Smart SurfMax 50 and SurfmaxPlus 995 Browsing Experience

How fast is Surfmax? The time Smart announced their latest promo I decided to try it for a day using a Smart Bro LTE Kickstart Data SIM.
Using the keyword SURFMAX50, I was able to register in just a few seconds.  Here’s a message I receive after subscribing to the promo “You have successfully registered to the NEW SURFMAX50. Enjoy All day surfing up to 800MB/day. Load is valid for 1 day.” By that notice you can say that this promo is surely capped and my worry is that will it last for 24 hours? As time goes by, I did streaming, browsing and even downloading I noticed that my data usage was already exceeded to the limit mentioned on the SMS I received. By the way I’m using Huawei E5330Bs-2 3G pocket Wi-Fi and I used the statistics tab to monitor the bandwidth usage. Prior to promo registration I did clear usage history of the Pocket WiFi.  The time it exceeded I’m expecting for an SMS saying that my bandwidth already exceeded but haven’t receive any until the 1 day surfing promo expires.

 

LTE SIM for SURFMAXPlus Promo

SurfMax 50 Promo Browsing Experience

Doing all the things I need to do online using this Surfmax promo, all I can say is that it satisfies my needs and serve its purpose well.  I getting an average speed of 3Mbps download and .40Mbps upload which is almost the same speed on PLDT’s wired DSL line under plan 999. I did experience disconnection during the period of 24hours but its considerable knowing that it’s wireless data connectivity. To give you more details on my Surfmax experience I’ll list some points to consider below.

Signal strength: 4 bars (not full)

Device used: Huawei E5330Bs-2 3G Pocket Wi-Fi

Area: Pasay City, near Domestic airport

Promo: Surfmax50

Amount: 50 pesos

Validity: 24 hours

SIM used: SmartBro Kickstart Data SIM (LTE)

During the whole day of browsing I reached to more than 2GB of data usage and still not experiencing slow speed in browsing and streaming. I don’t know if this is just a glitch that I was not capped based on the guidelines they provided.  After the promo expires I decided to try Surfmax995 which is less hassle way of registering to this promo as it has longer validity period.

Smart SurfMaxPlus 995 Experience

This time I go on experiment mode, since Smart Bro Kickstart is a LTE data SIM I decided to try SURFMAXPLUS50 but during registration it prompted me an invalid keyword response from Smart.  I have no idea why is prompted me like that even though SURFMAXPLUS is available at 50 pesos denomination. What I did was I purchased another LTE SIM, this time it’s labeled with Smart Prepaid dual cut micro SIM that includes 35 all network texts.

I loaded it up with Smart prepaid card worth 100 pesos (2x500 card), I tested the SURFMAXPLUS 995 keyword and yes it works. I tried browsing and still it gives me almost the same average speed as mentioned above.

For other keyword to register with this promo see SurfMax Plus - 50 Pesos for 1 day, 299 for 7 days and 995 for 1 month.

During my first week of being subscribe to SURFMAXPLUS 995, I did stream videos on Youtube, browse on Facebook, blog in here and download videos. I can see the statistics on my pocket Wi-Fi that it always exceeds on the said 800MB per day of browsing.  Just last Thursday my 10^th day of this promo I woke up with no data connectivity, I tried doing a reboot on the device and insert the SIM to my smartphone but still I can’t get data connection even if I almost have full bars Smart signal.

Surf Max Speedtest

SurfmaxPlus Promo Cannot Connect

During that time what came up into my mind is that this was related to Smart capping, I expect that this will be back to normal after 12 midnight. To make sure about the cause I decided to call Smart by just dialing *888 on my mobile phone. I spoke to an agent and provide the necessary details below to create the report.

Name

Location

Barangay

SIM card type

SIM number or mobile number

Issue / Time occur

I also provided the basic troubleshooting I did prior to the SMS troubleshooting tips they provided to my mobile number. After the report was created I have the service order number on the incident report with the mention monitoring time of 24 hours.

While waiting, I did another test on my Kickstart SIM using the same pocket Wi-Fi but the result is I was able to get data connectivity on that SIM so I concluded that there’s no issue with Smart network. I wait until the next day but still I have no data connectivity, I decided to follower the ticket number on the incident reported. I spoke to CS rep again but upon checking the case is still open and the girl rep told to me monitor within 120 hours? I also asked what will happen if it takes time to restore my network data connectivity, she said it’s subject for investigation if rebate or something like will be granted to my account since it a failure of service. After the call ended I waited for about 3 hours at almost the same time I reported the incident my internet connectivity is back. Yay, I though the speed will slow down this but to my surprise I’m still getting the usual speed that makes me a happier Smart Surfmax promo subscriber. 

The next day after the restoration of my data connectivity I still exceed 800MB (2GB’s more)  per day and up to now my data is still alive and kicking. Hopefully it will not get disconnected again.