Hello again, world
By Willie Galang
Published 8 July 2010, 16:28 • Tweet
© Willie Galang
I saw the headline “Firefox Mobile launches for Nokia” and I quickly became excited to try the browser out on my phone. So I fired up Opera Mini (an excellent mobile browser, if I may add) on my trusty old Nokia E63 and headed straight to the Firefox Mobile website to download the software, only to be met by this message: “Your device is not supported.” That’s funny. If Opera Mobile supports my device, how come Firefox Mobile can’t? I went back to the news report and started reading and to my chagrin found out that the mobile browsers issued for Nokia was initially meant for a couple of phone models, excluding mine. Oh well.
On a related matter, I use Globe Telecom’s 3G services for my mobile browsing needs, and that photo above was taken yesterday morning. Since then, I haven’t been able to go online using my phone via 3G. Not surprisingly, my postpaid Globe Visibility subscription (which has since been ridiculously rebranded as Globe Tattoo) is not working as well. (Background: My Visibility account had a two-year lock-in period when I got it Q3 2008. I don’t have any more incentive to keep it as it only worked fast and efficient the first 6 months before performance went totally substandard. It doesn’t matter where I am in the country, it’s always slow. And, here’s the most annoying part, Globe shortchanges you by displaying the poorest quality of images across all visited websites in a misguided attempt to make pictures load faster. If you’re into photoblogging, you’re out of luck. Sometimes I wonder how the corporate owners and their excessively-paid executives can peacefully sleep at night knowing how shabby their basic mobile internet services are. It’s almost money-for-nothing.) So what’s up with the downtime yesterday and today, Globe?
As a point of comparison, I also use the Wireless Broadband service of Smart Communications, to which I subscribed to just weeks after getting my Globe Visibility plan. In my close to two years of using the competing wireless connections on a daily basis, Smart totally outperforms Globe in all aspects. (Smart’s broadband will act up once in a while, will lose connection for hours, but my worst downtime was less than a day. It’s faster. Five hundred pesos cheaper. And they even slightly upgraded the speed in my plan without charging extra. How’s that, Ayala? I had my issues with Smart before, but comparing it with Globe’s services, Smart suddenly looks like a standout.)
I’ll kick out the Visibility soon. I’m tempted to do the same with my phone service as well. The only thing preventing me, a Globe Telecom subscriber since 1999, from terminating my postpaid Handyphone subscription out of exasperation (there, see, I called it “Handyphone,” the branding they used in the ’90s!) is my refusal to go through the ugly chore of informing family, friends, utilities, service providers, and just about everyone I know of a new contact number. That’s it. Loyalty? I’m not even thinking about any form of “loyalty rewards” anymore, for I had not, not even a single instance, received a new phone from them, not even the cheapest variety, even during a phase when I was on a high subscription plan. (An old friend told me Smart gives their postpaid users a new phone every two years. Hmmm. Really?)
Funny how a short note on Firefox Mobile can turn into a complaint against Globe Telecom.
Oh, and I’m back “blogging” again. (Goodness, it’s been more than a decade, I still despise that term.) Do visit from time to time, even if, as a lot of self-proclaimed so-called “social media experts” say, that blogging is dead.
This article originally appeared here at williegalang.com at this specific URL:
http://williegalang.com/2010/07/08/hello.again.world
About this Weblog
My name is Willie Galang and I’m based in Manila. I comment on current events and popular culture plus share some personal stories as well.
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