Out of Reach: Broadband in the PH

According to a report by Australian research firm Ovum, the Philippines has the cheapest price for broadband access among 19 emerging countries surveyed. However despite its "cheapness", broadband still remains completely out of reach for the majority of the population. (Read story here.)

Broadband Internet access is a high data rate connection to the Internet at 256 kbit/s or greater, without the use of a telephone line, as contrasted to dial-up which is limited to a bitrate of about 60 kbit/s and require the dedicated use of a telephone line. In the country, broadband is usually available to consumers through cable and DSL. Broadband providers in the country include: (Source: Wikipedia)

Photo Credit: http://www.maheshkukreja.com

• wi-tribe stats at 598
• Bayan DSL starts at 899
• PLDT my DSL starts at 990
• Globe Tattoo starts at 995
• SKYBROADBAND starts at 999
• Smart Bro starts at 999

While the cost "may seem" affordable, there are a lot of other factors that need to be taken in consideration. First, this is just the basic cost at the basic speed, which is on the average around 512Mbps. If you want anything greater than that, you have to pay the price. Second, the price represent only the monthly service fee. The subscriber will have to pay for the additional hardware he will avail of such as the modem or a wireless router or worse "installation fees". Third, most of these plans have a lock-in period of a minimum of one year, which is subject to fees if terminated sooner. Fourth, as with other post paid plans, there is usually a one month advance payment required. Fifth, based on experience, customer service sucks. Not so much cost friendly when you think about it.

Another consideration is that most of these companies are found in the highly urbanized cities, for the obvious reason that this is where the money is! rural or provincial areas do not have the infrastructures to support broadband development. Thus broadband access is concentrated on the urbanites and the upper-middle class members of society who can afford to pay such monthly fees, which is just a tiny percentage in the 101,833,938 million people in the country. And there are those who'd rather go to malls or coffee shops than blow a thousand bucks for slow connections and crappy customer service. :)


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Entry No. 9
Soleil Flores

The Anti Medici

We are not a country of entrepreneurs. We do not have the blood of the merchants.

And yet going into business has recently been in vogue.

With online technology, it’s even easier to run a business. Buyers need not wait for time zone differentials to be able to contact their suppliers. They can get price lists and catalogues without having to wait for a post office parcel. With email, even FedEx seems too long. But if you really need to speak with your manufacturer in the US, you can use any VOIP program, and you want be charged exorbitant IDD rates.

For small businesses that cannot afford the latest (and therefore pricey) database for their inventory, they can use any one of the many open source applications online. You’re a retail chain with several branches all over the Philippines and can’t obviously physically be in any one of them at the same time? You can ask PLDT for an IP Camera where you’ll be able to see a 360 degree view of your store in Zamboanga, right at your desk in Manila. If you’re resourceful (therefore cheap), you can install a regular webcam in your Zamboanga store – not as fancy, but it gets the job done.

Business, has to be cutting edge, otherwise it will perish. It has to keep up with the changing times and tastes. Business can relatively keep up with technology.

Not so the law. In fact, our laws and our bureaucracy are not very conducive to the entrepreneur. Nowadays, it’s easier to run a 10k marathon than to open up a business. Case in point: I tried to register a business name with the DTI a long time ago (before law school). According to the website, you can do it online since their search engine would be able to tell you if your proposed business name is similar or confusingly similar to another already registered. What I didn’t expect is to be thrown like a ping-pong ball in the office, only to be asked to return the next day. Once it was “approved” and the certificate was about to be printed, some person decides to investigate into my background a little more because of I might not be a Filipino, because of my Chinese middle name.

Setting up is one thing, but surviving/thriving is another thing altogether.

On a larger, more multi-national scale, I wonder why corporations are not enthusiastic over placing their hubs here. Is it our labor laws/tax laws? Maybe it’s our culture in general?


