UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

Many of us spend a lot of time on their gadgets-phones, laptops, or desktops, for communication, entertainment, information, news and most importantly, for a living, since a lot of us work online from home. 

Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic, we have been increasingly reliant on the internet. As a pathologist, I now get most referrals from our medical technologists mainly via email or Viber. Of course, what is important is a reliable network of providers that have functional connections.
But in the Philippines, the situation is not that rosy. We are plagued by poor networks, low internet speeds and poor service.

Our village is a prime example of this predicament. Nary a day passes without someone posting on our village group chat about no phone service, cable TV breakdown, and/or weak internet signals and more often, no signals. 

The problem is not just one provider or network. All suffer from frequent, intermittent and even long-term breakdowns. Some shared horror stories of their phones being out of order for months, and even after repeated calls, there was no response from PLDT. Yet, the company sent a demand letter for overdue bills when the phone had been reported out of order for the periods being billed. No wonder people are ditching their landlines in favor of cell phones. But landlines are still needed for the usual communications between village administration and security and the homeowners. 

We also still need landlines because cellular communication is also unreliable. There are cell sites for several providers in our village, including Globe, Digitel, Dito and Smart. Yet, we have many blind spots in the village. I, for one, am a long-term subscriber of Globe. In fact, ever since I bought my first cell phone, I have been with Globe. But in spite of having a Globe cell site just half a kilometer away from home, my signal is weak. When I move to a more elevated location than home a mere 20 meters away, Globe signal is non-existent so I miss a lot of important referrals from my laboratory. I have been struggling with this issue for a while, so I’m seriously thinking of changing my provider. Loyalty, in this case, serves no purpose.

We also subscribe to Sky Cable for TV, which we access for news, and PLDT for internet. Again, we experience periodic outages, the latest of which is now. Our signal has been dead since a few days ago. Reporting it to the company does no good. Our fellow homeowners keep complaining in the group chat, and some have stormed the company with calls to no avail. 

You would think that to compensate subscribers deprived of service for days, weeks and even months, the company would give rebates, or discount the bills. But no! We get billed for the whole period, working system or not! 

Worse is when you subscribe to PLDT phone and internet, and both are on the blink. This happens frequently with our fellow homeowners. Shifting from one to another may provide temporary relief, but sooner or later, problems also arise with the new provider. It seems that when a provider is deluged with new subscribers, their services start to deteriorate with the additional loads.

This dismal state of affairs is in spite of the Philippines having nearly 23,000 combined cell towers nationwide and boasting of 5G connectivity. The Philippines ranks third next to China and the United States in terms of 5G coverage, yet our service providers continue to provide poor service with average download and upload speed being meager compared to neighboring countries in the region.

So, what is the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) doing about this? The poor communications situation in the country affects not just individuals in their homes but nearly all businesses and industries that rely on the internet. It also affects the educational sector which is now increasingly reliant on the internet, which is not helping the already dismal state of affairs of our children’s education. 

We need to demand more accountability from our service providers, and likewise demand that the NTC and the DICT act on our complaints. They should set up a hotline for consumers to refer their issues to, and start cracking down on companies that not only provide poor service, but gouge the subscribers as well. 

How about it, NTC and DICT?