Review – P999 with Free WiFi Router and up to 2mbps" is part of the Smart Bro Reviews series
In the Philippine Ilonggo dialect, ambot ah literally means "I don't know." After graduating in college, I decided to hold off pursuing my profession and embarked on a free spirited journey of adventure and self-discovery. My travels have led me to many places across the Philippine Islands and South East Asia. I don't know where this path will take me but I'm certain I'll get a lifetime of stories out of it.
I read before it was locked to a specific cell site. That would be cool if you could use the router anywhere in a province! How do you find the lock in period?
Yep, they enumerated to me several towns in Iloilo that have 3G coverage by smart, where I can use the share it modem/wifi router. Well, the lock in period is quite long, 24 months. Right now, their service has been very buggy, I’ve not had a decent “share it” connection for 2 days now … Good thing I still have my P999 Unlimited plan, I think I’m not yet ready to have it disconnected. I’ll stick with it for a few months as back-up.
Hello sir,
Any suggestion on how to fix the windows 7 connection? i still cant connect using my laptop. smart customer service sucks, they keep on saying that its an isolated case and that the problem is with my laptop, perhaps it is because am using windows 7. But this issue should been resolve by now.
My uncle and me was visited in wireless center in SM Cebu last December 26, 2009.After that application we got home and excited bringing new smart bro share it modem.I had headache upon installing it because it was defective then the day after we went back to the smart wireless center to return it but they refuse to recied it.We need to go their service center to traise the defect.Then we follow their instruction badly.We leve the unit to the air touch which was thier service center for one day.Then 1 day after we went back their at it is needed to replace the modem unit because it is defective and that was their firndings.So I brought it again the wireless center and they replace it.they replace only the moden and not the simcard.At that time i decided to bring my notebook because I like to test it before I was leaving to be sure that it was good already.They refuse to test again beause we need to wait for another 3 mins.The I decided to go home and then i was shock again beacuse the problem was not solve.The moden did not detect the sim card.I returned again and the service attendant said to me that the sim card is in need for replacement cause it was defective also….but they refuse to replace it beacuse there are no sim card stock available yet.so untill I write this message my smart bro was not functioning yet..
pwede po ba lagyan ng external antenna yan? hirap kasi ng signal ng smart sa loc ko
smartbro shareit na ako, ok nmn ang connection nya mabilis nmn .71mb ang speed
SMARTBRO SHARE IT IS THE WORST BUSINESS IN INTERNET INDUSTRY
They advertise their Smart Bro Share It plan 999 as having speeds of up to 2Mbps; but in reality, all I get is somewhere around the neighborhood of 30Kbps. “K”, not “M”. And please allow me to remind you that a technology from Internet’s ancient past called dial-up has speeds of 56Kbps. Smart Bro Share It has 30. 30! Clearly, an ancient technology is way better than Smart Bro Share It plan 999. In addition, Smart Bro Share It is waaaay more expensive than dial-up, disconnects more often and has a two year lock-in period. This makes dial-up not just better than Smart Bro Share It but superior! Finally, if you plan to use Skype calls, Yahoo voice or Bittorrent, forget Smart Bro Share It. These applications require a decent upload speed and Smart Bro Share It can only deliver a measly 5Kbps for upload. It’s double NAT configuration also adds another barrier in the case of Bittorrent.
“So, are they lying?”, you ask. No, they aren’t. They only said that Smart Bro Share It plan 999 has speeds of UP TO 2Mbps—and it does reach that speed once in a blue moon. What they did not tell you is that while Smart Bro Share it can achieve speeds of up to 2Mbps sometimes, you have to stay in the 30-50Kbps range almost all of the time. Their advertisements may not be false, but it is definitely very misleading.
I agreed to this post veyr much, Smartbro really sucks! SLOW very very slow then thay will continue to bill you every month without looking at the DAMN services they are giving you.
Sana mawala na ang SMARTBRO sa mundo!
totoo yan nang maka lock in na ako sa 24 months bigla nalang bumagal ang share it ko baka gusto na nila na ipa disconnect ko ang unit ko and then pipirma ulit ng another contract?no way
GOOD DAY!!!
Mr/Ms Cebu i think its depend you location… if its accessible or you are not in business area the speed will greatly affect with your location …i’m injoying my smartbro connection speed up to 2mbps-3mb using my share it product and i’m satisfied the performance i really appreciate the speed but i hav some problem about gaming result its totally piss me of the ping is very high like above mention. its rights that if you even play GG client game it;s kinda worse ping that you receive
the host keep kicking me out it;s kinda weird but i found out when the game started i expecting log problem and Ive observed nothing worse about the performance no log no delay it`s ok to play but the ping appears high i have to configure out this things i’m gonna call the CSR about this
share it is more on download….
i’m not recommend this for gaming they hav to fix the ping problem
thanks for the comment greatly appreciated
I’ve been using this so called share it plan for a year and it is really a waist of money from having this plan….. maybe that’s why they placed a lock-in period so that they trapped those people who avail this plan…. why cant this smartbro be fair enough for their consumers….