For businesses, the problem has never been the market. There is always something to sell and someone willing to buy it. Their biggest problem is dealing with government (and its employees) who are not as avant-garde as business or sympathetic to the entrepreneurial spirit. It seems that our laws have not fully realized the potential of a self-sufficient entrepreneurial society. And every merchant who dreams of becoming the Next Medici Prince will just have to wait.

The Armchair Doctor (Dangers of Online Self-Diagnosis)

Alan Probe is moronic pizza delivery boy who meets Dr. Bleed, a disgraced surgeon who teaches him “the art”. Instead of proper surgical instruments, Alan uses every day objects such as a pizza cutter to cut open a skin, a stapler to close deep wounds, and a lighter to seal small ones. He is the Amateur Surgeon and it’s one of my favorite games from the App Store.

This is all fine when it’s just a game, but in real life, even the best of us can’t help but play doctors, especially with all the information about medicine, diseases, and procedures online.

The medical profession has an astounding presence online. From a specialized clinic’s (e.g. eye doctors) website to databases for published journals. Anybody can find some organic recipe or a cocktail of prescription meds to cure everything from world hunger to the common cold.

Now there’s nothing wrong with all this information online. If I want to find out the best rhinoplasty surgeon for an Asian woman, a little digging and will lead me to several forums that say the best place, really is either Japan or Korea. Apparently, the nose doctors there will give you an end result that doesn’t erase your ethnicity.

On a less shallow note, when my brother was diagnosed arteriovenous malformation in his brain, which, to be simplistic about it, means an abnormal connection between the veins and the arteries, my mom and I scoured through countless articles on the subject. We also found a doctor in the UCLA Medical Center (through the recommendation of a local neuro-surgeon, of course, but we did Google the American doctor) whose diagnosis and suggested course of action matched our expectations the best.

All this information is empowering for the patient. For the first time, people are able to call on a doctor’s bullshit or at the very least, ask the right questions. The problem lies with filtering between sound medical advice and information that is just wrong. On another level, sound medical advice is useless if the diagnosis is wrong – and it is likely that either arrogance or ignorance pushes as to self-diagnose.

This is exacerbated by the laxity of pharmaceutical practices and policies. Locally, you can get antibiotics and birth control pills over the counter, whereas elsewhere, these require a prescription. Alongside the beauty industry’s boom, you can buy vials online that promise to remove fine lines, acne, and give you Corona bond paper white skin, even if the use of these should be strictly performed or supervised by a licensed physician.

This is not to suggest the regulation of information as that would be ten steps backwards. The positive benefits of this access to medical knowledge obviously outweigh the disadvantages. It’s not even alarming when a person, in the process of self-diagnosis, hurts himself. But the moment he starts playing witch doctor, armed with his internet MD, and injures others, then we have a problem. The world doesn’t need another Alan Probe running free outside an iPhone.

Think Before You Post

Personal space is that physical area around a person regarded as an extension of the self. The more comfortable we are with people, the smaller our personal space is. Although, admittedly there are instances when we are forced to diminish our personal space (case in point: LRT rush hours).

On the internet, personal space is diminished to a great degree - particularly if you're someone who surfs the internet on a daily basis. People who work hard at projecting a respectable image in person rarely protest to the uploading of incriminating pictures of themselves with their family or friends. With the advent of ICT life has become an open book and personal space a thing of the physical.

However, the concept of personal space is fast catching up with ICT practice precisely because of the use that personal information available online is being subject to. For example, there are employers who now make it a practice to search out their applicants on personal blogs and social networking sites to find out more about them. There was even an instance when an employer threatened to sanction an employee for a facebook status which was derogatory to the company. Can we argue that these are unfair acts of discrimination or invasions of our privacy? The counter-argument that we voluntarily make such information available online knowing the entire world can see and find it bites us in the behind.

On the flip-side, there are general posts by third persons which we find personally offensive. Recently, a Caucasian tweet-er made several comments why it was inconvenient being white. An African-American acquaintance read the tweets and felt that her personal space was being violated. Sure she ignored the first ten or so tweets but after the twentieth and up to the eightieth it started to feel like an unwelcome invasion. Is there recourse in our laws? None. It's damnum absque injuria. But the violation is real. And the laws are ineffectual.

