Much has been said about Globe Telecommunication's announcement of it's Fair Use Policy or FUP and how the company has been misleading its consumers with their unlimited data promo. In a nutshell, the way the Globe FUP works is that if a subscribers exceeds the data limit of 1GB per day or 3GB per month their data connection will be throttled from HSDPA/HSUPA (or LTE for those who have phones that support it) to 2G (EDGE or GPRS).
Globe stated that its FUP is justified because a lot of telcos from other countries have implemented something like it. The problem here is that the network infrastructure that they have in place here in the Philippines simply can't compare to what telcos in countries like the USA have. More often than not the maximum download speed I get for my data connection is around 1-2 Mbps on a good day. Sometimes it'll be lower than that. The only way that they could justify the implementation of their FUP is if they guarantee its download speeds and not mislead prospective customers with marketing word plays like "up to 42 Mbps download speeds (for LTE)".
Another issue with the Globe FUP is the fact that 3GB per month for the data cap is simply not enough. This holds true for people like me who tether their computers to their phones to access the internet. And if you're a gamer who downloads games through Steam, then you'll undoubtedly go past the data cap in under a day. This is really a shame though because if there was one service that could help minimize the blatant piracy of software and games here in the Philippines, it would have been Steam. Data capping is never good for gaming, whether it's console, handheld, or PC. Gaming platforms nowadays are slowly integrating digital downloads as part of their system's online service.
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| 7.12 GB data consumption for Feb 4 - March 3 of this year. |
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| 56.75 GB data consumption for Jan 4 - Feb 3 of this year. |
When I first heard the news I was outraged. I've been a Globe subscriber for more than 2 years and I just got my plan renewed for another two years last August or September. The reason why I chose Globe is because I trusted that they would deliver on their promise of unlimited internet. I didn't sign up to just use their service to access Facebook or check on my email. I may be in the minority here when it comes to data usage but I shouldn't be penalized for using something that's been touted as unlimited.
To Globe's credit I've yet to experience being throttled for my data usage. However the fact still remains that one of these days that might happen as evidenced by my data usage in the above screenshots. This doesn't also mean that I approve of the Globe FUP because I know that somewhere in the Philippines someone just reached the 3GB data cap for the month and now he or she is experiencing crappy download speeds. If the problem is with network congestion then there's only two solutions for it. Either Globe improves it's network to accommodate new subscribers or it stops taking in subscribers. Unfortunately both of these options will cost the telco money that's why they came up with a third option which is to screw their current subscribers so that they could get more subscribers that they could consequently screw.
It's a screwed up system and it's not doing gamers and non-gamers any good. Data capping and throttling should stop. I hope that someone from Globe reads this. I know I've been up to my old habit of disorganized writing but I think I was able to convey my point clearly. Disregard the Globe FUP or come up with another one that's friendlier to your subscribers like me who regularly use 50-100 GB of data per month and who got your unlimited data plan for that specific purpose.
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