@Cebu: I agree with jepogzkie … before lock-in in any contract do your research first. Ask around in your location what ISP other people are using and their performance.
@jepogzkie: let me know if they fixed your problem since I also have the same..hehe
can u give me an advice? my share it has great signal but the problem is, internet speed is only 0.09, 0.18 tops..what shud i do? and by the way, theres a sticker in front of my share it kit that says do not close the share it homepage etc or the connection will be terminated..is that true?
hey guys..can u give me an advice? my share it has great signal but the problem is, internet speed is only 0.09, 0.18 tops..what shud i do? and by the way, theres a sticker in front of my share it kit that says do not close the share it homepage etc or the connection will be terminated..is that true?
I’m not sure about the sticker thinggy. I get slow service a lot too but only a few times during the day, I guess it’s most likely because of peak times. I think you can talk to the customer support of Smart Bro if you get it most times of the day.
sa manila ba malakas signal?? balak qo kc mg share it na din
mlakas b signal ng smart bro share it sa marilao bulacan…..
ms ok nmn ang smart bro kaysa sa globe!!! maasar k lng sa intermittent connection ng globe d2 sa mandaluyong
Hello, I stumbled on your blog looking for answers regarding my smartbro-share-it and with my windows 7..
Almost 4 out of 5 times i logged into my win7 PC together with share-it, I got no connection, I tried to diagnose it but it only says “DNS server isn’t responding” or “windows cannot communicate with this device or source (primary DNS server) or “your computer is correctly configured but your dns server isnt responding.”
Is it a LAN card issue? Currently Im using an onboard LAN card called Realtek pcie gbe family controller. I updated its driver but still the same.
Did several solutions but still the same
*i have tried disabling “flow control, no effect
*i have tried setting speed to 10 and 100mbps full duplex, still no effect.
*i have disabled ipv6, no effect.
*ip renew/release/flushdns, no effect.
*set static ip, walang connection.
*set dns to opendns, no effect.
*uncheck – allow the computer to turn off this device to save power, no effect.
*disabled network iphelper, no effect.
*disabled firewall, avira, no effect.
I use openDNS but still the problem exist. There is a work around though, I need to start share-it first, then connect first my XP laptop or Ipod Touch first… once I confirmed I have a connection then its time for me to logged into windows and instantly I got an internet on windows 7.
Before when I was still using my XP laptop, it works perfectly! but now on windows 7 im having this issue. I posted here on your blog just to check if your win7 and share-it works perfectly.
have you experienced this issue? or does your share-it and win7 works perfectly? tnx
I’ve also got a SmartBro Share-it connection and am using Windows7. I’ve not had any major problems with my connection. I’m also using the lan port with my share-it modem/router.
Have you tried connecting with a WiFi enabled device just to make sure that the problem is not the modem/router?
This is not related to our problem but the only times when I have had problems with my share-it is when I turn the modem on for a very long time, one of the LED indicator turns dark blue, which results to a connection problem. Turning the device off and on again usually does the trick.
mahina ang share it.. mas ok pa un canopy… 15kbps lang bigay e nakalagay 2mbps!!! ams ok pa amg dial up n lan kayo!!! madaya ang smart bro share it!!! wag an kayo kumuha… mawiwindang lang kayo sa kahahanap ng maganda location para sa share it na yan…. wala kwenta singil ng singil d naman matulungan subscriber nila….
I was made to believe that this is better than the smart bro canopy. Yes, it’s true but only at dawn. Most of the time ‘share it’ is very slow. Imagine an upload speed of 90 kbps and download speed of 102. They bragged a 2mbps speed. Better get a globe internet or something else. Smart bro guys – you fooled me.
I stumbled on this blog while looking for a howto to Dual Wan (Load Balancing for win 7) and viewed other posts as well as this blog is interesting.
Canopy is better? Hahaha, in our location (Iligan City, Mindanao, PH) Canopy has max DL Speed of 35 KB/s while an UP Speed of 5 KB/s.
Smart Ads on TV are true.. During your first 3 months in using their service, you will benefit the full DL Speed of 1 MB/s.. After that, you will be stuck to 35 KB/s.. (This is my experience and what my friends experienced)
I’m still stuck at their Lock-in Period, I had to subscribe for a Globe Wimax as it is the fater than smart (60 KB/s DL) and Handy. But then, thanks to Load Balancing, I think I can still use my Smart Bro Subscription.
Those are really low speeds … Usually, I get like 30kbps on some really bad days/peak hours but on most days, I get like 1mbps throughout the day and 2-3mbps during early morning hours.
Marcos,
Hi! I am residing in Jaro area… i was wondering if you would know if there are near Smart cell sites? I have been debating on whether to get dsl or smart bro. I keep raeding bad reviews fro smart bro… the thing is when i was living in Manila, i had no problems with smart… the speed was consistent and fast. I could download a movie for 2 hours from torrent. I really want to make sure that i get high speed internet because like you, i work online too and my work relies heavily on the internet speed. I’m happy with a 1mb… but not less. Thank you and I hope you could get back to me.