For now, the answer in both instances lies in the old adage “strong fences make good neighbors.” This simply means that people should be careful who they allow into their personal space. It also means that people should guardedly screen what they make available online. Or people can just go cold turkey - if their social life can handle the stress.

Maricris L. Real (Entry # 3)

TV vs. Net

I just realized how disconnected I am to our TV already.

I remember the times when I had to finish my assignments at school so that I could just stay at home, relax and watch my favorite anime series at that time (BT' X, Ghost Fighter, Hunter X Hunter, etc.) I'd get mad at my cousins when they try to change the channel whenever my eyes are glued unto the screen. I know the exact times when my favorite shows are shown and I always act as if I have a vested right to watch these shows, as a reward for my being a "good" student.


But now, I rarely watch the TV. Aside from the snippets I see from the teleseryes my mom's fond of, I only watch the TV whenever I feel like I need to watch the news to remain "in the know".

And now that I thought about it, me getting over the tube-box may have been caused by my now-full-blown internet addiction:

1. My daily morning news from Inquirer.net and Yahoo! News;


2. My weekly dose of anime and manga from various torrent and streaming sites (I don't need to be at home at a specific time just to watch a TV show anymore);


3. My daily mail;


4. My daily fix of Facebook and its games;


5. My occassional Wikipedia trips.

Even my mom, who has been religiously following her seryes 'til almost midnight has discovered the existence of Youtube, ever so thankful that she won't need to stay up late just to watch Villainess A slap the face of Protagonist B.

Indeed, the Internet has changed the way people entertain themselves and it probably will continue to make TV less and less relevant in the future (thus resulting in a lot stronger presence of the TV networks on the Net)

If video did kill the radio star, then the net will, someday, kill the TV star.

IMHO: People can juggle work, formal school, informal school, advocacies and relationships thru the Internet

For a working law student, it is such a pain to juggle everything. EVERYTHING. In the past 5 years of my life, I have been trying to strike a balance between commuting to work, finishing all my tasks for the day, reading cases in MRT trains and UP-Pantranco jeepneys, not spending lunch time for eating but studying, checking my calendar for midterm and finals schedules vis-a-vis my available leaves, making money from 8 am to 5 pm so that I can pay my bills, rent, tuition and photocopies and dinners and parties with friends. On some days, you spend more for medicines and hospital bills because your immunity system just breaks down.

For the life of me, I don't understand too why I still involve myself with a lot of extra-curricular activities such as student council and advocacies. But when I look at my blockmates, I know I am not alone and it consoles me. Some travel from Manila or Makati to Diliman everyday, even on Saturdays, to make ends meet. On Sundays, some still give the time to volunteer for some causes they believe in. Professors in our block use the net to communicate with their students. Some of us research for work while inside the classrooms as we wait for our professors.

The internet has played a major role in helping us juggle everything. For cases that we can't photocopy because we are still at work, we email each other. For digests, sample exams, reviewers that our block can't make, we find them online. For catharsis, we use instant messengers to rant. Facebook is our escape and Lawphil our partner in saving money from all those photocopies which we may never even have the chance to read.

Now, I am waiting for a confirmation from an online part-time job I applied for (RareJob). I thought, since I now have a DSL connection, I might as well use it to earn income. Since I can't always see my friends in real life because of work-school-extracurric, I use the internet to connect with them. Since I don't have the money and the time to enroll in Language schools, I just go online to learn some German phrases. Since my boyfriend is in Europe, I thank Skype for giving me a way to express how much I feel for him. Since I don't want to spend P18 a day for newspapers, I make PDI my homepage. Since I am for protecting the environment, I check my bills online. Since I don't read all the cases I photocopy which is really a waste of money, I just read my cases online or thru E-juris. Some of the jobs I am eyeing for after law school, I found online.

I manage my work, law school, advocacies, council work, and relationships online. And I only pay for the monthly fee for DSL, electricity, and the purchase price of my laptop.

In my humble opinion, internet is the cheapest management tool there is now.

Paulyn Duman
Blog #15
(for September 24)

Dial-up vs. SmartBRO vs. Globe Broadband

It's only been recently that I've realized that our internet connection is so much bearable now than when we first got connected through dial-up and prepaid ISP cards (ehem, ISP Bonanza). Gone are the days when I'd get a bad temper for having been disconnected from Ragnarok Online just before the consummation of a "transaction". There's also the fact that 100 pesos for 2o hours of 28kbps of connection simply isn't worth it.

My Mom, upon some convincing that the Internet will help my education and that it will lower the costs of our communication with my Dad, had us connected to SmartBRO. It was great at first, but then, the rainy season came and so did the seemingly endless intermittent connection. We had to call their customer service everyday and ask them to send a technician immediately, but SmartBRO will send someone a week after, when the connection's good. Hence, I eventually developed "hatred" and distrust against wireless broadbands. I succumbed to the fact that wireless broadbands don't go well with the rain and Antipolo City.

When I learned that Mom is switching to Globe Broadband, I was quite wary since I knew that it's another wireless service. The first few months of their service also had us calling their call centers but fortunately, unlike SmartBRO, they were fast in sending their field technicians to us. Eventually, though I was not that aware at first, the connection got better and faster, I could now download large files without waiting for 3 long hours.

I also admire the fact that tyhphoon "Ondoy" has not hampered our connection even once during its onslaught in the Metro. (I was dead sure that I'd get home without an internet connection the day after that flooded Saturday).

I guess SkyBroadband would have to wait longer before we think of switching services again. As of now, we are completely satisfied with Globe.

(NOTE: I was not paid to advertise Globe Broadband!)

IMHO: People should stop blaming the internet

I read an article on The art of slow reading and laughed when I saw this:


Funny because I didn't even read the first line of the article and jumped straight to the comments.

Slow Reading vs Speed Reading

I enrolled in a class on Speed Reading before I entered law school. It taught me how to read fast and answer multiple choice questions afterward. What is the price of learning how to speed read? A relaxed eye muscle and a great way to address my attention deficit (disorder). Why does speed reading work for me? Because I learn through second reading which will not happen if I don't finish the whole thing first. When I read slowly, I get stuck at a word or a phrase and almost never finish anything. When I allow my finger or pen to guide my eyes, I finish the whole thing and when I re-read it, this time with my colorful highlights on the page, I see how useless those highlighted phrases are and note on the side that they are useless. But what really is the price of speed reading (without second reading)? Missing some very very specific details. And when they say the devil is in the detail, they were really being truthful.

The article mentioned that two researches concluded that "many of us no longer have the concentration to read articles through to their conclusion." I find myself skipping paragraphs of the SCRA and read only relevant paragraphs to the topic to which the case falls under. When the article said we don't have the concentration to reach the conclusion, I realized I don't read the cases' fallo very often. Do I blame (sweepingly) the internet for this?

Blaming the Internet

And I quote the article:

Which all means that although, because of the internet, we have become very good at collecting a wide range of factual titbits, we are also gradually forgetting how to sit back, contemplate, and relate all these facts to each other. And so, as Carr writes, "we're losing our ability to strike a balance between those two very different states of mind. Mentally, we're in perpetual locomotion" (emphasis supplied).

No, I don't blame the internet. That's quite unfair. It has given me a new sense of home, where I can connect to people I care about and things that interest me. I feel like people who are 10,000 km away from me are just my neighbors. I say partly yes to this:

Hitchings does agree that the internet is part of the problem. "It accustoms us to new ways of reading and looking and consuming," Hitchings says, "and it fragments our attention span in a way that's not ideal if you want to read, for instance, Clarissa." He also argues that "the real issue with the internet may be that it erodes, slowly, one's sense of self, one's capacity for the kind of pleasure in isolation that reading has, since printed books became common, been standard".