No idea about Jaro
pano po ba mag setup ng Router sa w7 kc d ko alam kung secure ung connection ko e kasi tuwing madaling araw lng sya mabilis sana matulungan nyo ko^_^
pano po ba mag setup ng Router sa w7 kc d ko alam kung secure ung connection ko e kasi tuwing madaling araw lng sya mabilis sana matulungan nyo ko^_^
i’m having a huge problem with the share it ngayon. i’m subscribed to it for 6 months plang. with the first 2 months mabilis, after nung mga 3-5 months na sobrang hina na ng connection. and then now bigla nalang nawala ang signal. i called tech support several times at turning on and off and hard reset lang lahat advice and nothing happened. then they suggested na dalhin ko to the wireless center. they checked it then they said they’ll change the modem. but dahil wala silang stocks, they’ll call me nlang as soon as it arrives. but of course i’m in the lock-in period so i have to pay pa rin na e aadjust lang daw pag dumating na ang stocks. so basically im paying for the service im not getting….im very disappointed=( . but then i wonder if its true na pwedeng ilagay ang sim sa 3g usb dongles?
pano po ba mag setup ng Router sa w7 kc d ko alam kung secure ung connection ko e kasi tuwing madaling araw lng sya mabilis sana matulungan nyo ko^_^..V.
Sir nung pinapalitan nyo ung Router nyo gumanda po ba ulit?
meron po ba sa ivisan? 3g? kasi pg wla hndi ako bibili nang smart bro
tanong lang po…sa iloilo maganda ba ang signal ng smart bro share it? (LAPAZ ILoilo City) magpapa-subscribe na kami bukas.. i just wana make sure na.worth it yung plan..
SMART BRO THE WORST BROADBAND THEY SHOULD NOT ONLY CONSIDER MANILA ARE BUT EVEN BAGUIO CAR REGION BECAUSE WE ARE PAYING THAT MUCH BUT WE ARE GETTING THE WORST SERVICE.
I really believe the info pointed out in your discussion is actually really good. I’ve been performing a preliminary research on the subject matter and your post pretty much cleared up a great deal of problems I had. I am writing an essay along with term paper for my English class and already looking at plenty of personal blogs to learn from.
Halos 1 Year na Ako Subscriber Ng Smartbro Share It ang advantage lang neto ay may wifi at Pwd Kang Sa mga Lan games sa mga PC sa Bahay nyo.. Masaya na ako Kung Umabot Ng 200+Kbps ung speed ko Pero Bihira lang mangyari un Madalas 20-30 Kbps lang kya I do not Recommend using This Smart Bro Share it Btw Pasay Area Pla ako
I’ve transferred to a PLDT MyDSL account … I have too many complaints with Smartbro Share-it already.
not anywhere in the country nga lang, you have to pay Php300 if gusto mo maactivate to other areas, and you have to wait for 3 months. Kung gusto mo bumalik sa lugar mo then pay ka naman ng php300 uli, and the same ang process nila!
thank God! malapit na subcription ko from Smart! man…. i’ve put a lot of patience over 2 years… THIS IS JUNK! imma gonna shift to WiTribe
sa mga disgruntled smartbro share it subscriber, magsama sama tayo gumawa ng formal complaint sa NTC or DTI para ma aksyonan ang pandarayang ito ng smart.
sobra naman yang PANDURUGA ng smart. leading network na nga sila tpos ganun pa ang binibigay nilang services sa mga subscriber…KARMAHIN sana sila sa mga pang gago nila.
tama kayong lahat , mahina talaga ang smart bro, kahit full yun signal ay mahina parin, kaya lumipat na kau ng ibang internet services, !
Hi 4 days lapse not paying smartbro bills is still active?
pls I need help if I can still use internet if I cant pay my bills just 4 days lapse?
hindi ok ang smartbro d2 sa area nmin marilao bulacan since bumgyo humhinto hinto n net nmin sobrang kainis sna nn ausin nu site nu ung ibng users lumpiat n wag nu wait n lahat kmi lumpt sa globe! ausin nu site nu
pakiaus aus net nu mga buset
Share It din gamit ko. lately sobrang nagkaprolema ako. For 2 months talagang di ko nagagamit ang internet dahil sa connection problem. Ilang beses akong tumawag sa tech support (*1888) pero ang kaya lang nila gawin is i-notate ang concern ko. until finally naayos narin ang connection but still, im not getting what they promised. pinakamabilis na connection ko is 0.50mbps but most of the time 0.16-0.20mbps lang base sa pldt speed test.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1861018142.png
result po in pque city
pwede na! I was thinking that posting my speedtest.net result might not have been the best idea. I noticed over the years, na saturate ang connection in my area, haha.
I switched to PLDT now.
paki ayos naman po ang signal sa marawi minsan meron minsan wala… 80% wala.