In my humble opinion, the internet is not a problem. It is not even part of the issue. It is just one of those facts of life that one has to manage. It is a statement of fact: There is a tool called the internet.

Manage the users and the tool

Freedom is a computer application that locks you away from the internet on Mac or Windows computers for up to eight hours at a time. Freedom frees you from distractions, allowing you time to write, analyze, code or create. At the end of the offline period, Freedom allows you back on the internet. But paying $10 for it is discouraging. Discipline now has a price! Before I reached this part of this entry, I clicked on at least 10 other links and post things on Facebook and read the news at Inquirer.net. No, I am not complaining. Not even blaming these sites.

So really, what or who is the problem? It is everything but the users.

Paulyn Duman
Blog #7

Horror-scopes

"There’s a sucker born every minute."

I’m talking here about people’s fascination/obsession with the divine elements of the universe. Reading my personal horoscope for the day, for the week, and even for the next 5 years, IS FUN. It's not always believable, but it's highly addictive and I still find myself wondering what the stars supposedly have to say...

There's a principle in psychology called the Barnum Effect. It just says that astrology works because the predictions are worded generally enough so as to be applicable to everyone. True, yes. But horoscopes have such high entertainment value, that I can't fully accept how some people could so easily dismiss them as nonsense. Just like the gazillions of data available online, it all goes back to believability of the information. Verification still rests with us. Thankfully for astrology, we've got real life to back it up.

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Well, general or not, if you're interested in getting a really comprehensive monthly forecast, check out www.astrologyzone.com. I can't guarantee its accuracy, but it's worth reading if only because of its detailed predictions I have yet to see in any other site :)

Entry No. 01

Rachelle Mayuga

On Easing the Burden of Death.

Summer OLA had me to and fro the NLRC Main Building in Banawe. During my trip back from my first hearing last month, I immediately took notice of a big green banner outside the St. Peter Mega Chapel in Quezon Ave. promoting the company's latest gimick, so to speak: e-Libing and e-Burol.

The official website of St. Peter states that e-Burol and e-Libing allows videos of a deceased person's wake and interment to be uploaded online on their website so that they be accessed by their relatives and friends who are unable to attend the said events in person due to physical distance or other reasons. It is obvious then that the target market of these services would be Filipinos outside the country (legally or otherwise).

At first, I found it funny and quite outrageous. However, as I pondered on it longer, I thought that, with the current advances in communication and technology, it is actually practical to just say our goodbyes online. The e-Burol and e-Libing are bound to attract Filipinos who wish to save time, effort...

gas.

While they are innovative and brilliant ideas, some people might still be wary of availing them. After all, the consoling presence of a loved one will definitely have a hard time passing through the impersonal channels of the web.

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Now, the next question would be: What's next? e-Binyag or e-Kasal? :P

With almost everything going online, I won't be really surprised that, someday, people will be just as big as the people Wall-E saw in space.

The Vicious Pack Behavior

Newsflash. There is a phenomenon in the internet described as the “vicious pack behavior” of people on blogs, forums and social networking sites.

It is not uncommon to see an author of a blog site lambasted by anonymous persons for some article that he posted. The criticisms can range from a simple pointing out of errors, factual or grammatical, to an uncalled for attack on the person of the writer himself. And of course, there is the long list of cuss words and other unsavory invectives that punctuate these attacks.

Indeed, the anonymity afforded by the internet can go both ways: It can provide people with a seemingly unfettered freedom to be who they want to be (something which they could not do in the real world) without being criticized or persecuted. On the other hand, it can make it easy for people to cast their unbridled tongues (or in this case, unbridled fingers) whichever way they want, leaving behind things like common courtesy, politeness and respect when they deal with one another in the web.

Despite the wide windows of freedom that we have because of the internet, it is still important to remember that even in the digital world, humanity is still in play.
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9th Entry
Ralph Vincent Catedral